A useful holiday-let property page explains where guests will sleep, how the rooms connect, what they can use and what may affect their stay. Give those facts in readable text alongside photographs. “Sleeps six” and a gallery of attractive corners do not explain whether the sixth person uses a sofa bed in the only living room.
Prepare the facts before asking a designer to write the page. Use the following content brief for one real property, then repeat the process only where another unit has genuinely different arrangements.
Explain the sleeping arrangement, room by room
Name each bedroom consistently and state its actual bed arrangement. Identify sofa beds, fold-down beds and rooms that must be reconfigured. Where beds can be joined or separated, confirm how that is requested and whether the pictured setup is the standard arrangement.
An illustrative two-bedroom property might provide a double bedroom, a twin bedroom and a sofa bed in the sitting room. Its page should explain the sofa-bed location and the loss of ordinary seating when it is opened. That lets a group decide whether the arrangement suits them without guessing from the headline capacity.
Describe where bathrooms and toilets are in relation to bedrooms. Distinguish an en-suite bathroom from one reached through another room or from a shared landing. Check what can actually be reached without stairs.
Use an accurate floor plan when the layout is difficult to explain in photographs. Confirm its labels, doorways and changes of level against the current property. Essential layout facts should also be available as text so the image is not the only way to understand them.
Separate private, shared and conditional facilities
Tell guests what belongs exclusively to the accommodation and what other people may use. A garden, courtyard, entrance, laundry or parking area can look private in a tightly framed photograph even when it is shared.
Give conditional facilities their conditions where they are described. If an extra bed must be requested, a facility is seasonal or access depends on another arrangement, make that visible before the booking action. Avoid relying on a later message to correct the initial impression.
- Kitchen: identify the actual cooking and food-storage facilities guests will use.
- Living space: show seating and dining arrangements for the intended party.
- Outside space: describe boundaries, sharing and access using checked facts.
- Parking: explain the actual arrangement and any relevant vehicle or access constraint.
- Connectivity: state the service available without inventing speed or reliability measurements.
Use questions received by your own business to refine the page, with private guest details removed. If people repeatedly ask whether a courtyard is enclosed or a parking space is reserved, answer the exact point after checking it.
Give guests factual access information
Describe the route from arrival to the entrance, then through the accommodation. Record relevant steps, changes of level, door arrangements and bathroom features accurately. A broad “accessible” or “easy access” label gives people little basis for deciding whether the property meets their needs.
VisitEngland’s accessibility information guidance provides self-catering feature questionnaires and distinguishes top-level features from detailed access guides. Use the current framework to organise information, and obtain appropriate help where measurements or a detailed assessment are needed.
Put the access-information link near the practical property details. Give guests a way to ask about a particular requirement before choosing a stay, without inviting them to put sensitive personal information into a public comment or review.
Check access descriptions again after building work, a furniture move or a change of entrance. A photograph of the old arrangement can be as misleading as an outdated sentence.
Choose photographs that answer different questions
Start with a small sequence: an overall view of the main living space, each sleeping arrangement, the kitchen, bathing facilities, the entrance and useful outdoor space. Add close details only when they explain a feature the wider view misses.
Show the connection between rooms where it matters. Two attractive room photographs may leave the guest unable to tell whether the bathroom is upstairs or the bedroom opens straight into a shared area. A view through a doorway or a checked floor plan can resolve that gap.
Supply original files, identify each room and note any cropping restriction. Check wide desktop crops and narrower phone presentation so a bed, step or doorway is not removed from the very picture intended to explain it.
Use short, purposeful alternative text for informative photographs. W3C’s informative-image guidance says the text alternative should convey the image’s relevant meaning. Describe the arrangement that matters in context rather than adding a string of location keywords.
Use photographs you are permitted to publish and that show the current property faithfully. Stock or generated interiors should not stand in for your accommodation. Remove guest belongings, private paperwork and access codes before preparing the publishable files.
Connect the description to the correct stay
Keep the property name and main details consistent when the visitor reaches the booking service. If the website says one sleeping arrangement while the booking page shows another, establish which is current and correct both copies before launch.
Place important stay conditions beside the practical information and booking route. Link the business’s approved booking information clearly rather than writing informal promises that conflict with it. Someone with a suitability question should be able to ask before proceeding.
The holiday-let availability calendar guide explains how displayed dates differ from requests and confirmed reservations. The property page should lead to the chosen route for that unit, rather than an unrelated calendar or general enquiry that loses the visitor’s selection.
Turn the material into an editable content pack
Create one current record for the property with room notes, approved wording, permitted photographs and outstanding factual questions. Identify who can confirm each uncertainty. The website content preparation guide covers the wider handover to a designer.
Before approving the design, ask someone who has not visited to explain the sleeping layout, find the bathroom arrangement and distinguish the private facilities from shared ones. If they need to infer an answer, improve the text or photograph sequence.
Rehearse an ordinary update: a twin room becomes a double, a photograph changes and the corresponding external listing must be checked. Record who edits each system and how the public result is reviewed. Keep the approval record with the current content rather than circulating several conflicting drafts.
For the full project, use our holiday-let website planning guide. To discuss a holiday-let website in Formby, Freshfield or L37, contact Formby Web Design with your current site or listings and the property questions guests struggle to answer.
