‍Influence Society is a digital marketing agency that designs websites, creates campaigns, and builds strategies for lifestyle and luxury hospitality brands. Previously, we talked to the talented team about how they bring the world’s most stunning hotels to life on the web. Since then, Influence Society has continued to experiment with what Webflow can do for their business and their clients. 

Their latest offering, Room Directories, allows hotels to swap their static PDF directories for a dynamic, visually-appealing, and interactive platform — created and managed in Webflow.

We chatted with Influence Society founder, Sébastien Felix, to learn how Webflow supported the idea for Room Directories and why the team decided to build it. 

Quickly addressing a major client pain point 

Influence Society found that many hotel clients struggle to deliver a seamless experience to their guests because their hotel websites aren’t always connected with essential information about additional services like spa treatments, restaurant menus, and events. Often, these offerings are managed on a separate room directory platform, which comes with its own challenges and licensing fees. Plus, many hotel websites and directories are static or difficult to update without bringing in a developer.

Influence Society already uses Webflow to design beautiful, functional websites for hotels, so they thought — why not bring directories into Webflow as well? Within two weeks, the initial version of Room Directories was ready, and it evolved quickly into the final product. 

“Our goal was to provide an easy-to-implement solution for hotels that could be set up quickly, along with a backend that allows them to make changes autonomously,” says Sébastien. 

Because hotel websites aren’t generally connected to the directory software, hotels often pay for the services separately. So, after paying for web design and hosting, hotels also have to pay directory software fees and contract an agency to help manage that directory. Building Room Directories in Webflow allows Influence Society to provide an all-in-one-solution for clients.

“We can build hotel websites and Room Directories together, giving clients one backend to manage them both. We create data bridges between the two systems so they can publish an update to their website and directory at the same time with consistent branding. And because it’s all in Webflow, they only pay for one hosting plan.”

- Sébastien Felix, Founder, Influence Society 

Delivering a more streamlined and strategic experience 

Webflow’s built-in features are crucial to Influence Society’s Room Directories, supporting every step of the process, giving them the ability to build the foundational functionality, customize based on each hotel’s needs, and analyze results. 

Using Webflow CMS Collections, Influence Society built a Room Directories foundation that can be brought into any project. Standard Collection items like spa services, restaurant selections, and hotel activities are established, so the team can jump right into customizing Room Directories for the client’s needs.

Influence Society uses the Webflow Designer to collaborate with their clients and incorporate feedback during the build process. Instead of trying to imagine what a static mockup might look like on a live website, clients can see designs come to life in real time. Projects move faster and more smoothly because clients are more involved throughout the process. 

“The Designer is an optimal solution for collaborating with clients in real time. We can address feedback extremely quickly — we make the changes, hit republish, and they can see them live on the site right away, which is super cool.”

- Sébastien Felix, Founder, Influence Society 

Replacing static PDFs with dynamic Room Directories also helps clients gather valuable learnings about their guest activity. With the help of platforms like Google Analytics, Influence Society can track guest behavior to provide insights to hoteliers, perform A/B tests, and set up ad retargeting campaigns. Their team can test how layouts influence the way guests explore the directory, gather information about which restaurant items are checked most often, learn what percentage of guests look at spa services, etc. Hoteliers are then empowered to act on that feedback by making changes to their Room Directory.

Growing their business with a promising new revenue stream

Room Directories has opened up an entirely new revenue stream for Influence Society — putting them on track to triple their sales this year. 

Influence Society works exclusively with luxury hospitality brands, so their client base is already hungry for a better alternative to PDFs. Dynamic Room Directories can be created alongside a website, connected to an existing Webflow site, or built as a standalone project. Plus, Influence Society is already enhancing the offering with online brochures that can be shared via a link. 

“Imagine you are looking for a wedding venue or somewhere to host a business retreat. We can use Room Directories to create different brochures for the same hotel, each catering to a different type of traveler. Everything is shareable and trackable.” says Sébastien.

Influence Society clients who have taken advantage of Room Directories are already sharing success stories. Rivage Hotel says they can now update their restaurant menu on a daily basis, and they’ve found that guests prefer accessing information through a website instead of downloading a PDF. 

Sébastien notes that their new offering makes it easier to sell hotel websites, too. Once clients use Room Directories, it’s easier to sell them on building their hotel website in Webflow as well. With the Room Directories projects they have in the pipeline, Sébastien estimates that Influence Society’s revenue will triple within the year.

What’s next for Influence Society?

The Influence Society team is continuing to evolve their products and services to best serve luxury hospitality brands,  “My dream is to have a Webflow ecosystem for hotels — Room Directories, website, restaurant, ecommerce — everything in Webflow and customizable,” says Sébastien. 

Keep an eye on Influence Society as they move towards making that dream a reality or check out their episode on Webflow TV below.