What an apartment website actually needs

A guest looking for accommodation decides in a few minutes, usually on a phone with five tabs open. In that time they need to see what it looks like, what it costs, whether it is free and how to reach you. Everything else is an extra.

Photos before anything else

Accommodation is chosen with the eyes. Ten good photos are worth more than any amount of copy: every room, the bathroom, the kitchen, the terrace, the view and the surroundings. Shot in daylight, with the space tidy and nobody in frame. If you have a pool or a sea view, that is the first photo, not the ninth.

A common mistake is too few photos of the bathroom and kitchen. Those are exactly the rooms guests care about, because that is how they judge the state of a property.

Prices

A guest who cannot see a price usually does not send an enquiry, they move to the next result. You do not have to publish a rate for every date: a seasonal range with a note on what is included is enough. If you do publish prices, Croatian rules from 1 October 2026 also require a machine-readable price list with the reference price from 10 September 2026.

Availability

A calendar of booked dates saves time for both sides. Without it you get enquiries for dates long since filled, and the guest waits for a reply to learn what they could have seen instantly. The calendar can sync with portals through an iCal feed, or be updated by hand if you have few units.

Contact that works from a phone

• A phone number that dials when tapped
• WhatsApp, because foreign guests rarely call but message without hesitating
• A short form: name, email, dates, number of guests, message. Every extra field reduces the number of enquiries sent
• An email address written so it can be copied

Languages

For Zadar County, Croatian, English and German cover the large majority of guests. What matters is that each language has its own addresses rather than being translated in the browser: that way Google can index the German version and show it to a German guest.

Surroundings and practical details

Distance to the beach, shop and restaurants, parking, check-in and check-out times, house rules, whether pets are allowed. These are the questions guests otherwise send by email, so every answer written on the site means one email less.

Reviews and trust

A guest who does not know you is looking for a reason to trust you. A few reviews with the guest’s name and country, shown on the site, do that job better than any description. Invented reviews are spotted because they all sound alike, so three real ones beat ten written at a desk. A link to a Google profile carrying the same reviews further confirms the property exists and that somebody stands behind it.

What usually is not needed

• A full-screen intro animation the guest has to skip
• Music that starts on its own
• A long history of the town before any photos are visible
• An online payment system until the number of bookings makes manual confirmation a burden
• A blog nobody maintains, because an empty section looks worse than no section