Building the Winery Hotels Directory: A Case Study
I’ve been obsessed with traveling ever since I went abroad for the first time — and with wine, since I worked as a manager in a wine shop. So it’s no surprise that the first country I moved to in 2019 was Georgia, the recognized birthplace of winemaking. But I didn’t just want to drink wine while visiting different countries; I wanted to dive deeper into the winemaking process and the culture behind it. I’ve always dreamed of staying at a winery for a few days to get closer to that magic. However, I found it quite difficult to find overnight stays at wineries. Traditional booking platforms aren’t designed for discovering niche experiences like that, so I decided to create a winery hotels list to help people like me find the perfect wine escape.
Since I’ve been working as a designer in startups, I approached this project the same way I do at my job. So here’s my step-by-step report on how I launched it and grew it to over 1K visitors per month.
Step 1
First, I analyzed the search demand in the niche in Google Keywords planner and checked winery hotels related requests.
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Step 2
Then I checked social media platforms like Reddit and X to validate real user interest.
Tips: To make it easier to search among the platforms I used simple formula for Google search: site:{website.address} {request}
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Step 3
When I proved initial interest I’ve built a simple directory of winery hotels using a website builder and shared it to the community.
Key Insight: Defining your ideal user is critical. It helps you understand their needs, identify the right marketing channels, and gain genuine support from people who truly care about your product. I first shared the winery hotels list with the startup community on X (Twitter), but got zero feedback — as expected.
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Platform Evolution
From that point, I focused on expanding the directory with more wineries and SEO-optimized articles to drive organic traffic. I connected Google Analytics to track performance data. For content creation, I initially used ChatGPT, then integrated SEOzast — this platform enhanced my SEO performance and LLM visibility, bringing in users directly from ChatGPT. Once I hit a steady 1K monthly visitors, I rebuilt the platform using Claude’s code capabilities, transforming it into a web app with search, filters, bookmarks, map views, and more.
Fixing bugs
As the platform grew more complex, I faced challenges with testing and bug fixes. Building solo made proper testing difficult, so I integrated PostHog to access session replays and gain insights into user behavior — what they were doing on the platform and what bugs they encountered.
Key insight: PostHog helped me fix numerous bugs and gave me invaluable insights — I strongly recommend watching session replays. They reveal detailed information about user behavior.
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TravelPayouts dashboard
Chalenges
To monetize the project, I currently use affiliate links since I’m not yet ready to build a fully functional booking platform. I manage my affiliate programs through the TravelPayouts platform, which allows me to apply for and manage multiple affiliate programs in one place, instead of registering for each individually.
However, this approach has several drawbacks:
Users must leave my website to complete a booking.
Some programs have very strict cookie policies. For instance, Booking.com cookies last only for a single session — meaning that even if a user books a stay later the same day, it won’t count unless they remain on the booking page without switching tabs.
User data such as emails or contact information is collected on third-party platforms, so I don’t get any leads directly.
I have no control or visibility over what happens during the booking process.
Now I’m exploring how to make bookings directly on my platform in the easiest and most reliable way. I’ve considered using APIs, but I currently need more traffic before I can qualify for access to the Booking.com API.
Is it really worth it to spend time and money on building this app? I don’t know, but here’s what I found about the wine tourism and future forecasts.
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Global Wine Tourism Report 2025
Market research
The global wine tourism market is set to surge from $108 billion in 2025 to $358 billion by 2035, growing at a 12.7% CAGR. Wineries now generate 25% of revenue from tourism, with 57% planning more investments despite market challenges – signaling strong resilience.
Smaller producers target 25–44-year-olds seeking authentic tastings and tours beyond basics, boosting experiential demand. The Global Wine Tourism Report 2025 confirms this as a key growth driver worldwide.
Another strong sign: Michelin entered the wine industry in December 2025 with Michelin Grapes, launching in 2026 for Burgundy and Bordeaux – evaluating estates on agronomy, mastery, and identity to guide premium experiences.
Conclusion
Despite the challenges of building this project and knowing it’s a long-term endeavor, I’m genuinely optimistic about its potential.
It’s growing steadily – stats are improving monthly, with most users coming from Asia (mainly Singapore and China), so I started translating the site into Chinese. Affiliate clicks are up consistently, and I’ve already secured my first bookings through those links. I keep pushing SEO and social media for more organic traffic, plus recently applied to the Winalist affiliate program to add wine experiences and expand functionality.
Website: winery-hotels.com
P.S.
If you’re looking for a Product Designer or someone to help test your idea and build an MVP, I’m open to collaboration. Feel free to reach out on LinkedIn or Twitter.
