New York, NY – April 28, 2016 – HeBS Digital is proud to announce that the Tsogo Sun brand website has been selected as an Official Honoree in the 20th Annual Webby Awards in the Advertising: Tourism & Leisure category. HeBS Digital, the leading hotel digital technology, full-service digital marketing and website revenue optimization consulting firm conceptualized, designed and developed the new website for Tsogo Sun, Africa’s premier gaming, hotel and entertainment group.
Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by The New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international awards program, honoring excellence on the Internet. The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), which nominates, selects and presents the awards, comprises Web industry experts from a variety of verticals.
“Honorees like Tsogo Sun are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet,” said David-Michel Davies, Executive Director of The Webby Awards. “It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 13,000 entries we received this year.”
Operating on HeBS Digital’s smartCMS v7 website technology platform, the Tsogo Sun website serves as a portal for the brand as a whole, showcasing over 90 hotels and resorts, 14 casinos, 35 restaurants and convention center. The website technology serves as the engine for Tsogo Sun’s online presence, driving revenue via a diverse collection of solutions. The Webby Awards-nominated site replaced more than 17 individual corporate, hotel, gaming and conference websites and draws on a variety of key smartCMS functionalities to serve as the brand’s go-to source of digital revenue:
- Adaptive design, providing an exceptional user experience on desktop, tablet and mobile devices
- Enhanced merchandising functionality, highlighting brand, regional, property and business-specific promotions
- Full integrations with more than 15 important applications, including Brand Rewards Program, brand CRS, investor share pricing feeds, Live Theme Park Rides Availability, Live Casino Slots Payout Displays, Live Movie Theater Show times, and others
- State-of-the-art cloud hosting and Content Delivery Network (CDN) allowing for quick page downloads (benefiting user experience, on-site conversions, and search engine rankings)
- Corporate homepage video with seamless user experience based on the website visitor’s bandwidth capabilities
- Robust intra-site search functionality
- Travel planning enhancements: weather feeds, jackpot payout feeds, theme park ride status, currency conversion tool, and booking functionalities for movies, theatre, and event tickets
“When we started this project, we set out to completely revamp our online presence on the three screens with the overall goal of increasing bookings on our website” said Alison Mills, eCommerce Manager – Group. “We reviewed multiple firms worldwide and found that HeBS Digital’s website and digital technology and marketing offerings surpassed all other solutions. By partnering with HeBS Digital, we were able to elevate our hospitality brand to new heights, with a new tsogosun.com brand website and an efficient and streamlined website technology and Content Management System that allows us to share content across multiple properties and regions. The result is a flawless online experience that really portrays the depth and breadth of Tsogo Sun’s portfolio in one central location, and allows us to effectively communicate with our customer segments in ways that were never before possible.”
“When we partnered with Tsogo Sun to develop their most important digital asset – the brand website, we knew that it was only the beginning in terms of a successful future ahead for their portfolio,” said Max Starkov, President & CEO of HeBS Digital. “This award is a huge honor and affirmation that the industry-first capabilities we have implemented in bringing this massive hospitality portfolio under one roof, is indeed a digital masterpiece. We are so proud to share this award with Tsogo Sun and look forward to a prosperous direct online channel future together.”
View honorees in The Webby Awards’ Advertising: Tourism & Leisure category at pv.webbyawards.com.
