2022 Award Winning Luxury Hotel & Travel Booking Website
Mandarin Oriental
Hotel Group
CREATIVE DIRECTION + ECOMMERCE + USER EXPERIENCE + User interface + DESIGN SYSTEMS
Elevating Mandarin Oriental to digital excellence, the award-winning website not only reflects the brand's onsite luxury but also boosts sales, assuring every online interaction is as magnificent as their in-person experiences.
The Challenge
Revamping the online presence of Mandarin Oriental was a multifaceted mission: we aimed to build a digital space that not only encourages guests to book directly, bypassing third-party sites, but also delivers a mobile experience as rich and immersive as the desktop version. Our focus was on boosting sales and upsells, carefully crafting a digital story that showcases Mandarin Oriental’s luxurious offerings and ensures every aspect of their lush story is told compellingly and elegantly.
User Experience: Flexibility Meets Luxury
Creating the online world of Mandarin Oriental meant weaving together a universal, high-end journey while also highlighting the unique charm of each global property. Each hotel tells its own story of luxury and unique guest experiences, so our UX strategy centered around a flexible, modular system. This approach enabled every property to personalize its digital space, ensuring their individual tales and offerings were front and center, all while maintaining a clear, luxe, and efficient user journey that’s distinctly Mandarin Oriental.
Collaborating closely with the UX Creative Director, we focused on ensuring every online interaction was more than just a booking – it was an invitation to explore the unique, lush offerings of each property. Our modular UX system ensured properties could easily share their own stories and experiences while providing a smooth, consistent user experience. This balance of individualized digital storytelling and the overarching brand elegance allows users to navigate a digital space that’s both uniquely local and universally Mandarin Oriental.
Elevating User Interface: Weaving Brand Elegance into Every Pixel
Under my leadership as Visual Creative Director, the UI of Mandarin Oriental’s digital environment was meticulously crafted to embody the brand’s famed luxury in every digital interaction. I spearheaded the initiative to intertwine the brand’s rich, elegant aesthetic with each pixel, orchestrating a UI that didn’t merely facilitate transactions but transported users into the brand’s lush, tangible opulence from the initial click. Ensuring that each interaction narrated Mandarin Oriental’s rich story was paramount, bridging the digital experience with the physical allure found in each property.
I centered our UI design to prioritize bold, photographic storytelling juxtaposed against clean, succinct design elements, delivering an interface that was not only a visual delight but also intuitively navigable. Each UI component was designed with modularity and adaptability at its core, paving the way for a platform that, under my directive, unified the brand digitally while celebrating the unique charm of each property. In crafting this UI, I ensured Mandarin Oriental’s digital space was a true reflection of its tangible luxury, reinforcing its stature as a luminary in the luxury hospitality sector both on the ground and online.
Creating Dynamic and Elegant Web Pages
Simplifying and beautifying the digital face of Mandarin Oriental, we entwined solid UX strategy with polished UI design to produce dynamic and visually striking layouts. Our work went beyond merely catching the eye; we crafted user-focused designs that made browsing an elegant, easy experience. We gave editors a toolkit of design elements, enabling them to tell their unique property stories while maintaining a uniform, luxurious visual language across all sites. This ensured each webpage, while individually curated, resonated with the overall brand aesthetic and sophistication of Mandarin Oriental.
Developing a potent and flexible design system for Mandarin Oriental was a meticulous and thoughtful process. Our focus was to encapsulate every possible design scenario into a component, creating a comprehensive library that would serve as a reliable and versatile foundation for any digital creation. This design system was built with the principle of capturing the essence and luxury of the brand, while also providing enough adaptability to cater to the diverse and specific needs of each property. Whether it was a unique amenity, a special offer, or an exclusive event, our design system offered a refined and brand-consistent solution, ensuring every digital interaction was unmistakably ‘Mandarin Oriental’.
Booking Flow: Upselling through Artful UI
The UI team, guided by a unified art direction and a refined modular design system, crafted a booking flow that's not merely functional but a visual journey, enchanting and upselling to customers. Users encounter lush visuals and seamless upgrade options, from enhanced rooms to exclusive experiences. The intuitive, elegant interface not merely facilitates, but also subtly invites additional premium selections, intertwining luxurious appeal with commercial strategy in every booking journey.
Custom Iconography: Simplifying Luxury through Visuals
Tasked with weaving a unique, luxurious visual tale for Mandarin Oriental, we commissioned an illustrator to create bespoke icons, guiding users through over 100 diverse amenities across properties. Each icon provided not just a symbol, but a glimpse into the lavish experiences awaiting guests. The goal was a visual language that was both intuitively and aesthetically attuned to the brand’s elegant essence, ensuring each platform visual element subtly echoed Mandarin Oriental’s promise of opulence.
A Recognition of Digital Luxury and Innovation
Reflecting on the journey of this project fills me with immense pride as it not only allowed me to serve in a pivotal role as the Creative Director but also brought forth an exciting career milestone: clinching the Outstanding Website Award. My heartfelt appreciation goes to the extraordinarily talented Valtech team, whose unwavering commitment and skill have beautifully shaped this achievement.
CREATIVE TEAMClient: Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
Agency: Valtech
My Role: Creative Director
Team: Seth Jabon, Executive Creative Director / Josh Warren, UX Creative Director / Kelly l'heureux, Nicole Fieger, UX Design / Matthew Zaszewski, Senior UI Design / Samantha Camacho Carreño, Tien Pham, UI Design
