Making hotel reservations over the phone or through a newspaper ad may seem like a thing of the past. Most travelers today choose a more convenient way to do things.
Most people (69%) look for convenience when they book a place to stay. That’s why online hotel booking platforms have become so popular. A huge 88% of adults in the US choose to book their hotel rooms online. So, if you are thinking to create a hotel booking website, it is just the right time to jump on the bandwagon.
But hotel booking websites do not just about listing properties and show nice pictures of them. It is beyond that. So how to create a hotel booking website? In this blog, we will discuss about the development steps, the key features, the costs, challenges and its solutions.
So, let’s begin!
What is a Hotel Booking Website?
A hotel booking website is a platform that makes it easy for users to do things like manage reservations and check in guests. It gives you the option to take direct bookings. Whether it is through the hotel’s website or other sites like Booking.com, Airbnb, and others. It lets hotel guests choose rooms, book dates, and pay for their stays all at the same time.
Future Predictions and Projections of Hotel Booking Industry
Source: Statista
- com was the most popular travel and tourism website in the world in March 2024.
- com was the most popular brand for booking hotels and other places to stay online in the U.S. It was followed by Airbnb, Expedia, and Hotels.com.
- It was predicted that the value of all hotel reservations around the world would reach 1.66 trillion U.S. dollars in 2027.
- In 2024, the hotel booking market was worth $14.63 billion. By 2031, it is expected to be worth $526.40 billion, thanks to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.25% from 2024 to 2031.
Why Develop a Hotel Booking Website?
The decision to develop a hotel booking website is a strategic move that can significantly benefit your business. So, let’s have a look at the reasons to invest in hotel booking website development.
1. Digitalization
Your offline business can move online if you have an online best hotel booking website. You can also add extra services. Every business has been affected by this kind of digital change. The hotel market is part of the travel industry, which has a 50% online penetration rate. While the other 50% still mostly look for hotels online and then book them by phone or email.
2. Have an Additional Selling Channel
Obviously, when you develop hotel management software, it helps them sell and give away more. These not only bring in new customers, but they also help you show off your hotel, what it has to offer, your values, and your staff.
3. No Additional Fees
Usually, you have to pay service fees in order to list your hotel on third-party hotel booking marketplaces. These fees are different for each platform. It saves you money to get clients through your platform, since you do not have to pay commission fees to outside parties.
4. Reducing Booking Misunderstandings
If you have your own website for booking hotels, there is no chance of double bookings. Everything is organized and centralized in a single system.
Steps To Create a Hotel Booking Website
Creating a hotel booking website takes several important steps, and each one is necessary for the end result to be successful. To build a website for booking hotels, let us look at these steps in more depth:
1. Discovery
This stage involves doing primary market research and looking for ways to make your product more appealing to buyers. So, first, write down your vision for the platform, the problems it will solve, and what makes it special. Also the possible ways to make money.
After that, identify who your target audience is. Also, you should think about how your website for booking hotels works and how it makes sense. To do this, make a list of epics and a plan for how people will be able to navigate your product. Also, you can build an app like Marriott Bonvoy better after you finish these tasks.
2. Validate Your Idea
It takes a lot of knowledge, time, and effort to complete this step. To do this, you will need the help of a IT consulting company. They will do a lot of research on the market and poll the people they want to reach. They also come up with a detailed business plan and figure out what the most important and least important parts of a hotel booking system are.
Nowadays, they make models of the platform. By the end of this step, you will have a test version of the website for booking hotels that you can show to people who might use it.
3. Create UX Strategy
During this phase, you should work carefully with the interface of your product. The development team made an infographic that shows how the data is linked and organized. After that, they make a prototype of the product that is of high quality.
Now, make a clear development plan with due dates. Your hotel booking platform will then have a high-quality prototype that is closer to its final design.
4. Develop a Hotel Booking Website
This is the stage where wonderful things happen in development. When the design of your website is done, you need to get your team to work on building it. But you need to hire a hotel booking website development team that knows how to make websites fit the needs of your business.
The fastest way to get your product out there and start making money right away is to focus on development of an MVP. The work will make an MVP that is easy to use, brings your idea to life, and lays the groundwork for future growth.
5. Testing and Maintenance
It is the last step that makes your platform live. They will test your product and fix any problems they find. Also, they look at what users say and make sure that all the features work perfectly. At this point, your platform is finished and ready to be used.
It will still need to be maintained, especially if you want to add new features. Then it will be best to consult with a hotel website maintenance service provider. They will go through your website and check what updates and changes are required.
Key Features of Hotel Booking Website Development
Knowing what features are necessary on a website for booking a hotel is important. It is not only for your business but also for your customers. So, you should integrate the basic features that many hotel booking website has. Let’s have a look:
1. Booking System
Users should be able to choose the hotel, dates, room, any extra services they want, and payment methods they want. After picking out and booking everything correctly, the user should get a confirmation in their personal account or both.
2. Room Descriptions With Photos
Users can quickly find all the information they need about hotels, including rooms, prices, amenities, and deals. As you have seen many top tourist helper apps or website have this feature. With the added photos, it is very easy to get rid of the options that do not appeal to you.
3. Location
All websites that let you book things online have a location filter in their search systems. It lets you make a list of only the options that might be interesting for your next trip. You should also let people look for different types of hotels right on the map.
4. Contact Details
Users should be able to contact hotels both during and after a successful reservation. Pick one of the two options. Either way, you can just list the objects’ contact information, like their email addresses and phone numbers. You could also add a chat feature to your website so people can talk to hotels directly. The majority of modern websites offer both options.
5. Reviews
For many users, reviews are the most important thing that affects their choice. Only users who have booked a hotel room and stayed there should be able to leave comments, so please do that. It would also be great if users could upload their own pictures of rooms to show how they look right now.
6. Special Offers
A big part of these kinds of websites is their loyalty and bonus programs. They can make people want to use your platform every time they need to book a room. For extra advertising, hotels should be able to post their own discounts on your last minute hotel booking website.
7. Payment Gateways
When you make a website for a hotel, you might want to add a few different ways for people to pay so that they have a choice. In addition to traditional bank transfers, you should think about payment apps like PayPal and new options like crypto.
Advanced Features to Include in Hotel Booking Website
Now that you know the primary features to create a hotel booking website. However, if you want to make your website unique and successful, keep on adding custom advanced features in it. Here are some of features of motel booking app development:
1. Virtual Tours
Users might not be able to make up their minds based on photos alone. Especially if they are staying at the same hotel for a long vacation. With virtual tours, things can be saved and users can have unique experiences. Usually, these kinds of tours include still pictures, videos, and pictures taken in 360 degrees.
2. Currency Converter
It would be easier for people to choose a hotel if you add currency convertor app development that shows prices. This is why your website should connect to databases that are regularly updated and have the correct exchange rates.
3. Multilingual Support
If you build a website for hotel booking that people from all over the world can use, you should make versions that are available in more than one language. It is common for a solution to come out in one language first and then add more languages later.
4. Recommendation Engine
AI and machine learning-powered features are becoming more and more popular, and you can add them to your website to make it better. A user’s search history and how they use your website can help them figure out what they need. The visitor management software development solution can get highly personalized suggestions.
Top Players in the Hotel Booking Industry
If you are planning to develop a hotel reservation website for your hotel business, it is vital to be aware of the competitors. So, here are the most popular hotel booking websites or apps like Airbnb.
Best Hotel Booking Platforms | Available Platforms | Downloads | Ratings |
Expedia | Android | iOS | 50M+ | 4.7 |
Booking.com | Android | iOS | 500M+ | 4.4 |
Airbnb | Android | iOS | 100M+ | 4.3 |
MakeMyTrip | Android | iOS | 50M+ | 4.6 |
Agoda | Android | iOS | 50M+ | 4.6 |
Mistakes Made By Hotel Owners and How To Avoid Them
Want to know how to make the best website for hotel booking and reach all of these goals? To help you avoid making the same mistakes, we will talk about some of the most common ones that people make a hotel booking website systems or booking portals.
1. Mistake: Add Booking Module Since Widely Used
- Solution: First, you need to know who your customers are. Data from web analytics can help you make decisions based on facts that will help you make more money. To make more money, you should study your website and your audience.
2. Mistake: Neglecting the Development Company Choice
- Solution: Look for a software development company with a good reputation that has made digital hotel solutions before. Experts with a lot of experience are needed to make sure that your software or website meets the needs of both users and guests. If you do not have your own team of developers, it is best to hire hotel booking website developer that has experience in the hotel room booking websites business.
3. Mistake: Ignoring the Analysis of Indicators
- Solution: Betting on search engine optimization, getting into the top 10 results, and getting a lot of people to visit the site is a big part of success. But it is not yet a sign of return on investment. You should also look at real bookings made through your website module.
4. Mistake: Think Costly Means Professional
- Solution: Give some thought to how you are going to build your booking website or mobile app. After that, you will know what features your reservation system needs and be able to spend your money wisely.
How Much Does It Cost To Build a Hotel Booking Website?
The exact hotel booking website development cost depends on many things. For example, the size of the app, its features, its tech stack, how complicated it is, and more. Still, the average cost to develop a hotel booking website lies between $10,000 to $25,000 and more. Let’s look at the below table of cost for a clear picture.
Website Complexity | Costs |
Simple Hotel Booking Website | $10000 -$15000 |
Medium Hotel Booking Website | $15000 – $20000 |
Complex Hotel Booking Website | $25000+ |
These are just the basic costs to create a hotel booking website. But you can calculate the cost with the below formula:
Total Hotel Booking Website Development Cost = Developers Hourly Rate * Development Time
Now that you know the hotel reservation development cost, it is time to consult with a hotel booking app development company. They will provide you with the actual cost.
Ways To Monetize Your Hotel Booking Website
You’ve got an incredibly stunning website built. Check! Now, what’s next? Once you’ve released your website and the download numbers are steadily rising, it’s time to turn on the money-making machine. Let’s dive into the main website monetization models.
1. Commission and Booking Fees
When you book directly with other travel companies through hotels booking websites, they charge you booking fees and commissions, which makes them act like a travel agency. The fee ranges from 10 to 20% of the total travel website development cost, depending on the type of property or service being booked.
2. Merchant Fees
When a travel deal is made, the hotel booking website sometimes acts as the merchant. In this case, the customer purchases a trip package and pays them directly. The money is then sent to the travel agency. In this case, apps like Booking.com keep some of the money that was paid.
3. Advertising and Referral Fees
Hotel booking websites run a number of travel websites where people can look for and book hotels, cars, and other travel options. Many travel agencies want to move up in search results or put ads on these sites to get more attention and bring in potential customers. Advertising, on the other hand, costs money; the company that hosts most of these activities gets paid for the ads.
Ready to Create a Hotel Booking Website!
As booking hotels online grows in popularity, these kinds of solutions are in high demand. That is why great websites for booking hotels have a great chance of getting people to use them. So, if you want to create a hotel booking website, you should get help from a website development company.
At Dev Technosys, our hotel booking website developer have been making websites for booking hotels for years. So, what are you waiting for? Contact us right away for an amazing hotel booking website development solution.
FAQs
Q1. How Long Does It Take To Develop a Hotel Booking Website?
The timeline for hotel booking platform development can be around 2-5 months. But it can fluctuate depending on your project requirements.
Q2. How Much Does It Cost to Make a Hotel Website?
The cost to create a hotel booking website can range $10000 – $25000. It can vary depending on the factors like website complexity, features, tech stack and so on. However, if you want to know the hotel booking app development cost, then it is somewhere the same.
Q3. How to Build a Booking Website?
To build a booking website for hotel owners, you need to follow the below steps:
- Conduct market research
- Know your competitor apps
- Create a feature list
- Design the user interface
- Develop the MVP
- Test and maintain
Q4. How Do Hotel Booking Sites Make Money?
You can make money from your hotel booking site by using the below methods:
- Advertisement model
- Commission and Booking Fees
- Merchant fees
- Referral fees
Q5. What Are the Top Hotel Booking Websites?
- Agoda
- Expedia
- MakeMyTrip
- Booking.com