A century-old hospitality group, rebuilt around a single editorial voice. Strategy, identity refinement, and a flagship website that lifted direct bookings.
Maison Dorval
— a quiet rebrand
A heritage diluted by a decade of incremental updates.
Maison Dorval arrived at the studio as one of the country's most-respected hospitality groups — and a website that no longer told that story. Over a decade of CMS additions had layered campaign on campaign, until the brand's editorial voice was barely audible beneath the booking widgets and seasonal banners.
Direct bookings were declining; OTA dependence was climbing. The brief was unsparing: return the group's digital presence to its rightful position — without losing a season.
Treat the website as an editorial, not a transaction.
We re-architected the site around four flagship destinations, each given the production care of a magazine feature. Booking moved from a banner to a quiet utility — present where useful, absent where it interrupted the story.
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i.
A type system that carries the brand
Playfair Display at editorial scale; Inter for body. Every page anchored by a single, considered headline.
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ii.
Photography as the lead voice
Commissioned editorial photography across all four properties, art-directed to a single sensibility.
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iii.
Booking as quiet utility
A single persistent booking strip, custom-built — fast, accessible, and visually subordinate to the story.
“They returned us to ourselves. The site reads the way a guest experiences our properties — calm, certain, and quietly considered.”