Case study · Hospitality · Vacation rentals
The House Kee: Vacation-Rental Booking With an Owner Portal
Direct booking for waterfront and beach homes in Maryland, Delaware and Florida. Guests search live availability, filter by amenity and see prices in their own currency. Owners get a portal to manage their listings.
Project snapshot
The House Kee manages vacation rentals in Annapolis, Ocean City, the Delaware beaches and Florida's Gulf Coast. The site covers two sides of the business: a direct-booking site where guests search and book homes, and a portal where property owners manage their listings. We built both.
- Client
- The House Kee
- Industry
- Hospitality (vacation rentals, property management)
- Platform
- WordPress
- Live site
- thehousekee.com
The challenge
Most vacation-rental managers depend on Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com, and pay commission on every stay. A direct-booking site only works if it's as easy to use as those marketplaces: real availability, real filters and clear pricing.
The House Kee has two kinds of users:
- Guests need to search across many towns in three states, pick dates, filter by bedrooms and amenities such as pools, hot tubs or beach access, and see prices in their own currency.
- Property owners need a way to list homes and manage them without emailing the team for every change. This matters most for Annapolis during US Naval Academy Commissioning Week, when demand spikes and rates are set years ahead.
Our solution
Live availability search
The homepage search bar combines a location picker (13 towns across Maryland, Delaware and Florida), arrival and departure date pickers and a guest count. Advanced filters cover bedroom count and a long list of amenities, from pools and hot tubs to Wi-Fi and beach access. Results show each home's guest capacity, bedrooms and bathrooms.
Multi-currency pricing
A currency switcher shows prices in USD, CAD, EUR or GBP, so guests booking from outside the US don't have to convert rates themselves.
The Commissioning Week marketplace
A dedicated section lists Annapolis homes for USNA Commissioning Week. Guests can filter by distance from the Academy, guest count, bedrooms, amenities, price and event year. Each property page shows nightly rates and six-night totals for each upcoming year, an availability calendar and an inquiry form. Guests reserve by paying a 15% nonrefundable deposit through Stripe.
The owner portal
Owners register for an account, choose a monthly or annual listing plan and sign in to manage their Commissioning Week marketplace listing and keep track of the bookings and inquiries it brings in.
Owner acquisition pages
Management pages for Annapolis and Ocean City explain the service to homeowners and capture leads with a free property-analysis form.
Key features
- Availability search by location, dates and guests
- Bedroom and amenity filtering
- Currency switcher (USD, CAD, EUR, GBP)
- Property listing pages with guest capacity, bedrooms and bathrooms
- Commissioning Week marketplace with distance-from-USNA and year filters
- Year-by-year rate tables, availability calendar and deposit checkout via Stripe
- Owner registration, plan selection and owner login
- Property-management landing pages with a property-analysis form
- Guest FAQ, experiences and blog sections
Results
What the new platform delivered for The House Kee:
- Direct
Guests search live availability, filter by amenity and book on The House Kee's own site.
- Self-serve
Owners sign up, choose a plan and manage their own Commissioning Week listings.
- Secured
Commissioning Week guests reserve a home online by paying the deposit through Stripe.
Want more direct bookings, or a portal for your owners?
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