Dajon Luxury Apartments Case Study

CASE STUDY

Establishing a brand in a crowded market The owners of a new development on the island of Skiathos were

entering the lodging industry in Greece at a difficult time.

Insight. Strategy. Implementation.

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LEADING WITH DIGITAL IN GREECE’S LODGING INDUSTRY

Executive Summary

Digital marketing has been a consistent income and profit generator for Dajon Luxury Apartments (DLA). With a

limited budget for brand development and sales generation, Lucidity’s team delivered an ROI of 476% in the

first year (2009), and have continued to help grow the business’s top and bottom line ever since. Dajon Luxury

Apartments are now firmly established in the highly competitive lodging sector on Skiathos Island.

About Dajon Luxury Apartments

Dajon Luxury Apartments (DLA) is a relatively new

development in Skiathos, Greece comprising eight large

self-catering apartments and two studios. It is quietly

located five minutes’ walk from the centre of the popular

and lively resort of Skiathos Town.

Situation

Dajon’s management were entering the lodging industry in

Skiathos at a very difficult time. Over the previous 10

years, the number of rooms available for rent on the island

had increased dramatically, so they would be competing in

an over-supplied market.

Furthermore, competition was beginning to intensify as

previously reliable markets in Britain, Germany and

Scandinavia started to show signs of decline. The global

financial crisis recession was beginning to affect the plans

of holiday-makers throughout Europe.


Task

Lucidity London was commissioned by Dajon’s owners to

devise and implement a marketing plan to achieve the

following goals:

1. Raise awareness of the new apartments among

holidaymakers and regular visitors to the island

2. Stake out a position at the top end of the lodging

market in Skiathos, Greece

3. Achieve an occupancy rate of 70% in the summer

season (Jun to mid-Oct)

4. Make effective and efficient use of the budget and

deliver an annual return on investment of 300+%

Action

A review of competitors in Skiathos helped us identify

space for the newly christened Dajon Apartments at the

top end of the mid-market, and informed the creation of

a brand name and identity which positioned Dajon as an

‘affordable luxury’.

Now we needed to find a way of placing the brand

among the choices of accommodation that the island’s

visitors see and actively consider. But who were these

visitors? And how would we reach them?

With the start of the first summer season approaching,

we selected independent travellers as our primary target

audience; secondary research revealed more than 60%

of European holiday-makers arrive on the island without

the assistance of a tour operator.

For this group of visitors, online was a key research tool

for lodgings and a small number of online directories

were highly influential in driving traffic to the websites

of service providers. We created a high profile presence

on each directory to guide potential customers to a new

website designed to reflect the luxury attributes of the

Dajon proposition and produced in 3 languages; Greek,

English and German.

Visitors to the site were able to download brochures,

price lists and maps for circulation among decision-

makers, and designed to boost consideration and

preference for Dajon. Photographs of the modern,

spacious accommodation were interspersed with images

from around Skiathos to promote the island as an idyllic

holiday destination.


Communication Materials

Website (www.dajonskiathos.com) House Banner Ad

Brochure (English) Promotional Banner Ad – Jan 2010

Guest Satisfaction Survey (English) Rates – Summer 2009


Results

Digital marketing works well for Dajon’s management,

comfortably exceeding their targets each year. By

tracking room nights booked following an online

enquiry, and then calculating the total revenue

generated by these room nights, they have found that

online marketing is a reliable, consistent income

generator delivering an ROI of over 400% a year.

Over the past 5 years Dajon’s management have

consistently achieved an occupancy rate over 70%, an

incredible performance given the heightened level of

competitive intensity at the time and the initial

inexperience of the team in the lodging industry.

Results from Guest Satisfaction Surveys have revealed

consistently high levels of approval with the lodging -

Dajon averages over of 8 out of 10 every year for the

overall experience, while qualitative feedback from the

surveys help management continuously improve the

customer experience.

All the experience gained from early digital campaigns

has been fed back into an annual planning cycle which

informs tactical changes to the marketing plan for the

following year.

With a high profile presence firmly established on the

key online directories in Skiathos itself, Dajon have

shifted their focus to reach out and develop a digital

presence in key country markets (Serbia, Italy and the

UK) to stimulate advance bookings and help them

towards their occupancy target for the season.

Every January, an ‘Early Booker’ pay per click campaign

is created for each country market which produces more

than 60 bookings a year. Today Dajon’s websites attract

more than 1,000 unique visitors each month, with each

in-market visitor spending an average of 6 minutes

spending time browsing around.

Source: Dajon Luxury Apartments, Jan 2014

11,558

15,138 12,370 12,426

9,586

23%

7% 5% 5%

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Annual Performance: Sales & Web Visitors

Annual Web Visits Revenue Growth on LY

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Dajon Luxury Apartments Case Study