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Wharf Hotels

Client Story

At A Glance

39x

Achieved a 39x ROAS

USD 2,358,716

Revenue of USD 2,358,716

18,662

room nights booked

Client Testimonial

Backstory

Celebrating the spirit of discovery, Wharf Hotels is known to pay homage to the legendary spirit of travel, exploring and sharing experiences.

The group currently operates 17 hotels across China, Hong Kong SAR of China and the
Philippines, under their legacy brand of Marco Polo Hotels and luxury brand, Niccolo Hotels.

Backstory

Celebrating the spirit of discovery, Wharf Hotels is known to pay homage to the legendary spirit of travel, exploring and sharing experiences.

The group currently operates 17 hotels across China, Hong Kong SAR of China and the
Philippines, under their legacy brand of Marco Polo Hotels and luxury brand, Niccolo Hotels.

Challenge

Sometime in May 2019, Wharf Hotels reached out to us at Brew Interactive – they needed
help with putting together a stronger digital marketing strategy. At that time,
they were facing two major challenges.

High dependency on Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)

Hotels and Online Travel Agencies (Expedia, Booking.com, Hotels.com, etc.) have always shared a tricky relationship.

While hotels depend on OTAs for visibility and reservations, the high commission fees they’re charged in return eats into their bottom line and is a cause for frustration amongst most hoteliers.

Wharf Hotels was struggling with the same issue – they realized they were too reliant on OTAs and wanted to reduce that dependency.

Decline in hotel occupancy during summer months

Every hotel has that dreaded off-season – a period when their occupancy is at an all-time low.

For Wharf Hotels, this period is usually during the summer months, between March to June. Every year, during these months, they experience a downfall in their hotel occupancy rates (as can be seen in the charts below).

To tackle this challenge, Wharf Hotels has been running a summer campaign for the last four years. Being exclusively applicable to the summer months, the campaigns have performed fairly well, bringing in a considerable number of reservations and revenue.

Similarly, this year too, they decided to launch the summer campaign in May with two clear objectives:

a. Their hotels should be easy to find and easy to book
b. They need to drive more profitable revenue growth

The campaign was ready but the question was – how can they strategically promote it to drive incremental room nights and revenue during the off-season months?

This is where Brew Interactive came in.

Solution

To begin with, we were given two main targets to achieve, during the period of May to August:

A. Increase bookings from the brand sites and generate a 14x ROAS
B. Drive incremental revenue of USD 840,000 with a booking of 5,250 room nights

Our promotion strategy comprised of running Google Search, Display, Programmatic, Facebook and YouTube ads.

We spent a total of USD 60,000 in digital advertising.

In addition to digital media placements, we also leveraged tactical channels to improve conversion rates.

We enabled website push notifications, giving new visitors the option of subscribing. On becoming a subscriber, they were presented with the summer campaign offer.

We also set up exit-intent popups that were triggered when a website visitor would try to leave the website. These popups carried the campaign offer messaging and were installed with an aim to increase conversions.

Apart from these two tactical channels, we also had a smart retargeting strategy in place to re-engage visitors, bring them back to the website and convert them.

All these tactics helped push website visitors further down the sales funnel, encouraging them to make a booking.

Results

This promotional strategy performed phenomenally well, surpassing the targets we set out to attain –

a. Achieved a 39x ROAS
b. Generated a total revenue of USD 2,358,716 with 18,662 room nights

This promotional strategy performed phenomenally well, surpassing the targets we set out to attain –

a. Achieved a 39x ROAS
b. Generated a total revenue of USD 2,358,716 with 18,662 room nights

Our Approach

When Collectius came to us with significant gaps in their SEO expertise and online visibility, we tailored a comprehensive approach that was designed to overhaul their digital presence and drive measurable improvements. Here's how we proceeded:

  • SEO Audit: An on-page and off-page SEO audit was conducted to identify areas for improvement
  • Google Search Console Installation: Google Search Console was installed on the Collectius website to monitor and track their analytics
  • Digital Content Strategy: We produced a digital content strategy pack to help Collectius enhance their SEO goals
  • Backlink Acquisition: Backlinks were purchased to improve Collectius' domain ranking Keyword Research: Extensive keyword research was performed to align content and SEO strategies with relevant search trends

Comprehensive SEO Audit

We initiated our process by conducting a detailed SEO audit for Collectius. This audit was crucial in pinpointing several critical areas where the company was underperforming.

Key issues we found included suboptimal keyword utilisation, missing meta descriptions, and poorly optimised content that wasn't fully aligned with target search queries.

Having identified areas for improvement, the Brew team worked with Collectius’ web development team to implement these fixes.

Following the initial SEO audit, we conducted a focused technical SEO audit for Collectius. A technical SEO audit is a thorough examination of a website’s technical infrastructure as it relates to its visibility and performance in search engines.

It evaluates several key elements, including site architecture, page speed, mobile-friendliness, indexing, crawlability, security, and use of technologies that may impact search engine access and efficiency.

This was a critical step to ensuring that the website’s infrastructure met modern search engine standards, which is pivotal for improving search rankings and user experience. Our audit revealed several key technical issues that needed immediate attention:

Slow Loading Speeds: We identified that the Collectius website had slower than optimal loading times. Slow speeds can significantly affect user experience and negatively impact search engine rankings. To address this, we optimised image sizes, minimised the use of blocking JavaScript, and implemented more efficient caching policies to enhance page load performance.

The Lack of a Sitemap: The absence of a sitemap was another critical gap. Sitemaps are essential as they help search engines more intelligently crawl the site and understand its structure. We created and submitted a comprehensive sitemap to Google, which facilitated better indexing of the website’s pages.

Mobile Optimization: Our audit also found that Collectius’ website was not optimised for mobile users. The Brew team provided detailed guidance to Collectius' web development team on best practices for mobile optimization going forward. This included advice on implementing accelerated mobile pages (AMP), optimising button sizes and touch targets, and ensuring text readability without requiring zoom.


Tracking & Monitoring of Collectius’ Web Performance

To better monitor and track the effectiveness of our strategies, we installed Google Search Console (GSC) on Collectius’ website. GSC allows us to gain valuable insights into the site's traffic, search performance, and any crawling errors, thereby enabling us to make data-driven decisions.

With data from GSC, we can identify which pages are performing well and which might require further optimization. This helps us refine SEO strategies and target specific issues with precision.


Digital Content Strategy

Recognizing the importance of content in SEO success, we crafted a comprehensive digital content strategy pack specifically tailored to Collectius' needs.

This strategy involved developing four customer personas and two end-user personas, representing the diverse segments of Collectius' audience. These personas helped us understand the distinct needs, behaviours, and preferences of different user types that interact with Collectius' services.

From this foundation, we were able to pinpoint the types of content and topics that would resonate most strongly with each persona. Leveraging these insights, we developed a series of SEO-optimised articles.

Each article was carefully written by our copywriter who made sure that keywords used were relevant with Collectius’ offerings and aligned with the interests of potential clients.

Taking this approach allowed us to attract more organic traffic to their site and significantly enhance visibility for these targeted search terms.


Backlink Acquisition

To strengthen Collectius’ domain authority and improve their search engine ranking, we strategically acquired high-quality backlinks. This effort was aimed at boosting their profile against competitors and increasing the trustworthiness of their site in the eyes of search engines.

Through our targeted backlink acquisition efforts, we gradually improved the organic traffic to Collectius' site.

As their domain authority increased, so did their visibility in search engine results, leading to more visitors naturally finding their way to the website without the need for paid advertising.

This steady increase in organic traffic not only enhanced their online presence but also contributed to higher engagement and conversion rates.


Outstanding SEO Results for Collectius

Our comprehensive SEO strategy delivered impressive results for Collectius, significantly enhancing their online visibility and search engine performance. Here are some of the key achievements:

Significant Traffic Growth

Over a period of six months, we achieved more than a 60% increase in organic traffic to Collectius' website. This surge in visitors was a direct result of our focused improvements in SEO practices and content strategies.

Expanded Keyword Reach

There was over a 70% increase in the number of organic keywords that Collectius ranks for on Google. This expansion in keyword coverage helped broaden their visibility and reach a wider audience interested in debt collection and financial services.

Top Rankings in Local Searches

Collectius' website achieved first-page rankings on Google's Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for targeted searches in Singapore and Malaysia. Ranking on the first page for relevant searches significantly boosted their brand's visibility and accessibility in these key markets.

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