Becoming world-leading ski destinations through world-leading website innovation

New Zealand's South Island is renowned as a winter wonderland, home to some of the world's most iconic ski resorts. Sprawling across mountain ranges and valleys, resorts like Coronet Peak, Mt Hutt and The Remarkables offer brilliant snow conditions, vibrant villages, and stunning alpine scenery.

These three resorts attract thousands of domestic and international tourists every winter seeking top notch skiing and snowboarding. Owned and operated by NZ Ski, the resorts aim to provide exceptional experiences on the slopes matched by excellent online customer service.

However, NZ Ski recognised their outdated websites and disjointed branding didn't do justice to their premier slopes and hospitality. They approached us to refresh their web presence and brand positioning, creating a seamless customer experience from initial booking to apres-ski relaxation. Our challenge was bringing their online platforms up to the level of their globally-renowned resorts.

Year

2021

Office

Auckland

Industry

Tourism, Sports

Product

Website

Our Roles

↗

solution-design; ux-design; engineering-and-technology

The Challenge

Create a brand and digital experience befitting NZ Ski's globally renowned resorts

Our Approach

To create optimised websites and branding, we needed deep insights into the customer journey. We immersed ourselves in the full experience, from considering trip options to apres-ski relaxing. Our strategy team secret shopped every touchpoint — booking, transportation, getting passes, renting gear, dining, and more. Feedback terminals at key locations enabled real-time CX insights from resort guests. These qualitative and quantitative insights revealed strengths and weaknesses across the journey. They informed our website design sprints focused on differentiated brand positioning and optimizing pain points in the online booking and info experience. We ensured each resort had its own distinct look and feel while cohesively improving CX across all properties. The insights drove development of mobile-first, on-brand websites as functional sales and info hubs.

The Outcome

The refreshed websites aligned to each resort's brand saw significant increases in engagement and conversion. NZ Ski is equipped to provide excellent customer experience into the future.