Hotel Website Makeover: Whale Cottage Guest Houses

Our next hotel website makeover comes from Chris, a reader from South Africa, and owner of the Whale Cottage Guest Houses. First, a little background information:

• Location:  South Africa
• Property Type: Guest houses
• Number of rooms: 33 rooms across 4 properties
• Price range: R 300-450 pppn (winter); R 490-650 pppn (summer)
• Typical Guests: From the UK, Germany, and South Africa

Website analysis

(Click image for full size review)

What I would change

Unlike the Apple Tree Inn last week, the Whale Cottage Guest Houses have started to build their web presence with a blog and Twitter account. For this reason, my review focused on their homepage – where a makeover is most likely to provide positive results.

Here’s what I recommend changing:

• The heading area – to focus on more useful content
• The navigation – to be simple and intuitive
• The page structure – to eliminate duplication
• The body copy – to explain the benefits of the cottages
• The call to action – to encourage more bookings

It all comes down to two words

Simplify and focus.

Take-away questions for anyone:

1. Is my website concise & intuitive?
2. Is the navigation simple?
3. Is important content “above the fold”?

How would you optimize the Whale Cottage website?