Website design for guesthouses, B&Bs and holiday accommodation

Good guesthouse website design answers a single question: why should the guest book here, and not on a booking portal? If your own site shows the rooms, the prices and how to book, the guest writes to you directly, with no commission. I have worked on accommodation websites: I built the website of a holiday resort in Harghita, and I maintain the website of an accommodation network in Hungary.

Guesthouse website design: what makes guests book?

Getting the three deciding facts quickly, on their phone, even on the road: what the place looks like, what it costs and how to book. That is why a guesthouse website always has the same structure: a separate page for each place to stay or room type with photos, capacity, amenities, minimum stay and price; a listing page where the options can be compared by price; activities and nearby sights; directions with a map; and a phone number and enquiry button always visible in the header. I put the price where it is easy to see, because guests who cannot find it click on the next result.

Accommodation projects I have worked on

I built the bilingual (Hungarian-Romanian) website of the Piricske holiday resort: its three completely different places to stay, 15 kilometres from Miercurea Ciuc (a mountain cabin, a geodesic dome and a guesthouse with a restaurant), each got their own page with price and amenities, alongside the activities, the gallery and a video home page. I maintain the five-language website of the FeelMore nature accommodation network: six active locations, a filterable interactive map and a franchise partner programme, in a structure where a new location is added through data entry, with no development work.

Enquiry form, booking calendar or booking portal?

For a smaller guesthouse or B&B, a well-built enquiry form and a tap-to-call phone number are usually the most effective: the guest sends the dates and the number of people, and you reply personally. I only recommend calendar-based online booking if the place really keeps its availability up to date. An outdated calendar does more harm than none at all. You can stay on the booking portals, and your own site is where returning guests book without commission, and where your Google Business Profile points.

Multiple languages, local search and weak mobile signal

In the Székely Land some guests search in Romanian, others in Hungarian, and foreign guests need English. Each language gets its own URL, so a shared link takes people exactly to the place being discussed. I wrote about this in detail in the article on multilingual websites. For searches like "guesthouse Gheorgheni", your Google Business Profile and your website work together; my article on local SEO is a step-by-step guide to setting it up. And because guests often search in the mountains on a weak mobile signal, I optimise the photos and video so that the text and phone number appear immediately.

Before and during the season

On an accommodation website the content changes from season to season: new prices, winter and summer activities, offers, closing periods. That is why I build it so you can update prices, rooms and activities from the WordPress admin, without a developer. If you would rather leave the updates, backups and security to me, monthly maintenance is made for exactly that.

Prices

A brochure website for a guesthouse or B&B starts at 2,500 RON, a holiday resort presenting several places to stay or activities costs more depending on the scope, and maintenance is 250 RON/month. The pricing page has the details. If you run accommodation in the Giurgeu basin or in Harghita, I also covered the local aspects on the Gheorgheni page. Within a day I send a concrete price and timeline, and the first consultation is free.