An ongoing story · My Costa Rica Homes
Paradise wasn't
the problem.
Beautiful villas. Happy guests. A destination people dream about. But behind the scenery was a question that wouldn't go away: how do we help more travelers book directly?
Real property photography courtesy of My Costa Rica Homes.
This isn't a before-and-after.
It's the part in between.
Some client stories end with a perfect reveal. This one is still being written. We met Scott Bittner, the owner of My Costa Rica Homes, with an ambitious goal and a very fair expectation: all the attention in the world means little if it doesn't become reservations.
Here are our notes from the journey so far: the ideas we loved, the obstacles we found, the wins we can measure, and the question we're still working to answer.
First, the honest conversation.
Scott already had something special: a collection of private homes in Costa Rica, memorable guest experiences, and a website he'd invested in. What he wanted was a stronger direct-booking business—one less dependent on the big travel platforms.
Our first proposal was deliberately small: a 60-day direct-booking sprint. Look at how people found the homes, what happened after they arrived on the website, and where potential guests slipped away.
Scott asked us to be specific about results. He was right to. So we began with a promise to measure what changed, not simply say that we'd been busy.
Behind every pretty website, there's a little detective work.
Before changing a headline, we needed to understand the machinery: RealTech, WordPress, OwnerRez, Google Analytics, and Google Search Console. We coordinated access, established a performance baseline, and began tracing the guest's path from discovery to inquiry.
We worked on clearer direct-booking messages and trust cues, and began reviewing where the site could give travelers more reasons to stay, explore, and feel confident booking with Scott's team.
It was not glamorous work. But it was the kind that turns a hunch into an actual strategy.
The first plot twist: the website had rules.
The deeper we went, the clearer the technical limits became. Some property pages were generated by the reservation system rather than behaving like ordinary WordPress pages. That made detailed edits, flexible storytelling, and mobile improvements much harder than they should have been.
A new website entered the conversation. Scott was understandably cautious—he had already put real money into the one he had. So, rather than force a rebuild, we chose to work with the existing site and see how much progress we could make.
By the end of April, our original sprint had become an ongoing growth partnership. One goal remained unchanged: more direct bookings.
We made the homes easier to find.
We refined listing titles, descriptions, imagery order, search language, and Google visibility across the growing collection. Casa Zen, Casa Elsa, Casa Bamboo, and La Casa Roja each had a different personality—and different opportunities to stand out.
Search visibility began to strengthen. Some properties were showing encouraging movement. But Scott kept us grounded: stronger reports were welcome; direct reservations were the reason we'd started.
We stopped asking only, “Who can find us?” And started asking, “Who almost booked?”
The strategy widened beyond search. We prepared past-guest outreach, returning-guest offers, quote follow-ups, and better direct-booking messaging. We explored the real cost of booking through third-party platforms versus booking with Scott's team.
We also worked with the existing site's limits to improve its mobile experience, homepage presentation, and property information. Each small change had one purpose: remove a little more friction between the dream trip and the reservation.
By August, the website recorded two verified direct bookings. Encouraging? Absolutely. The finish line? Not yet.
Something was working.
Something else wasn't.
By September, more people were discovering My Costa Rica Homes through Google. But the booking reports told a more complicated story. We had improved visibility without yet solving conversion.
September 2025 vs. September 2026
Lower is better; same months compared
September 2026
These are measured results from the reporting periods shown, not evidence that all portfolio revenue growth came from our work. And they are not the direct-booking result Scott ultimately wants.
The visitors came.
The quotes didn't.
Across August and September, the site recorded 572 property views but only 24 quote starts. In September, desktop visitors started quotes at a 4.6% rate; mobile visitors at just 1.6%.
That changed the question. We weren't only trying to attract more people anymore. We needed to make the path from “I love this home” to “It's booked” feel easier—especially on a phone.