The Drisco Hotel

Redesigning a landmark hotel's digital presence to convert the guests it deserves

The Drisco is one of Tel Aviv's most storied properties — a 5-star Relais & Châteaux hotel established in 1866, home to George & John restaurant (recently ranked in the Middle East & North Africa's 50 Best), and set in the historic American-German Colony neighbourhood. With that provenance, the digital experience was carrying a weight it wasn't built to handle.

CHALLENGE — A luxury property let down by its own website

The previous site was visually outdated, cluttered, and not mobile-optimised. For a luxury property competing internationally, this mattered — guests make snap judgments on digital first impressions. The layout lacked hierarchy, the mobile experience was poor, and the brand's emotional resonance simply wasn't coming through. The result: low engagement and a booking rate that didn't reflect the quality of the property.

PROCESS — Leading with what actually makes The Drisco different

The project started with an audit of the existing site alongside a review of The Drisco's competitive set — comparable Relais & Châteaux properties and Tel Aviv's leading boutique hotels. The gap was clear: every competitor led with amenities and room specs, while The Drisco's actual differentiators were atmosphere, provenance, and a very specific kind of guest — adults seeking calm over spectacle, drawn to a residential neighbourhood with 160 years of history behind it. None of that was visible on the old site.

I mapped the guest decision journey from first search through to booking intent, and identified three points where the original site was losing people: an unclear value proposition above the fold, a mobile experience that collapsed the brand, and a booking path with too many unresolved questions before the CTA. Each became a specific design brief.

DESIGN DECISIONS — Unhurried by design

The core tension in luxury hospitality design is between inspiration and conversion — lean too editorial and users can't find the booking button; lean too functional and the brand disappears. The decisions here were about sequencing: photography earns attention first, then the adults-only positioning and heritage story, then rooms and restaurant, then the booking entry point — in that order, not competing simultaneously.

One deliberate choice: the "Adults Only" policy is surfaced early and directly. Rather than treating it as a footnote, it's framed as a feature — a signal to exactly the guests The Drisco wants, and a natural filter for those it doesn't. The palette was pulled from the building's warm stone facade rather than generic luxury black-and-gold. Typography and spacing feel unhurried — the pace of the interface matches the pace of the stay. Built in Elementor with a mobile-first hierarchy applied across all breakpoints.

IMPACT — A 30% lift in bookings and a site the brand is proud of

A 30% increase in booking rate, faster load times, and improved mobile engagement. The structural decisions made early — sequencing, differentiation, leading with positioning over amenities — were what moved the number. The site now tells the story the building already lives.

Tools: UX Research · Wireframing · UI Design · Responsive Design · Elementor

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