Belmond

Bringing the world’s most thrilling adventures to life.

A global transformation to position Belmond at the forefront of luxury travel.

Live Site

www.belmond.com

Engagement

2017 - Present

Awards Won

Drum Design Awards, Gold

Best Luxury Website, GWG Awards.

The Challenge

Established in 1976, Belmond has been a pioneering force in luxury travel for over 40 years, building a diverse portfolio of 60+ hotels, river cruises, train journeys and safaris for discerning global travellers.

With ambitious goals to double EBITDA through an aggressive acquisition strategy, the business needed to ensure digital operations were robust. As well as a consistent visual style, a thoughtful user experience was needed, to cater to multiple stakeholder needs and cover a number of different booking systems.

Most importantly, it was imperative to define what success meant – a particularly interesting measure was the need to convert customers in new parts of the product portfolio, cross-pollinating equity from the more famous brands the business had bought, (think: Copacabana Palace, Cipriani and Orient Express).

Our partnership with Belmond is such a pleasure - a smart team at the forefront and a quirky, joyous brand full of story and surprise.

Anant Sharma, CEO

01 / 05

35+

sites launched across multiple languages

24%

Increase in digital revenue

Booking systems integrated (and you wouldn't know it)

A goldmine of story and insight.

We always take the time upfront to understand history – what makes a brand special and how can its past inform its future?

The MOF team spoke to general managers and customers globally. These nuggets uncovered an eccentricity that inspired the editorial and art direction.

Meanwhile, the UX team used MOF’s black book to recruit an HNW cohort, to stress test booking funnels and other business-critical customer journeys.

The design team created unique luggage tag motifs and brand materials for each destination, each of which had a distinct style but sat within a common design framework.

Our dev team brought it together, getting design and content into a browser to ensure we could re-adjust the overall aesthetic; connecting conceptual thinking with the practical detail.

A global digital platform primed to scale.

In just over nine months, we reorganised Belmond’s portfolio, launched over 40 websites, and devised and produced an end-to-end editorial strategy. The business increased digital revenue by 24%.

A highly flexible, modular design system, which allowed the intricate patterns, maps and illustrations to sit comfortably within a uniform design framework. Many of our digital-first ideas have been adopted across the physical customer experience.

Soon after we delivered the first phase, LVMH acquired Belmond at a 40% share price premium, with digital competence referenced as a driver.