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Leading resort manager Bellstar Resorts launches innovative website

Calgary, Alberta: Bellstar Hotels & Resorts is delighted to announce the launch of a completely redesigned, innovative website for Bellstar’s collection of resorts in British Columbia and Alberta. Special features include a multi-property booking engine for resort reservations, a centralized content management system and an enhanced visual appeal inline with the Bellstar brand.

In 2008, Bellstar centralized telephone reservations and email marketing. The next step was to develop a new website that further built Bellstar’s Stay brand, increased customer retention and cross-marketing of the resorts. All essentially steps for combating today’s competitive economic climate.

The web developers at Calgary-based boutique firm, Pump Interactive, worked closely with Bellstar’s marketing team to enhance the site’s usability and navigation, integrating it with Bellstar’s award-winning e-marketing program and other marketing efforts.

While each resort website gains significant revenue from online bookings, Bellstar’s previous corporate website was not enabled to capture reservations directly. Bellstar estimated they were losing nearly 20% of visitors who did not click through to a specific resort to make a booking. As Bellstar currently gains nearly 40% of total resort stay revenue through online booking on individual resort websites, a multi-property booking engine was devised utilizing a company called Vizergy. This tool is now present on the home page offering an immediate call to action, allowing for ease of booking and rate comparison across resorts and destinations.

Historically, the Bellstar website has been the number one referring site to all individual resort websites due to its effective optimization. Based on this fact, additional resources have been allocated for search engine optimization of the new site.

The site also features a comprehensive overview of resorts and real estate opportunities, destinations and the company philosophy. Centralized content for the new site also details on career opportunities, specials and promotions, meetings and group information, and Bellstar’s community relations program.

An enhanced online Media Room with RSS feed for press releases, a library of past news coverage, compelling story ideas and a downloadable media kit and high resolution image gallery are also present.

 “Since the new website launch 14 days ago, Bellstar has already gained an additional $90,000 in revenue from the new booking engine,” says Hilary Moore, Director of Marketing for Bellstar.

Echoing the sentiments of all parties involved in the site’s construction, Moore commented, “Given Bellstar’s ever-evolving collection of resorts, we decided the new website needed to focus on securing our guest booking at the time of arrival and enhancing their online resort experience. The site is informative, user-friendly and flexible, allowing it to grow with the company over time.”