Case study

Website design for holiday homes built around photography, direct bookings and guest trust

Illustration of a coastal holiday-home host in diving kit with a guest-journey plan

How we designed and developed the No. 1 Longshore website — a photography-led booking site for a Porth coastal retreat that puts Book Direct beside Airbnb, with live availability and a guest book guests actually read.

Claim free website design See the brief Visit 1longshore.co.uk

No. 1 Longshore holiday home website homepage on a MacBook

Client: No. 1 Longshore
Sector: Holiday homes
Focus: Design & direct booking

The brief

A coastal retreat that needed to book as well as it photographs

No. 1 Longshore is a luxury let at Porth, Cornwall — sleeping eight, thirty seconds from the cove, with hotel-level finishes. The site had to sell the stay in a glance, make Book Direct obvious, and still leave a clear path for guests who prefer Airbnb.

Lead with photography and a one-line promise: the perfect coastal retreat.
Put Book Direct and Book via Airbnb side by side so commission is a choice, not the default.
Show live availability so enquiries do not bounce to a third-party calendar.
Surface facilities, guest reviews and WhatsApp so trust is built before anyone messages the host.

No. 1 Longshore mobile homepage with Book Direct and Airbnb buttons

Guest book testimonial on the No. 1 Longshore mobile site

Key deliverables

What we designed and built

A practical website for a holiday home — built to convert browsers into booked weeks, not just to look like a brochure.

Mobile-first responsive design

A clean layout that works on a phone first — Call Now, Book Direct and WhatsApp sit where last-minute guests actually tap.

Photography-led gallery

Cove views, interiors and local art do the selling. The homepage is a full-bleed hero, not a wall of widgets.

Live availability & book direct

Colour-coded calendars and a Book Direct CTA so guests can see open weeks without leaving for Airbnb.

Facilities that scan

Icon-led lists for parking, pets, workspace, kitchen kit and beach extras — the questions every family asks before they book.

Guest book on the site

Airbnb-sourced reviews reproduced on the property site so social proof is not locked inside the marketplace.

WhatsApp, call and local guides

Chat on WhatsApp, a visible phone number, and walking / local recommendation pages that keep the stay useful after the booking.

The build

Design that books the week, not just the scroll

From the laptop homepage to availability on a tablet and guest reviews on a phone, here is how No. 1 Longshore shows up for people planning a Cornwall stay.

No. 1 Longshore coastal retreat homepage on an iPad — **Tablet hero that still converts** The same booking pair and Call Now header on a tablet — photography stays sharp, CTAs stay tappable.

Facilities list on the No. 1 Longshore holiday home website — **Facilities as a scannable grid** Beach views, parking, pets, Miele kitchen, Sonos and workspace — icon rows instead of a buried FAQ.

Direct booking availability calendars on the No. 1 Longshore website — **Availability you can book from** Three months of calendars with Available / Booked colour coding and a Book Direct button above the fold.

Outcomes

A holiday home site that can take the booking itself

Website design for holiday homes only works when guests can see the stay, check the dates and book without being forced onto a marketplace. For No. 1 Longshore that meant pairing a photography-led mobile experience with direct booking, availability and reviews.

Book-direct Direct and Airbnb CTAs sit together on every key screen
Guest-ready Facilities, guest book and WhatsApp reduce pre-stay questions
Mobile-ready Call Now, calendars and reviews designed for a phone first

Visit the live website

Playbook

What strong website design for holiday homes includes

Whether you let one coastal house or a small portfolio, these elements consistently help guests choose you — and keep more of the booking on your own site.

Book Direct above the fold

Airbnb can stay as a second button. The first tap should be the booking you actually want.

Show availability on the site

A colour-coded calendar beats “check Airbnb for dates” and keeps shoppers on your domain.

Lead with the stay, not the CMS

Full-bleed photography and a short promise outperform a homepage of widgets.

List facilities as icons, not paragraphs

Parking, pets, cots, wifi and kitchen kit are decision filters. Make them scannable.

Bring reviews onto your domain

A guest book with names and ratings builds trust even when the review started on Airbnb.

WhatsApp and Call Now on mobile

Last-minute Cornwall searches convert on the phone. Pin chat and a tap-to-call number.

This project

The No. 1 Longshore website — answered

Book Direct, availability and a guest book for a Porth coastal let.

What was the brief for No. 1 Longshore?

A photography-led booking site for a Porth coastal retreat: Book Direct beside Airbnb, live availability, and a guest book that lives on the property domain — facilities such as parking, pets, kitchen and workspace shown as facts, not a buried FAQ.

Why put Book Direct next to Airbnb?

Guests already know the listing platforms. Sitting Book Direct beside them makes the cheaper, direct stay obvious without pretending Airbnb does not exist. Availability has to be accurate or the path fails.

Can you build a holiday-let website like this?

Yes. Coastal and rural lets need photography, clear house rules, booking and a reason to go direct. Commerce Enterprise is the usual fit when booking tools are involved; a consultation confirms the stack.

Does the guest book have to be on Airbnb only?

No. For Longshore the guest book sits on the property domain so reviews and stories strengthen the branded site, not only the listing platform.

Free website design offer

Want a website that books the stay, not just the scroll?

Claim a free professionally designed website — new build or redesign — with a one-to-one consultation with Gareth. Tell us about your holiday home or coastal let below and we will get back to you.

What you get

FREE website design from your brief
Or a redesign/refresh of your current site
Consultation to plan objectives and delivery
Built for photography, bookings and guest trust

Read the full offer

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