A website for a hotel, homestay or travel business

A traveller choosing where to stay or who to travel with compares several options and is careful, because money and a trip are at stake. They are looking for proof that you exist, that the rooms or tours are what the photographs show, and that they can reach a person. This guide covers hotels, resorts, homestays, travel agencies and tour operators.

I have not built a hospitality or travel site for a client and I do not claim to have. This is general advice on what such a site needs.

What a traveller wants to know

1. What is it like? Real photographs of the rooms, the grounds, the view, the food. Add captions saying what each shows.
2. What does it cost, or how to find out. If rates change by season, say so and say how to ask.
3. What is included and what is not. Breakfast, taxes, transfers, activities.
4. Where exactly is it, and how far from the station, airport or main attraction.
5. What are the rules: check-in and check-out times, cancellation, deposits, children, pets, ID.
6. Is it real? Contact details, a phone number that is answered, and reviews from real guests.

Pages that earn their place

• Home: one strong photograph, the property or trip in a sentence, where, and how to ask.
• Rooms or stays, one page each if they differ: size, bed type, facilities, photographs, who it suits.
• Experiences, food, facilities if they are part of the stay.
• Location and getting there, with a map.
• Rates and policies.
• For a travel agency or tour operator: each tour or destination as its own page with an itinerary, inclusions and exclusions, dates, group size, cancellation terms and how payment works.
• Contact: phone, WhatsApp and a short enquiry form that opens WhatsApp.

Booking

• By message or call: the simplest. Many homestays and small hotels take bookings this way, and some guests prefer it.
• A booking engine from a third party shows availability and takes deposits. It adds a monthly fee and sends guest data through another company. A link to it can sit on your site.
• A custom booking system with your own calendar is expensive to build and to run, and is separate work in any case. See appointment booking on a business website.

Whatever you choose, keep a phone number and a WhatsApp link visible on every page. Guests do ask questions.

Photographs: the cost and the risk

Travel sites are photograph-heavy, and heavy images make a page slow on mobile data, which is where many travellers browse. Resize and compress them properly, and show a few good ones, not fifty. Images that load fast and mobile speed explain what to check. Use photographs you own or have rights to.

Third-party listings and your own site

You will probably also be on travel listing sites. They bring guests and also take a share and the customer relationship. Your own site is where you control the description, the photographs and the direct enquiry. If you have a premises that guests visit, a Google Business Profile may be possible; read who can list a business first.

Honesty about what you offer

A site that promises more than the stay delivers produces bad reviews. Say what the place is, including limits such as no lift or limited mobile signal. Do not claim ratings or awards you do not hold, and do not invent guest comments.

Size and cost

A single property is usually understood in a handful of pages. A tour operator with many tours may need more. Essential covers 20 to 30 pages at ₹19,999, frontend only; Growth is ₹24,999 for 70 to 100 pages with SEO work and the first month. The pricing page is the full list. If you would like a straight view of which fits your property or tour list, message or call Harman.

Read next

• What pages a business website needsA page earns its place by answering a question a visitor really has. Here is the core set, the pages that depend on your business, and a test for pages you can leave out.
• Appointment booking on a business websiteOnline booking can be a button, an embedded tool or a custom system. They differ hugely in cost and upkeep. Here is how to pick the lightest one that does the job.
• Images that load fast on a business sitePhotographs are usually the heaviest thing on a business page. Sizing them for the screen, reserving their space and describing them well makes a site faster and easier to use.
• How to get more enquiries from your websiteMore enquiries rarely come from one trick. They come from a clear first screen, easy contact, honest proof, fast pages and knowing which pages work. Here is the checklist.
• Google Business Profile: who can list a businessWhether your business can appear on Google Maps depends on Google's eligibility rules, not on your website. Here is how to check, with Google's own pages.
• Mobile speed and Core Web Vitals, explainedSpeed is not one number. Here are the three measures Google publishes, what usually makes a business site slow on a phone, and what a good score does and does not buy you.

Where this leads

• Packages and pricesThree one-time packages from ₹19,999 to ₹34,999 plus applicable taxes: what each includes, and which costs stay separate.
• Talk to HarmanCall or message on WhatsApp, or build a short brief that opens a WhatsApp message.