23% reduction in OTA dependency in year one post-launch

Services delivered

The Brief

The Meridian Palm opened on Palm Jumeirah in late 2024 as a 180-key luxury property targeting the premium leisure segment — international travellers, UAE-based staycationers, and destination wedding clients. The hotel's opening marketing strategy faced a challenge familiar to new luxury properties: without a track record of guest reviews and third-party coverage, the property was dependent on OTA platforms (Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb for its villa category) where the commission structure significantly impacted RevPAR. The revenue strategy called for building direct booking volume within 12 months of opening.

The brief for us was the content that would underpin the direct booking strategy — a hero brand film that would live on the website's homepage and in the sales presentation deck, supported by a comprehensive photography suite for the website, OTA listings, print materials, and press. The property's general manager was explicit: the photography we had at opening was functional but not exceptional. We need content that makes guests feel something before they book.

What We Delivered

The primary deliverable was a four-minute brand film — the longest format we typically produce for hospitality clients, justified by the hotel's need to communicate multiple distinct product propositions within a single piece: beach and pool, dining, spa, and the Palm Jumeirah location's unique access to both sea views and Dubai skyline. The film was structured as a guest journey from arrival to late evening, using two talent couples (one international leisure, one UAE local staycation) to represent the dual target audiences.

The eight room category films (30-45 seconds each) covered the hotel's accommodation range from Deluxe Rooms through to the two-bedroom Beach Villa. These were produced for the website's room booking flow — positioned so guests could watch a short walkthrough of each category before selecting. Research from the hotel's revenue management team indicated that room-specific video content at the selection stage increases booking conversion rates by an average of 18-22% for luxury properties.

The photography suite of 200+ images covered all accommodation categories, all F&B outlets, the spa, pool and beach facilities, and the Palm Jumeirah location from both ground and aerial perspectives. All images were delivered in both web-optimised and print-resolution formats, with a selection of 30 hero images retouched to campaign standard for press and OTA hero image positions.

The Production Approach

A four-night production at the hotel allowed us to capture the property across its full daily cycle — the specific quality of morning light on the beach, the pool at the day's height, the F&B transition from lunch service to dinner atmosphere, and the evening skyline from the beachfront. Pre-production included a detailed shot list developed with the hotel's marketing team and a lighting plan for each area that specified which locations needed supplementary lighting and which were strongest with available light alone.

The beach and exterior drone work was scheduled around the specific tidal and wind conditions that give Palm Jumeirah aerials their best quality — early morning before the beach crowd and before mid-day haze. We filed GCAA flight plans for the production window and coordinated with the hotel's security and beach management teams on crew positioning.

The brand film's post-production involved a deliberate colour grade decision: many luxury hotel films in Dubai trend toward a cool, desaturated finish that reads as premium but can feel cold. We graded warm — enhancing the gold tones in the sunrise and the amber of the evening F&B environments — to give the film an emotional warmth that matched the hotel's design philosophy. The music was licensed from a boutique library to avoid the generic orchestral pieces that populate most hospitality brand films.

The Result

In year one following the content launch, the hotel's direct booking channel grew from 12% to 35% of total reservations — a shift the revenue management team attributed in significant part to the website experience anchored by the brand film and room category videos. OTA commission costs reduced by 23% year-on-year as a result of the channel mix shift. The brand film was used in three luxury travel press features in the six months following its release, with two publications reproducing frames from the film as editorial photography. The photography suite has been in continuous use across all marketing materials since delivery, with no reshooting required in the property's first year of operation.