Hotel website relaunch at stuub.de - 87% extra effort and still a happy ending
stuub
An honest look behind the scenes.
87% more hours, but happy faces all round: that's how our hotel website relaunch at stuub.de can be summarized. What began as a relatively small soft relaunch quickly developed into a major project with many unexpected challenges. In this case study, we give you an honest look behind the scenes: The stumbling blocks we overcame, how we set priorities and motivated the team - and why the result ultimately exceeded all expectations.
Project start & progress: From soft relaunch to major project
In 2023, stuub, which stands for modern hotels & vacation apartments, first approached us about a hotel website relaunch - but decided against implementing it at the time. The relaunch followed in 2024 with fresh ideas. After a brand workshop in Staufen and intensive brainstorming sessions, the planned "soft relaunch" quickly turned into a real major project: a multi-property CMS, new designs, new perspectives - and of course new challenges. In the meantime, an external designer joined the process - which meant more coordination and discussions, but also more wow moments. A planned technical modernization turned into a comprehensive brand relaunch with several websites under one roof.
Key facts about the hotel website relaunch
- Start & finish: Soft relaunch - sharpening the brand
- CMS: Processwire - as flexible as a Swiss army knife
- Multiproperty: Spontaneously added to secure growth
- Design: More and more new elements, in the end a completely new look.
- Development: With each step, the project moved further away from the original plan and developed into an individual website with its very own character.
Planning & Budget
Despite careful planning, reality surprised us: new requests, longer distances, budget at the limit. Our tip for future website relaunches: formulate offers as specifically as possible and allow for buffers - especially for large hotel web projects. The clear definition of services and limits in the offer phase prevents misunderstandings later on.
Concept - The underestimated foundation
Design is king, but without a concept, the king looks ill-dressed. Wireframes saved us from design chaos and a budget explosion. The stuub team was open to this extra round - and happy about it in the end. The wireframe phase helped to restructure content and clarify complex requirements at an early stage before the design caused headaches.
stuub in figures
- Brand foundation: 2019
- Number of hotel & apartment locations operated by Stuub and the company behind it, Black Forest Hospitality GmbH: 7
- Number of website sessions per year: just under 90,000 (according to Google Analytics 4 and after cookie consent)
XPORT project in figures
- Project initiation from May 2022
- Kickoff and design workshop: September 2024
- Golive of the relaunch: August 2025
- Total workload recorded over time: 900 h
- thereof conception: 80 h
- Design: 130 h
- Project management incl. internal and external meetings: 180 h
- Development: 380 h
- Content, tests, CMS training: 73 h
- SEO, Tracking: 30 h
Stumbling blocks & worst practice
Communication crises, growing demands, shrinking budgets - the classic. In the end, 87% more hours were on the clock. Our learning: transparency and pragmatism are worth their weight in gold. Not every detail is relevant for the user, even if we care about it.
The great freedom in the design phase in particular led to many extras that really made developers and budgets sweat.
Crisis & cohesion
Staying agile, communicating honestly, finding solutions together - that was our lifebelt. There should be no opponents in a project team - we're all in the same boat! Open communication - both internally and with stuub - helped us to reprioritize even in difficult times and never lose sight of the goal.
Client/agency collaboration
Duty to cooperate is not a myth: content, organization, coordination - little happens without a clear contact person. Our checklists and video tutorials for the CMS helped us to master the final spurt and get the editorial team on the customer side off to the best possible start.
Prioritization & focus
We dedicate ourselves to all our projects and put our heart and soul into their realization. However, attention to detail here does not mean postponing going live week after week in order to meet perfectionist standards. Anything that is not urgent goes into the next release - that way the project stays in flow.
Together with stuub, we were able to focus on the essentials and plan for later expansion stages in a relaxed manner.
The result of the hotel website relaunch
Increase in booking figures Sep. - Nov. 2025 compared to previous year: 17 percent
Increase conversion rate website users / bookings: 39 percent
Improvement in mobile page loading speed: 26 percent
Individual & user-friendly
A website that is individual, user-friendly and technically sound - and a team that still talks to each other after 87% extra work. The result clearly exceeds the original plans and presents the stuub brand in the best possible way.
This hotel website relaunch shows how even large web projects can be successfully mastered - with team spirit, flexibility and clear communication.
What does stuub say?
Dear Maria,
dear XPORT team,
we are also very happy - thank you very much for your great commitment, attention to detail and patience during the countless (but constructive) rounds of coordination.
I think the result really speaks for itself and we are very proud that we have achieved this together!
Despite a few points of friction along the way, the result is one that stuub can now successfully build on.
(...)
We are already looking forward to the upcoming releases and to seeing how the website will shape the stuub brand on the one hand and how direct bookings will develop on the other.
Best regards
Michelle
- Michelle Deville, Marketing Manager at stuub until 30.09.2025
Conclusion
Large hotel web projects are like a hike through the Black Forest: sometimes steep, sometimes rocky, but with team spirit, humor and flexibility you get there. After the relaunch is before the next release - we're already looking forward to the next stage!
Thanks to the entire team and our clients at Black Forest Hospitality for their trust and great collaboration!
Are you planning a website relaunch or want to sharpen your digital brand profile? Whether small or large: we'll show you how to turn ideas into real results.