Renaissance Hotels & Resorts was one of a handful of brands included in our third-annual Digital IQ Index®: Hotels study that overhauled their site in the past 12 months.

What distinguished Renaissance from the rest was that they didn’t stop there.

The “original lifestyle brand” under the Marriott International umbrella, Renaissance also upgraded and integrated its social media presences, assembled an innovative digital advertising campaign, and added site functionalities that allowed guests to more easily navigate the hotel’s more than 150 properties.

In last year’s Index, Renaissance performed well, coming in No. 12 out of 52 Hotel brands and earning a Gifted title. This year, due to stiffer competition, Renaissance maintained its Gifted berth but fell two spots to No. 14, despite a two-point gain in Digital IQ.
 
Renaissance’s multifaceted “Live Life to Discover” ad campaign was aimed at its core customer: the lifestyle-oriented business traveler.

Much of the new and original content populating the site — their off-the-beaten-path recommendations, for example — captured perfectly who their target audience is and what they aspire to do after hours.

One of the more subtle facets to the rebranding was shortening their URL to the sleeker, more cogent www.renhotels.com. A simple change that signaled something big was underfoot.

The launch of new features and stylish original content such as “RNavigators,” an on-site lifestyle concierge service, was another stand-out feature.

A common pitfall of a site overhaul is all flash, no functionality.

With Renaissance, that was definitely not the case. Renhotels.com succeeds with both good looks and well-designed, well-integrated browsing capabilities across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
 
For more findings from our 2013 Digital IQ Index: Hotels study, see link on the top right.

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