Increase in direct website bookings
Estimated annual saving in commission fees
Ranking for “quirky bars London”
Uplift in cross-venue exploration
Client & context
The Little Door & Co. runs London’s most beloved fictional flatshares — The Little Yellow Door, The Little Scarlet Door, The Little Violet Door and more. Venues across Notting Hill, Soho, and Clapham. Legendary in-person experience. Their digital front door, however, wasn’t nearly as welcoming as the real ones.
The challenge
- Confusing user journey: customers loved individual venues but had no idea they were part of a group, meaning zero cross-pollination between locations.
- Conversion bottlenecks: a clunky booking flow caused high drop-off rates from mobile users — their biggest demographic.
- Invisible for non-branded search: ranking for their own names but missing thousands of searches for “quirky bars Soho” or “best house party London”.
Strategy & execution
A digital neighbourhood strategy — built like their venues: fun, functional, and impossible to leave. Each door distinct, all connected, with shared SEO authority and the flatshare tone of voice throughout.
Redesigned hub & spoke architecture
Rebuilt the site to seamlessly guide users from the master brand to their nearest Door, using geo-location to suggest the perfect venue.
Implemented vibe-based SEO
Targeted high-intent experience keywords like “bottomless brunch Clapham” and “late night house party Soho” — capturing users searching for a feeling, not just a bar.
Streamlined the booking UX
Reduced clicks-to-book by 40% and integrated sticky mobile headers for impulse reservations, eliminating drop-off on the group’s biggest traffic source.
Unlocked the group effect
Connected venues under one cohesive ecosystem — users booking at one Door became 3x more likely to book at another location within the same month.
Results
- Direct bookings up 150%: dramatically reducing reliance on third-party platforms and commission fees.
- £240k saved annually: recaptured margin previously lost to booking platform commissions.
- Group loyalty unlocked: users visiting one venue now 3x more likely to book a second location within the month.
Key takeaways
- A hospitality brand needs a digital experience that feels like the venue itself: when the physical product is all about atmosphere and personality, the website has to carry the same sense of place and make the next step feel natural.
- Search works better when it captures a feeling, not just a category: targeting terms like “bottomless brunch” and “house party” brought in people with real intent, because the campaign aligned with how they were actually thinking about their night out.
- Removing booking friction can lift revenue without increasing traffic: simplifying the journey for mobile users turned more of the existing demand into completed bookings, improving performance before any extra media spend was needed.
- Connecting venues creates more value than treating them as separate businesses: once the sites were linked into one ecosystem, a booking at one Door naturally opened the door to another, increasing lifetime value across the group.