Built in the early 1900s by, who her current owners describe as an ‘Edwardian gentleman’, the Watersmeet Hotel & Restaurant has a long and colourful history serving the local community in North Devon.
Despite heavy development in the South West in recent years, the Watersmeet still holds a sense of remote tranquillity that fewer and fewer Devonians will remember. Nestled into the rocks on a rugged, exquisite coastline, the boutique hotel remains architecturally reminiscent of the era she was built in and as a result, stands as a testament to times gone by.
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When Watersmeet first approached the team at Priority Pixels, we were in awe. The sprawling hotel boasts a number of luxury rooms and facilities including a restaurant and bistro, corporate function rooms, a spa and of course, an indoor swimming pool for those blustery beachside winters. Perhaps most incredible is the stunning panoramic views the Watersmeet overlooks. From most of the rooms throughout the hotel, guests can enjoy breathtaking ocean vistas of the rugged and wild Devonian coastline. Describing the hotel as having ‘seaside views’ doesn’t even begin to cut it when you can enjoy a glass of prosecco and splendid local fare overlooking a glorious, golden sunset.
Needless to say, for all the hotel’s class and rugged beachside charm, the Watermeet’s website did nothing to emulate the splendour or grandeur of the hotel, nor its eventful history. The website wasn’t built particularly well. It was also visually outdated, as well as difficult to navigate.
Priority Pixels were asked to provide the following services:
As always, the team at Priority Pixels got to work. Our talented web development team used WordPress to implement a modern, visually contemporary web design that emulated the elegant, beachside ambience of the Watersmeet without compromising on the historical elements that make the hotel truly unique.
To do so the overall design of the website was completely rebuilt from the ground up using a combination of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP. Our web development team avoided plug-ins, ultimately keeping scripts and load times to an absolute minimum. The design itself utilises white space for an elegant, modern user experience with plenty of high-quality photography to capture the true spirit of the hotel and give visitors to the site a sense of just how grand the Watersmeet really is. As a result, the website now emulates an elegant, seaside aesthetic in keeping with the hotel’s oceanside location and historic stature within the local community.
As discussed, our web developers and graphic designers collaborated together to create a brand new, simplified menu. With a joint focus on both aesthetically appealing design and user-friendly functionality, we aimed to create a visually modern, easily-used main menu that allowed the hotel to showcase its various facilities while maintaining a sense of elegance. We opted for a less cluttered design that is easier to navigate than its predecessor. The website is now fully responsive and as a result, is easily used across multiple devices.
Lastly, our team worked to combine the booking system. We integrated the hotel, bistro and restaurant reservation system resulting in a user-friendly, fully accessible website that is easily navigated. The result is a contemporary, elegant website that is not only a joy to use but emulates the boutique hotel’s unique aesthetic.
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