On the 20th of December 2013 putitout went live with the sixth and final website for W Short, a premium hospitality chain in Sydney (Australia). It was the end of an eighteen month delivery schedule which Katie project managed, here she gives us her insight to the project and all.

Ed will play the role of ‘the interviewer’.

E: Hi there, what is your name?

K: Katie Houghton.

E: Do you have any nicknames?

K: Dog.

E: OK… So how long have you been at putitout?

K: Over three years.

E: And how are you feeling?

K: Feeling pretty good, pretty switched on. Can I ask you questions Ed?

E: No. So, tell me about W Short group, who are they?

K: They are a hospitality company that own a series of bars and hotels in Sydney (Australia).

E: How is your Australian accent?

K [in Australian]: I would say its pretty good actually Ed.

E: Useful. So, what have putitout done for W Short group?

K: We built six websites for their venues all around Sydney (Australia). They are mainly pubs and hotels, all with different vibes, for example Scubar is where the backpackers and students go – because its got a fun atmosphere and the website reflects that. And then there is The Royal which is the venue they acquired at the end of last year, it’s a bit more family orientated and upmarket, again the website reflects this.

The venues that have gone live are:

W Short Group Hotel Group

Seabreeze

Scubar

The Royal

The Australian

The Glenmore

E: Gosh quite a lot of sites there.

K: Yes, quite a lot.

E: Good stuff.

K: Yes - what we did is use the same template (built in Drupal) across all six websites but managed to make them have their own look and feel by implementing the different designs tailored to each website.

E: I see, did this make it more cost efficient for W Short?

K: Yeh - and its also much simpler in terms of keeping them up to date and managing the websites. It makes it a whole lot easier as they work off the same back end, the admin can easily change what they want, and it’s the same structure for every site.

E: So what has been your favourite bit of the project?

K: Probably when we put the first site, The Glenmore, live. The venue had a new bar being installed, so the website going live was timed with the grand opening of the new venue itself. As well the first one took the most time because we created the site structure and was interesting to get the images in – of a fresh new venue – very exciting y’know?

E: Yes - I know! What was the trickiest part would you say?

K: Probably making sure that each new round of designs fitted with the page templates we had already created and also that they retained a unique feel to each site. Also, working with a company Down Under means no face to face client contact plus time zone issues, which can make communication lines a little longer at times.

E: But nothing that we here at putitout couldn’t overcome with grace and elegance?

K: Exactly.

E: What is your life philosophy?

K: Hard one that isn’t it, probably ‘its nice to be nice.’

E: Lovely. How was your lunch?

K: It was good, lentil soup with lemon – and Rudy’s homemade chilli.

E: Great. Finally Katie, would you say that beinga PM at putiout is one of the best jobs ever?

K: 100% yes.

E: Awesome. This concludes our interview today – unless you have any final thoughts, Katie?

K: Cant say I have, no.

E: Well thank you Katie.

K: Thankyou Ed.

E: You’re welcome.

If you would like to talk to putitout about any new websites in the hospitality industry or otherwise please do get in touch.