Boutique Hotel
Web Design
Independent hotels pay Booking.com up to 25% on every reservation. A properly built website recovers those guests and keeps the revenue where it belongs.
What Boutique Hotel Web Design
Should Actually Do
Every hotel website I build does one job: turn Booking.com browsers into direct guests. That requires more than design.
Booking Engine Integration
Your booking engine — Vertical Booking, Slope, Wubook, Bookingkit — embedded into every page. Guests never leave your site to check availability. The reservation lives in your system, not Booking.com’s.
Multilingual by Design
Italian, English, and German pages — properly translated, never machine-generated. Riviera guests come from Munich and Zurich. Speak their language and you book them direct, not through Booking.com’s translation.
Mobile-First Speed
78% of hotel searches happen on mobile (Think with Google, 2024). If your site loads slower than Booking.com, the guest books on Booking.com. Every site I build loads in under two seconds.
Local Search Authority
I optimise your Google Business Profile and on-page SEO so your hotel appears for “hotel Cesenatico centro” before Booking.com’s listing for your own property. Own the search, own the booking.
Every Year, Italian Hotels Pay
Billions in Commission.
Booking.com built its empire on independent hotels. Here is what the relationship actually costs.
How Much Does Booking.com
Actually Cost You?
Move the sliders to match your hotel. The numbers update as you go.
Tell Me About Your Property
What Booking.com Costs You
Based on a 18% average commission across major OTAs in Italy.
A direct booking website typically recovers 6.834€ in commission within 12 months — money that stays in your business.
Estimates based on industry averages: 18% blended OTA commission (Phocuswright, 2024) and 30% direct-booking recovery rate within 12 months (Net Affinity, Triptease industry benchmarks). Your actual results will vary.
Whatever System You Use,
I Integrate With It.
Your booking engine stays exactly where it is. I build the website around it — embedded, mobile-fast, conversion-focused.
Using a different system? Bookingkit, Beddy, Octorate — almost any modern booking engine integrates with WordPress.
Five Weeks. Five Phases.
No Surprises.
A clear timeline so you know exactly what happens, when it happens, and what is expected of you at each phase.
Understanding Your Hotel
I audit your existing site, Google Business Profile, and direct booking funnel. I review your top three competitors and identify the search terms you should be ranking for. By the end of this phase you have a written strategy document outlining exactly what we are building and why.
Full audit, competitor research, keyword strategy, content plan
A 45-minute call. Share goals, photos, and existing accounts
Designing Your Direct Booking System
I design the home page first and write the content alongside it. You see real design with real words, not lorem ipsum mockups. Italian and English versions are drafted together so structure and translation work as a single layer, not as an afterthought.
Home page design, content drafts in IT and EN, room page templates
One round of feedback. Provide rooms photos and any specific copy
Building It For Real
I build every page on a private staging site you can review at any time. Your booking engine is integrated and tested. The site is optimised for mobile speed, every image is compressed and converted to WebP, and the multilingual setup is fully functional.
Full development, booking engine integration, speed optimisation
Booking engine credentials. Review staging site twice during the phase
Going Live The Right Way
Final quality check, schema markup, hotel structured data, sitemap submission, redirects from your old site, Google Business Profile fully optimised, and indexing requests sent. Nothing is rushed and nothing is forgotten. Your old site visitors land on your new pages without 404 errors.
Launch checklist, schema, GBP setup, indexing, full handover
Final approval. Domain DNS access if changing hosting
Beyond Launch
Hotel websites are not finished when they launch. Search rankings climb over months, content is added for new seasons, and direct booking conversion improves with iteration. Maintenance plans cover ongoing changes, monthly reports, and ranking monitoring so the site keeps working harder over time.
Monthly reports, ongoing changes, ranking monitoring, content updates
Share what works and what does not. Send seasonal updates
Smaller projects can finish in three to four weeks. Custom builds take eight to ten. Every project gets the same five-phase structure — only the duration changes.
Start The Conversation →Three Packages.
Built For Real Hotels.
Each package is a complete direct booking system. Pick the size that matches your property — or start smaller and grow.
Hotel Starter
- 5-page bilingual website (IT + EN)
- Booking engine integration
- Google Business Profile optimisation
- Hotel schema markup
- Mobile-first responsive design
- WhatsApp enquiry button
- Basic SEO setup
- 1 round of revisions
- Hosting & domain included for year 1
Hotel Pro
- 8-page trilingual website (IT + EN + DE)
- Booking engine + direct booking funnel
- GBP optimisation + 5 launch posts
- Advanced schema + FAQ structured data
- Speed optimisation, WebP images
- Conversion-focused room pages
- Email capture for direct booking offers
- 2 rounds of revisions
- 1 month post-launch support
Hotel Premium
- Fully custom multilingual design
- IT + EN + DE + 1 additional language
- Advanced booking funnel optimisation
- 3 months of GBP content management
- Photography brief & coordination
- Conversion rate optimisation built in
- Unlimited revisions during build
- 3 months priority support
- Quarterly performance review
Start With a Hotel Audit
Before any redesign, I produce a detailed audit of your current website, Google Business Profile, and direct booking funnel. You receive a written report with prioritised recommendations — yours to keep, with no obligation.
All prices exclude IVA. Maintenance and ongoing support from 80€/month after launch — covering monthly updates, GBP management, and priority support. View maintenance plans →
What Hoteliers Actually Ask
Before They Decide.
No. Your OTA listings stay exactly where they are. A direct booking website does not replace Booking.com — it works alongside it. The goal is to recover a portion of bookings that would otherwise pay 18% commission. Most hotels keep 50–70% of bookings on OTAs and shift 30–50% to direct over 12 months. Both channels coexist.
Almost never. I integrate with whatever booking engine you already use — Vertical Booking, Slope, Wubook, Simplebooking, Bookingkit, and most others. If you do not have a booking engine yet, I help you choose one during the audit phase. The recommendation depends on your size, budget, and channel manager needs.
Honest answer: photography matters more than design. If your photos are weak, I will tell you before we start. The Hotel Premium package includes coordinating a local photographer (typically 500–1.500€ separately). For Starter and Pro projects, I can help you brief the right photographer or guide you through a basic phone-photography setup. I will not let bad photos sink a good website.
It transfers, with care. Every existing URL is mapped to a new equivalent with 301 redirects so Google understands the move. If your old site ranked for any keywords, those rankings are protected. New pages are also indexed during launch through Google Search Console. Most sites see a brief dip in week one followed by stronger rankings within 60 days.
Every project includes one month of post-launch support — bug fixes, content tweaks, performance monitoring. After that, you can either manage the site yourself or move to a Hotel Care plan starting at 60€/month, which covers ongoing changes, monthly reports, GBP management, and priority support. I do not disappear after launch. Most clients stay on a care plan because hotel websites need seasonal updates.
The process is built so this rarely happens. You see real design with real content during week 2, not at the end of the project. Two formal revision rounds are included in Hotel Pro and unlimited during build for Premium. If something fundamental feels wrong, we adjust it before development starts — not after. Refund terms and contract details are written into every project agreement.
Hotel Growth Strategies
Deep dives into direct booking tactics, UX psychology, and revenue optimization
Hotel Direct Booking: The Real Economics, Beyond Commission
The commission rate is what every hotel owner sees first. It is the smallest number. Hotel direct booking is really a question of who owns the guest, what each booking is worth over time, and what kind of business gets built behind it. The economics, beyond the commission line.
The Long Game: A Hotel Direct Booking Strategy That Outlasts the OTA
Most hotels that try to quit Booking.com end up returning within twelve months. A hotel direct booking strategy that actually reduces commission is built over three years — not three months. This is the long game: where to start, what to measure, and when the OTA still earns its keep.
What a Boutique Hotel Website Needs to Convert Direct Bookers
Most boutique hotel websites in Italy get the visit but lose the booking. Here’s what yours needs to convert direct bookers and stop sending guests back to Booking.com.
Every Day You Wait
Booking.com Gets Paid.
Send me a message and tell me about your restaurant or café. I will get back to you within 24 hours.