MACDONALD HOTELS' ECOMERCE STRATEGY GETS MOTIVE-ATED

The £250m leisure group Macdonald Hotels and Resorts has appointed online specialist Motive Technology to further develop the Group's website and support the in-house team as they drive forward their e-commerce strategy.

Macdonald Hotels offers over 40 luxurious four and five hotels across the UK, boasts award-winning restaurants and golf courses, as well as a growing number of opulent spas to compliment its Vital health clubs, and is currently the AA Hotel Group of the Year 2007/08. It has increasingly recognised that more and more people book their holidays and short breaks online and use the internet to find information on destinations, and has strengthened its ecommerce strategy to ensure that not only does it fully engage the audience but that it grows its market share. The Group is currently the 5th most visible hotel group online in the UK*.

Motive, a web development company, previously worked on creating a new-look main portal website for Macdonald Hotels as well as individual hotel sites that could be controlled and content updated locally, plus an online booking engine that displayed real time availability and simplified the rate structure. This development has already seen a rise in visitor figures and significantly an 8% increase in conversion of lookers-to-bookers year on year.

Now Motive's remit has been significantly extended, with the agency becoming an integral extension of the in-house marketing team, ensuring tactical input from both companies are fed into the planning, development and deployment of all ecommerce projects.

Macdonald Hotels' in-house team continually looks at new ways to improve the online booking process, and has tasked Motive to support this focus with improved capture of marketing data and further enhancement of the user experience online. Motive will also be expected to develop closer links with other marketing agencies in order to integrate behavioural tracking and SEO innovations into the overall web strategy. One key task will also be to work with the marketing team to fully integrate all Macdonald Resorts into the ecommerce strategy, involving a complete redesign to ensure brand continuity and integration into the online reservation system. Aviemore Highland Resort will be the first to launch, with a further nine UK and European resort sites rolled out in early 2008.

Ruaridh Macdonald, Marketing Director for Macdonald Hotels & Resorts commented: "Motive recently worked with the marketing team to redesign and simplify the online booking process, making the customer's journey simpler and shorter, resulting in a marked increase in online sales conversion and in turn online revenue, something we are delighted with.

"They have worked well with other suppliers such as Micros Fidelio and have demonstrated a real grasp of our business needs and ambitions. We look forward to building on this relationship over the coming year as we continue to drive forward our already successful ecommerce strategy."

As a result of the appointment, Motive have invested more resource into ecommerce and adjusted the management of the account to provide a better, more flexible service. This includes: providing a single point of contact for all project enquiries, a new auditable task tracking system, increasing the development resource in order to deliver larger development projects to agreed times, and quarterly strategic reviews with stakeholders to analyse web performance and brainstorm additional opportunities.

Andy Derrick, MD of Motive Technology commented: "We are delighted to be confirmed as the web partner for Macdonald Hotels and are pleased that our combined ecommerce effort continues to show very tangible results.

"In the development world there is always something new and exciting round the corner, and we are looking forward to exploring these opportunities with Macdonald Hotels, plus providing ever more sophisticated technology and internet marketing techniques to help their business grow."

-ends-

For more information contact:
Lynn Hunter, Communications Manager, Macdonald Hotels & Resorts
M: 07944 772631 E: lynn.hunter@macdonald-hotels.co.uk

Jo Amos, Marketing Manager, Motive Technology
T: 01539 734900 E: jo.amos@motivetechnology.com

Notes to editors:
* as reported by Hitwise in 2007

Macdonald Hotels & Resorts Limited operates 48 well-located hotels across the UK and ten resorts throughout the UK and Spain. The company employs over 4,400 staff and operates in excess of 3900 rooms.

First established in 1990 by Donald Macdonald and colleagues, the company was floated in 1996 on the main London Stock Exchange. In 2003, it returned to private ownership and was one of Scotland's biggest public to private deals at a cost of £620m, which was wholly underwritten by the Bank of Scotland. The Bank now owns 50% of the equity with the remainder held by the management.

The Group's focus is on developing its strong portfolio of four and five star hotels, with each offering its own character and individuality underpinned with the quality and attention to detail expected of the Macdonald brand. In particular, the company prides itself on the seasonality and provenance of its food within the hotels, from breakfast through to dinner, as well as its wide range of specially selected wines.

The Group has recently embarked on a programme of investment and refurbishment that includes properties such as Macdonald Blossoms in Chester, Macdonald Old England in Windermere and Compleat Angler in Marlow. In addition, the Group recently opened the Macdonald Portal Hotel Spa and Golf in Cheshire in July and the Macdonald Manchester Hotel, situated in the heart of the city centre, adjacent to Piccadilly Station in October 2007.