# Riad website design: what a Marrakech riad needs online to get direct bookings > Riad website design for Marrakech riads and boutique hotels: the pages guests look for, one page per service for Google, and a booking form or engine. With a real hotel example. By Salaheddine Elfatimi, Full Stack Developer in Marrakech. Published 25 September 2026. Updated 25 September 2026. Canonical: https://salaheddine-elfatimi.com/blog/riad-website-design ## Key takeaways - A riad website is there to bring direct bookings with no commission, and to keep the relationship with the guest. - Give every thing you sell its own page (suites, restaurant, each treatment, weddings, seminars): each one answers its own Google search. - For a riad with a few rooms, a booking request form is often enough; a booking engine with a channel manager suits bigger hotels. - Professional photos, speed on phones, your guests' languages and a Google Business Profile linked to the site make the difference. Good riad website design does three jobs: it turns visitors into direct booking requests, it gives each thing you sell (suites, restaurant, hammam, weddings) its own page so Google can find it, and it answers guests' questions before they message you. I built one this way for [Caravan Serai](https://www.caravanserai-marrakech.com/), a hotel and spa in Marrakech. Here is the method, page by page. ![Riad website design in one picture: one page for each thing you sell, each one able to appear on Google for its own search.](https://salaheddine-elfatimi.com/uploads/2026/09/riad-website-design-cover-1d685b0c.webp) ## Why does a riad need a website if it's already on Booking.com? Midnight, in the courtyard. The phone buzzes: "How much per night? Is there a pool? Do you serve breakfast?" The same message, for the tenth time this week. Booking.com and Airbnb are excellent salespeople. They bring you travellers from all over the world, and they get paid with a commission on every night. Keep them. But ask yourself one question: when a traveller types your riad's name into Google, what do they find? Ideally, your own site, with your photos, your prices and a "Book" button. A booking that comes through it pays no commission, and the guest is yours: you have their email for next time. That's the whole point of riad website design: not replacing the platforms, but giving guests a reason to come back to you directly. ![A riad owner without a website, then with one: the answers are online and the booking requests arrive on their own. Illustration.](https://salaheddine-elfatimi.com/uploads/2026/09/riad-website-design-beforeafter-61f04c80.webp) ## Riad website design: the pages you need The classic mistake is one beautiful home page that tries to say everything. Google can't show the same page for "hammam Marrakech" and for "riad wedding Marrakech". You need one page for each thing you sell: - **Suites and rooms:** photos, what's included, the price or a "from" price. - **The restaurant:** the cuisine, the menu, opening hours. One page per restaurant if you have more than one. - **Spa and hammam:** one page per treatment, with its length and price. - **Events:** weddings, seminars, private events, each with its own page. - **Activities:** yoga, hiking, cycling, day trips. - **Book**, **About** and **Contact**, with a map. Finding a riad in the medina is a sport of its own, and your guests will thank you. Each page answers one precise search. A couple planning their wedding doesn't type your riad's name. They type "riad wedding Marrakech", and the page that matches is the one that gets the enquiry. ## A real example: the Caravan Serai website, page by page [Caravan Serai](https://www.caravanserai-marrakech.com/) is a hotel and spa in Marrakech. Its site has 17 pages: two restaurants (Moroccan and French) and the menu, four spa pages (hammam and massages, hair removal, body care, hands and feet), three kinds of events (weddings, seminars, private events), three activities (yoga, hiking and cycling, billiards), and a booking page. ![The Caravan Serai website in Marrakech: home, booking, Moroccan restaurant, hammam and weddings, each on its own page.](https://salaheddine-elfatimi.com/uploads/2026/09/riad-website-design-proof-151726a2.webp) The [booking form](https://www.caravanserai-marrakech.com/book_at_caravan_serai) asks for what the hotel needs and nothing more: arrival and departure dates, the suite (with its price shown in the list), the number of adults, a name, a phone number and an email, and a box to accept the booking policy. A guest sends a request in about a minute, and the hotel confirms it. The same riad website design works for a riad with six rooms: fewer pages, the same idea. One page per thing you sell, and a short way to ask for a booking. ## Booking request form or booking engine? For a riad with a handful of rooms, a **booking request form** is often enough to start: it's simple, and you stay in control of every booking. You read the request, check your calendar, and confirm. For a hotel with many rooms, a **booking engine** connected to a channel manager (the tool that syncs your availability with Booking.com and Airbnb) avoids double bookings. It's more comfortable, and also more expensive and heavier to set up. Start with what you actually need; you can add the engine later without rebuilding the site. ## How does a direct booking work, step by step? ![From a Google search to a booking request, with no commission on that booking.](https://salaheddine-elfatimi.com/uploads/2026/09/riad-website-design-flow-5d49ed76.webp) 1. The traveller searches "hammam Marrakech" or "riad with a pool in Marrakech". 2. They land on the page that matches exactly, with photos and prices, in their language. 3. They press "Book": dates, suite, number of guests. 4. The request reaches you, you confirm, and the guest is yours. ## The details that make guests book The rest of riad website design is in the details, and guests notice every one of them: - **Professional photos**, shown large. A riad sells with the eyes first; the courtyard does half the work. - **A site that loads fast on a phone.** Most travellers look at your riad on their phone, often on hotel or airport Wi-Fi. The Caravan Serai site is built with Next.js to load quickly. - **Your guests' languages:** at least English and French if that's who stays with you. - **Your [Google Business Profile](https://www.google.com/business/)**, linked to the site. It's what shows up on Google Maps when someone searches near the medina. - **Answers to the usual questions** on the page: pool, breakfast, parking, how to reach you from the medina. Fewer messages at midnight. One more idea for later: AI assistants are starting to book on people's behalf. A site can already tell them what it offers, as I explain in [what WebMCP is and how AI assistants will use your website](https://salaheddine-elfatimi.com/blog/what-is-webmcp). ## How much does riad website design cost? It depends on the number of pages and on how bookings work. A site with the essential pages and a booking request form costs much less than one connected to a booking engine. A first version with the essentials starts from about $1,000, and each extra module is quoted separately. Here is [how I price a project, module by module](https://salaheddine-elfatimi.com/blog/e-learning-platform-cost), and what I build for [business websites](https://salaheddine-elfatimi.com/services/websites). ## Do you run a riad or a boutique hotel in Marrakech? Send me your riad's link (or your Booking.com page if you don't have a site yet) and what you sell besides nights: restaurant, hammam, events. I'll reply with the pages to create and a quote: [ask for a quote here](https://salaheddine-elfatimi.com/#contact). You can also see [the other projects I've built](https://salaheddine-elfatimi.com/#projects). ## Frequently asked questions ### Why does a riad need a website if it's on Booking.com? Booking.com brings visibility but takes a commission on every booking. A website allows direct bookings with no commission, and you keep the guest's contact for their next stay. ### What pages should a riad website have? Suites and rooms, the restaurant, the spa or hammam (one page per treatment), events such as weddings and seminars, activities, a booking page, and About and Contact with a map. Each page can appear on Google for its own search. ### Booking request form or booking engine: which should I choose? For a few rooms, a booking request form is often enough: it's simple and you confirm every booking yourself. For a bigger hotel, a booking engine connected to a channel manager syncs your availability with Booking.com and Airbnb. ### How much does a riad website cost in Marrakech? It depends on the number of pages and the booking system. A first version with the essentials starts from about $1,000, and each extra module is quoted separately.