eCommerce Platform Improves Performance and Online Conversions

Kalahari Resorts & Conventions, home to the “world’s coolest indoor waterparks,” depends on its website to support bookings, showcase amenities, and manage significant spikes in traffic tied to seasonal demand and large-scale marketing campaigns. With multiple resort locations and a wide range of services available online, the website plays a critical role in both revenue generation and guest experience.

Prior to partnering with Emergent Software, Kalahari’s website environment required greater stability and consistency to meet the demands of the business. When the organization engaged Emergent, the platform was in a partially completed state at a critical moment, just weeks before a major seasonal traffic surge. The site needed to reliably support high volumes of traffic while also providing a seamless and unified experience for guests planning their stays.

Kalahari recognized the need for more than a short-term fix. The organization was looking for a long-term partner who could not only stabilize the platform, but also provide ongoing production support, proactively manage performance, and continuously enhance the site as the business evolved.

Emergent Software was engaged to take ownership of the platform, restore stability, and establish a scalable foundation for both immediate needs and long-term growth.

Emergent Software implemented a managed website hosting and support model designed to stabilize the platform, improve performance, and support continuous development over time.

The engagement began with a rapid stabilization effort to ensure the site could support upcoming traffic demands. Emergent introduced 24/7 monitoring with automated alerting, enabling the team to detect and respond to potential issues before they impacted users. This proactive support model established a more reliable baseline for the platform.

To address scalability, the site was migrated to Microsoft Azure and configured with location-based load balancing. This ensured that traffic spikes in one region would not affect performance in others, creating a more resilient and distributed architecture. The platform was also stress tested to validate its ability to handle peak demand, and a secondary live instance was introduced to provide redundancy and ensure continuity.

With a stable hosting foundation in place, Emergent worked with Kalahari to continuously improve the platform. Enhancements included performance optimization, improved mobile responsiveness, and the implementation of ecommerce functionality, integrated with the Umbraco CMS.

A key focus was creating a more seamless and centralized user experience. Guests were able to browse, plan, and complete transactions within a consistent interface, reducing friction and improving the overall booking journey.

Emergent also supported the adoption of the latest version of Umbraco CMS, enabling greater content flexibility, multilingual capabilities, and a more intuitive editing experience. This allowed Kalahari’s internal teams to manage content more efficiently while maintaining consistency across properties.

Over time, this engagement evolved into a long-term managed services model. Emergent provides ongoing production support, proactive maintenance, and continuous development, ensuring the platform remains stable, secure, and aligned with the organization’s evolving needs.

Over nearly a decade of partnership, Kalahari’s website has transformed into a stable, high-performing platform that reliably supports the organization’s most critical business moments.

One of the most important outcomes is the level of stability the platform now delivers. The site consistently performs during peak demand periods, including high-visibility campaigns and nationally recognized events such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. These moments, which place significant pressure on the platform, now serve as clear proof points of its resilience and scalability.

Performance improvements have been substantial. The site’s capacity increased from 3,580 requests per minute to 15,000 requests per minute without degradation, ensuring a smooth and uninterrupted experience even under heavy load. This reliability allows Kalahari to confidently capture demand during key booking periods without concern for system performance.

Equally important is the shift to a proactive support model. With continuous monitoring and ongoing maintenance, potential issues are identified and addressed before they impact users. This has reduced operational risk and created a more predictable, stable environment for both technical teams and business stakeholders.

The long-term partnership has also enabled continuous innovation. Rather than approaching the website as a one-time project, Kalahari continues to evolve the platform through iterative improvements. New features, ecommerce capabilities, and microsites are introduced within a consistent framework, allowing the digital experience to expand without compromising performance.

Today, the Kalahari website is not only stable and scalable, but also a strategic asset supported by ongoing development and production support. The partnership demonstrates how sustained investment in hosting, support, and continuous improvement can transform a website into a reliable foundation for growth.