Designing our bed and breakfast website
Mahurangi West Wing provides private bed and breakfast accommodation in a gorgeous setting on the edges of the Mahurangi Regional Park.
We know it’s fabulous, but it’s Auckland’s best kept secret so we needed a way to tell the world. That’s why we called in the experts.
An effective bed and breakfast marketing strategy
When you’re in the bed and breakfast business, having an attractive, informative website is vital.
No matter the size of your B&B, even if you only have one room as we do, you need to allow guests to book rooms online if you want to remain competitive.
Keeping up with the big players
A good-looking, bookable website gives credibility; guests will be surprised if they can’t book online with you directly and may end up booking another property.
Research shows that most guests will look at both OTAs (online travel agencies such as Booking.com or Airbnb) and the property website before they make their minds up.
OTAs are a great way of getting your bed and breakfast out there. Your property shows up on search results for your area, and guests find your presence there trustworthy. By then presenting a straightforward way for guest to book right on your bed and breakfast website, you don’t have to pay commission, which is a relief.
Accommodation websites – Things to consider
Clare at Woodswork Web built our B&B website on WordPress, so unlike a Wix or Shopify website, for example, we own all the data. Clare also incorporated a booking system that can handle the communication with the guests through to dealing with multi-rooms, seasons, payments, discounts and offers.
Not only does the site look fantastic, but it is also simple to use from the backend and guests can easily check when our room is available, and for how much, 24/7. Because we can synchronise our bed and breakfast website with Agoda, Expedia, Airbnb, HolidayHouses, Booking.com and our Facebook page, there are no manual entries and no double bookings. When guests book at Mahurangi West Wing, our availabilities can be automatically updated across all those OTAs.
Creating a business website that works for us
We’re in the competitive north Auckland accommodation business so we needed a great website.
I knew WoodsworkWeb Design would create us site with a bit of the ‘x-factor’. Our bed and breakfast website needed to be very professional and attractive to the wide variety of clients we cater to.
Visuals with impact
Choosing the right images and graphics for a website isn’t random; it is integral to the design and overall success of a website. A few well selected images will be more valuable than a whole load of irrelevant, low-quality images that send mixed messages.
The way we feel about an accommodation website is key to our decision to stay there. It’s why images and graphics are important in business website design.
Clare at Woodswork invested a lot of time in selecting the images to create the look and feel of our business website, and we were able to provide feedback throughout the process.
Cool website features
Clare created some lovely graphics for us, and special attention was given to the logo. One of the first questions she asked me ask when looking at the graphic design aspect of the website was “Do you have a logo?”. Clare wanted to ensure the fonts and colours she used in our website design matched or were sympathetic to our logo, giving our website a professional, cohesive feel.
The right images help with SEO
About four images have been used per page, including high resolution photos of our rooms and surrounding Mahurangi West beaches and park. These images and graphics are assets for search engine optimisation: they are renamed to include our focus keywords that reflect the content and purpose of each page, such as B&B, bed and breakfast Mahurangi west, north Auckland accommodation.
A website we’re happy with and that has improved our B&B business
I think all that careful work came together in an accommodation website that has a great look and, more importantly, has helped our business grow. Because as Steve Jobs said,
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works”.
David & Rachel
Peaceful B & B accommodation just 45 minutes north of Auckland city. Mahurangi West is near Orewa, Puhoi & Warkworth. It’s Auckland’s best kept secret! See you at Mahurangi West Wing.