Did you know that the Hotel Continentale was one of the first hotels in Italy to have its own website?
• 1.0 Adventure begins [ 1996 ]
It was 1996, at the dawn of the network, I was just over 20 years old. In Arezzo we had the Antica Bottega Digitale (for friends abd) a small company, but one of the few that developed websites and so we jumped into this madness.
• 2.0 domain and graphics “pop” [ 1999 ]
I was passionate about the web so I decided to do it myselfmy site . Easy to do it now with youtube tutorials, dut in 1996 there was only the book “html for dummies” (if you want to buy it still amazon sells it) nothing easy! I got carried away with a very “pop” graphics, black background and hyper-colored keys, maybe a bit risky.
• 3.0 Japanese 日 本 人 歓 迎 [ 2003 ]
Leaving the black background (luckily) we worked on a first draft of brand identity, pastel colors (goodbye rainbow keys), hotel designed on the homepage. And then the big bet, translate the site into Japanese!BANZAI !!! or better to say KARAKIRI !!! Yes, because the effort to implement Japanese characters, logograms (kanji), syllabars (hiragana and katakana) and the Latin alphabet (rōmaji) was devastating in compensation of Japanese tourists in the hotel if they saw very few .
• 4.0 Long live web 2.0 but nobody updated it anyway.
Web 2.0 was advancing and obviously the first site on which we tested the new panel was that of the hotel that in 2005 was revisited on a graphic level but also filled with content. The level was definitely up .. and also the contacts. But as always nice to have a site to update … but then ….what do you write? It ended as always with a news per month and a few updates per year!!!!
• 5.0 Big big photo and go to disintermediation !!!! [ 2010 ]
Put in the attic the old modem to 9600, the fast connections allowed us to dare more, then we focused everything on images that from simple “add” became the basis of everything, 11 years ago he was so advanced to win numerous awards.And the photos ? easy, my sister was from IED in Milan with a master in photography so … refex a shoulder strap and so on.But the real dream of 2010 was “disintermediation” ! Stop to pay excessive commissions to portals, we must sell directly from the site.Easy to say but very difficult to do.
Innovatori si nasce, e nel 2007 la nostra seconda azienda (esimple) sviluppava soluzione Ar/Vr e applicazioni per smartphone (lo zio Steve presentò l’iPhone nel 2007). Anche un questo caso serviva una “cavia”.
• 5.5 smartphone and virtual reality[ 2013 ]
We publish the official application of the Hotel that allowed the visit to 360 = of the entire structure, in virtual reality, cool! You moved your iPad, and the whole view shifted, and the people who saw you took you for a jerk, but it was worth it.
• 6.0 Innovazione sotto al cofano [ 2021 ]
After 25 years from version 1.0 we start again !!!
Now there is little to invent, this site is updated to the latest trends but above all it is the basis for marketing and social media actions that we will put in place in the coming months.
Innovation has shifted from visible to invisible with marketing automation systems that are not seen but give huge results.
Soon we will publish a high quality version of the virtual tour captured with Matterport technology.
Hotels have always been forerunners of every digital trend, the first to have a website, the first to sell online, the first to use managerial and pms, the first, the first …. innovation is in our DNA, welcome hotelcontinentale.com 6.0 but do not delude yourself you will be just a site of passage towards 7.0.
Chi Siamo
Hotel Continentale: located in the heart of Arezzo's historic center, offers a warm and family-friendly atmosphere nurtured over three generations. Modern elegance and luxurious comfort combine to create a unique experience, ideal for business and leisure stays. The iconic sixth-floor panoramic terrace with a view of the ancient city will take your breath away.