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The challenge

Despite being a relatively new player, Villada have been able to establish themselves as a trusted brand in the Finnish travel market. With a high quality and well curated holiday villa portfolio, from a select range of partners located the most popular destinations, there clients love the personal service and attention to detail they offer. In a market full of high volume and impersonal competitors, Villada stand out by offering personal service, attention to detail and outstanding value for money.

So far, so good, but how does a company like Villada build on their success, grow their business, increase service volume and open up new markets; all without sacrificing that personal touch.

The approach

With personal, client centric service at the heart of Villada’s business, it was obvious from the beginning that we should start by listening to what Villada’s existing client base had to say. Through the execution of a thorough consumer insight study, utilising interviews with a representative and diverse cross section of Villada’s past clients, we were able build a value map that clearly identifies what Villada’s clients appreciate most.

In addition to the client study, we also spent time learning the process and key requirements from Villada’s own service team, mapping each stage in the booking flow and identifying areas of opportunity for streamlining and automation.

Consumer insight

The client's response made it clear why they chose Villada. Whether traveling with friends, or as a family, they don’t like to take chances. They plan ahead, and want to know that every detail will be taken care of. They want clear and detailed information on their potential destinations, prompt and helpful answers to their questions and concerns all provided within a clear and open booking process.

Essentially, they want to be able to know that the company they put there trust in, is not only able to deliver on their needs, but appreciates their patronage and is invested in the client consumer relationship.

The Solution

The solution to Villada’s growing needs had to be as custom and bespoke as the service they offer. Not just a website, but a fully integrated service platform, built with the latest Javascript driven progressive technology, and optimized for desktop and mobile use. Localised regional sites present potential clients with a clear path: from a simple and stylish service introduction, through a feature rich search tool, and into a detailed and enticing villa listing. All the features needed to give users the information to choose their dream holiday villa and place a booking, including availability listings and transparent pricing.

All inquiries flow into one central dashboard that tracks each potential client all the way from initial interest to final booking. Filterable by almost any criteria, including booking language and current status, each booking listing comes complete with message feed, clearly defined booking stages, inquiry history and even details about the clients custom needs. By tracking all 9 key statuses within the bookng flow, the system is able to offer just the options admins need to make effective decisions, while keeping the UI clutter free and efficient. This allows Villada to provide a personal service in a timely manner, even when dealing with a high the volume of inquiries.

Design

After a thorough review of competitors sites, and following the lessons learned from the customer insight study, the design approach took form.

The result is a clean, flat and minimalist design that feels modern while staying true to Villada’s Scandinavian routes:

  • The use of space and simple and stylish typography give a sense of luxury and exclusivity without feeling daunting or unapproachable.
  • A modern and functional graphic interface, with smooth transitions and simple animation provides a solid and uncluttered impression that makes it stand out from the competition.
  • Keeping the structure simple while focusing on content, helps the user to feel well informed and in control at every stage, helping to build credibility and trust with new and existing clients alike.
  • Cross platform ease of access is at the heart of every choice, garanteeing Villada’s portfolio is displayed at its best on mobile and desktop alike, without being complicated
  • All this, brought together to create a clean and easy booking flow.

Marketing

An online Marketing campaign was launched to support the new regions and further solidify Villada’s image as a personal and localised service.The campaign budget was heavily weighted towards Search engine marketing with a supporting focus on Facebook and Instagram posts. In keeping with the personal and local natiure of theservice, native spearker language competents was utalised to ensure the message would be clear no matter which language and region potential client might come from.

Results

189 %

Visitor growth in the established market of Finland

355 %

Visitor growth in the established market of Sweden

2 months

Denmark and Germany were launched in end of November and their website visits are already in same level as it was in Sweden 6 months after the launch.

This also happened

+195 %

Reservation requests up 195%

+597 %

International sales up 597%

5 % 50 %

With automation now handling 50% of the previously manual bookings.

And that's not all!

At the beginning of the project Villada had 6 different tools they needed for a complete client process. All this is now history, now Villada is able to handle everything with one, easy to use platform. Already half of the orders are handled automatically and the number is still raising - less time dealing with the paperwork means more time to serve customers in person!

Conclusion

Can a business expand and adapt to new markets without losing those personal touches at the heart of its success? Absolutely! With the right platform, growing your market does not have to mean losing your personal edge. A localised market experience and intelligent process streamlining make it possible to increase volume and provide a bespoke offering. In short, you really can have your cake and eat it.

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