Hotels of Distinction

Proposal for Design and Build of a Web Site

Version 0.5 - tim@hoop.co.uk 22/02/1999

 

Contents:

  1. Introduction
  2. Site Design
  3. Other Considerations
  4. Breakdown of Tasks with Time Estimates
  5. Timescale

 

1. Introduction

This document has been written following a meeting between Ed Ross of Keyhaven and Tim Joyce of HOOP. It is designed to set out the tasks and costs estimates for creating a website for Hotels of Distinction, a brochure published by Ptarmigan Publishing Ltd. As the name suggests, Hotels of Distinction contains information on about 102 high quality hotels around the UK and Ireland.

1.1 Aims of the site

1.2 Site Users

1.3 Technology

The site will make use of a new template technology that HOOP have adopted. This allows clear separation between the 'programming code' that is used to do the searches and access the database, and the 'interface code' (or HTML) that is used to make the pages look great. Using this technology means that maintenance of the site is greatly simplified.

 

2. Site Design

2.1 General Design Considerations

It is essential that the site is easy to use and obvious to navigate, additionally, we are selling high quality hotel accommodation, so the design must reflect this. The design will use the Hotels of Distinction logo as a starting point, but you can expect HOOP designers to be creative and stylish within the brief.

Within the Hotel Finder, it would be nice to color code each page with the national color of the relevant country.

 

2.2 Home Page

This page will feature that Hotels of Distinction and Ptarmigan logos. It will have a navigation bar allowing access to all areas of the site. The home page will provide a space where items that are new or of particular interest can be highlighted.

The menu will provide links to the following pages:

 

2.3 Hotel Finder

The search will allow users to easily find hotels on the database. There are 2 ways of finding hotels:

2.3.1 Map Interface

A map interface where the user will select an area of the UK and Ireland. The following page will display a detailed map of London, the South of the UK, Scotland, or Ireland. This page will provide a brief introduction of the area and a picture (from the brochure). The user can click on the detailed map to select a hotel.

2.3.2 Search Interface

The Search Interface will allow the user to type in the name of a hotel, select it's location, or features (fishing, golf etc.). When the search is run, the user will be presented with a list of Hotels that match the criteria. By clicking on a hotel from the list, the user can see it's full details.

Every endeavor will be made to ensure that the user sees some results, as there is nothing more off-putting than receiving the message "sorry, no properties matched your criteria". Results will be presented in a manageable sized list (perhaps 20 at a time), the user will have the ability to move between pages of results, as well as back to the search criteria page.

2.3.3 The Hotel Data

The database will sore the following information for each hotel.

 

2.4 Events

This page is designed to allow the user to find out about major national events. The page will show a complete list of events starting from the current day. A "drop-down" option box will allow the user to select regionally specific events (England, Scotland, Ireland). Where possible, the events will link to an external web page profiling the event.

Events will be stored in the database. Each event will have the following information:

 

2.5 Ptarmigan Club

This page is designed to encourage users to sign-up, and provide marketing information to Ptarmigan. Users will be offered membership of the Ptarmigan Club in exchange for completing a detailed questionnaire. The completed questionnaire will be emailed to Ptarmigan.

Ptarmigan Club members will receive discounts and special offers, and can sign-up to be notified when new hotels etc. are put online.

 

2.6 Ptarmigan Publishing

These pages will profile Ptarmigan Publishing, it will be built with the same graphical style as the rest of the site, but will also feature the Ptarmigan logo. The first page will have a brief introduction to the company, and a description of the Ptarmigan bird (including links to external web resources).

 

2.7 Links

This page will provide space where Hotels of Distinction can link to other related sites for cross promotional purposes. Examples of possible links would be Local Tourist Boards etc.

 

2.8 Database Administration

Ptarmigan require a database administration facility in order to be able to keep the hotel and events database up-to-date. HOOP have already written a set of programs that allows this, and these will be used on the Ptarmigan site. The administration facility will be password protected and should only be accessed by Ptarmigan employees. It will allow Ptarmigan staff to enter new hotels, and amend details (prices, facilities etc). It will also provide access to the database of Ptarmigan Club members.

 

3. Other Considerations

3.1 Templates

As already mentioned the site will be built using templates. This will make development easier and keep maintenance costs down.

 

3.2 Hosting

The site will be hosted in the US, as our experience has shown that 'state side' companies provide quicker connections, a higher quality of service, and better value for money. In addition at least 50% of the visitors to the site will be American.

 

3.3 Domain Name Registration

If they have not already done so, Ptarmigan will need to register a domain name for the Hotels of Distinction web site. HOOP can assist in this process.

 

3.4 Online Promotion

The promotion of the site to as wide an audience as possible is key to it's success. The online aspect of the promotional drive has technical considerations that are outside the skill sets of traditional marketing people. HOOP can provide skills that assist in promoting Hotels of Distinction to search engines, newsgroups and other areas of the internet. However the promotion of the business should always be considered in a wide context, and we have found that the best results are achieved when the 'owner' of a site is closely involved with the entire promotion process, bringing in skills as appropriate.

As with traditional promotion, the more time and effort spent pushing home the message, the more effective the promotion is. Typically successful sites spend some 25% of the cost of developing a site on promotion.

An essential first step in online promotion is to get the site registered with search engines, therefor HOOP propose to supply an initial search engine 'push'. This involves the following:

The bulk submission, whilst great in principal, tends not to produce great results, mainly because the search engines covered do not themselves generate much traffic. Additionally bulk submission software is far from perfect.

Another important online promotional activity is to exchange links with sites that may have users who would be interested in you service. This has to be done once the site is up and running, and is best achieved by contacting the owner of a site directly.

 

3.5 Maintenance

By using a database for the Hotels of Distinction web site, maintenance is greatly simplified. All information on Hotels and Events can easily be maintained by Ptarmigan staff. More sophisticated maintenance (changes to maps, graphics or static pages), can be done by HOOP. This will be infrequent enough to allow Ptarmigan to request HOOP to make changes "as and when".

 

3.6 Data Entry

The data for the Hotels ant the Events will need to be entered into the database. This can easily be undertaken by Ptarmigan staff, who are familiar with the data and associated images. If required, HOOP can enter the data, which would be provided by Ptarmigan in an electronic format.

 

4. Estimates

4.1 Design and Build of Web Site

Task Estimate (hours)
Pre sales consultancy, preparation of proposal and agreement of costs. 5
Initial Graphic Design (and agreement) 20
Build of Database 10
Build of Database Administration Interface 5
Home Page 8
Hotel Finder - Map Interface (5 pages) 13
Hotel Finder - Search Interface 13
Hotel Details pages 8
Events Page 7
Links Page 2
Ptarmigan club 5
Ptarmigan Publishing home 5
Ptarmigan Publishing history 3
Ptarmigan Publishing people 3
Ptarmigan Publishing vision 3
Ptarmigan Publishing contact 3
Review of Site and sign-off 12
Total 125

The figures are provisional, and are subject to change following the agreement of the proposal. HOOP charge £40 per hour for Web Site development, giving a total cost for building the site of £5,000.

 

4.2 Hosting

Hosting will cost $900 per annum. HOOP will coordinate the process of purchasing web space, but fees will be payable by Ptarmigan directly to the ISP.

 

4.3 Domain Name Registration

This costs approximately £100 in the first year and £50 per annum thereafter. Domain Name registration is usually handled by the ISP hosting the site. HOOP will coordinate this process, but fees are payable directly to the ISP, and will vary slightly according to the ISP chosen.

 

4.4 Online Promotion

Initial Search Engine push - as described in section 3.5 - £750.

 

4.5 Data Entry

For 102 hotels, £1360. for approximately 120 events £160.

 

5. Timescales

HOOP are very keen to take on this project and are ready to start as soon as we are given the go-ahead. It is anticipated that the site can be built in 6 weeks from start to launch.

The project will be developed online, this gives Ptarmigan staff the ability to monitor progress on a day-to-day basis.

 


Document Dated: Fri Jan 15 11:07:00 1999
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