If you run a restaurant, café, B&B, holiday let, or any other hospitality business in the North East, let me ask you a question: when did you last look at your website on your phone?
Go on — pick it up now. Is it easy to navigate? Does it load quickly? Can someone find your menu, your booking link, or your contact number within about five seconds? If you’re wincing a little, you’re not alone. Hospitality is one of the industries where websites can make or break a business — and yet it’s also one of the areas where I see the biggest gap between how good the actual business is and how well the website represents it.
Let’s fix that.
Why hospitality websites need to work harder than most
When someone searches for “restaurants near Saltburn” or “dog-friendly B&B Teesside,” they’re usually in decision-making mode. They’re not browsing idly — they’re hungry, they’re planning a trip, they want to book something. That means your website has a matter of seconds to convince them you’re the right choice before they tap back and click on a competitor.
In most industries, a slow or clunky website is an inconvenience. In hospitality, it’s a lost booking.
The things that actually matter for a hospitality website
A menu or services page that’s easy to find and actually up to date
I can’t tell you how many restaurant websites I’ve seen where the menu is buried three clicks deep, saved as a PDF that doesn’t load properly on mobile, or — worse — still showing last year’s prices. Your menu is probably the single most important page on your site. It should be in the main navigation, load instantly, and be updated every time something changes.
The same goes for holiday let listings, spa treatment menus, or whatever your equivalent is. If a customer has to work to find out what you offer, they won’t.
Online booking that actually works
If you’re still asking people to ring up or send a Facebook message to book a table or a room, you’re losing customers — especially younger ones who’d rather close the browser than pick up the phone. Whether that’s a simple contact form, a third-party booking widget like OpenTable or Booksy, or a fully custom system, it needs to be front and centre. Ideally, a “Book now” button should be visible without scrolling on every page.
Photos that do justice to what you offer
The North East is genuinely beautiful — from the coastal towns around Redcar and Saltburn to the market towns of County Durham. If you’ve got a stunning view from your dining room, a gorgeous holiday cottage, or food that looks as good as it tastes, your website should show that off. This isn’t vanity — it’s a conversion tool. Good photography on a hospitality website consistently drives more enquiries than almost anything else.
If professional photography isn’t in the budget right now, even well-lit photos taken on a modern smartphone are far better than nothing. Just avoid that photo of the dining room taken from a dark corner at 4pm in winter.
Clear, accurate location information
This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised. I regularly come across hospitality websites where the address is only in the footer in tiny text, there’s no embedded map, and the phone number isn’t clickable on mobile. For anyone trying to find you for the first time, especially if they’re travelling from outside the area, this is genuinely off-putting.
Your address, phone number, and a clickable Google Maps link should be on your contact page and ideally your homepage too. If you’re on a business park or somewhere with tricky parking, a brief note about that goes a long way.
Opening hours kept up to date
Nothing is more frustrating for a customer than turning up to find you’re closed because your website said you were open. Particularly around bank holidays, seasonal closures, or if your hours change between summer and winter. A quick update to your website takes minutes — and it saves both you and your customers a wasted journey.
What about social media — do I even need a website?
This is a question I get asked more often than you’d think, especially from smaller hospitality businesses that have built up a decent Instagram following. My honest answer: social media is brilliant for reach and engagement, but it’s a rented platform. You don’t own it, you don’t control it, and the algorithm can change overnight. A website is your home base — it’s where Google sends people, it’s what appears in AI-powered search results, and it’s where you control the entire experience.
The two work best together. Social media drives awareness; your website converts that awareness into bookings.
Local hospitality in the North East is genuinely thriving — your website should reflect that
The food and hospitality scene across Teesside and the wider North East has developed brilliantly over the last few years. There are outstanding independent restaurants in Middlesbrough and Stockton, brilliant coastal spots around Redcar and Saltburn, award-winning holiday lets across the region, and a tourism industry that’s genuinely growing. Visitors are coming to the North East specifically — and when they search for places to stay and eat, you want to be what they find.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with hospitality and tourism businesses across the region, helping them build websites that actually bring in customers rather than just sitting there looking pretty. Whether that’s a fast, mobile-friendly restaurant site with an integrated booking system, a holiday let website with an availability calendar, or a café site that ranks well on Google locally — it’s work I genuinely enjoy.
Ready to talk about your hospitality website?
If you run a hospitality business in the North East and your website isn’t working as hard as you are, let’s have a chat. No jargon, no pushy sales pitch — just an honest conversation about what would actually make a difference for your business.
You can reach me at hello@michaelwalsh.design or give me a call on 01642 942932. I’m based in Redcar and work with businesses right across the region.
