The Old Course Hotel Golf Resort & Spa, the World’s Leading Golf Resort, has proved itself to be a technological leader, having launched a new consumer site www.broadband-standrews.com.
The new website, which went live on March 1st, has a similar look and feel to the hotel’s booking site www.theoldcourse.co.uk, containing the trademark company colours; but with one major difference. This site brings the destination to life with 360¡ virtual tours and streaming broadband videos of the property. Users can tour the spa, the golf course and even their chosen hotel room.

Jonathan Stapleton, general manager, Old Course Hotel Golf Resort & Spa commented: “The aim of the new site is to provide an experience based broadband site which compliments the main Old Course Hotel website which is more of an information giving site from which bookings result”.

The site, which is one of the first of its kind, is currently available in English and Japanese, and will ultimately offer up to 30 languages. Navigation is very straight forward, maximising the user experience.

Jonathan revealed that the main selling point of the site is the broadband virtual reality experience. He commented: “It is designed to be experience driven, to motivate the customer to then click through to the main site to book”.

The primary audience for this website is users with high speed broadband connection. With a downloadable Windows Media Player, users really can get a feel for where they are going before they get there, gaining a priceless insight into the resort before they part with any money.

Jonathan is confident that looking into the future, Broadband internet access, which increases access to the internet by up to 10 times the speed of most common internet connections, will become increasingly popular, with a growing number of users. Broadband enables users to view larger images and moving images on a website which is a selling tool for travel destinations, since it enables users to explore where they are going before they get there.

The new site, which is still being updated, will not replace www.theoldcourse.co.uk, but will link directly to it. Promotions and best price guarantees will still be offered on the main site. Currently 12% of Old Course customers book online but Jonathan expects this number to increase dramatically in the coming months.

Jonathan could not disclose any financial information.
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