A website that takes bookings directly, so you keep more of every stay.
Booking sites bring guests, and they take a commission on every booking. A good website of your own wins the guests who look you up, the ones who come back, and anyone happy to book direct. I build websites for holiday lets, apartments and property to let that make booking direct easy, from £1,700 at a fixed price in writing.
Websites from £1,700 Booking systems from £1,800 Care from £87/mo Fixed prices, in writing, before any work begins.
- Direct booking, with your calendar kept in step with Booking.com.
- Photos and local guides that sell the stay before the price does.
- One person who looks after it, so it keeps taking bookings.
Every direct booking is one you don’t pay commission on.
Guests often find you on a booking site, then search your name. What they find decides whether they book direct next time.
The Old Warehouse in the centre of Ely lets one- and two-bedroom apartments, and Windmill Cottage, also in Ely, has one-bedroom apartments and two-bedroom cottages. Both websites take bookings directly through the eviivo booking engine, while the booking sites carry on doing their job.
The Studio in Littleport, near Ely, is a self-contained one-bedroom annexe that sleeps four. Its website has a booking system built in: guests pay by card on the site, which checks the Booking.com calendar before it takes a payment, and Booking.com picks up the site’s bookings in turn.
Property to let works in a similar way. Woodlands Farm Units in Littleport lists its workshop, storage and commercial units and its shipping containers with their sizes and availability, so a business looking for space can see what’s free before it asks.
Woodlands Farm UnitsLittleport
Booking sites usually take a commission on every booking. A direct booking on your own website doesn’t.
Three things that make this work for holiday lets.
Easy to book, good to look at, and found by people planning a trip.
Booking that works with what you use.
Connect the booking engine or channel manager you already have, as The Old Warehouse and Windmill Cottage do with eviivo, or have a booking system built into the website that keeps in step with Booking.com, as The Studio does.
Sell the stay, not just the room.
Big, bright photos, honest descriptions, and local guides to walks, food and days out: the things guests look at before they choose where to stay.
Found by people planning a trip.
Local SEO for “places to stay in Ely” style searches, Google Business Profile set up properly, and pages that answer the questions guests ask before they book.
Holiday lets and property I’ve built for.
Apartments, cottages and an annexe in and around Ely, and a yard of units to let in Littleport.
“Outstanding service. Always there when you need a little help getting to know the ins and outs of your website.”
What a holiday let website from me includes.
Every project is quoted to the job, but these are the parts most holiday lets and lettings need.
Good photos matter more here than anywhere. If yours need refreshing, we can sort that as part of the project.
Direct booking
Through the booking engine or channel manager you already use, or a booking system built into the website, with card payments.
Calendars kept in step
Availability shared with Booking.com and other channels through their calendar feeds, so what the website shows is what’s free.
Photos that sell the stay
Galleries that load quickly on a phone and show every room properly.
Local guides
Pages about the area that help guests plan their stay and help your website get found.
Guest information
House manuals and arrival details online, behind a link or a QR code you can leave in the property.
Units and availability
For property to let, a list of what’s available with sizes and features, kept up to date.
Care, so it keeps taking bookings
Hosting, backups, security, updates and small changes from £87 a month.
Four steps, timed around your bookings.
The same four steps as every project. Launching before the busy season is easier than during it, so it’s worth starting early.
About four weeks from the first call to launch, six for an online shop. The honest variable is how quickly words and photos come back.
Talk
30 minutes, freeA call about what you do, who the website is for, what it has to do and what isn’t working now.
Quote
Week 1A written proposal within two working days: a fixed price and a timeline. Sign it or sleep on it, no obligation. No hourly billing, ever.
Build
Weeks 2 to 3I design and build, and you see it taking shape and say what you think. Short email check-ins, no project portal.
Launch and care
From launchWe go live, I show you the ropes in 30 minutes, and the care plan keeps it fast, safe and found from then on.
Holiday let websites, plainly answered.
The questions people ask on the first call. If yours isn’t here, send it over and I’ll answer it straight.
Can my website take bookings directly?
Will it stop double bookings with Booking.com and Airbnb?
How much does a holiday let website cost?
Can I offer a lower price for booking direct?
What do you need from me?
More bookings, direct.
Thirty minutes on a call, no obligation. Or send a message about your property and how you take bookings now, and I’ll come back the same day, Monday to Friday.
One small ask. Have a think about where your bookings come from today, and which of them you’d most like to take direct.