Jaap Willem | Mobile and Online Marketing » travel

18 Million dollar for a website

jaapwillem — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:35:28 +0000

Four Seasons got a lot of buzz last week with the announcement of their new website. As announced they dropped down 18 Million dollar to have their new website up and running.

This is a shitload of money, for a website.. This weekend after I was joking around with a few other people on Twitter I started thinking about it and how it could get to that amount of money.

Let’s analyze how they could have “invested” this money.

First up is the design of the Four Seasons website.
The design is nice and clean with even responsive design coming in . This is especially important with about 70% of their costumers using mobile phones and about 60% tablets.

Second I really hope that they’ve tagged the shit out of the website.
So they can find every little error and UX error and being able to improve upon. With 30 Million visitors this will costs quiet a lot of money as well.

Third the CMS and CRM system behind it.
This will have costs the most money to connect the new website with their backend and the backend from all their hotels. Furthermore I suppose the hotels will be having a unique entrance and area where they can upload new information and see what they write about the hotel.

Social Media Integration.
The integration is very well done with Tripadvisor, Twitter and Facebook integration. It’s one of the nicest designs in the hotel business I’ve seen.

But now I get to a point I absolutely don’t get…

So they recognized the need for mobile adaptations, hence the responsive design.

But where ARE the mobile Apps?

If 70% of their customers are carrying a smart phone and 60% a tablet, you want to be there if they look for apps.

Not only for the booking process but as well the moment they arrive and give the best customer service they could have imagined themselves.

This is the point where they really should have invested and getting the most out of their dollars. I have no idea if they will be launching new apps soon, if yes, I’ll certainly check them out.

The conclusion of the Four Seasons story.

While I suppose it was a good investment, a bit overpriced but still a good investment I’m actually surprised with the fact that they’ve invested in the current and yesterday’s way of booking and not for tomorrow’s.

I suppose they’ve done their calculations before they gave the go-ahead, but I think it’s gonna be hard with this new website to an extra ROI from this 18 million dollar.

And I think it’s a shame that they haven’t invested more in their mobile efforts and less in the desktop experience.

Have a look at the this post from econsultancy with some very good comments

Sven de Meyere has a SEO directed write-up on his website (In Dutch)

Photography – Way to work: The Dutch route

jaapwillem — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 11:10:49 +0000

Way to Work – Through the South of Zeeland

Since I’m at the moment for a week in Zeeland, the south of Holland I’m going to work by car and it takes me on other ways.

Of course this is always great and I wanted to show a few details from this way and I hope you guys are enjoying it.

A large part of my route is now alongside a Canal, the Sas van Ghent canal. This canal is going from the Westerschelde sea towards Ghent, the city in Belgium.

Alongside this canal you’ll see for about 75% factories, heavy industries and transport boats. But the other 25% makes the trip actually quite worth it, specially on a beautiful day in the summer. Normally I pass by quite early in the morning so you the nature is still waking up and the air is fresh.

Expect in the near future more photos from this route and enjoy these photographs to start with

Farmer in the Field

Straws in the Morning Sun

Sas van Gent Canal

Trip To Luxembourg – Part 1

jaapwillem — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:24:31 +0000

Luxembourg, the city…

Where is the city located and why should you go there?

Luxembourg always have been more known for their banking system then the tourism sector. Still if you go to Luxembourg everyone is asking you: Can you take some money with you for me? or Are you earning that much money?

But look at Luxembourg beyond that.. Look at the buildings left by the Romans and still standing. Look at the vast Green parks with stunning views over the Valley’s.
Then you know you got in the right corner for a holiday, a quite holiday.

The People

Furthermore the people are very friendly and very service minded. For us the moment we arrived we have had excellent service, from the moment we got off the train until the moment we hopped on.

It was only a pity that the weather was really not up to par with other days before and after our weekend. It was very cloudy and grey, with just a few ray’s off sunshine in the Saturday Afternoon..

Luxembourg Photography

But I did take the opportunity to take many landscape photographs with the intention of converting them later into beautiful panoramic photos.

So what is the point of these blog post series? It’s basically a story about the various parts of the city, both modern and historic, landscape views and urban details.

Please let me guide you through one of the most forgotten pearls from Western Europe, Luxembourg.

The Armor of Luxembourg

Armor of Luxembourg City

Waiting for the Train

Waiting for Train to Luxembourg

Impressions Queensday Amsterdam 2010

jaapwillem — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:49:42 +0000

Photos Impressions Queensday 2010 in Amsterdam

The normal craziness was going on again, just like normal during the Queensday celebrations in Amsterdam.

I’ve posted a gallery of some pics online at http://jaapwillem.com/Photography/Queensday-amsterdam-2010/

It was a great time and loved it to be there. For sure.

Enjoy the pics and let me know what you think.

Cheers

Orange socks in Amsterdam

jaapwillem — Wed, 05 May 2010 20:45:35 +0000

Orange socks outside the window in Amsterdam during queensday.

Due to the fine weather at the queensday celebrations many people where enjoying the great weather.

What is better then sitting in the window and chillin with your friends while your legs are floating in the air outside the window?

Taken by Jaap Willem

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Fresh snow snow

jaapwillem — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:11:08 +0000

Snow snow snow shooting..

The first snow from the year have fallen again and just in time to let everyone enjoy the beautiful landscape..

It’s as well the time to that everyone is uploading new pics from beautiful winter landscapes on Flickr, Like me.

But I also just wanted to give you guys an idea on what kind of Winter Photography you can have.. so I just wanted to give my opinions and shots to share with you..

Both are close ups, what I prefer when shooting in industry zones, cause they create their own entourage..

what do you think??

Winter and snow shooting, close up or on a distance?? panoramic.. ??

Have a great snow shooting time..

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Awesome pictures from the Golden Gate Brige Atop a Famous Bridge – a set on Flickr

jaapwillem — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:38:42 +0000

via flickr.com

This is an awesome photo set from atop the Golden Gate bridge in San Fran.
Never been there, but this makes me wanna go there…

Posted via web from JaapWillem.com Blog

Travelling: The beauty of Honduras

jaapwillem — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:03:53 +0000

Travelling: Beauty of Honduras

With the latest problems in Honduras it’s easy to forget about a very important part of the country, the tourism.

It is indeed one of the poorest countries in the region and South America but it’s plenty covered with beautiful spots all over the country. I would like to invite you guys to explore with me the beauty of the country and the persons within the Gallery I linked to this Blog post on Flickr.

Travelling in Honduras: Tegucigalpa

The capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, is build upon many hills and very steep hills sometimes but it’s definitely a very interesting place with sometimes a tremendous difference between the old classical Spanish style and the latest buildings from western companies whom are using low wage workers to make their products.

Travelling in Honduras: Caribbean coast.

If you go towards the coast you come to see the rolling green hills with the local flowers before you get to the Caribbean sea. This is when you get to the beautiful blue colored sea with the islands just a short boat trip away.

The local population is very charming and welcoming to tourists and are happy to share with you the beauty of their country.

Do you have a Honduras travel experience? Please share it with me in the comments.

Travelling in Honduras: Slideshow

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaapwillem/tags/2008americasabrilhondurasviaje/

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Panoramic Bruges at night

jaapwillem — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:17:20 +0000

Panoramic Bruges at night, originally uploaded by Jaap Willem.

Panoramic Landscape Bruges

Bruges is one the eldest cities in Europe, and it’s straight stunning that they have been able to keep the spirit of the old city for such a long time.
This panoramic landscape picture of Bruges is taken at night with the beautiful city light in the central market.
It is in the centre of Bruges with plenty of bars and restaurants..

I hope that you guys like this night panoramic landscape from Bruges and let me know in the comments what you think..

Cheers

Jaap Willem

http://www.jaapwillem.com

Twitter: jaapwillem

French Pharmacy

jaapwillem — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:02:47 +0000

Image French Pharmacy

Just saw the other day this picture in my library and every time I’m always intrigued.

I don’t know, but it gives me always a very warm feeling to see one. It looks like one out of the old cartoons where it still is like it used to be during the beginning of the 1900…

So I would like to introduce you this edited photo from a french pharmacy, made in a cartoonish style image.

Let me know what you think,

Cheers Jaap Willem

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