How Holmebeck Shepherds Huts Increased Bookings 25% With a Website That Actually Works on Mobile
A luxury shepherds hut in North Yorkshire had a 16-second mobile load time and a booking system that didn’t work. We rebuilt it from scratch – bookings increased 25% in three months, during one of the toughest years for UK hospitality.
25% increase in bookings
Mobile performance transformed
Custom pricing system
About the Project
Holmebeck Shepherds Huts is a secluded luxury retreat in North Yorkshire – a beautifully designed shepherds hut with a hot tub, perfect for couples looking to escape. The property itself is stunning. The website? Not so much.
Clare knew her website had problems. Guests were struggling to book, the site crawled on mobile, and she had no way of tracking what was actually happening. She reached out in early 2024 asking for help.
The Challenge
Clare’s website had three critical problems:
The booking system didn't work
The old site used a WooCommerce hotel booking plugin that barely functioned. Guests couldn’t figure out how to complete a reservation. The flow was confusing, unclear, and broke completely on mobile. Clare suspected she was losing bookings – but without analytics, she had no way to prove it.
Mobile performance was catastrophic
The site scored 32/100 on Google’s mobile performance test. It took 16 seconds to fully load on a phone. Most guests booking shepherds huts are browsing on mobile – if your site takes that long to load, they’ve already moved on to your competitor.
No clear next step
Even when guests managed to load the site, they had no idea what to do next. There was no clear call to action, no obvious booking journey, no guidance. The site assumed guests would figure it out – they didn’t.
The Solution
We started from scratch. The old site couldn’t be saved.
Mobile-first booking experience
We rebuilt the site with mobile users as the priority. Every page has a clear call to action. The booking journey is obvious. No guesswork, no confusion – just a simple path from “I’m interested” to “I’ve booked.”
WP Booking System + custom pricing logic
We used WP Booking System as the foundation – a proven, reliable booking plugin. But holiday rentals don’t price like hotels. Clare offered discounts for extended stays (stays longer than 2 nights drop to £70/weeknight, £80/weekend). WP Booking System couldn’t handle that out of the box, so we wrote custom code to calculate pricing automatically based on stay length.
Performance overhaul
We stripped out the bloat, optimized images, and built the site to load fast on mobile. Google hates slow websites. So do we. More importantly, so do guests trying to book on their phones.
The Results
The new website launched in early 2024. Three months later:
- Bookings increased by over 25% compared to the same period the previous year
- Mobile experience transformed – guests can now book in seconds, not struggle for minutes
- Custom pricing works automatically – no manual calculations, no confusion over rates
- Clear tracking in place – Clare can now see what’s working and what isn’t
The timing made this result even more significant. 2024 was an extremely difficult year for UK hospitality – many holiday rentals saw bookings drop. Clare’s increased.
What Our Clients Say
Kane made the whole process seamless and straightforward. From the beginning and even now he has been on hand for any queries and a contact to bounce any ideas to continually improve. The website looks great and is working extremely well, its clear and simple for the end user to navigate which is what I needed. This year has been extremely difficult for the hospitality industry but my new website delivered by Kane has been essential to help maintain bookings. Thank you Kane. 
