A hotel, B&B or farm-stay website serves above all one purpose: receiving direct bookings, on which you pay no portal commission. To do that it has to load fast on a phone, show real photos, be in several languages and lead to a booking in a few steps. In Italy, accommodation providers must also show the CIN, the national identification code, in their online listings. A website for a property usually costs €800 to €2,500, plus the booking system.
I’m Toure Tia Kevin, a web developer in Bassano del Grappa, Italy. I build websites for businesses in the Veneto region, including in tourist areas such as the Asolo hills and Lake Garda.
Portals and your site aren’t either/or
Booking, Airbnb and the other portals bring new guests but take a commission on every booking. The site is there to get people who’ve already found you to book directly: returning guests, people searching for you by name after seeing you on a portal, people arriving from Google Maps or social media. Even moving some bookings onto the site makes a real difference at the end of the season.
What a property’s website needs
- Direct booking: a booking engine linked to availability, or at least a simple request with dates and guests. A channel manager prevents double bookings between the site and the portals.
- Real, recent photos of rooms, bathrooms, breakfast, outdoor areas and the surroundings.
- Several languages: at least English, often German. Properly translated pages, not rough machine translation.
- Practical information: check-in, parking, pets, breakfast, how to get there, what to do nearby.
- The benefits of booking direct explained clearly, where there are any: more flexible cancellation, a small gift, the best price.
- CIN in plain view: the national identification code must appear in online listings and, to be safe, on the site too.
- Speed on mobile: many people book while already travelling.
Getting found
The Google Business listing is often the first contact: photos, reviews and well-kept replies matter as much as the site. On the site, pages for what people really search for (“B&B with parking”, “family hotel by the lake”) bring visits that portals don’t catch. If you want to work on this continuously, there’s the SEO and GEO service.
What it costs
| Item | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Brochure site for the property | €800–2,500 |
| Translations | depending on languages and pages |
| Booking engine or channel manager | fee set by the chosen provider |
| Maintenance and hosting | €30–80 a month |
For a seasonal promotion, a dedicated landing page works well too, at €400 to €800.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use the booking system I already have?
Often yes: many booking engines and channel managers plug into the site with a widget. I check this before the quote.
How many languages do I need?
It depends on who comes: look at the nationalities of your guests over the last few years. In Veneto, English and German cover most cases.
If you run a property and want more direct bookings, get in touch.
