Internet Portals by Image Magic Internet :: Hospitality Portal Project

Internet Portals by Image Magic Internet

PORTALARCHITECTURE | "AROUND TOWN" LOCALS INFO | PORTAL APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT
CONTENT DEVELOPMENT BY IMAGE MAGIC | HYATT BRAND PORTALS | AMENITY > ROI > REVENUE STREAM

ORLANDO/LAKE BUENA VISTA
Villas of Grand Cypress

"QUICKSILVER"
A DATABASE-DRIVEN
HOSPITALITY PORTAL

PARTIAL CLIENT LIST

Villas of Grand Cypress
Orlando, FL

Hyatt Regency
Dallas, TX

Grand Hyatt
San Francisco, CA

Park Hyatt
Los Angeles, CA

Hyatt San Jose
San Jose, CA

Wyndam Rose Hall
Resort & Country Club
Montego Bay, Jamaica

Holiday Inn
Murrels Inlet, SC

Product Launch. InnHanse International, providers of hospitality technology, had developed a database-driven hotel portal to provide a value-added amenity to it's clients' hotel guests as a way to gain market share and the attention of the Press. As Project Manager, my responsibility was design, production, development and management of each portal's custom components. My GOAL, however, was product development that would transform this value-added amenity into a viable marketing tool that would cut costs and generate new revenue streams. < MORE >

Project Management and Product Development. Custom development consisted of researching each hotel's corporate standards, market position, target market, local area information, and property specific information, then populate the portal with customized text and image content per property. In serving the goal of product development, each time I (re)developed a hotel portal, insight was gained in working closely with the property's General Manager and support staff as well as in researching the marketing trends inherent in that area of the country. < MORE >

Marketing Strategy. While other hotel chains were included in the InnHanse marketing mix, efforts focused on the QuickSilver Hotel Portal become a standard Hyatt Hotel in-room feature (appliance, connectivity, and portal subscription) on a global basis. < MORE >

Product Development. Image Magic transformed the Hotel Portal from a value-added information source/amenity into a viable ROI resource producing new revenue streams in terms of cost-cutting savings, in-room advertising and sales. < MORE >

Project Created with Image Magic by Christine Peacock
for InnHanse:

MARKET DEVELOPMENT/ CREATIVE DIRECTION
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
CONTENT EDITING/EDITORS MANAGEMENT

HOTEL PORTAL :: PRODUCT OUTLINE
InnHanse International Total Hospitality Solution

Accessed through a dedicated network, these information portals were developed for hotels, resorts and convention facilities as a value-added amenity to boost market share, and were a primary part of the InnHanse International total solutions technology package which included an infrastructure network of QuickSilver high speed cabling with Internet access ports, Sun Systems SunRay Interface Appliance with "Smart Card" functionality, and the QuickSilver Hospitality Portal. < PDF 425KB >

QuickSilver Information Architecture

Information presented through the QuickSilver Hotel Portal could be accessed at various levels:

WORLDWIDE WEB: eMail, News, Weather, Stocks, Sports, Maps, Specials
LOCAL: Around Town
PROPERTY SPECIFIC: Facilities, Restaurants, Room Service, Recreation, Transportation

"Around Town" Locals Info

Each Hotel Portal was customized per property according to corporate standards, hotel features and amenities, as well as categorized locals information via "Around Town", which acquainted hotel guests with local venues, customs, events, and other areas of target market interest. Categories would vary depending on the community profile.

Using the Windom Rose Hall Resort and Country Club as an example, "AROUND TOWN" features would be:

ATTRACTIONS
Beaches
Events
Local Services
Night Life
Recreation
Restaurants
Shopping
Transportation

The "ATTRACTIONS" features would be organized into the following sub-categories:

Ammusement Parks
Educational Exhibits
Landmarks
Museums & Exhibits
Parks & Gardens
Wildlife & Zoos

... and so on ...

Considerable press and media attention was drawn toward this particular portal asset due to it's patented uniqueness and level of value-added quality added to the guest experience.

Image Magic provided the research and editing team project management to populate the portal's "Around Town" database and made content decisions.

QuickSilver Applications Development

Specialized web-based applications were developed for both business and leisure travelers:

Shopping

Travel Plans

Virtual Office

WEB SERVICES :: IMAGE MAGIC
Portal Content Development & Customer Service

Information Architecture, GUI, Applications Development and Database Structure had been established by the NetSoft development team when Image Magic owner, Christine Peacock assumed Project Management of the portal, which included the following:

Sales Support, Client Development, and Customer Service
Content "Needs Assessment" and Customized Content Development Per Property
Photo, Image and Text Content Acquisition, Organization, Development, Optimization
Copywriter :: Editor :: Coordinator of DataBase Editors Team in India
"Look & Feel" Per Product, Custom Graphic Design
Production, DataBase Implementation, Publishing, and Portal Maintenance.

Four hotel portals were developed for high profile Hyatt properties with progressive improvements made throughout the development process of each portal project completed in terms of appearance, functionality and marketing savvy. A conference portal was developed to acquaint Hyatt General Managers with the proposed technology to be added to the chain on an International basis.

MARKETING SUCCESS :: PORTAL AN IN-ROOM STANDARD
Hyatt International GM Conference 2000

As Featured Technology at the Hyatt International GM Conference 2000, the QuickSilver Hotel Portal was an overwhelming success. Each attending Hyatt GM was given personalized Sun Systems "Smart Cards" for the Portal Kiosks that were set up on the conference floor. The Conference Portal, designed by Image Magic, provided an event agenda, Keynote speaker comments, and an online PowerPoint Presentation outlining the featured technology of the QuickSilver Portal. < HYATT EVENT PORTAL PROJECT PROFILE >

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT :: AMENITY > ROI > REVENUE
Image Magic Transforms Portal

As Project Manager/Client Liaison attending to Client Development and Customer Service, Image Magic researched and gained insight into client needs, goals, and trends, then used this valuable input to progressively develop the portal from it's initial status as a value-added amenity to a viable ROI resource and revenue stream for the property. Not only were incurred expenses saved, but targeted in-room marketing and eCommerce opportunities were fulfilled.