The short answer
A booking site either costs little and gives less control, or the reverse. Builders and rental software start at just under EUR 30 a month, but cheaper plans often charge a booking fee of around 1 to 2 percent, even on bookings through your own site. A custom-built site costs a four- to five-figure sum once, then a fixed monthly fee, and your revenue stays intact. What counts is annual revenue through that channel, not the number of units.
Key takeaways
- Three routes: a website builder, a website from your rental software, or a custom-built site. All three can take direct bookings; they differ in cost, control and effort.
- The booking fee is the hidden cost. Smoobu charges 0.9 percent per booking on its Professional Flex plan and 0 percent on the prepaid plan. Other providers document around 1.9 percent on their smaller plans. The fee also applies to direct bookings.
- Calculate by annual revenue, not monthly price. One percentage point on EUR 100,000 of direct revenue is EUR 1,000 a year, regardless of whether the plan costs EUR 29 or EUR 49.
- A website builder is often the right choice. With one to three units, little direct revenue and limited time, it beats any agency.
Three ways to a booking website
Website builder with booking function. You pick a template, fill in text and images, and the calendar comes from the same system. You can get started in an afternoon, with costs from just under EUR 30 a month. The site looks like the template, and you work within what the system allows.
Website from your rental software. Many channel managers include a website builder. The big advantage: calendar, prices and bookings already sit in that system, so there is no second interface. The downside is the same as above, plus a closer tie to that provider.
Custom-built website with integration. The site belongs to you, its structure and text follow your property, and availability comes through an interface from the system you already use. It costs significantly more once and then a fixed flat fee. Compared with portal commissions, this is a different kind of cost: predictable rather than revenue-dependent.
The fee you miss when comparing
Monthly prices are easy to compare, percentages are not. Yet that is exactly where the difference lies. Smoobu’s pricing page lists the Professional Flex plan at EUR 29 a month plus a 0.9 percent booking fee. The Professional Prepaid plan costs EUR 31.50 a month on annual payment and has no booking fee (as of 20 September 2026). For Lodgify, independent comparison sites consistently report 1.9 percent on the smaller plans, which only drops away on the most expensive plan. The provider’s pricing page is blocked for automated retrieval, so check the current position yourself before you decide.
What this adds up to, shown with sample values that you replace with your own:
| Item | Example value |
|---|---|
| Units | 4 |
| Average price per night | EUR 120 |
| Occupancy | 60 % |
| Rented nights per year | 876 |
| Revenue per year | EUR 105,120 |
| Booking fee at 0.9 % | EUR 946 |
| Booking fee at 1.9 % | EUR 1,997 |
The fee applies to every booking, including those of a regular guest who would have booked direct anyway. It grows with the success of exactly the channel you want to build. The commission calculator works through how this compares with portal commission, using your own figures.
When a website builder is the better choice
Honestly, more often than agencies admit. A website builder suits you if
- you rent out one to three units and your annual direct revenue is below around EUR 40,000,
- you want to maintain the site yourself and can live with a template,
- your channel manager already includes the builder, or
- you want to test first whether direct bookings work for you at all.
In these cases, a few hundred euros of fees a year cost less than any individual solution. Start with a builder and switch later, once the direct channel carries its weight.
When a custom website pays off
The switch pays off when several points come together: your direct revenue is in the six-figure range, the template visibly limits you, you need your own content for search engines and AI answers, or you want to hold guest data and payment processing in your own hands. From EUR 100,000 of direct revenue, one percentage point of booking fee costs EUR 1,000 a year; over five years, that equals the value of a complete website project. To design your booking flow so that guests do not abandon it early, see Booking flow without drop-off. For a concrete property with 24 rooms, the worked example Direct bookings year over year shows how the sums add up over several years.
The second reason is visibility. Template sites share their structure and often their text blocks with hundreds of other properties. If you want to appear in search results and AI answers, you need your own content and clean structured data, which templates rarely bring with them. If the decision falls on your own website, it is worth reviewing hotel website relaunch beforehand, so that no addresses or content are lost in the move.
What to check before you sign
- Booking fee: Is there one, on which bookings, and does it drop away on a higher plan?
- Term and cancellation: Monthly cancellable, or an annual commitment with automatic renewal?
- Ownership: Do domain, content, images and guest data belong to you, including after a switch?
- Export: Can you get bookings and guest data out in a readable format?
- Who changes content: Can you maintain prices, text and images yourself, or does every change cost extra?
- Loading time on mobile: Run the demo on an older phone over a mobile network, not on Wi-Fi. Why this decides bookings is explained in Loading time and direct bookings.
What you can do now
- Determine direct revenue: How much revenue came in over the last twelve months through your own site and through enquiries by email and phone?
- Project the fee: Multiply this revenue by your plan’s percentage. That is your annual booking fee.
- Set it against costs: Compare this sum with the running costs of your own solution over three to five years.
- Have the technology checked: The free technical check shows what your current site is costing you in bookings, regardless of which route you choose. The direct booking website overview also shows which solution suits which property.
Sources and further reading
Häufige Fragen
Does the booking fee also apply to bookings made through my own website?
With the common website builders, yes. The fee is tied to the booking itself, not to the channel, so you pay it even for regular guests who book directly with you. When comparing tariffs, check whether there is a version without a booking fee.
From what size does an own website pay off?
It is not the number of units that decides, but the revenue through your own channel. As a rule of thumb: if one percentage point of booking fee costs more than the monthly flat fee of an own solution, the switch is worth a closer calculation.
Can I switch from a website builder later?
Yes, and that is the usual path, so plan for it from the start. What matters is that the domain and content belong to you and that you can export guest data. Clarify this before you sign up, not when you want to switch.
What does a HOHEIT direct booking website cost?
The Gastgeber package (for hosts) starts at EUR 4,900 one-off and EUR 149 a month. The Haus für Hotels package (for hotels) starts at EUR 18,000 one-off. There is no booking fee on your direct bookings and no licence fee per room.
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