123 Beach Front
Web Designer - Google Sites - June 2024
Challenge: Vrbo, a popular vacation rental listing website, connects property owners with travelers. Due to the high volume of listings on Vrbo, it can be hard to get exposure for host's properties. In addition, Vrbo takes about 8% of the host's profit, which can quickly add up after just a couple of rentals.
Solution: Create a appealing and functional website to advertise the host's beach house, tailored to their specific house policies. With this website, the host gets their full profit, more traction on their property, and can handle communication and payment with their client however they want, rather through Vrbo.
My Role: As the web designer, I took this as an opportunity to prioritize and learn about functionality and usability. Since the main goal of this website was to advertise the house, I made sure to make the landing page visually appealing, with clear call to action buttons and subpages, allowing users to access information about the rental process fast and straight forward. Throughout this process, I also learned about connecting a custom domain to a website, which makes the site memorable and easy to come back to.
Beginning steps
Began with meeting with the client, understanding who the target audience is, and what his vision for the website was.
After the meeting, we decided that this website would serve as the replacement to the Vrbo listing, and therefore include:
- Policies
- Amenities
- Photos
- Nearby attractions
This method would allow the website to be a form of advertisement for the beach house, as the client requested he handle all his communication through email.
A temporary schedule was created with outlined goals of the website.
Ideation process
Browsed other rental pages, including Vrbo, to understand what works and what doesn't, what features are essential in the rental listing process.
Amenities, about the area, and about the property were consistent elements that were included in popular rental websites
The final prototype, and next steps
After more expectations meetings with the client, I was able to curate a welcoming and organized interface that allows users to easily find property benefits and amenities, enticing possible travelers in choosing 123 Beach Front for their next stay.
In the future, the client discussed making an availability calendar and social media page, depending on the popularity of the website.