The website builder lets you create a public-facing website for your rental business without writing any code. Assemble pages from pre-built blocks, customize styling, embed your live booking widget, and publish to a RentalTide subdomain or your own custom domain.
Layout
The builder uses a three-panel layout:
- Left panel -- Block library. Drag blocks onto the page from categorized sections.
- Center panel -- Live preview. See your site exactly as customers will. Click any block to select it.
- Right panel -- Property editor. Edit the selected block's content, images, colors, links, and layout.
Block types
Blocks are organized into three categories: section blocks, custom blocks, and system blocks.
Section blocks
| Block | What it does |
|---|---|
| Hero Banner | Large banner section with headline, subtitle, call-to-action button, background image, and overlay color. Toggle whether your company name appears |
| Booking Widget | Embeds your live booking page directly on the site. Optionally filter to a specific location or inventory item |
| Locations | Card grid displaying your locations with names, descriptions, images, and links (either RentalTide booking links or external URLs) |
| About | Text and image section for your company story |
| FAQ | Expandable question-and-answer accordion with configurable heading |
Custom blocks
| Block | What it does |
|---|---|
| Text Block | Rich text content block with heading, body, and alignment options |
| Image Block | Full-width or constrained image with alt text, caption, and configurable max width |
| Image + Text | Side-by-side image and text layout with configurable image position (left or right) |
| Spacer / Divider | Adds vertical spacing with configurable height and optional divider line |
System blocks
| Block | What it does |
|---|---|
| Navigation Bar | Top navigation with logo and configurable links. Links can be anchors (same-page), external URLs, or RentalTide booking links filtered to a specific location or item |
| Contact | Contact section with email, phone, address, and optional boat license link |
| Footer | Bottom section with social media links (Instagram, Facebook, X), terms of service, and country setting |
Editing blocks
- Click any block on the preview to select it. A blue highlight indicates the selected block.
- The right panel shows all editable properties for that block.
- Modify text content, swap images, update colors, change links, adjust padding and alignment.
- Changes appear immediately in the live preview.
Block operations
| Operation | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Add | Drag a block from the left panel onto the preview |
| Remove | Select the block and click the delete button |
| Reorder | Drag blocks up or down in the preview to change their position |
| Duplicate | Select a block and click the duplicate button to create a copy with the same content and styling |
Navigation links
The navbar block supports three link types:
| Link type | Description |
|---|---|
| Anchor | Same-page navigation to a section (e.g., #book scrolls to the booking widget) |
| External | Opens any external URL in a new tab |
| RentalTide | Auto-generated booking link filtered to a specific location or inventory item |
Configure links by adding entries with a label, type, and URL or location/inventory selection.
Global styles
Set site-wide defaults from the global styles panel:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Primary color | Main brand color used for buttons, links, and accents |
| Secondary color | Secondary accent color |
| Font family | Typography used across the entire site |
| Background color | Page background color |
Individual blocks can override these global settings with their own color and style values.
Publishing
Click Publish to make your site live. The site is hosted at your RentalTide subdomain:
The system automatically generates a sitemap for search engine indexing. Drafts are saved continuously as you work, so you never lose progress.
Custom domains
Custom domains (e.g., www.yourcompany.com) require DNS configuration:
- Set up a CNAME record pointing to your RentalTide CloudFront distribution
- The domain, CloudFront domain, and DNS settings are stored in the website configuration
- Contact support for initial setup assistance
Infrastructure details
Each published website includes:
- S3 bucket for static file hosting
- CloudFront CDN for global delivery and caching
- Automatic SSL for HTTPS
- Favicon and logo support
Booking widget integration
The Booking Widget block embeds your real booking page directly on the website. Customers can browse inventory, select dates, and complete checkout without leaving your site. Optionally filter the widget to show only a specific location or inventory item.
SEO
The website builder supports basic SEO configuration:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Website title | Sets the page <title> tag (shown in browser tabs and search results) |
| Custom location name | Override the location name for branding |
| Favicon | Custom favicon uploaded for browser tab display |
The automatically generated sitemap helps search engines discover and index your pages.
The Booking Widget block embeds your real booking page, so customers can browse inventory and book without leaving your site. Use high-quality hero images -- they set the first impression. Check the mobile preview to make sure everything looks good on phones and tablets. All changes are saved as drafts until you explicitly publish. The FAQ accordion is great for answering common questions about policies, what to bring, and cancellation rules.
Site not showing updates after publishing -- CDN caching can delay updates by a few minutes. Wait 5-10 minutes and hard-refresh the page (Ctrl+Shift+R / Cmd+Shift+R).
Images not loading or slow -- Ensure images are optimized for web (JPEG or WebP, under 2 MB). Very large files slow page load times.
Booking widget not showing -- The booking widget requires at least one published inventory item at the selected location. If you have no published inventory, the widget appears empty.
Custom domain not resolving -- Verify the CNAME DNS record points to the correct CloudFront distribution domain. DNS propagation can take up to 48 hours.
Navigation links not working -- For anchor links, ensure the target section exists on the page and uses the correct anchor ID (e.g., #book). For RentalTide links, verify the location and inventory IDs are valid.