JomfruAne

Introduction

Hotel Jomfru Ane, my workplace at the time, is a 3-star hotel located in the heart of Aalborg — right on the city’s famous party street, Jomfru Ane Gade. While the location is one of the hotel’s strongest assets, the website was not.

Working daily at reception, handling reservations and guest inquiries, I had first-hand insight into how the outdated design affected both guests and staff. The booking flow was unclear, information was scattered across multiple subpages, and many guests preferred calling the reception to complete reservations — often repeating the same questions.

It became clear that the website wasn’t just visually outdated — it was actively creating friction in both the booking process and daily operations.

The redesign aimed to:

• Increase direct bookings
• Reduce reliance on third-party platforms and their commission fees
• Make navigation intuitive and conversion-focused
• Reduce repetitive booking-related inquiries handled by reception

Challenge

The original website struggled to drive direct bookings, which meant missed revenue opportunities and heavy reliance on commission-based platforms such as Booking.com.

From a user perspective, key information was difficult to find. The structure felt illogical, navigation unclear, and the overall visual impression did not reflect the hotel’s character.

To open up the possibility of more direct bookings and reduce dependence on costly third-party platforms, the website required a comprehensive redesign focused on clarity, usability, and guiding visitors naturally toward booking directly.

Approach

• Analysed booking flow and identified user pain points
• Restructured navigation to prioritize clarity and conversion
• Simplified information hierarchy
• Designed responsive layouts focused on usability and accessibility, while maintaining visual consistency with the hotel’s brand colours and typography
• Integrated clear call-to-action pathways toward direct booking

Conclusion

One year after launch, the impact is clear from both the numbers and my daily conversations with guests at the front desk have given me valuable insight into how these changes have influenced site traffic, user engagement, and, most importantly, direct bookings.

Guest behaviour has shifted. Many returning guests now choose to book directly through the website instead of third-party platforms. Booking-related phone inquiries have decreased, and additional offerings — such as restaurant discount codes — are more visible and frequently used.

One year after launch:

• 25% year-over-year increase in direct bookings
• Reduced reliance on third-party booking platforms
• Decrease in booking-related phone inquiries
• Increased awareness of additional offerings such as restaurant discount codes

The redesign strengthened the hotel’s digital presence while delivering measurable business results and easing operational pressure at reception.

Feel free to explore the live website however, after the ownership transition, parts of the website were modified to support the requirements and priorities of the new ownership.: hotel-jomfruane.dk.