The owners asked me for a website so they could stop depending on Airbnb. I built that, then discovered they also needed a way to run it, so I built an owner admin panel, payments, automated emails, a chatbot, and the brand behind it.
See It WorkTap through the real screens on desktop, tablet, and phone: the guest site, the booking flow, the chat, and the owner admin panel.
IntroductionVegas Suite Rentals is a pair of privately owned suites at the Signature at MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip. The owners, Pat and Bernie, hosted their first suite on Airbnb. They came to me wanting out: they wanted to take bookings themselves, without a platform in the middle.
When we started they had one listing. Partway through, they bought a second suite and asked me to fold it into the same site. They aren't tech savvy, so whatever I built had to be something they could run without calling anyone.
My RoleI was the whole team. I named the business with the owners, designed the logo and brand, designed and built the guest website, designed and built the owner admin panel, set up Stripe, wrote every automated email, built the chatbot, and handled Google Analytics, Google email, and SEO. There was no developer, no copywriter, and no marketer. It was me and the owners.
What They Asked For vs. What They NeededThe request was one sentence: "We want to get rid of Airbnb." I took their listings and built a website where people could book directly.
Once the booking flow existed, I stopped and asked what happens after a guest books. Someone has to block dates for repairs and personal stays, see who has paid, contact guests, and keep two suites from being double-booked. Airbnb did all of that for them. A website alone would have replaced a working system with a half-finished one.
So I built the missing half without being asked. That discovery is the heart of this project: the website was the visible part, and the control panel behind it is what made leaving Airbnb possible.
The Problem, and the ApproachWhy this was harder than "make a booking website," and how I built around it.
Problems
Solutions
Booked Direct, With the Cost Spelled OutThe guest site's job is to make booking directly feel safer and cheaper than booking through a travel site. A side-by-side "the usual way vs. booked with the owner" comparison puts the fees, parking, and who answers the phone in plain view.
The Owner Admin PanelThis is the part nobody asked for, and the part that matters most. The owners needed one place to see everything about their business and act on it, without learning software. It is less a dashboard than a plain control panel built around the questions they actually ask.
01 ยท Bookings at a glanceNext check-in, upcoming stays, and money from paid website bookings on the first screen, with plain "none yet" states instead of empty tables.
02 ยท Block off datesClose nights for repairs or family visits in two taps. Blocked nights can't be booked on the website or on Airbnb.
03 ยท Prices on a calendarTap any days and type a new price. It goes live on the site right away, and Airbnb prices stay untouched.
04 ยท PerformanceQuality, occupancy and rates, and website visits, in the style of Airbnb's own Performance page, so nothing about the business is a mystery.
05 ยท Charges and changesAdd a charge like early check-in, modify a booking, or cancel with a clear confirmation, all from the same screen.
06 ยท Safety netsAn email check shows the last emails sent and whether they got through, and the owners can change their own password.
Their Airbnb calendars and the website stay in sync, so the owners can move bookings over gradually instead of switching overnight. A booking or blocked date on one side shows up on the other within a few hours.
Payments That Run ThemselvesEvery booking is tied to Stripe, and the payment schedule runs automatically so the owners never have to ask a guest for money.
Booked 61+ days outThe guest pays a 50% deposit at booking. The remaining balance is charged automatically 31 days before arrival.
Booked within 60 daysThe guest pays in full at booking, because there is no time left to wait on a balance.
CancellationsA clear refund policy built into the flow and the emails, so no one is surprised at the worst moment.
Every Email, Written and DesignedI wrote and designed every automated email for both audiences: 14 for guests and 13 for the owners. Guests get a confirmation, payment receipts, balance reminders, and check-in details. The owners get a notice at each stage too, from a new booking to a failed payment. Nobody has to wonder what just happened. Click any email to read it in full.
To guests · 14 emails
To the owners · 13 emails
A Chatbot That Sounds Like the OwnersGuests ask the same questions again and again: parking, check-in, pets, fees. A chatbot on the site answers them in the owners' voice, introducing itself as "Pat & Bernie," so questions get answered at any hour without the owners being on call.
Brand, Email, and FindabilityTaking a business off Airbnb means it has to exist on its own. I helped the owners choose the name, designed the logo and the dark, gold, Las Vegas look of the site, set up their Google email, and designed their email signature. I added Google Analytics so they can see who visits, and did the SEO groundwork so people searching for Strip suites can find them without going through a platform.
Everything They Needed to OpenWhat I delivered, start to finish.
01 ยท BrandBusiness name, logo, and visual identity, chosen with the owners.
02 ยท Two sitesA customer-facing booking site and a private owner admin panel, designed to work together.
03 ยท PaymentsStripe, set up with an automatic deposit and balance schedule.
04 ยท CommunicationEvery guest and owner email, plus a chatbot for common questions.
05 ยท Business setupGoogle email, a custom email signature, and Google Analytics.
06 ยท SearchSEO foundations so the suites can be found without a platform.
The ResultThe owners started with a single Airbnb listing and no website. They now have two suites, a branded site where guests book and pay directly, and an admin panel they can run themselves. They are transitioning off Airbnb and moving their bookings onto the site.
The site is live at vegassuiterentals.com.
What I learnedAsk what happens after the screen. I learned that the best design work on this project was noticing a gap the client couldn't name. They asked for a website. They needed an operating system for a business.
Design for the least technical person in the room. I learned that for non-technical owners, every extra option was a reason not to use the tool. I kept the admin panel simple and built it around what they actually do each day.
Automation is a design decision. I learned that deciding when money moves and when emails send is as much design as choosing a layout, because it decides whether the owners can trust the system.
Why This Fits Me01 ยท Finds the real problemI found the backend need that the client never asked for, because I design for the whole workflow, not just the request.
02 ยท Designs for real peopleI built for non-technical owners and kept it simple enough that they could run it on their own.
03 ยท Owns it end to endBrand, product, payments, email, analytics, and SEO all went through me, from first idea to live business.
Vegas Suite Rentals started as a website request and became a complete business system. I listened to what the owners asked for, noticed what they actually needed, and built both. That's how I work: I design the whole experience around the people using it, I'm comfortable owning the hard parts like payments and automation, and I make complicated systems feel simple to people who never want to think about them.
Amanda Schmutzler