• by Tanya Gazdik , January 16, 2012

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts has revamped its website to be more experiential.

The Toronto-based hotel company aims to offer an “immersive and user-friendly experience, combined with rich global content, impactful design and social media integration,” according to Susan Helstab, executive vice president marketing, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

Extensive research around digital consumption of luxury consumers, both in the travel sector and across other categories, was conducted for the development of the website. Four Seasons held focus groups globally to better understand guest and travel partner needs, which led to the inaugural issue of the 2012 Four Seasons Luxury Trend Report.

The report affirms that luxury consumers are not only embracing, but engaging with new technologies in ways that are changing the face of travel. One of the insights from the report is that luxury is back.

Almost all regions saw at least 6% year-over-year growth in the luxury travel sector -- a key indicator of luxury in general. This surge is projected to continue; industry experts project 10% growth in luxury overall in 2013. At Four Seasons, revenues are projected to grow 9.2% in 2012, Helstab says.

The new website was designed in the same vein. Key features of fourseasons.com include a new booking process that allows for multi-destination, multi-hotel, and multi-person reservations. Spa and restaurant bookings can now be made in one step for many properties. The site is fully optimized for mobile devices and tablets.

The new website’s 80-plus property pages feature user-generated content direct from Twitter, Facebook and TripAdvisor. "Five-star highlights" and "why you'll love it" sections both demonstrate the service and the story behind the individual property. The hotel company has 86 properties in 35 countries.

The site offers increased personalization for users. After setting up a profile and indicating personal interests, related content and recommendations from Four Seasons will become available on a guest's next visit and, over time, deliver a completely personalized experience.