From Hotel Nights to Memorable Experiences!

Scandic Hotels is a hotel chain, operating over 260 hotels mainly in the Nordic countries. 

Scandic saw the challenge posed by new operators, with companies born on the web like hotels.com, booking.com and AirBnb having reached top-of-mind among digital travellers.

Therefore, it was time to stand out by creating an extraordinary digital presence that more clearly communicated the upgrade of their new brand.

Scandic was reliant on an old technical platform that was unable to cope with the new business challenges, or deliver the experience expected by today’s picky consumers.

The first step was to jointly develop a digital consumer strategy based on a vision centred on the user experience. It went without saying that the customer journey would be one prong of the strategy – supporting the guests from the research and planning stage, through booking, and ultimately to their hotel stay and return home.

We also plotted the customer lifecycle. How can we attract more guests and deepen the relationship using digital services paired with relevant, personal communication in all channels, and convert them into loyal customers?

Finally, Scandic needed the right conditions to deliver on the strategy – new, more efficient platforms for multichannel communication, content capable of inspiring and converting guests, plus a new way of working.

A couple of nights at a hotel does not a summer make. Travelling is about the entire experience. Scandic has grasped this. What starts out as a dream, possibly sparked by an advertisement on Facebook, is now nurtured in a better way thanks to Scandic’s efforts to simplify the process of research, planning and booking using smart digital solutions – to help guests find just the right accommodation and destination to suit their needs and wishes. We have also helped Scandic create expectations and impart inspiration about things to do at the destination and at the hotel. Plus information on how to get there.

Once the trip has become a reality and the guests have checked out, the hotel chain can now also help them relive and share their experience and inspire others, so that their stay becomes the stuff of others’ dreams too.

The guests aren’t the only ones on a journey. Scandic itself is on one too – from a motel to designer hotels in attractive locations across the country. Apart from offering users a first-class experience, our challenge was to convey Scandic’s new soul and face in the digital world. Showcasing the hotels was key. We worked using large-format images, vivid texts with a well-balanced tone of voice, and supportive features like maps, "nearby attractions" and a new way of presenting hotel amenities. The reservation process itself is a cinch to use – which may seem like a matter of course, but it’s actually a bit of a challenge given all the alternatives and extra options guests have to choose from.

Automated communication with a personal touch

In order to keep communication with guests and members cohesive throughout the customer journey, and to make sure that it is relevant and personal, we automated it. Which may sound somewhat contradictory, but with smart programming this can actually increase the feeling of being given personal attention. Among other things, Scandic’s new Market Automation platform means that the guest…

...feels cared for and special

...gets help planning their stay

...has the opportunity to give feedback and share their experience with others

Is there an iron in your room?

Thanks to new and improved editorial tools, we were also able to help Scandic employees streamline their work to manage site content. What used to take several days with multiple different people involved can now be done in a flash with just a few clicks. For example, updating the room descriptions (yes, the room has an iron) and other amenities in all channels.

Scandichotels.se is based on Optimizely, Microsoft Azure and a service-orientated architecture that currently manages:

• 7 languages
• 230 hotels
• 10,000 images
• 100,000 pages in the CMS
• 40,000 room nights booked every day
• 2,000,000 Scandic Friends members