Creating story-led digital experiences to celebrate a centenary

The Hyatt Hotel Canberra is one of Australia’s most iconic heritage hotels, deeply embedded in the social and political fabric of the nation’s capital. Known as “the meeting place of Canberra”, the hotel has hosted Prime Ministers, foreign dignitaries, cultural leaders and generations of guests across its 100-year history. In 2024, Hyatt Hotel Canberra reached a remarkable milestone, its centenary. To mark the occasion, the hotel sought a meaningful way to honour its past while engaging contemporary audiences through a refined digital experience.

The opportunity

A centenary offers far more than a celebration. It presents a rare opportunity to capture, curate and share the stories that define the hotel’s legacy and engage past and future visitors through stories of people, moments and cultural significance built up over a century. The challenge was to create a platform that respected the weight of that history without feeling nostalgic or dated. The website needed to feel elegant, timeless and editorial in nature, while remaining accessible and engaging for previous guests, stakeholders and new audiences discovering the hotel for the first time. Above all, the experience needed to reflect Hyatt Hotel Canberra’s standing as a heritage institution, balancing reverence for the past with subtle cues of modernity.

The approach

R3 approached the project with a clear focus on storytelling. Rather than designing a traditional promotional site, the intent was to create a digital archive that housed a curated collection of stories that invited exploration and reflection. Working closely with the Hyatt Hotel Canberra team, R3 developed a website experience that was grounded in the hotel’s centenary branding. Historic black-and-white photography became a central feature, informing a darker, atmospheric visual palette. Subtle gold accents were introduced to reinforce the hotel’s sense of luxury and occasion, while restrained contemporary interactions, including soft pink highlights and hover states, ensured the experience felt modern without distracting from the content. Consideration was also given to the breadth of material available. The site was structured to support multiple story formats, allowing for curated editorial content to sit alongside guest-contributed stories and a visual gallery. This ensured the platform felt both authoritative and participatory, reflecting the shared nature of the hotel’s history.

Delivery and implementation

The Centenary Stories website was delivered as a dedicated digital platform designed to showcase narrative-led content in a clear and engaging way. The featured stories page highlighted selected moments and perspectives from the hotel’s history. The guest stories page on the other hand enabled visitors to explore and contribute personal experiences. Finally, the showcase gallery page presented a curated visual archive of the hotel’s past. The result is a refined digital experience that balances old-world elegance with contemporary execution whilst allowing for the stories themselves to take centre stage.

Impact

The response to the Centenary Stories platform was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. The Hyatt Hotel Canberra team were delighted with the outcome, noting strong engagement from stakeholders and guests who recognised the site as a fitting tribute to the hotel’s historic significance. The project also received recognition, with the website received a commendation at the Hotel Marketing Awards and a Global Hyatt internal marketing award noting the quality, creativity and impact of the work in effective story telling and engagement. The Centenary Stories website was also featured in local media such as Region Canberra and HerCanberra. For the Hyatt Hotel Canberra, the platform stands as a lasting digital collection celebrating 100 years of history. For R3, it reflects the value of thoughtful storytelling, visual restraint and creating experiences that respect both brand and audience.