Case Study: Enhanicng Sun Outdoors Brand and Digital Performance

Excerpt from the HSMAI & Milestone Whitepaper Top Digital Trends for Hospitality C-Suite to Future Proof Your Digital Footprint.

Background 

Sun Outdoors, a leader in outdoor hospitality, includes a portfolio of over 150 parks. Unlike typical hospitality businesses, Sun Outdoors offers both transient mobile home and long-term RV rentals, with an impressive average rental tenure of over eight years. This requires a specialized approach to support the diverse outdoor experiences their parks offer, which are crucial for rental tenure and guest satisfaction. The comprehensive digital strategy they implemented includes a cohesive brand story integration across all platforms, performance-driven solutions that support brand storytelling while boosting key metrics like annual and monthly rentals and website conversions, and decentralized content management that allows parks to update their events and experiences in real time. 

Solution 

Milestone addressed these challenges through a multi-faceted approach using their Cloud Platform, which includes a comprehensive CMS, Milestone Local for centralized location information, Milestone Insights and Analytics, and integrated native SEO. Milestone developed a digital strategy to communicate Sun Outdoors’ brand story across all touchpoints. The new website design emphasized both aesthetic appeal and functionality, driving user engagement and facilitating seamless customer journeys from browsing to booking. Milestone deployed a CMS to streamline processes and improve efficiency, allowing easy content updates by park managers, empowering individual parks to showcase their unique events and experiences to support guest engagement. 

Outcome 

Following the launch of their enhanced web platforms, Sun Outdoors experienced a notable increase in online revenue, underpinned by several key metrics. Improved search engine rankings and increased organic traffic led to more site visits and a higher average session duration. Additionally, there was an increase in ‘add to cart’ sessions, which points to greater customer engagement and intent to purchase. Alongside these improvements, Sun Outdoors also saw a decrease in bounce rates, indicating that visitors found the site more relevant and engaging, further contributing to the overall success in their digital strategy.  

Summary 

Since the launch of the platform, Sun Outdoors has expanded their partnership with Milestone to support other divisions including manufactured homes. This co-innovative partnership leverages Milestone’s expertise as a renowned eCommerce martech platform company, resulting in significant successes through mutual value creation and innovative digital solutions.  


Categories: Marketing
Insight Type: Articles