Digital presence studio for boutique hospitality

Direct bookings start with a better front door.

We build custom sites for boutique inns and B&Bs — designed so guests book direct, not through an OTA. No retainers, no bloat. Just a website that earns its keep.

Get Your Free Audit See Our Work

The quiet problem

Your property is beautiful.
Your website is losing you money.

15–25%

OTA commission on every booking

Expedia and Booking.com take a cut every time a guest doesn't book direct. That adds up to tens of thousands a year for a 16-room inn.

3 sec

Before a guest decides to stay or leave

A slow, dated site loses the guest before they ever see the rooms. First impressions happen online now — not at your front door.

72%

Of travelers compare on mobile first

If your site doesn't work on a phone, you're invisible to the majority of people planning a weekend trip.

What we do

The next useful thing. Never the big retainer.

Agencies sell packages. We work in steps, in order — each one only when the last has earned it. It starts free, before we've even met.

A concept, before we've met

We redesign your homepage using your own photography and put it live — alongside a short, honest audit of your current site. If it isn't clearly better, ignore us.

Your landing page, live in a week

The concept, productionized on your domain: booking wired to your engine, mobile-first, SEO basics, analytics, one round of revisions.

The full site, rebuilt

Rooms, area guide, packages, events. We only build the full site once the landing page has proven itself — we never sell it cold.

A site that stays current

Hosting, edits, seasonal updates, your Google Business Profile, review monitoring. It stays fresh without you touching it.

Content in your voice

Google posts a few times a week, Instagram and Facebook versions, review responses that sound like you, a monthly guest email.

A back office on autopilot

Inquiry auto-replies, review-request flows, pre-arrival emails, follow-ups on inquiries that went quiet. Built one flow at a time, against problems you've actually voiced.

The proof

We build it first. Then we talk.

No pitch decks. We redesign an inn's homepage using its own photography — and put it live. Here's the before and after.

Before

The Inn

RoomsAboutContact

Welcome to
The Inn

A charming bed & breakfast

Learn More

After

The Seaward InnBook Direct

Gull Haven, New Jersey

A grand 1886 retreat,
a block from the shore.

Sixteen rooms with fireplaces, jacuzzis and ocean views — steps from the boardwalk.

Check Availability

A 16-room Victorian inn on the Jersey Shore

Booking moved above the fold, rooms up front, press features where guests can see them — mobile-first throughout.

Before

Historic Inn

RoomsGalleryBook

A Victorian
Retreat

Seaside lodging since 1871

See Rooms

After

The Hollyhock InnBook a Room

Seabreeze Grove, NJ

Where our porches
greet the ocean.

Twenty rooms in a Victorian inn we've kept since 1871. Breakfast downstairs, porches all day.

Check Availability

A 20-room historic inn, one block from the beach

Editorial storytelling around the porches and breakfast, framed photography, and an inline availability band replacing a buried booking link.

How it works

Three steps. No commitment until you're ready.

We audit your current site

A free, honest look at your digital presence — what's working, what's not, and where you're leaving direct bookings on the table. Takes us about a day.

We build a concept page

Using only public information, we design and code a working landing page for your property. You see exactly what we'd do — no guessing, no slide decks.

You decide

Love it? We move forward. Not ready? No pressure, no invoice. The concept stays live for 60 days either way.

Why Busy Lobby

Built for hospitality. Nothing else.

Hospitality is all we do. Not SaaS, not e-commerce, not "digital marketing." We understand inns because we've worked with some of the best hotel brands in the world.
No templates. Every page is designed from scratch for your property — your story, your rooms, your town.
Direct booking focused. Every design decision is aimed at one thing: getting the guest to book on your site, not an OTA.
We show, then tell. You see a working concept before we ever ask for a commitment. That's how confident we are in the work.
It runs without you. From seasonal updates to review replies and pre-arrival emails — the back office quietly takes care of itself.

Who's behind Busy Lobby

Manav Thaker

Founder & Principal

A decade in hospitality with some of the world's foremost hotel brands — from the front desk at Ace Hotel to Director of Customer Experience across four boutique properties in Mexico's Yucatán. Then a decade building digital products.

Busy Lobby is both careers in one studio. I know what makes a guest book direct because I've been the person behind the desk when they walk in — and the person building the site they found you on.

Ace Hotel The Standard Kimpton The Bowery Hotel Coqui Coqui Hyatt Place

Let's start

Get your free audit.

Tell us where to look. We'll send back an honest assessment of your digital presence — what's strong, what's costing you, and what we'd do differently. No fee, no obligation.

On it.

Your audit will land in your inbox within two business days. It'll be honest — that's the whole point.

Prefer email? Write to manav@busylobby.com