Creating easy to use, pre-built websites for campsite owners
Empowering campsite owners with customizable websites to showcase properties online effortlessly, regardless of tech skills
About
I joined Holiday Fox in September 2021 as a Product Designer, focusing on creating customisable websites for campsite and holiday rental owners. Holiday Fox helps property owners manage bookings and enhance their online presence with customizable website templates while offering outdoor recreation and adventure holiday experiences.
I collaborated closely with the Head of Product and the Engineering team, designing wireframes for the “website-in-a-box” feature to streamline the setup for non-technical users.
Traditional campsite owners miss out on bookings due to limited tech — Holiday Fox's “Website in a Box” offers a simple, customizable online presence.
My main focus was on developing customisable websites designed specifically for campsite owners, many of whom are quite traditional in their approach—relying on notebooks for bookings and preferring phone inquiries.
While this works well for them, they often miss opportunities to reach the growing number of travellers seeking seamless, online booking experiences, especially in popular remote areas.
This insight led to the concept of “Website in a Box”: pre-built, customisable website templates that Holiday Fox manages end-to-end, allowing campsite owners to focus on customer relationships and site maintenance without worrying about technical updates.
With an emphasis on quickly launching a MVP, I worked closely with the Head of Product to understand our target users and our competitive space
Without dedicated UX research resources to deeply explore the problem space and understand the end users, we leveraged insights from sales and customer support to shape the solution.
Many of our target users were resistant to change, having run their businesses offline for years. Moving everything online was a significant shift, especially for those who still relied on early-2000s phones and often hadn’t adopted a smartphone.
Together, we decided to offer a small selection of templates with different layouts and color schemes, ensuring they were easy to use and simple to build. We also needed to determine which elements would be customizable, like colors, fonts, or layouts, while keeping customization options minimal to avoid developer complexity.
After this I done a light search on current competitors where I observed current solutions in the market for lodging and tourism activitites.
At this stage I fast-tracked wireframes for a lean launch, with improvements planned after go-live
With tight deadlines looming, I jumped straight into wireframing to quickly produce foundational designs, adopting a lean approach that allowed us to develop and launch faster. We agreed to refine and iterate on these designs based on user feedback after going live, aiming to maximize learning and adaptability.
Due to time constraints, we had to skip several early-stage steps that would have given us deeper insights into user preferences and potential improvements, but this approach allowed us to prioritize speed and flexibility in our initial release.
I created streamlined wireframes for the homepage, accommodation page, and booking widget, simplifying the booking process
Key Takeaways
It was challenging yet very rewarding to create a digital solution for campsite owners, many of whom were new to online systems and hesitant to move away from traditional methods.
In wrapping up this project, some key takeaways emerged:
Working under tight timelines pushed us to prioritize speed and flexibility, opting for wireframing and quick iterations over in-depth research. However, the project highlighted the importance of understanding user expectations, especially for an audience unaccustomed to technology.
Looking back, an ideal next step would be to conduct guerrilla testing to gather some quick user feedback. This would provide valuable insights on whether the templates meet users' needs and are actually easy to navigate, helping us refine the product and address any usability issues early on.
Ultimately, this experience underscored the importance of balancing speed with user-centered insights, especially in developing new technology for audiences who may find it unfamiliar.
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