The season is over, or nearly. The last guests are leaving, the books are being closed, and somewhere on a list there is a note that has been there since May: "sort out the website". The easy thing is to leave it for spring. The right thing is to start now.
Next season's website depends on three things, and all three point to winter: when your customers decide, how long Google takes, and when you actually have time.
Your guests decide in winter
The tourist who comes to Crete in July doesn't decide in June. In December 2025, Dertour said that German bookings for summer 2026 were already 18% higher than a year earlier. At the same time TUI was running early booking offers of up to 40%, with Greece the top choice and Crete in places three to five of its destinations.
Travellers who don't book a package search early too. Expedia's data for the first quarter of 2025 showed the biggest growth in searches for trips three to six months ahead: an almost 50% larger share than the quarter before, with the largest rise in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Put simply, from January to March people are working out where they will spend the summer.
If your website goes live in June, it has missed all of them. They have gone to a booking platform and its commission, or to the place next door that had a page ready. Last-minute bookings exist too, of course, but a site that is ready in spring catches both.
Google needs time
A new website doesn't appear on Google the next day. Google first has to find it, then read its pages, then decide where to show it. Google's own starter guide says some changes take effect in a few hours and others take several months, and suggests waiting a few weeks before judging whether something worked.
The same goes for rebuilding an old site: new addresses, new text and new languages need time to settle. Done in February, they have settled before the summer searches begin. Done in May, they settle during the season. If you want to know what else can keep a site out of Google, I wrote about why your website doesn't show up on Google.
In winter, you have time
This is easy to forget. A good website isn't made by the developer alone. It needs text, prices, photos and answers from you: What does the room include? What is the cancellation policy? What should a guest know before arriving? Who will answer the contact form?
Nobody has time for that in August. An email asking for "two paragraphs about your business" sits unanswered for three weeks, not out of neglect but because the rooms or the shop are full. In November the same email gets answered in an afternoon over a coffee, and decisions are made calmly instead of in a hurry.
You also have something that will have faded by spring: the season you just finished. What did everyone ask on the phone? Where did people get confused? Which complaint did you hear three times? Those are the answers the new site needs.
A plan from November to April
It doesn't all have to happen at once. A realistic schedule for a small business:
- November: what the season taught you. Write down the questions you heard most and how customers found you. Gather the logins for the domain, hosting, email and Google in one place, and check whose name they are registered in.
- December: the content. Text, prices, terms, languages. Pick which of this year's photos are worth keeping and note what is missing. If you run rooms or apartments, I wrote about what their website really needs.
- January and February: design and build. This is when the developer works, while you look, comment and correct.
- March: live. The site goes up, is submitted to Google, and your Google Business Profile and Instagram bio get the new link. Ask two friends to send the form or make a test booking from their phones.
- April: photos and finishing touches. Before the first guests arrive, the rooms or the shop are clean, empty and at their best, and spring light helps. The new photos go into a site that is already working.
Rooms to let or a taverna that closes for the winter have this whole stretch. A shop that stays open all year can do the same: winter is its quiet period.
What happens if you leave it for spring
Usually this: you start in April, the text runs late because you are opening up, the site goes live in June with half the photos and half the translation, and the guests find the mistakes. Google discovers it in July, when most people have already booked. And in October the same note goes back on the list.
It isn't a disaster. But it is a lost year, and in tourism each year is one chance.
The takeaway
If you want a new website for next season, the most important step is to start before the year is out. An hour in November writing down what your customers asked is worth more than a rushed week in May. For the cost, start with how much a website costs in 2026.
I'm booking projects for the last quarter of 2026 now. If you want your website ready before next season, write to me.