Âncora
Website design and build for a boutique hotel in Vila Praia de Âncora — booking integration, bilingual and built to convert.
/ OVERVIEW
A website rebuild for a coastal boutique hotel — direct bookings up 34% in the first quarter, built around one clear journey.
The challenge
Âncora was losing a third of its revenue to OTA commissions. Their old site — untouched since 2017 — didn't work on mobile, had no direct booking flow, and pushed guests straight to Booking.com out of frustration.
The rebuild had to do two jobs: capture the feeling of the place well enough to justify the room rate, and funnel every visitor toward a direct reservation — in both Portuguese and English, on phones first.
The approach
Lead with place
Full-bleed coastal photography and a calm, editorial layout do the selling. The Atlantic light is the brand — the UI gets out of its way.
One clear journey
Every page ends in the same call: check availability. The booking widget is reachable from anywhere in two taps, with no dead ends.
Bilingual + fast
Server-rendered Portuguese and English routes, image-optimised and edge-cached, so the site loads under a second on hotel-lobby 4G.
Key features
Direct booking widget
Real-time availability and rates, integrated with their existing PMS — no commission, no redirect.
Bilingual routes
Full PT and EN versions, each server-rendered for SEO so both languages rank in search.
Room storytelling
Each room gets its own page with gallery, amenities and a direct path to book that specific room.
Editorial gallery
A fast, full-screen gallery of the hotel and surroundings — optimised so big images stay sharp and light.
Tech stack
Frontend
- Next.js (App Router)
- React
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
Integrations
- Headless CMS
- Booking API
- Stripe
Infra
- Vercel
- Edge caching
- Vercel Analytics
Results
Sample figures — illustrative placeholders until real metrics are added.