What it costs
What a hotel website should cost
Every booking through an agency costs you commission. Your own site takes bookings direct and keeps it. Here is what it costs and what you're paying for.
From £297, live in 7 days, on your own domain.
Hotel website cost
The short answer on cost
A hotel website cost starts from £297 for a spec-built site on your own domain, live within seven days, with the first three months of care included, then £49 a month you can stop whenever. That sits below the agency quotes and above the throwaway builders, both of which mislead you. But for a hotel the number matters less than a cost you are already paying, which is commission. The booking sites, the online travel agents, take a substantial cut of every reservation they bring you, so every guest who books through them is a guest whose booking earns you less. Your own website changes that: it captures direct bookings, which keep the commission the agencies would have taken, and it showcases your hotel so a guest books with you rather than through a platform. So the site’s job is to win direct bookings and save the commission on each one. Set against the money the booking sites take on every reservation, a few hundred pounds is trivial, and quickly repaid.
What the money buys: direct bookings that keep the commission
The value here is shifting bookings off the commission-charging platforms and onto your own, not decoration. That price buys a site that showcases your hotel, your rooms, your facilities, the experience of staying with you, and makes booking direct easy, so a guest who might have booked through an agency books with you instead. That matters because the platforms take a large slice of every reservation, so every guest you convert to a direct booking keeps that slice, and across a year the saved commission is significant. A site that shows your hotel at its best and takes bookings smoothly is what turns lookers into direct bookers, capturing the reservation and the commission both. And many guests who first find you on a platform will book direct if your site gives them a reason to, so the site pays back not just on new guests but on the ones the platforms would otherwise have charged you for. What you are paying for is to keep the money the booking sites take, on every booking you win direct.
Why cheaper and dearer both mislead
The thousand-pound-plus agency quotes bundle overheads and complex systems, and while some hotels need integrated booking, the core job of showcasing the hotel and capturing direct bookings is done by a lean site for far less. The near-free DIY builders go the other way, producing thin, generic sites that fail to convert a guest, sending them back to the agency listing. Both miss the point. A hotel needs a site that showcases the hotel and takes bookings smoothly, which is a specific thing to get right, so agency prices can overspend and bargain builders undercut the direct bookings that save you commission.
Paid off by the commission you keep
A hotel website pays for itself out of commission saved, so the maths is quick and then compounds. A handful of direct bookings that would otherwise have gone through an agency, each keeping the commission the platform would have taken, covers the build, and every direct booking after that keeps money you would have paid away. Set against the substantial cut the booking sites take on every reservation, and how fast the savings add up, the modest cost is an easy decision for a hotel that would rather keep the commission than hand it to a platform.
How it works
From message to live in four steps.
- 01
Message me
Tell me your trade and your town on WhatsApp. No forms to wade through, no call to book.
- 02
£99 to start
A £99 deposit gets your build going and comes off your quote. It covers some of the build time.
- 03
I build it, you see it
I build the whole site, framed around your work, and send it to you finished to look at.
- 04
Pay the rest, go live
Happy with it? You pay the balance, it goes live on your own domain, and it is yours to keep.
What you get
What a hotel site from me includes.
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Built on spec
I build it first and send it finished. You see the real thing before you decide, not a mock-up.
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Live in 7 days
From the go-ahead, your site is live within a week. No months of back and forth.
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On your own domain
It goes live in your name. You own the site and everything on it, with no lock-in.
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Genuinely fast
Static pages, no WordPress. Fast pages rank better and turn more visitors into calls.
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Found on Google
Built to be found in local search, with the plumbing done properly from day one.
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Looked after
Someone looks after it and changes it when you need. Two small edits a month, your listing kept current.
What it costs
A straight price.
From £297 to build it, first three months of Care included, then £49 a month.
You own the site outright and can stop the monthly plan whenever you like. Hosting is part of Care and Grow, so one of those keeps it online after the first three months, or you host it yourself. See the full pricing.
Common questions
Questions I get asked.
How much does a hotel website cost?
From £297 as a one-off, live on your own domain within seven days, then £49 a month for hosting and small edits you can stop any time, with the first three months included. For a hotel losing commission on every agency booking, that is a small price for a site that takes bookings direct and keeps the money the booking sites would take.
What am I really paying for with a hotel website?
A way to take direct bookings and keep the commission. Booking sites take a substantial cut of every reservation they bring, so a site that captures direct bookings keeps that money, and showcases your hotel so a guest books with you rather than through an agency. You are paying for a presence that turns lookers into direct bookings and saves the commission on each one.
Why does keeping the commission drive the value?
Because the booking platforms take a large slice of every reservation, so every guest you convert to a direct booking keeps that slice, and it adds up fast. A site that showcases your hotel and takes direct bookings is what shifts guests off the commission-charging platforms and onto your own channel, so its value is measured in the commission saved, which a listing cannot do.
Why do some hotel websites cost thousands?
Agencies bundle overheads and complex booking systems, and some hotels do need integrated booking, but the core job, showcasing the hotel and capturing direct bookings, is done by a lean site for a fraction of the price. So the big quotes are often more than a hotel needs to start winning direct bookings and saving commission.
Is a cheap DIY hotel website good enough?
Usually not. A guest deciding where to stay is drawn by a site that shows your rooms and hotel beautifully and makes booking easy, and a thin, generic one fails to convert them, sending them back to the agency listing. You need a site that showcases your hotel and takes bookings smoothly, and a cheap DIY job undercuts the direct bookings that save you commission.
Are there ongoing costs beyond the build?
The domain is about ten to fifteen pounds a year and stays yours. The £49 monthly plan covers hosting, backups and two small edits, so you can update rooms, offers and information without a separate bill. A static site has almost nothing to break, so there are no surprise maintenance invoices.
How quickly does a hotel website pay for itself?
Very fast, because the commission saved on direct bookings adds up quickly, so a handful of direct bookings that would otherwise have gone through an agency covers the build, and every direct booking after that keeps money you would have paid away. The commission savings compound the payback.
Do I own the hotel website or rent it?
You own it outright. The domain is in your name and the site is yours to keep even if you stop the monthly plan. I do not lock people in, because the site that takes your direct bookings should belong to you, not be rented back every month.
Tell me your town and I'll build you a hotel site on spec, so you can see it before you pay. Or read What a website costs, see the full pricing, or get in touch.