Websites for holiday rentals, campsites and tourism
A guest decides within seconds, and almost always on a phone. The site has to show the property, the surroundings and how to book before their patience runs out.
Tourism content is almost entirely visual, but the decision is made on specifics: how far the sea is, whether there is shade, what the sanitary facilities are like, whether pets are allowed. The site has to reconcile a large amount of practical information with a presentation that stays calm and easy to scan.
So far I have built sites for a campsite, private accommodation, a destination guide and a real estate agency, mostly on the Pelješac peninsula. Every one of those projects followed the same pattern: a lot of photography, an international audience, and visitors arriving on mobile while they are still planning the trip.
A tourism site also has a deadline no other project has: the season. A site published in mid-July has missed the exact window in which guests make their decision, so the build gets planned backwards from the date traffic actually starts.
What you get
- Optimised galleries that load progressively instead of blocking the page
- A multilingual interface with a separate URL per language, so every version is visible to search engines
- A clear, always-available route to an enquiry, with no hunting for contact details in the footer
- A structure that absorbs growth: new units, seasons and amenities are added without a redesign
- Distances, surroundings and amenities that answer a guest’s questions before they ask them
How it runs
- 01A list of what the guest must learn. Before any design we assemble the questions guests actually ask, because those determine the structure of the site.
- 02Photography preparation. Selection, processing and optimisation, because photographs are simultaneously the most important and the most technically demanding part of a tourism site.
- 03Build and language versions. Setting up the site and its translations, with a URL structure that tells search engines clearly which version serves which market.
- 04Delivery before the season. Testing on phones and slower networks, then publishing with enough time to correct things before traffic starts.
Who it is for
- Private hosts and holiday rentals who want bookings outside the large platforms as well
- Campsites and smaller properties that need to show pitches, amenities and surroundings
- Tourism agencies and destination guides with a larger body of content
- Properties targeting guests from abroad that need the site in several languages
What holds tourism sites back most
- Full-size photographs straight out of the camera. The single most common reason a tourism site takes ten seconds to open.
- Contact details hidden on a separate page. A guest who has decided should not have to look for how to reach you.
- Machine translation published unreviewed. A German guest spots a bad German sentence exactly as fast as you spot a bad one in your own language.
Stack
Examples from real work
Common questions
Do I need a site if I am already on the big platforms?
Platforms bring guests, but they take a commission and they keep the relationship with the guest. Your own site does not replace the platform; it means the guest who found you there can book directly next time. For that, the site only has to exist, open quickly and show a clear contact.
How many languages should the site have?
As many as the markets your guests actually come from, not as many as sounds impressive. Two well-written versions beat five machine-translated ones. Each language gets its own URL, because a version that exists only as a toggle on the same address effectively does not exist to a search engine.
Can I change prices and photos myself each season?
Yes, and for tourism sites I set it up that way almost every time. Prices, availability and photography change every season, and a solution that needs a developer for each edit stops being updated by its second year.
Do you build booking systems?
It depends what you actually need. For most smaller properties an enquiry form and a clear contact work better than a full booking system, because the guest wants confirmation from the host anyway. If a real system with a calendar and availability is genuinely required, that is a separate project and we treat it as one.
When is the best time to build?
Out of season. You have time to gather photography and text, and the site gets a few months to be indexed before traffic starts. A site published in July misses precisely the period in which guests are deciding.
Do I need professional photography?
It helps more than any technical decision. A tourism site sells an impression, and the impression is carried by the photographs. If professional shots do not exist we work with what there is and pick the best, but it is worth investing in photography before extra functionality.
Have a project in mind?
Send a few lines about what you need and I will come back with questions and a proposed approach, with no obligation.