Interview with Design & Marketing teams on the ONDA homepage renewal project
Why does a company run its own website? Simple: it's the best place to show customers what you do. For a B2B company like ONDA, the homepage is essentially an online proposal — or a product manual.
Late last year, ONDA's official website [onda.me] got a full makeover. We sat down with Jarry (Design) and Kathy (Marketing) — who led the project — to look back on the journey.
A fresh start
This was Jarry and Kathy's first project at ONDA — which meant they could approach it with fresh eyes. What did they think was wrong with the old site?
What were the main issues with the previous ONDA homepage?
Jarry (J): "Before I joined, I looked up the ONDA website. It was hard to tell at a glance what the company does or what makes it different. There were so many services, and it was hard to understand what distinguished each one."
Kathy (K): "The explanations used industry jargon. Unless you were an expert, it was tough to follow. Products and services had different names and sometimes got mixed up — confusing for customers trying to figure out what we actually offer."
So the old site didn't make it easy for customers to understand what we do. What did you focus on for the new one?
J: "I put myself in the customer's shoes. I imagined I was retiring and opening a guesthouse. I hear ONDA has a good solution, so I visit the website. What would I get out of it?"
"Honestly? I'd probably just call. But a homepage shouldn't exist just to give out a phone number. It should clearly present our services and convince visitors we can solve their problems."
"Step one was explaining what ONDA does — clearly. Once customers understand the value we deliver, inquiries will naturally increase. And so will actual adoption."
A compass for the best outcome
ONDA's product names also got renewed. Why?
K: "Our channel management system was called GDS — short for Global Distribution System, a term borrowed from the airline industry. Unless you're a specialist, you'd have no idea what that means."
"We wanted names that didn't need explanation. No acronyms. After discussions across departments, we landed on 'ONDA HUB.'"
Other products were renamed too, tailored by accommodation type. Changing the names of existing products couldn't have been easy.
K: "The old site mixed up products and features. But our targets are clear. ONDA needs to be the expert in every segment, but hotel clients only need to know about our hotel solution. Guesthouse owners only need the guesthouse solution."
"Different targets meant we needed to separate by accommodation type. Of course, that required buy-in from every business unit — which wasn't easy."
ONDA serves a wide range of properties: chain hotels, boutique hotels, guesthouses, motels. To deliver the best solution for each, ONDA has specialized business units for each segment.
Throughout the project, Kathy met individually with every business unit. Marketing created a brand canvas for each product — defining philosophy, goals, concept, and key messaging — so everyone at ONDA could align on direction.
K: "Changing what people are used to is hard. Meeting with each team one-on-one gave us honest feedback. We coordinated input from multiple departments to get to the best outcome."
"After many rounds, we decided to segment by accommodation type: Hotel [Something], Pension [Something]. To keep ONDA's identity, we kept 'Plus' from the original product names — creating Hotel Plus and Pension Plus."
What the Design & Marketing teams are aiming for
What do you expect from the new homepage?
J: "We optimized SEO for every page. So when people search for ONDA or our solutions, we should show up a lot more."
K: "And when they arrive, we've designed the flow to guide them comfortably to an inquiry."
Finally, what's the direction for Design and Marketing going forward?
J: "Most B2B companies don't prioritize design. Functional needs come first. It's like why hotels find it hard to switch PMS systems — they'd rather stick with what they know than risk a prettier but unfamiliar interface."
"Still, I want ONDA to have the best design in the industry. Not just individual assets — but the overall design of our channels and products. We should set the standard for what looks good."
K: "I want to build a team driven by strategic thinking, not just performance marketing. For a product-based business, it's critical to know: Does our product have market fit? Where do we want to position ourselves?"
"Above all, our top priority is making products so intuitive that customers can adapt quickly and easily."
That was our conversation with Jarry (Design) and Kathy (Marketing), who led the homepage renewal. Hearing their vision, it's exciting to imagine where ONDA's website will go next — especially with version 2.0 on the horizon.
Stay tuned to ONDA's official homepage [onda.me], and thanks for reading.
Curious about the new ONDA homepage? Visit the link below!