Book, arrive, unwind
A booking website for a family-run boutique stay in downtown Oranjestad, Aruba: browse six private apartments, check live availability, book direct, and manage the whole trip from a passwordless guest portal.
Sector
- Hospitality
- Aruba
Product
- Booking website
- Guest portal
What we did
- UX + UI design
- Web development
- Booking engine
Surfaces
- Public site
- Guest portal
- Multi-language
Who is the stay for?
A family-run boutique stay in downtown Oranjestad, operating since 1985 as the authentic, affordable alternative to Aruba's luxury resorts. The website is how travellers find it, book it, and run their trip end to end.
One website that sells the stay and runs the trip
The public site carries the story and the six apartments; behind it sits a direct booking engine and a guest portal, so a traveller books without a booking.com commission and then manages arrival, transport and details in one place.
Why does a small stay need more than a listing page?
Six apartments booked through phone calls, spreadsheets and third-party channels leak margin and time. The site replaces that with a booking system the family owns, and folds the parts of a trip a guest actually asks about into the same place.
| Running the stay | Phone, email & channels | On the platform |
|---|---|---|
| Checking availability | A reply, hours later | Live calendar across six apartments |
| Taking a booking | Manual, or a channel commission | Direct, commission-free booking engine |
| Arranging the airport transfer | A separate email thread | Requested and tracked in the guest portal |
| Returning guest signing in | Yet another password | Google, Facebook or a one-time email code |
| Reaching non-English travellers | One language | Built-in language switcher |
What does a guest actually use?
The public journey and the guest portal, on the real screens travellers see.
Booking engine
DirectLive availability across six apartments with date-range, guest-count and country selection, taking commission-free direct reservations.
- Live availability
- Party size
- Country
Transport module
4 optionsIn-house transfer request, local taxi rates, the airport bus line and an external pickup partner.
- In-house driver
- Taxi & bus
Guest portal
PasswordlessGoogle, Facebook or one-time email-code sign-in to manage a booking and its transfers.
- Social sign-in
- Email code
Multi-language
SwitcherA language switcher across the public site and the portal, so non-English travellers book in their own language.
- Public site
- Guest portal
How does a traveller go from browsing to booked?
The booking engine and the guest portal are one continuous path: a traveller finds a free apartment, books it direct, then arranges the arrival from the same account.
- 01
Browse the apartments
A traveller reads the story and compares the six apartments on rate, capacity and amenities.
Guest - 02
Check live availability
Dates, adults, children and country go into the calendar, which returns what is bookable.
Guest - 03
Book direct
The reservation is taken on the site's own engine, without a third-party channel commission.
Guest - 04
Open the guest portal
A passwordless sign-in with Google, Facebook or a one-time email code opens the trip.
Guest - 05
Request the transfer
An in-house airport pickup is requested against the booking and tracked from the portal.
Guest - 06
Arrive and unwind
The driver, the apartment and the trip details are all confirmed in one account.
Host
Scroll the journey sideways
Building a direct-booking site for a stay
What independent hosts ask us before they leave the channels behind.
Ask us yoursHow long does it take to build a direct-booking website?
A direct-booking site with a live availability calendar, a handful of room types and a guest portal is typically a few weeks of work, not months. What moves the date is payment handling, how many channels you sync with, and whether extras like transfers and tours are booked in the same flow. We phase it so the booking engine ships before the softer marketing pages.
Why book direct instead of only using Booking.com or Airbnb?
Third-party channels charge commission on every reservation and own the guest relationship. A direct engine on your own site keeps that margin, lets returning guests rebook without a middleman, and — as here — folds transfers, tours and concierge requests into one account the guest already has.
Can guests manage their trip without creating a password?
Yes. This platform uses passwordless sign-in: a guest logs in with Google, Facebook or a one-time code sent to their email, with no password to set or forget. It lowers the friction that stops travellers from ever opening a portal, and returning guests reach their booking in one tap.
Does the site work for non-English travellers?
It carries a language switcher across both the public pages and the guest portal, so a traveller can browse, book and manage their stay in their own language rather than translating a checkout in their head.
Related work
Still taking bookings by phone and spreadsheet?
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