Dawood Ahmed
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case study · Luxury hospitality · 2025

SugarHills Resort

A cinematic site for a hilltop resort in Kerala that sells the stay — and that guests can find on their own.

https://sugarhills.inscreen recording
My role
Sole developer — build and technical SEO
For
Paid international client · Wayanad, Kerala, India
Status
Live · sugarhills.in ↗
Stack
React + TypeScript · Vite · Tailwind · Node.js + Express · MongoDB · JWT

Client code is private.

the problem

The resort relied on third-party listings: guests found it through another platform's template, and the resort paid commission. It needed a site that sells the stay as well as its photographs do, and that guests can find on their own.

what I built

  • A photography-led homepage with an editorial serif
  • Separate, linkable pages for cottages, experiences, offers, gallery and blog — each aimed at its own search terms
  • A live availability flow and a booking call-to-action on every screen, connected to the resort's booking partner
  • Enquiry handling
  • An admin panel so the resort edits its own content
  • Technical SEO: metadata, structured data and performance work

decisions that mattered

One page per search

Every cottage, experience and offer has its own page, so each can rank for what guests actually search for.

Book through the partner they already use

The availability flow connects to the resort's existing booking partner instead of adding a second booking system to keep in sync.

The site stays editable

An admin panel behind JWT authentication lets the resort update its own content.

inside

  1. InterfaceReact + TypeScript · TailwindCottages, experiences, offers, booking calls-to-action
  2. APINode.js + Express · JWTContent, enquiries and the authenticated admin
  3. DataMongoDBCottages, offers, gallery, posts, enquiries
  4. BookingResort's booking partnerLive availability, one source of truth

result

  • Strong search performance, as reported by the resort.
  • Kept on for ongoing development.

The SEO is performing well, and we're continuing to work with them on what comes next.

— Management, SugarHills Resort