In reply to fenski:
A bit late to the party but as a professional UX designer I would just like to echo other replies and suggest taking the time to learn a popular platform like Wix or Foursquare yourself.
Beyond saving a ton of money you will also save yourself the headache of working with a contractor. On top of that you’ll empower yourself to make edits and maintain the website without relying on a third party.
Having spent the last year researching a hiking route and getting extremely frustrated with unprofessional website design here are a few tips:
1. Make sure the key information is visible immediately: location, features, price, how to book.
2. Make it super easy to book and ensure people know exactly what they’re paying for. There are easy to use booking widgets on most platforms.
3. Run the website by a few people and get as much feedback as possible. In lieu of real user testing any feedback you can get will help you.
4. Make it easy for users to provide feedback about the website and act on it. Booking button not obvious enough? Confusing information? Fix it asap.
5. Keep it simple. Keep your users’ main goal in mind: to book accommodation. No lengthy “about us” tales.
6. Really evaluate why it is better for users to book through the website rather than on Booking/AirBnB. What value are you giving them to forget about the security of a trusted escrow?
Hope this helps