The Wren House: a demo inn, and what it could mean for a BC B&B
Think of the inns and B&Bs along the BC coast. A heritage house in Victoria. A cottage with a few rooms on Salt Spring. A guest house in a quiet Okanagan town. They run on care and small touches. A note on the pillow. Fresh scones. The owner who knows where to eat.
Their websites often say none of that. This post looks at a demo that tries to.
First, the honest part
The Wren House is a made-up small hotel. It is not a real business, and it is not a client. We run it as a demo of our Hotel and Boutique Inn starter. It lives in New Vibe City, a made-up city we use for all our demos.
Some things on the demo are not part of a Launch. Anything shown on the demo is not included unless it is on your Launch list. We will be clear below about which is which.
What the demo gets right
Visit The Wren House and read the home page. It does not open with a sale. It opens with a feeling: a small hotel in a quiet part of town, open all year.
Then it tells you about the house. Each room has a name and a short story. One has a sitting area that catches the afternoon light. One has French doors onto the garden. You can picture yourself there.
The page also walks you through your stay. When you arrive. Where the key is. Where breakfast comes from. What is in the welcome basket. It reads like a friend telling you what to expect.
That is the lesson for a real inn. Your site can sound like you. It can tell guests about your rooms, your garden, your mornings, in your own words.
What is on the demo, but not on every Launch
The demo shows a few bigger tools:
- Room pages with photo galleries
- An online reservation system for rooms
- A weddings and events page
- A concierge and local guide section
These are shown on the demo. They are not included unless they are on your Launch list. Your own room pages and photos would come from what you send us. We never make up rooms, reviews or press.
What a Launch sets up for an inn
A Launch is $2,500 CAD plus GST, paid once. You get two hours of live building with one of our people. If you want them, we set up and test each of these with you:
- Online booking. We connect your Google or Microsoft calendar and set your hours. It suits things like a call about a wedding or a walk through the garden. Then we make one real test booking.
- Online payments. Deposits and payments go into your own Stripe, PayPal or Square account. We never hold your money.
- A guest portal. Guests sign in with a code we email them. They see their bookings, invoices and files.
- One contact list. Every form, booking and payment becomes a contact. We bring over the contacts you have now.
Every Launch also gets forms that send each message to the inbox you name. Your real name, rooms, logo and colours go on the site. And it works on a phone, which is where a lot of travellers plan.
You can change it, any season
Inns change with the seasons. Rates shift. A room closes for repairs. The garden opens in May.
After Launch, you change your site by telling it what you want, in plain English, like a text message. Type "add our winter rates" or "say the Garden Room is closed until spring." On the call, you make one real change this way, with us beside you. We also teach you the visual editor, so you can click on a word or a photo and fix it where it sits.
Your site runs in your own Replit account. We charge $0 a month, and your host bills about $20 US a month for use. That is the host's bill, in US dollars. Our prices are in Canadian dollars. You own the code, and you can leave any time with a full copy.
Next step
Read about the Hotel and Boutique Inn starter, or start your Launch. Want to see what yours could look like? Type your web address on See what you'd get. Or book a free call and tell us about your house.