You don't rent out a holiday home with a long website full of features. Guests want to see quickly where it is, what it looks like, what it costs and how to book. That is almost everything.
The example: Casa Reille in Abruzzo
For Casa Reille I am building an affordable website for renting out a holiday home near Atri in Abruzzo, Italy. No shop, no complicated system, but a calm site that shows the house and lets guests get in touch. The site is still in progress. The current version is at russo.nl.
It is a house we love to visit ourselves. We got in touch because a few years ago I helped pick the olives there. We fell in love with the region: mountains and sea close together, a rugged landscape, authentic Italians and few tourists.
A site that lets you feel the region
That atmosphere has to come through in the site: not a glossy brochure, but calm, real photos and room for the landscape. Abruzzo is still unknown to many guests, so the site also explains why the region is worth a visit, from hiking in the mountains to a day at the sea and the villages around Atri.
What guests want to know
- Good photos. This is the first thing guests judge. Invest in it.
- Location. Where it is, what is nearby and how to get there.
- Sleeping places and facilities. How many people, which rooms, what is there.
- Prices and availability. Or simply a clear way to ask for them.
- An easy way to get in touch. A form or WhatsApp, no detours.
Think about your guests' language
Do you rent to guests from the Netherlands, Germany or France? Then a site in their language works far better than Dutch alone. For Casa Reille I take this into account from the start, in the structure and in the SEO: separate texts, titles and descriptions per language, so guests searching for "vakantiehuis Abruzzo" or "Ferienhaus Abruzzen" find the site in their own language. Because Abruzzo is less known than Tuscany, search terms for the region and village matter at least as much as those for the house itself. Read more in getting a multilingual website.
Book direct or through platforms?
Platforms like Airbnb bring guests, but take part of the income. Your own website gives you a place where guests can find you directly and you can welcome them yourself. Many hosts do both: the platform for reach, their own site for returning guests. So your own site doesn't have to replace anything.
What it costs
A simple rental site fits my basic package, from €1,200 excluding VAT for up to 5 pages. If you want to edit text and photos yourself, we look at a site with a CMS. All rates are on the Pricing page.
Want this too?
Do you have a holiday home, a B&B or another place to rent out? Book a free 30-minute call. I'll look at what you really need, and what you can leave out.