Background & Problem Statement

Villa Dagmar is a premium 70-room boutique hotel in Stockholm's upscale Östermalm district, featuring sophisticated interiors, a signature glass-ceiling courtyard, and multi-concept offerings including restaurant, wellness spa, and event spaces. Despite their luxury positioning and exceptional physical spaces, their website failed to reflect the brand's true caliber.

The challenge: a significant gap between Villa Dagmar's premium hotel experience and their generic digital presence. In design-conscious Scandinavia, this disconnect undermined their competitive positioning and failed to showcase their signature spaces effectively.

Brand Research & Inspiration

The Insight: Villa Dagmar's interiors have a sophisticated, moody elegance that their corporate-style website completely ignored. The iconic glass-ceiling courtyard - perfect for cocktails and breakfast - was buried rather than celebrated as their signature experience.

Design Strategy: Extract visual cues from their actual interiors to create brand-digital alignment. The dark, sophisticated aesthetic reflects their real ambiance while strategic copper accents (pulled from their interior elements) create cohesive brand experience across physical and digital touchpoints.

Multi-Business Architecture: Rather than treating hotel, restaurant, wellness, and events as separate entities, the design tells one cohesive story of the complete Villa Dagmar experience from arrival to departure.

Visual Identity & Website Redesign

Moody Sophistication: Intentionally departed from typical Scandinavian light aesthetics to match Villa Dagmar's actual interior mood. Dark backgrounds and dramatic lighting reflect the sophisticated ambiance guests actually experience.

Hero Space Strategy: Positioned the glass-ceiling courtyard as the opening hero experience, immediately showcasing their most distinctive feature. Visitors can envision cocktails under the lattice work or breakfast in natural light - the experiences that define Villa Dagmar.

Editorial Layout System: Clear section progression (01-05) guides visitors through their complete offering while bold typography and varied grids create visual interest that matches Stockholm's design heritage expectations.

Strategic Content Flow: Designed the homepage journey to mirror an actual guest experience - from arrival impression through rooms, dining, wellness, and events - with strategic CTAs positioned after each story element builds desire.

Final Thoughts

This redesign demonstrates how identifying brand-digital disconnects can transform a property's online positioning. By extracting design cues from Villa Dagmar's actual spaces and reflecting their true sophisticated ambiance, the website now matches the premium experience guests encounter in person.

The project proves that effective hospitality web design requires understanding both the physical space and guest journey, creating digital experiences that feel authentic to the brand's actual character rather than following generic industry templates.