Industry, Hospitality

Websites for groups with more than one venue

A hospitality group's website has a hard job: one brand, many venues, each with its own menus, events and way to book, and traffic that arrives all at once when something good goes on sale. We build and support these platforms for Merivale, Doltone Hospitality Group and Boathouse Group.

Talk to us about your venues

2018: building since
70+: designers, engineers and product people
5: regions Australia, Europe, the Philippines, the Middle East and the USA
6,500+: commits across six repositories the three SES aviation platforms we build and still run

What hospitality groups need

Many venues, one platform

Each venue needs its own identity, menus, events and way to book, without the group running a disconnected site for every one. For Boathouse Group, rebuilt with design agency New Republique, the content architecture is what makes it easy to browse venues, plan events and explore what each offers.

Ordering, ticketing and bookings, integrated

Guests book through a booking engine, order through an ordering platform and buy tickets through a ticketing system. The website should hand them to those systems cleanly rather than rebuild them. Hay St Market launched on a custom Laravel and Next.js site, integration-ready for Chewsie, SwiftPOS and Ticket Booth. More on what to buy and what to own in ticketing.

From enquiry to event

Function and wedding venues sell through enquiries, not carts. Doltone House moved from a slow, outdated site to a high-performing WordPress platform with intuitive navigation, streamlined enquiries and room for each venue to tell its own story, with event ticketing running through WooCommerce.

Built for the busy hour

Hospitality traffic is uneven: quiet midweek, then everyone at once for a launch, a long weekend or a sell-out event. Merivale runs a high-traffic platform serving dozens of venues, and our work there spans performance tuning and infrastructure as much as design, because the site has to stay fast when it matters most.

Support that is a partnership

Merivale came to us when its previous digital partner could not deliver the consistency a multi-venue platform needs. We took over the full support contract and now handle maintenance, performance, integrations across its booking software and CRM tools, and new features. We also support Doltone Hospitality Group on an ongoing basis. How a takeover starts.

One group, many sites

Venue groups rarely have one website. For Doltone Hospitality Group we have delivered websites across its venue portfolio, including Hay St Market, Midden and LUA Fish Market, alongside Doltone House itself. A shared approach across a portfolio keeps each venue distinct while keeping the group maintainable.

The proof

Work we have shipped, not a capability deck.

Common questions

Can you integrate our booking, ordering and ticketing systems?

Yes, and integrating is usually better than replacing them. Hay St Market was built integration-ready for Chewsie, SwiftPOS and Ticket Booth, Doltone House runs event ticketing through WooCommerce, and for Merivale we work across its booking software and CRM tools. The website should hand guests to those systems cleanly rather than rebuild what they already do.

Can you support a site another agency built?

Yes. That is how the Merivale engagement started: we took over the full support contract from a previous digital partner for a high-traffic platform spanning dozens of venues, stabilised it, and moved on to performance work, integrations and new features. When a platform arrives from someone else, the first job is an audit, not a rebuild. See project rescue for how a takeover starts.

WordPress or a custom build for a hospitality site?

It depends on what the site has to do. Doltone House runs on WordPress, which suits a venue group whose team publishes venues, events and campaigns themselves. Hay St Market and Boathouse Group are Laravel and Next.js, because ordering, ticketing and backend integrations needed more than a content site. We recommend the lighter option when it will do.

Do you work with hospitality groups outside Sydney?

Our head office is in Sydney and we work with clients across Australia (Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and regional NSW included) as well as in New Zealand, where the duty free stores across the major airports have run on a platform we build and support since 2021. Delivery has been remote-first for years, so a project runs the same way whether you are ten minutes away or across the Tasman: scheduled calls, a shared board you can see at any time, and one named point of contact. We are happy to meet in person in Sydney.

Engagement models

How we work

Four straightforward ways to engage us. Pick the one that fits, or mix them as your needs change.

Staff Augmentation

Add experienced Shakewell developers, designers or specialists directly to your own team. Engagements typically run three to twelve months, but can be as short or long as you need, you get the skills without the commitment and cost of hiring full-time.

About staff augmentation

Fixed-Scope Projects

Have a defined outcome in mind? We scope it, price it and deliver it as a project, a clear timeline, agreed milestones and a single point of accountability from kickoff to handover.

Embedded Delivery Teams

For larger or longer-running work, a cross-functional Shakewell team (development, design and delivery management) plugs in as your delivery arm, working to your priorities and your reporting cadence.

Support & Maintenance

Already live? We keep websites, stores and apps secure, updated and performing through ongoing retainers, business-hours support as standard, with 24/7 coverage available for critical issues.

About support & maintenance