Creating a Digital Experience That Mirrors the Art and Architecture of Detroit's Most Unique Bed & Breakfast
ALEO Detroit is a bed and breakfast on the grounds of The Shepherd, a transformed church and community center in Detroit. The property is part of The Little Village, an art collective bringing new life to historic spaces around the city. ALEO offers four unique rooms, an on-site patisserie, a bar, and beautiful grounds filled with art and thoughtful design. The challenge was creating a website that let people book rooms while showcasing everything that makes staying at ALEO special.
The Challenge
ALEO was about to open and needed a website that did more than just take bookings. The property itself is stunning, filled with incredible art, interior design, and architecture. But they had four distinct rooms, a patisserie, a bar, and grounds that all needed to be featured in a way that made people want to visit. The website had to sell the full experience, not just a place to sleep. We needed to create something that felt like exploring the actual space and showed all the benefits of staying there.
client
ALEO Detroit
Year
2024
Services
Website Strategy
Website Design
industry
Hospitality
agency
December Oak
team
Webflow Developer
view live site
aleodetroit.com →
THe Approach
My strategy was to lean into what makes ALEO special: the beautiful art, interior design, and architecture. I wanted the website to feel like you were walking through the building, discovering each room and space as you scroll.
The imagery and video from ALEO were stunning, so I built the site around showcasing them. We included multiple galleries throughout the site and made the images quite large so visitors could really immerse themselves in the details. You needed to see the texture of the interiors, the artwork on the walls, the way light fills each space. The color palette stayed clean to let the art pop while still feeling warm and inviting.
Working with a Webflow developer, we created an experience that highlighted the craftsmanship and made people feel the calm, creative atmosphere before they even booked a stay.
The Result
ALEO launched and quickly gained attention. Architectural Digest featured the property, which brought even more visibility to what they were creating. Guests have stayed and enjoyed the spaces, and the website successfully captures what makes ALEO unique.
As the property evolved and the patisserie and bar opened fully to the public, we updated the site to better showcase these spaces. The website continues to serve as both a booking tool and a visual story that sells the full ALEO experience. It became what it needed to be: a digital extension of the property that invites people in and shows them why this place is worth visiting.
