Setting Seagull Inn apart by showing travelers the charm its guests already love.

the client

Seagull Inn Bed and Breakfast has welcomed travelers to Mendocino Village since the 1960s. It has ten rooms in an 1883 house, rates start at $179 a night, and the inn holds 4.7 stars on Google. Many reviews praise the innkeepers for making guests feel at home.

the problem

I looked at nine Mendocino inn websites. Eight put a “Book Now” button in the header, and seven didn’t show their prices. Seagull Inn is one of the best values in the village, with rooms from $179 a night where many inns nearby charge $300 to $500, but its site didn’t make that clear. The best-rate promise sat halfway down the home page, the rooms had no rates or capacity, and groups were mentioned with no way to inquire. The specials page still listed an offer that had expired months before.

the one job

Get travelers who are comparing Mendocino inns to book with Seagull Inn directly.

design decisions

Their best claim, moved to the headline

The inn’s strongest line, “Mendocino’s first B&B,” was in the footer. Another Mendocino inn also claims to be the first, so the headline says “original” instead: “The original bed and breakfast in the heart of Mendocino.” It’s now the first thing visitors read.

A picture-book home page

I wrote one sentence about who the inn is for and checked every page against it: “more cute than high end, more cozy than boutique, more authentic than expensive.” Guests already describe the inn that way in their reviews: “very cute,” “cozy,” “charming,” “home away from home.” That led me to tell a visit to the inn as a children’s picture book. The home page walks visitors through a stay, from the coast into the village, the house, the rooms, and breakfast at the door, then back out through reviews and group stays to the ocean, so they can imagine what their stay would feel like before they book it.

Ten rooms on a wall

The room pages are probably the most important pages on the site. On the home page, the rooms section is the only one that uses photography instead of illustration, with the ten rooms framed on a painted wall. It makes visitors feel like they’re already inside the inn, looking around, and it makes the photos stand out. On the inn’s site, each room had one paragraph and a few small photos. In my redesign, each room page has four photos, the details guests ask about (the view, the bed, the stairs), the rate, and its own “Check availability” button.

Honest about the view

The inn’s site described the rooms as having an “ocean or garden view.” Three of the ten have an ocean view, and the redesign says which three wherever guests compare rooms. A playful “Which room is right for you” guide answers the questions guests ask most (a view, an anniversary, stairs, children, traveling alone, the whole inn). Guests who book the room that suits them are more likely to leave a good review.

The price and the phone, up front

The redesign shows the rates, from $179 a night, next to every room. Every page has a “Check availability” button and the phone number near the top, because many coast travelers book by phone, often the same day. I kept the inn’s own best-rate wording, “Our best rates are on this site or by phone,” because it’s a promise the inn can keep. A “lowest price guaranteed” claim would be harder to honor.

Filling midweek and off-season nights

The inn’s site mentioned groups but had no page or form for them. The redesign adds a Groups page that offers the whole inn, all ten rooms, with an inquiry form and the kinds of gatherings it can accommodate, from girlfriend gatherings to family reunions. Most pages end with a signup for specials and events, so past guests hear about the next reason to come back. Each special carries an end date and is removed automatically from the page when it expires.

the build

Rooms, reviews, and specials are Webflow CMS collections, so the innkeepers can easily change a rate or post a special themselves. The inn keeps ThinkReservations, the booking system it already uses, and each of the 14 buttons that lead to it is tagged, so the inn can see which ones bring bookings. Every current page address redirects to its new page, and the photo gallery works with keyboards and screen readers.

what I’d measure

Because the booking buttons are tagged, I’d know from launch day which ones bring bookings, and could move or reword the others. Month by month, the share of bookings made on the inn’s site or by phone shows whether more guests are booking directly. Midweek occupancy and group inquiries show whether the Groups page is filling the quiet nights or needs refinement. Email signups, and how many subscribers book again, show whether the specials give past guests a reason to come back.

what this means for your business

Whether you run an inn, a small hotel, a restaurant, or a venue, a website designed around the experience you offer gives guests a feel for it before they arrive, and makes booking the easy next step.