CONCEPT STUDY. Seagull Inn is a real business, not a client. I redesigned their site unsolicited to demonstrate my process on a real-world problem. The research, design, and build are 100% real. The engagement isn’t: Seagull Inn didn’t commission or endorse this work. No results are claimed; judge the thinking.
Seagull Inn: turning Mendocino’s original B&B into its best find
Repositioning Mendocino’s first B&B as the village’s best find, booked direct.
The client
A ten-room bed & breakfast in an 1883 house in Mendocino Village, hosting travelers since the 1960s. Devoted reviews, innkeepers guests mention by name, and its strongest claim, “Mendocino’s first B&B,” buried in the footer’s fine print. This is an unsolicited concept redesign.
The problem
Mendocino lodging splits into two camps: luxury-heritage inns selling romance at special-occasion prices, and highway motels selling a bed with no story. Both agree that charm costs extra; Seagull Inn is the living counterexample. But its site scattered the proof: the signature breakfast described three different ways on three pages, the group business a wall of homepage text with no inquiry path, and a specials page advertising a deal that had expired months earlier, quietly telling visitors nobody was watching.
The one job
Convince the traveler comparing Mendocino stays that this is the smart find, and capture the booking direct.
Design decisions
Lead with the buried claims. “Mendocino’s first B&B” moved from footer fine print to the headline, and affordability was reframed as discovery: “the best find in the village” makes the guest the savvy discoverer instead of the bargain hunter.
Name the signature. The organic breakfast delivered to each door became The Morning Tray: one memorable handle for reviews, referrals, and photography instead of three competing descriptions. Named things travel; descriptions don’t.
The Innkeeper’s Promise beside every booking button: best rate always direct (the inn sets OTA rates itself), first night only up front, rewards points, real people on the phone. The phone number never collapses at any breakpoint, because Highway 1 roadtrippers book by calling.
Give the group business a front door. A buried paragraph courting girlfriend getaways, bike clubs, elopements, and artist retreats became The Whole Inn: a page productizing the ten-room takeover, the highest-margin transaction the inn can make and its best midweek filler.
Make staleness structurally impossible. The evergreen rule: nothing with an expiry date goes on a page; dated offers live in the booking engine, the email, and by the phone. Proof and list-building run on paper: a Tray Card on every breakfast tray with two QR codes, reviews and newsletter signups collected at the one touchpoint every guest handles every morning.
Every room is a landing page. Ten rooms named for beachcomber’s finds (Sand Dollar, Sea Urchin, Abalone, Driftwood), each a CMS template with a hand-drawn motif of its namesake, honest details, and a deep link into the booking engine, with motif-on-tint fallbacks so client-added rooms without photos still look designed.
The build
Webflow CMS collections for rooms, testimonials, explore items, and standing specials; ThinkReservations kept as the booking engine with a styled handoff; LodgingBusiness and per-room Offer schema; a full 301 map preserving two decades of search equity.
What I’d measure
Direct-vs-OTA booking share (the number that pays for the site many times over), whole-inn inquiries, midweek occupancy, review velocity from the Tray Card, and email list growth.
What this means for your business
Historic inns, B&Bs, and small stays competing with OTA commissions and luxury neighbors: this is how I’d argue your case. Tell me about your project.