How much does a hotel website cost?

Independent hotel owners usually come to this page paying 15–25% to online travel agencies and wondering what a site that books direct would cost. A hotel website costs about $4,350–$17,400 from a freelancer and $10,150–$40,600 from an agency, according to Project Cost Estimator. The booking engine is a separate monthly cost, and it shapes the build more than anything else. Here’s the breakdown:

Option	Typical cost	What drives it	Source
Freelance build	$4,350–$17,400	Booking engine integration, photography, design	Project Cost Estimator, hotel (updated July 2026)
Agency build	$10,150–$40,600	Same scope, higher overhead	Project Cost Estimator, hotel
Booking engine (per-unit pricing)	$10 per unit/mo, $100/mo minimum, no booking commission	Number of rooms or units	WebRezPro pricing
Booking engine (bundled with PMS)	Quote only; no added commission on engine bookings	PMS plan tier	Cloudbeds pricing
Booking engine or channel manager, typical	$100–$400/mo, plus commission on some systems	Vendor and property size	Project Cost Estimator, hotel
Room and amenity photography	$1,000–$3,000	Number of room types and spaces	Project Cost Estimator, hotel
Direct-booking features	Adds $1,500–$5,000 to the build	Offers, packages, member rates	Project Cost Estimator, hotel
Ongoing running costs	$60–$400/mo	Mostly the booking engine	Project Cost Estimator, hotel

Project Cost Estimator says its figures come from more than 600 project quotes and rate benchmarks.

A hotel website exists to sell rooms direct. Everything else is support for that. Project Cost Estimator cites online travel agency commissions of 15–25% a booking, so every reservation that comes through your own site instead keeps that money with you.

That only happens if booking on your site is as easy as booking on an OTA. The guest picks dates, sees real rates and availability, and pays, all without hunting. So the first question in any hotel website project is which booking engine you use, or should use, and how it fits into the site.

If you already have a property management system, use its booking engine. It already knows your inventory and rates, and it avoids double-bookings. My job is to make it look like part of your site and put the “Book now” button on every page.

If you’re choosing one, compare the pricing model, not only the monthly fee:

• Per-unit subscriptions like WebRezPro’s scale with your room count and charge no commission.
• Bundled PMS plans like Cloudbeds’ include the engine in certain tiers. You’ll need a quote.
• Commission-based engines cost little up front and take a share of each booking, which adds up at a busy property.

Photography. Each room type, the lobby, the pool, the view and the neighborhood. Guests book from photos.

Room pages. A page per room type with photos, beds, size, amenities and a booking button that pre-selects that room.

Local content. Pages about what’s nearby, like events, attractions and the restaurants guests ask about, help you show up when travelers search the area, not only your hotel’s name.

Packages and offers. Direct-booking perks, seasonal packages and member rates give guests a reason to skip the OTA. They also take extra build work.

What will you need from me?

Which property management system and booking engine you use, with a login or the embed code from the vendor, because the site gets built around it. Your room types with beds, size, amenities and the rate ranges you’re willing to publish. Photos of every room type and the shared spaces, or a date for a shoot. Any packages, member rates or direct-booking perks you want to offer. A short list of what guests ask the front desk most, since those answers become the local pages. Logins for your domain and current site, and a few hours across the project to review what I send before it goes live.

What happens to my current site and the bookings coming through it?

If your current site brings in any direct bookings or traffic from Google, its page addresses have value. Before launch I map every old page to its new one and set up redirects, so the rankings and links you’ve earned carry over instead of resetting. The booking engine stays live through the switch, because it runs on the vendor’s system, and the new site simply points to it.

Before you cancel anything with an old vendor, check that the domain is registered in your name and that you can log in to it. If the old site was built on a hotel marketing company’s platform, find out in writing what you keep when you leave. Usually the answer is the domain and the photos you paid for, and not much else.

What should I ask before I sign with anyone?

• Which booking engines have you worked with, and how will mine look on the site? The engine should feel like part of the site, not a jump to a different-looking page.
• Can a guest book a specific room type from that room’s page?
• Who owns the domain and the photos? Both should stay with you if you change vendors.
• What does the monthly fee cover? Make sure seasonal updates, like new rates or packages, are included or priced up front.
• Is the booking engine’s fee included in the quote? Usually it isn’t, so budget for it separately.