For Volker and Stephanie · for our meeting on Monday 2 November, 09:30
A safer, simpler website for The Little Palm
You asked me for a small, safe website at a reasonable price. That is still the plan, and its price has not changed. Since we spoke I have had some more thoughts, so I have added five optional extras. None of them is needed: take only what is useful to you.
What has not changed
The core, as quoted on 23 October
First I make your current site safe, then I replace it with a small website that has far less to attack.
| Option | What it covers | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Secure the current site | Backup, accounts, plugins, closing the open doors, PHP and WordPress updates, a short report to you | R950 |
| Optional: move WordPress to my server | Move, test and switch over, email settings untouched | R1,500 |
| 2. The new website | Home, Rooms and rates, Book and contact, Activities and news; English and German; Book now straight to NightsBridge; a contact form; nightly backups and monitoring | R7,500 |
| Hosting and care | Hosting, backups, monitoring and small changes, invoiced once a year on your March–February year | R300 a month |
The new website takes about six working days
| Part of the work | Working days |
|---|---|
| Set-up on my project kit | ½ |
| Page design matching today’s look | 1½ |
| English and German | 1 |
| Moving text and photos, optimising images | 1 |
| Admin and contact form | 1 |
| Redirects, testing and switch-over | 1 |
| Total | 6 |
The design
Your website, in English and German
Your own text and photos; the new photos from the November shoot replace them later. Book now is always on screen and goes straight to NightsBridge. A “?” button on every page helps guests book or report a problem, and the contact form asks only for name, email and message, with a clear consent line, as POPIA requires. The extras are shown in place, each marked Proposal. Everything below is clickable.
Phone
Boxes marked SAMPLE or MUSTER, and anything in [square brackets], are things I need from you. I have not invented anything.
Optional extras
Five extras, if you want them
You asked for small and safe, so these are extras, not part of the plan.
1. A faster, app-like website (React)
For guests: pages that change instantly without reloading, which feels smoother on a phone. For you: the same system an app would build on, if you ever want one.
2. WhatsApp chat button
For guests: one tap opens a WhatsApp chat with you, which many guests prefer to email. For you: questions arrive where you already answer them.
3. AI assistant (“Ask us”)
For guests: quick answers about rooms, rates, breakfast and getting here, in English or German, from your own website text. For you: fewer repeat questions. It has a small monthly running cost, which I would show you before switching it on, and one switch turns it off.
4. Support and change requests
For you two: tap “?” on your own site, describe a change, and it reaches me with a screenshot of the page; you see its status and my reply in one place instead of searching WhatsApp. For guests: their “Report a problem” lands in the same place.
5. A mobile app for phones and tablets
For you two, not for guests: answer enquiries, change rates, offers and photos, and get a notification when something new comes in. Guests keep booking on the website and NightsBridge. Apple and Google charge their own developer fees to be in their app stores (Apple yearly, Google once).
Quote for the extras
Each extra is R2,500, on top of the core, and you can take any of them on its own. The working days are my estimate, sized the same way as the six days for the core.
| Extra | What is in it | Working days | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. React website | The same pages as a React site in English and German, content served from your website’s system, build and release set-up | 2 | R2,500 |
| 2. WhatsApp chat button | Button and short panel in English and German, opening a chat with your number, tested on iPhone and Android | ½ | R2,500 |
| 3. AI assistant | Answers from your own website text in English and German, one on/off switch, contact form as fallback, usage logged monthly | 2 | R2,500 |
| 4. Support and change requests | Sign-in for you two with Google or Apple, “Request a change” with screenshot, your list of requests with status and replies, email to me | 2 | R2,500 |
| 5. Mobile app (phones and tablets) | Today, enquiries, requests and quick edits, notifications, phone and tablet layouts, App Store and Google Play release | 7½ | R2,500 |
The app works best with extras 1 and 4, because it uses the same system and the same list of requests.
For Monday
What I need from you
- A yes to step 1, so I can start securing the site.
- Moving the current site to my server: yes or no.
- Which extras, if any, you would like.
- Postcode: 7441 or 7443?
- Room sizes: both sites give two per room (for example TheOne about 40 m² and about 30 m²).
- Refund for a cancellation 7 to 30 days before arrival.
- Rates per room, per night? And service: the English page says daily, the German page every 2 days.
- TheTwo: double shower, or two basins? The pages differ.
- TheStudio: is the Netflix channel still there? Only the German page mentions it.
- Where guests leave reviews, and a few lines about you both with a photo.
- thelittlepalm.de: one site with an English/German switch, or keep two domains?