Social Spoon is a specialist email partner for boutique and independent hotels. The central idea is simple: the care guests experience at the property should continue before and after their stay.
Positioning: Thoughtful email marketing and automated guest journeys that help hotels turn existing guest relationships into repeat direct bookings.
Personality: Calm, observant, expert, personal and practical. Premium through restraint and care, rather than elaborate effects.
Voice: Clear UK English. Specific guest moments. Short, confident statements. Explain the work in plain language. Avoid generic agency claims, inflated guarantees, “cutting-edge”, “synergy” and “revolutionary”.
Revised visual concept: A modern specialist studio: charcoal and white, exact #7a2830 brand-red accents, an Advercase hero, lighter Instrument Serif supporting headings, and a dimensional email showcase. The H1 is “Hotel email. Bring them back.” The outcome line uses white lettering on the exact brand red #7a2830, keeping the contrast readable on charcoal. Interior pages share the same typography and red, with service-specific visual stories. Motion explains the welcome, pre-arrival and return-stay sequence. The emails belong to Maison Serein, a clearly labelled fictional hotel with its own forest-green palette and wordmark, plus specific room, breakfast and stay details. Hotel warmth lives in the imagery and the writing, while the overall interface stays crisp.
Signature line: “They loved the stay. Let’s bring them back.” Always pair this with the explicit boutique-hotel email proposition, so the offer is understandable at first glance.
Distinctive assets: The new burgundy/charcoal Social Spoon identity, consistent #7a2830 brand-red emphasis, white and charcoal backgrounds, Advercase display typography, Instrument Serif supporting headings and Inter Tight body typography. The supplied font’s actual family name is Advercase. This direction follows the newer Instagram and LinkedIn presentation.
02 / SITEMAP
A small, useful site.
Five main navigation links: Services, Work & results, About, Insights and Book a discovery call. The logo returns to Home. Service detail pages are reached from the Services hub and relevant content.
Turn interest into a discovery-call enquiry with minimal friction.
Privacy / Terms
/privacy/ · /terms/
Accurate legal and data-handling information, completed for the live setup.
The design guide is a review aid and should be excluded from public navigation and indexing. No cold-outreach service has been added, because the confirmed offer is email management, guest journeys and audits/strategy.
03 / HOMEPAGE WIREFRAME
From recognition to a conversation.
01
Header
Monochrome supplied symbol · clear navigation · high-contrast discovery CTA
02
Hero
Charcoal field · large category and outcome headline · independent-hotel offer · discovery CTA
03
Motion showcase
Dimensional email cards · welcome/pre-arrival/return sequence · pause/replay and three accessible tabs
04
Selected result
73% to 43% OTA share · six-month context · open rate and list growth · full case link
05
Services
Three open service rows with clear scope and responsive arrow controls
06
Hospitality
Full-width hotel photograph · the guest relationship after checkout
07
Founder
Real portrait · hotel-management experience · direct personal involvement
08
Process & fit
Find the gaps · build the right thing · keep improving · boutique/independent audience
09
FAQ
Platform, list size, team input, scope, outcomes and cost
10
Final CTA
Burgundy invitation and discovery-call button
11
Footer
Charcoal field · contact and social links · large white brand signature
On mobile the hero stays left-aligned and the dimensional email composition scales down within a clipped scene. Proof stacks and service rows remain full-width links. The supporting photo follows the services. Three visible journey tabs support touch and keyboard navigation. The header keeps a short “Book a call” link visible beside the menu button.
04 / PAGE PLAN & COPY
Every page has a job.
Click each page title to review its complete draft copy and layout in the working preview. All key pages use the same conversion action.
Goal: Make the specialist offer immediately clear and encourage a call.
Primary CTA: Book a discovery call. On Contact, prepare the enquiry until a booking calendar is connected.
Headline: You paid to meet that guest once. Stop paying twice.
Subheadline:
Section order: Dark studio hero with a clear email offer dimensional animated email showcase featured case study three service rows full-width hospitality scene hotel-operator founder process and audience FAQs final CTA.
Copy: Complete draft copy is implemented on the linked page.
Imagery: Three dimensional illustrative email designs using hotel photography; a clear before/after result panel; a full-width hotel image and actual founder portrait.
Motion: A 650ms headline entrance and 1.1-second email-card composition. The showcase advances through three stages once, with pause/replay and manual tabs. Pointer depth is subtle. No scroll pinning.
SEO title: Hotel Email Marketing for Hotels | Social Spoon
Meta description: Done-for-you email marketing for independent hotels. Help past guests book direct again, with campaigns, automated journeys and email audits.
Goal: Help a hotel choose the right kind of support.
Primary CTA: Book a discovery call. On Contact, prepare the enquiry until a booking calendar is connected.
Headline: Three ways in. Where are you stuck?
Subheadline: Email management, automated guest journeys and audits for independent hotels. Choose someone to own the work, build a missing journey, or find out why the emails you already send aren’t doing enough.
Section order: Dark editorial introduction three visual service posters benefit-led service rows situation-based choices process discovery CTA.
Copy: Complete draft copy is implemented on the linked page.
Imagery: Campaign specimen, guest-journey diagram and audit poster; exact #7a2830 with charcoal and white.
Motion: Small section reveals and link hover feedback.
SEO title: Hotel Email Marketing Services | Social Spoon
Meta description: Email management, automated guest journeys and audits for independent hotels. Find the gap worth fixing and choose the right support.
Primary CTA: Book a discovery call. On Contact, prepare the enquiry until a booking calendar is connected.
Headline: Your hotel’s emails, handled. You just say yes.
Subheadline: I plan, write, design and send email campaigns for independent hotels. You provide the hotel news and approve the drafts. Nobody on your team has to remember the newsletter again.
Copy: Complete draft copy is implemented on the linked page.
Imagery: A full-width hotel photograph beside an original campaign specimen, on brand red; spacious numbered deliverables and a real case study.
Motion: Reveal deliverables in reading order, without delaying access.
SEO title: Done-for-You Hotel Email Marketing | Social Spoon
Meta description: Monthly hotel emails planned, written, designed and sent for you. Campaigns built around your seasons, guests and direct-booking priorities.
Goal: Explain useful automation across the relationship.
Primary CTA: Book a discovery call. On Contact, prepare the enquiry until a booking calendar is connected.
Headline: Your guest checked out. Who emails them next?
Subheadline: I build automated hotel email journeys for the welcome, the arrival, the thank-you and the next stay. Give guests a direct route back before they start another search on Booking.com.
Copy: Complete draft copy is implemented on the linked page.
Imagery: Four accessible journey tabs, each with a distinct illustrative email and explanation; white specimens on brand red.
Motion: Manual stage changes use a 220ms opacity/6px entrance. Keyboard changes are immediate. No autoplay. Mobile controls form a two-by-two grid.
SEO title: Hotel Pre-Arrival & Post-Stay Emails | Social Spoon
Meta description: Automated welcome, pre-arrival, post-stay and return-stay emails for independent hotels, built around your guest data and existing platform.
Goal: Provide a clear starting point when priorities are uncertain.
Primary CTA: Book a discovery call. On Contact, prepare the enquiry until a booking calendar is connected.
Headline: Banger or bin? Let’s look at your emails.
Subheadline: A hotel email audit that scores the emails you share out of ten and explains what to fix first. With platform access, I can review the journey rules and performance data too.
Section order: Intro illustrative audit areas examined report and prioritisation CTA.
Copy: Complete draft copy is implemented on the linked page.
Imagery: Editorial report preview with actual review areas, explicitly labelled illustrative; red priorities panel. No invented scores or findings.
Motion: Reveal scorecard together; no fake live scanning or changing scores.
SEO title: Hotel Email Audit: Emails Scored | Social Spoon
Meta description: Your hotel emails scored out of ten, with the fixes to prioritise. A written audit and video walkthrough based on the emails and data you share.
Goal: Build confidence with the available evidence.
Primary CTA: Book a discovery call. On Contact, prepare the enquiry until a booking calendar is connected.
Headline: One hotel. Here’s what changed.
Subheadline: A six-month email programme for a 27-room wellness retreat. See the starting point, the work and the reported results.
Section order: Intro featured wellness-hotel result what was measured CTA.
Copy: Complete draft copy is implemented on the linked page.
Imagery: Accessible before-and-after bars; one real supplied case.
Motion: Bars stay at their true values. Reveal the panel once.
SEO title: Hotel Email Marketing Results | Social Spoon
Meta description: What changed during a six-month email programme for a 27-room wellness retreat. See the work, reported results and measurement context.
Goal: Explain the work and give reported metrics their context.
Primary CTA: Book a discovery call. On Contact, prepare the enquiry until a booking calendar is connected.
Headline: How a hotel cut its OTA share from 73% to 43%.
Subheadline: A 27-room wellness retreat in Sri Lanka, over six months. I rebuilt its email programme around the guests and enquiries it already had. No paid ads were used in the programme.
Section order: Headline property facts starting point five changes before/after results table takeaway CTA.
Copy: Complete draft copy is implemented on the linked page.
Imagery: Anonymous property context; do not imply courtyard photography depicts this client.
Motion: Keep all data immediately available. No count-up effects.
SEO title: How a Hotel Cut OTA Share from 73% to 43% | Social Spoon
Meta description: A 27-room Sri Lankan wellness hotel moved from 73% to 43% OTA share over six months. See the email work, reported figures and measurement limits.
Goal: Make the founder-led offer credible and personal.
Primary CTA: Book a discovery call. On Contact, prepare the enquiry until a booking calendar is connected.
Headline: I fix the emails hotels forget to send.
Subheadline: I’m Saijen Kanbi. I run Social Spoon, helping independent hotels get past guests booking again, directly, instead of through Booking.com.
Section order: Introduction founder portrait and approach three working principles CTA.
Copy: Complete draft copy is implemented on the linked page.
Imagery: Actual Saijen portrait in a charcoal founder hero, a red personal statement, open principles rows and confident Advercase headings.
Motion: Subtle reveal of portrait and copy, no parallax portrait.
SEO title: Saijen Kanbi, Founder of Social Spoon
Meta description: Saijen Kanbi runs Social Spoon from Manchester, helping independent hotels get past guests booking direct with email campaigns and guest journeys.
Goal: Connect useful published thinking to the service offer.
Primary CTA: Book a discovery call. On Contact, prepare the enquiry until a booking calendar is connected.
Headline: Would you book from that email?
Subheadline: Banger or Bin is my look at real hotel emails: what works, what gets in the way and the one change I’d make. Read the longer arguments in The Concierge.
Section order: Intro Substack, Instagram and LinkedIn links discovery CTA.
Copy: Complete draft copy is implemented on the linked page.
Imagery: Editorial resource cards with short labels.
Motion: Hover emphasis on the linked cards; no carousels.
SEO title: Banger or Bin: Hotel Email Breakdowns | Social Spoon
Meta description: Hotel email breakdowns from Saijen Kanbi. Explore Banger or Bin, read The Concierge and work out your hotel’s OTA commission costs.
Goal: Turn interest into a discovery-call enquiry with minimal friction.
Primary CTA: Book a discovery call. On Contact, prepare the enquiry until a booking calendar is connected.
Headline: Pick a time. Let’s talk.
Subheadline: Tell me about your hotel and what guests hear from you after checkout. I’ll tell you the first thing I’d look at. If it’s something you can handle yourself, I’ll say so.
Section order: Integrated charcoal introduction and white enquiry form founder context call agenda direct email alternative.
Copy: Complete draft copy is implemented on the linked page.
Imagery: Large Advercase heading, actual founder avatar, red form accents and a focused white form; stacked mobile flow.
Motion: Native field focus and error feedback. No animated submission theatre.
SEO title: Book a Discovery Call | Social Spoon
Meta description: Talk to Saijen about your hotel’s emails and guest follow-up. Choose a time online and find out where he would start. Free, with no obligation.
05 / DESIGN SYSTEM
Bold type. Clear purpose.
White#ffffff
Cool grey#f5f5f7
Charcoal#111214
Brand red#7a2830
Slate#62636a
Rule#d9dade
Type: Advercase Regular for page heroes and the major hospitality photograph. Instrument Serif Regular for supporting headings, service names and process steps. Inter Tight Regular/Medium/Semibold for body, navigation, labels and buttons. Supporting copy should explain the work directly, with variety in sentence structure. Do not synthetically bold the supplied fonts. Convert the latest licensed OTFs to WOFF2 for local delivery; preload only the above-the-fold regular face. Inter Tight should also be locally hosted for the final site.
Brand assets: The latest supplied Advercase Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic files are hosted with the preview. The newly supplied SS artwork forms the header logo. Its original stacked composition appears in the footer, and its wordmark brands the audit example. The source JPEG stays unchanged; SVG viewports frame its elements and a display filter suppresses its dark canvas. The original warm monogram and white lettering are retained on charcoal surfaces. Instrument Serif Regular is self-hosted under the SIL Open Font License, with its licence included. Inter Tight loads from Google Fonts. The standalone version embeds the Advercase files and logo assets.
Type scale: Desktop homepage H1 up to 100px, supporting H2 40–56px and H3 34px. Mobile H1 48–60px, supporting H2 39px and H3 30px. The full-width hospitality image retains one larger serif moment. Body copy 16–18px with 1.55–1.65 line height. Small body text 13–14px. Useful labels remain legible and redundant decorative labels are removed. Supporting serif headings use 1.12–1.16 line height and restrained tracking. Body copy, navigation, buttons and FAQ questions remain Inter Tight. Arrows and playback controls use SVG geometry, avoiding emoji substitution on mobile. The fictional email artwork uses separate hotel typography; readable captions explain the email details outside the scaled artwork.
Layout: 1360px maximum content width; 48px desktop and 20–22px mobile side gutters. Section spacing 96–112px desktop and 64–72px mobile. Spacing scale: 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96 and 112px.
Buttons: Rounded primary buttons. White on charcoal, burgundy on white, or white on burgundy. Clear text labels, visible focus ring and comfortable touch targets. Press feedback scales to 0.97 over 140ms. Hover effects apply only to fine pointers. Reserve the filled button for discovery-call actions.
Cards: Editorial rules and open rows. Service rows span the content width; flat white surfaces and 3D transforms are reserved for the illustrative email designs. Avoid generic rounded feature cards.
Icons: Small directional arrows and simple utility symbols. Use icons alongside text, never instead of the action label. Decorative icons are hidden from assistive technology.
Images: Hotel imagery lives inside the animated email designs and in one full-width hospitality section, alongside the real founder portrait. No fabricated client photographs or logos. Warm natural light and lived-in hotel details. Large feature photographs have clean, intentional crops and reserved dimensions; body images load lazily.
Components: Header, mobile menu, primary CTA, numbered service row, email specimen, process step, guest-journey selector, large case-study result, accessible results table, FAQ disclosure, contact form, final CTA and footer.
06 / MOTION SYSTEM
Guide the eye. Respect the reader.
Interaction
Timing
Behaviour
Button / link
140–180ms
Colour, border and subtle press compression.
Work / service reveal
700ms
Opacity and translateY 22px to 0; run once, only as the content enters view.
Hero entrance
650ms / 1,100ms
Headline rises 18px; email cards compose into a dimensional arrangement with a 75ms stagger. Controls remain available.
Email showcase stage
750ms
Cards change position with continuous CSS transforms. Pointer actions interrupt; keyboard changes are immediate. The three stages advance once at 4.2-second intervals, then stop.
Interior-page reveals / guest tabs
650ms / 220ms
Visual panels rise 18px at full opacity, preserving the exact brand red. Guest tabs update the illustrative email and explanation; keyboard changes are immediate.
Mobile navigation
Immediate / 160ms
Simple disclosure, with correct expanded state and Escape support.
Easing: cubic-bezier(.22,1,.36,1) for entrances; ease-out for interaction feedback. Stagger related items by no more than 60ms, if used.
Implementation: Native CSS 3D transforms, interruptible transitions, IntersectionObserver and the Web Animations API for the entrance and section reveals. Pointer depth uses requestAnimationFrame only while settling. A large animation library is unnecessary for this design. Framer can reproduce these with native effects; a custom implementation keeps this lightweight approach.
Rules: No scroll hijacking, looping backgrounds, autoplay video or count-up statistics. The showcase has three labelled tabs, roving keyboard focus and Arrow/Home/End navigation. It plays through once, with visible pause/replay. Manual selection takes control immediately; playback pauses offscreen and when the tab is hidden. Reduced-motion mode removes autoplay, positional transitions and pointer depth. No pinned sections or page-wide parallax. Content is visible if JavaScript fails, and reduced-motion mode disables entrances and smooth scrolling. Keyboard interactions update immediately. Reduced transparency uses a solid header and higher contrast adds stronger boundaries. All content can be read without waiting for motion.
07 / SEO
Make the expertise easy to find.
Primary topics: Email marketing for boutique hotels; hotel email marketing services; automated hotel guest journeys; hotel email marketing audit. Match each topic to its dedicated service page, without repeating identical paragraphs across pages.
Every implemented page has a unique title, meta description, single H1 and semantic section structure. Use descriptive internal links and useful image alt text. Add an accurate Organisation entity, service descriptions and a verified social-profile list. Do not invent reviews, awards or rich-result claims.
Migration: Export the complete current Webflow URL list and Search Console landing pages. Map old service and article URLs to the closest relevant new page using permanent 301 redirects. Preserve valuable article URLs where possible. Update internal links and submit the final sitemap. Keep the current domain.
Preview: All preview pages intentionally use noindex. Before launch, set the final canonical domain, remove preview-only paths from the public sitemap, replace robots.txt, remove noindex from approved pages and verify the result on the live domain.
Performance targets: Aim for LCP under 2.5s, INP under 200ms and CLS under 0.1 at the 75th percentile. These are launch targets, not measured claims for this preview. Compress the hero to AVIF/WebP, provide responsive sizes, reserve image dimensions, subset fonts and load only required weights.
Content priorities: Publish specific hotel email breakdowns, lifecycle guides and properly documented client case studies. Add author context and dates. Avoid mass-produced keyword pages and unverified statistics.
08 / CONVERSION
One useful next step.
Primary action: Book a discovery call. Use the same wording in the header, after key service explanations and at the end of each sales page. Secondary links help visitors inspect the services or evidence; they do not compete with the booking action.
Booking: All discovery-call buttons lead to the Let’s talk page, with an inline Calendly calendar. The official widget loads only on this page and resizes to its content. A direct Calendly link remains available as a fallback. No separate enquiry form is required.
Event setup: Recommended duration: 20 minutes. The event was displaying one hour when connected on 16 October 2026. Website copy says “a short conversation” until the event duration is updated. Keep the booking form brief: name, email, hotel website and one optional question about the hotel’s priority.
Trust: Use Saijen’s portrait, the factual context of his family’s upcoming takeover of The Chain Bridge Hotel, direct involvement, clear scope, one supplied case study and the explicit process. Add client logos or quotes only when approved. Explain pricing through a scoped proposal until actual packages are confirmed.
Measurement after launch: Track CTA clicks, scheduling starts and confirmed bookings as separate events. Deduplicate confirmed-booking events, filter internal traffic, preserve campaign attribution and assess qualified calls rather than click counts alone. Only add analytics once the actual privacy setup is agreed.
First optimisation: Watch mobile booking completion and questions on calls. Improve confusing copy or friction first. Test an alternative outcome-led hero only after enough traffic exists to make a comparison useful.
09 / PLATFORM & PRIORITIES
The right home for the refresh.
My recommendation: Framer if you want to edit it yourself. It suits this compact, visually considered site and restrained motion. Framer Basic is currently listed at US$10/month when billed annually; Pro at US$30/month. Confirm local tax/currency before purchase. Native redirects are a Pro feature on the current pricing table, so the Webflow migration needs checking before choosing Basic.
Lowest hosting cost: keep the custom static build on Cloudflare Pages. Static asset requests are free and unlimited under its documented pricing. Your domain, email, booking tools and any paid services remain separate costs. This route reuses the actual code but needs developer help for content changes, or a CMS added later.
Platform
Best fit
Trade-off
Framer
Visual editing and this design/motion direction
Rebuild in native components; redirects can increase plan cost.
Squarespace
A straightforward owner-edited brochure site
Less precise control of this design and storytelling; custom fonts need an appropriate upload/customisation workflow. Check the current UK plan.
Wix
Integrated business tools and frequent owner editing
More platform features than this site needs; keeping the build restrained takes care. Check the current UK plan.
Custom + Cloudflare Pages
Lowest hosting spend and full reuse of this source
No visual editor included. Content maintenance is a separate consideration.
This preview is HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It is not a one-click import into Framer, Wix or Squarespace. A custom launch can reuse the files; an editor-based platform requires a faithful native rebuild. Next.js is unnecessary unless the scope later needs application features.
01
Approve the brand and conversion foundation.
Review homepage and mobile hierarchy. Review the integrated latest Advercase font files and approved new logo variants. Confirm font web-use rights, contact details, service scope and the real booking link. Verify case-study dates, definitions and publication approval.
02
Complete the production build.
Choose Framer or custom hosting. The three service pages, results, About and Insights are implemented. The real Calendly booking flow is connected. Prepare the chosen production platform. Add locally optimised assets, unique metadata, accurate legal pages and the old-to-new redirect map. QA keyboard operation and mobile conversion.
03
Launch, measure and improve.
Run real-device, accessibility and performance checks. Connect the existing domain, verify HTTPS/redirects and remove noindex. Submit the sitemap and monitor broken URLs. Review qualified-call conversion before adding more features.
REVIEW NOTES & SOURCES
What is ready. What needs finishing.
The preview contains complete draft sales pages, responsive styling, a journey interaction, FAQs, working navigation and an inline Calendly calendar on the booking page. It has not replaced the current public website.
Still required for launch: Legal/trading details; final service approval; case-study verification; platform decision; public hosting and migration. A standalone HTML preview is also included for direct review. Brand assets are now integrated and the responsive layout and key interactions have been checked in the browser.
Proof policy: The supplied “Satanim Hotel Case Study.pdf” is treated as an anonymised 27-room wellness retreat case. OTA share changed from 73% to 43%, not a 30% relative drop. The claimed approximately $18,000 monthly commission saving is intentionally omitted because the source does not provide enough booking-revenue data to substantiate it. “Teardown PDF.pdf” is an audit template, not a completed client audit.
Design references, reviewed 14 October 2026:Koto informed the direct opening statement and prominence of work. Ragged Edge informed the strong typographic hierarchy and generous separation between ideas. Metalab informed the clear offer, restrained interface and evidence-led project presentation. The studio revision also takes a more direct motion cue: a dimensional opening, large high-contrast fields, and work that moves as part of the story. These are original implementations using Social Spoon’s typography and identity.
Hospitality references: Reviewed the collections from Mediaboom, Sage, Thomas Digital and Nucleus, including Longfellow and The Potlatch Club. The resulting choices are warm natural light inside the email designs, a single atmospheric photograph at scale, and clear conversion actions. The 14 October studio revision deliberately replaces the previous cream-led treatment with white and charcoal. No reference-site imagery or brand assets were copied.
Photography: Mountain-hotel image by Sokhna Khoudia Saliou MBACKE; breakfast detail by Iason Raissis; courtyard image by Benjamin Chambon. These Unsplash photographs are locally hosted atmospheric images, not photographs of the case-study client. Founder portrait from Saijen’s existing public brand profile. Replace with owner-selected high-resolution brand photography when available.
Accessibility: The build includes a skip link, semantic headings, labelled forms, visible keyboard focus, disclosure states, readable contrast and reduced-motion support. These are implementation features, not a claim of completed WCAG certification.
THE SOCIAL SPOON NEWSLETTER
The Concierge.
Hotel email breakdowns, direct-booking ideas and a clear opinion on what to fix next. Written by Saijen.