Cottage resort increases revenue by 12% in 2021, up 32% from average over past decade

A beautiful cottage resort that deserved a beautiful online presence to match

Barry's Bay Cottages is a beautiful cottage resort that had an outdated web presence. I wanted to modernize their brand with the change in ownership plus create a website that met modern accessibility standards and made online booking a breeze with easy access to contact information, general inquiries, pricing, and calendar of availability.

Starting with a fresh, modern rebrand

The brand successfully showed a new beginning for Barry's Bay Cottages but also that it was the same great place guests knew and loved. The new website launched and customers emailed to tell us they loved the new design and it was much easier to book and find pricing information. Beyond that, customers who were familiar with the old site had no trouble navigating the new site as much of the helpful and thoughtful content remained. It was very important to me that guests who had known the brand for the last ten years felt comfortable with the new one, too. Introducing the new owners to the town through press was also important and allowed the new owners to connect with great people and organizations in their area.

Messaging that resonated with their existing customer-base and new clientele

While the content on the original site was informative, it needed new structure to make it easier to read and find. Website content and copy was updated to answer the most prudent customer questions. Part of the success was redesigning the buttons and links to make them accessible and clear where the user would land. Testing copy changes weekly and comparing them to the number customer service inquiries and type of inquiries allowed me to make adjustments. Our SLA is fast - often responding within hours and our customer satisfaction from inquiries is incredibly high. Since adjusting the website content and copy, we have experienced a 30% decrease in customer support inquiries despite growing bookings.

“Samantha genuinely cares about our customers. She built a customer service flow and messaging that was manageable for our business to operate going forward. Her changes to customer interactions and speed at response, plus new and easy to use website, increased our bookings significantly . - Luiza Kaci, Owner, Barry's Bay Cottages

Customer support is a key element to the success of Barry's Bay Cottages and results in plenty of bookings, with approximately 60% of guests making some type of inquiry prior to booking. I wrote scripts, changed automated emails, and created website pages to link out to for customer support inquiries. I manage all customer support on an on-going basis.

Measuring the return on investing in brand, website, and SEO

No paid media was used in 2021 and the focus was purely on organic growth and changes. Organic traffic increased significantly in 2021 from 2020, leading to a 12% growth in revenue in 2021. Barry's Bay Cottages had been operating successfully since 2011 and the 2021 revenue sat 31.9% higher from the average revenue over the decade prior (2011-2021). The new website's organic traffic converted to the bookings page at 52% and social media (organic) traffic converted at 54%. Working on this marketing strategy with Barry's Bay Cottages was an exciting exploration into B2C and the hospitality space specifically, a sector I absolutely love.