The challenge
CitySuites operates premium serviced apartment hotels across Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, giving guests the space of an apartment with the quality and service of a hotel.
The website was not carrying that experience clearly enough. Navigation was difficult, key decision-making information was hard to find and the booking platform was converting below expectations.
For guests considering a longer stay, confidence depends on detail: location, room types, facilities, policies, booking terms and what happens after a reservation is made. Too much of that information was either fragmented or hidden, increasing reliance on inbound calls and making the digital experience feel less considered than the stay itself.
CitySuites needed a website and booking journey that made the offer easier to understand, easier to book and more useful once a guest had confirmed their stay.
Our approach
We began by looking at the decisions guests needed to make before booking, especially for longer stays where the stakes are higher than a standard hotel reservation.
Through research, workshops and usability testing, we mapped the points where users were losing confidence: unclear content hierarchy, hidden facilities information, weak routes into room details and a booking journey that did not always answer practical questions at the right moment.
We redesigned the information architecture around the way guests evaluate a stay, bringing together neighbourhood content, luxury facilities, FAQs, room details and reservation information so that users could move from interest to booking with less friction.
The interface was redesigned mobile first, with a calmer visual language that better reflected the CitySuites brand. We also prototyped improvements across the post-booking experience, including reservation lookup, guest details, add-ons and online check-in.
Mobile
first booking experience
Online
check-in introduced
Upsell
journeys improved
Results
The redesigned platform gave CitySuites a clearer, more useful digital experience across discovery, booking and guest management.
Guests could find the information they needed more easily, compare options with greater confidence and complete more of the journey online. The new experience also supported additional functionality introduced during the pandemic, including express online check-in.
By improving the content structure, interface design and booking flow together, the platform helped increase online bookings and create stronger opportunities for upgrades, add-ons and higher-value reservations.
The work was about making the booking journey feel as considered as the stay itself.
Outcomes
CitySuites gained a mobile-first website and booking platform designed around real guest needs rather than internal content structures.
The work gave the brand a digital presence more aligned with its premium offer, reduced friction in the reservation journey and created a stronger foundation for supporting guests before, during and after their stay.
