Why a bespoke website build makes good business sense

The number of 'website-builder' services available to businesses makes for an increasingly crowded marketplace - from Wordpress to Webflow and countless others in-between, how do you decipher which might work for your business? In reality, if websites aren't your area of expertise, answering 'which platform is right for me?' is impossible. In this post, we demonstrate how quality, custom built websites top pre-made templates and make sense for business today, and in the future. 

At Edward Robertson, we design, build and maintain websites for all kinds of companies but in this article, we showcase two recent Holiday Accommodation websites - Headlam Hall and The Old Vicarage - both launched in 2025. You can explore these and many more in detail on Our Work page.

The Hotel website building market is awash with options; HotelRunner, ProfitRoom, Hotelogix, to name a few. They're based on subscription models that seem affordable at first around (£95 per month) but soon, add ons and fees mount up. What's more, their model of selling quantity not quality means they need lots of businesses to use them. And with scale, comes complexity and chaos. They offer a website that needs to suit the requirements of an independent Bed and Breakfast, as well as multi-location chains with hundreds of rooms. 

Which has us wondering. Does the owner of a self catering cottage for two really need to trawl through configuration options around children's clubs, pool safety, and room-service options? Absolutely not.

Instead, when we begin working with a client, we listen to what you want a website to do for visitors and for your business and make it happen. You can talk to us - in person, by phone, or through video call, about your needs. With your requirements, we design a site tailored to suit. Want a Dog-hall-of-fame gallery? We'll build it!. Need a place to house special offers? Sure thing!

It doesn't pay to take shortcuts

To quote Little Hotelier (a website distribution tool for property owners), the benefits of using a hotel website template are that "Ultimately, it saves you a lot of time and money...giving you a professional website design, even if you have limited or no web experience".

Would you serve your restaurant guests a microwave meal for their dinner? It might save you time and money - allowing you to put food on the table, even if you have limited or no cooking experience! Of course not. Ultimately, it doesn't pay to take shortcuts. If you have pride in the services you offer your customers, then put your trust in experts who can deliver quality.

Our custom built websites, and bespoke Content Management System (CMS) offer flexibility and control, allowing for unique designs, bespoke functionality, and superior performance. Here's how this process came to life on the website of Headlam Hall, a refined hotel, restaurant and leisure destination in County Durham.

The devil is in the detail

Unlike pre-built platforms, we created a custom CMS from the ground up to meet the specific needs of Headlam Hall's management team. They shared that, along with image galleries and embedded videos to make things look beautiful, they needed somewhere to manage Job Vacancies, Promote Offers, detail upcoming Events, discuss local Attractions, share Recommendations and much more. To work best, many of these items had specific needs; a Recommendation simply required a space to house a logo, link and title; whilst Offers need a status (so it could be saved for later!), category for easy organisation, images and plenty of room for descriptive content. Together, we ensured a place for everything, and everything in its place. 

Through the process we invited feedback, delved into the details, and allowed for unique features and workflows that wouldn't be possible with off-the-shelf solutions. 

It was a similar story when it came to refreshing the website of The Old Vicarage, an expansive holiday home near Richmond. After launching their first site with us over a decade ago, we worked with the owner and marketing team, to ensure the depth and detail of this holiday home was truly reflected online. 

Behind their new site, a custom-built Content Management System means they can manage guest bookings, directly. No platform fees, service charges or constraints to be seen! We've built an availability calendar that is tailored entirely to The Old Vicarage's seasonal rates and dates; with fee structures, extras, check in/out and pricing like no other offering.

On the front-end, every single area of the website has been designed specifically for the needs of the visitor. No cross selling from alternative options, or competing properties; no requirements to fill 'specifications' that are not appropriate, but opportunities to tell a rich and inviting story, such as a dedicated blog and visitors book. Today, the client is able to market to their ideal guest, communicate with them directly and skip the pain points associated with using a third party platform.

An elevated experience for client and end user

Here's a recap of why we believe working with experts like the team at Edward Robertson to build your business website, is the right thing to do:


• Unparalleled control.
With a custom CMS, clients have complete control over every aspect of their website, from the user interface to the backend functionality, ensuring a seamless and consistent user experience. 


• Enhanced performance.
Our websites are optimised for speed and efficiency, leading to faster loading times and a better user experience, which is crucial for SEO and user engagement. We keep the output lean and lightweight, in stark contrast to many of the bloated platforms. When you produce a site with Wordpress, it's your responsibility to analyse, amend, score and improve the output across Accessibility, SEO, and so on. With Edward Robertson, we'll asses this in house, with no need for you to worry.


• Better integration.
Keen to ensure their booking system worked in-house and online, we seamlessly integrated their rooms and reservations management provider to make for a unified and efficient workflow. Email newsletters are linked to the provider that's right for them, not a restricted number of third parties, like many of the template site builders.


• Cost-effective in the long run.
While the initial investment in a custom site may be higher, the long-term benefits of increased flexibility, scalability, and performance can lead to significant cost savings and a higher return on investment. Did you know the Old Vicarage successfully ran their entire holiday accommodation business - from Marketing, Bookings and Reviews - on an Edward Robertson built site for a decade, before having to update things? Value indeed!



• Superior experience.
Not sure how a certain change will look before you hit 'Save'? Or unsure where to house a new piece of content or image? Rather than googling the answer, we're only a phone call away. So you can ask for help, and complete your task, feeling supported and safe in the knowledge that what you're doing is the right thing.

Ready to make a sage business decision about your website? Let's talk about how we can help.