Stay Central Hotel
About
Stay Central is a boutique hotel located in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town, designed for social travellers, group stays, and experience-led city breaks. Positioned on the Cowgate, the hotel blends accommodation with nightlife, offering a high-energy, lifestyle-driven stay.
The project focused on creating a digital experience that reflects the hotel’s personality—playful, social, and slightly unconventional—while improving clarity around its room offering and driving direct bookings.
Challenge
Stay Central operates differently from a traditional hotel, catering heavily to groups, events, and social stays. This created several UX and positioning challenges:
- The offering was not clearly differentiated from standard hotels, despite its strong lifestyle angle
- Room types (ranging from small doubles to dorm-style group spaces) were not easily understood or comparable
- The experience of the hotel—its energy, location, and connection to nightlife—was not fully captured online
- Booking journeys lacked clarity, particularly for larger groups or higher-occupancy rooms
- Content felt fragmented, with limited hierarchy between inspiration and practical information
The challenge was to position Stay Central as an experience-led stay, while simplifying decision-making for a broad range of users.
