Redesigning a hotel or B&B website: every route you can take

You have an old, slow website that does not bring in bookings. You have already asked for a few quotes, and the figures range from a few hundred euros a year to several thousand as a one-off, for services that look the same on paper.

Here I go through the real routes a small hotelier has today: a web agency, a turnkey provider, Wix and similar site builders, AI generators, WordPress with the hosting provider's AI, and an independent professional. Let us look in detail at when each option makes sense, and when it does not.

A web agency with a "tailor-made" website: how custom is it?

There is only one question that matters: is the quote built around your case, or does it only talk about "modern design"? If at the first meeting nobody asked you how many rooms you have, whether you work with groups, whether you have a pool or a restaurant, that website starts from a ready-made theme (design plus structure) with the colours and photos changed, and the agency probably does not know your sector.

That website will not be made specifically for your property. Look at the portfolio: if all the websites look alike, the customisation is superficial.

Who a (serious!) web agency makes sense for: large properties with complex needs (multi-property booking, connected management systems) that require a coordinated team. Who it does not suit: for a hotel with 10 to 15 rooms, the cost (to give you an idea, from 3,000 to 10,000 euros) is almost certainly not justified. Timelines are also longer, because the work is often handed to external collaborators, which is also where the extra cost comes from. Finally, the website often stays in the agency's hands and cannot be taken over, especially when a proprietary content management system (CMS) is proposed.

Turnkey providers with a multi-year fee

Some national operators offer a complete package, website and hosting, for a monthly fee that is often tied to a multi-year contract with tacit renewal: this needs checking case by case, by reading the contract. The main advantage is that you start straight away, without coordinating anyone. Here is what to check before signing:

• At the end of the contract, what do you actually keep?
• Who is the domain registered to?
• Is the website simply "switched off", or can you at least download a backup?
• Is the template the same one used for other businesses in your sector, or is it customised?

Who it makes sense for: someone who only wants to "be there" online, with a small budget and no guarantee of visibility, and who accepts not owning the website at the end. Where it fails: in a crowded market like Lake Garda, a template shared with other operators sets you apart from no one, and carefully detailed SEO cannot be missing.

Wix, Squarespace and doing it yourself

It is true: it costs little, it is ready in a weekend, and for someone with only a couple of rooms to let it can be enough. Basic SEO is there, but the page structure, content based on what guests actually search for, the connection to the booking engine and tracking all still need to be done. Even if they make it look easy, it is not that easy: building a website yourself still requires knowing your way around a computer and the web. Above all, it takes time. Yours.

And the website still lives inside the platform: if you change provider, the website has to be rebuilt from scratch, and it may lose the visibility it has already gained.

Who might choose it: a guesthouse with 2 or 3 rooms. The weak point: it is hard to integrate a booking system synchronised with Booking.com, create versions in several languages, and put an effective SEO strategy in place.

AI generators like Lovable or v0: what they do well and where they fail

I have experimented with these tools myself in the past, so I am not dismissing them outright. You write a simple text message and within a few hours you have a website that looks polished. The problem is what comes after. Several questions come up:

• is the website pre-rendered for Google?
• are the domain and hosting connected properly?
• does the contact form deliver emails, or do they end up in spam?
• is there structured data to tell Google about the property and its prices?
• are the language versions correct and optimised for SEO?

The biggest limit of these systems is that a preset AI system does not know which pages a hotel on Lake Garda really needs compared with a B&B in an art city. Content and design always follow the same pattern, by now recognisable at a glance and not well regarded by Google. On top of that, the page content may stay hidden from search engines because of a careless technical setup.

When to use it: it can serve as a quick starting point, provided that someone competent then reviews the structure, the content and the SEO optimisation. The most obvious flaw: if you publish it as it is, thinking the job is done, you are unlikely to get results.

WordPress with the hosting provider's built-in AI

Many hosting control panels offer an AI builder that generates a WordPress website in a few minutes. It is a fairly solid solution: you have something online straight away, and WordPress gives you more control over hosting and code than Wix. The result, though, is almost always a brochure website: a generic layout, form-filler copy, and often too many external plugins that cause problems. Maintenance and backups remain your job, and neglecting them increases the risk of finding your website compromised, especially if themes and plugins are not kept up to date.

Who it makes sense for: someone comfortable with technology who wants to save on the first version. The hidden problems: WordPress is "ageing". It is static and heavy, with plugin incompatibilities and security risks. If you want a website that is flexible and easy to change, and even to rebuild completely one day, choose more modern technologies.

The six options compared

A professional who knows hospitality and the area

Here I am talking about the way I work on SEO-optimised websites. A custom website built by me starts from 1,190 euros plus VAT, in WordPress or React depending on the property, with pages built on the real searches in your area, content written for you and user actions tracked. As an order of magnitude, it is more or less what one room earns when let for a week in August: it depends on the property and the season, it is not a precise calculation, but it gives you the idea.

The advantage of working with one person is that you have a single point of contact who knows the matter inside out. Knowing the sector and the area also changes the content of the website. You have to take into account the location, the type of guests, the seasonality. Someone who does not know the area does not know which searches matter most.

Languages are not optional on Lake Garda

According to ISTAT, in 2024 Germany was confirmed as the top country of origin for foreign tourists in Italy, and the Veneto region recorded a share of foreign tourists of 70.5%. On Lake Garda, German and English are not an extra courtesy: they are the languages guests use to search for somewhere to stay.

I saw it while working on the BookTaxi Desenzano website: the multilingual site in Italian, English, German and Russian went live and the first organic leads arrived within two weeks, with no paid campaign. It is not the rule for every website, but it shows how much it matters to capture searches in the right language.

When redesigning the website does not solve the problem

Before signing a quote, ask yourself an honest question: would a website solve my problem? Low reviews, dark or old photos, a nightly rate out of line with the market: a new website solves none of this. What you need is a photo shoot or a pricing review.

There is a case further upstream: if you have not yet decided how to handle direct bookings or connect a booking engine, that decision has to be made before you start. The website has to carry out a precise strategy, otherwise it makes no sense. According to the Travel Innovation Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano, the direct online channel in Italian hospitality has gained 15 percentage points since 2019: a new website only makes sense if you already know how to handle those bookings.

What I would do in your position

With a property of 8 to 20 rooms on Lake Garda or in a similar tourist area, and an old website that does not bring in bookings, I would go to an independent professional who knows the sector and the area, not to a large agency or a provider with a recurring fee: a clear price instead of a fee that keeps running, and a website that stays mine once the project is finished. With just a couple of rooms to let, I would start with Wix or similar instead, simply to test the idea.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a hotel or B&B website cost?

It depends on the route you choose: from low monthly subscriptions for doing it yourself up to several thousand euros for established agencies. Built by me, a custom website with a structure designed around your market starts from 1,190 euros plus VAT.

Does a hospitality property need a website in several languages?

In areas with a strong presence of foreign tourists, such as Lake Garda, yes. ISTAT confirms that Germany remains Italy's top foreign market, and the Veneto region has a share of foreign tourists above 70%.

How can I tell whether a website quote is honest?

Check whether it names the specific pages of your website, whether the domain and content stay yours at the end of the contract, and who updates the website after delivery. If this information is missing, ask for it before signing.