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How much does a B&B or holiday let website cost in 2026?
From £100-a-year Wix sites to £15,000 agency builds, the sticker price is only half the story. Here is what a small UK host actually pays once you add a real booking system, and where the hidden per-booking fees hide.
Updated 7 July 2026 · 7 min read
Short answer
Most small UK hosts pay £100 to £350 a year for a working B&B or holiday let website once you add a booking system. A general builder like Wix or Squarespace runs £110-£300/yr but needs a booking tool bolted on; dedicated systems like Freetobook or Bookalet add £0-£170/yr; agency builds cost £2,000-£15,000 up front.
Key takeaways
- ✓A pretty website is not the cost that matters: the real number is website plus a booking engine that takes payment, and that is where cheap builders quietly get expensive.
- ✓General builders (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy) are roughly £110-£300/yr but have no proper accommodation booking calendar, so you bolt one on.
- ✓Booking-specific tools (Freetobook, Bookalet) are £0-£170/yr and brilliant at availability, but many charge a per-booking fee or payment-gateway % even on your own direct bookings.
- ✓A custom agency build is £2,000-£15,000 up front plus maintenance, and rarely pays back for a one or two-room host.
- ✓Done-for-you services like FindYourStay sit in the honest middle: around £120/yr for the website on top of a directory listing plan, built and hosted for you, 0% commission on the bookings.
"How much does a website cost?" is one of those questions where every answer is technically true and completely unhelpful. You can spend £0 or £15,000 and both are real. For an independent B&B, guesthouse or holiday let, the number that actually matters is not the price of a nice-looking page: it is the total yearly cost of a site that lets a guest check dates, book, and pay you without a platform sitting in the middle taking a cut. This guide breaks down the real 2026 UK price bands, what drives them, and the per-booking fees that don't show up on the pricing page.
What are you actually paying for?
The cost of a booking website is really four separate things stacked together, and cheap options save money by leaving some of them out.
- The website itself: design, pages, photos, your domain name and the hosting that keeps it online (SSL, uptime, backups).
- The booking engine: a live availability calendar that stops double-bookings, takes card payment or a deposit, and syncs with Airbnb and Booking.com so your dates never clash.
- Payments: a card processor (usually Stripe or similar) charging roughly 1.5%-3% + ~20p per transaction. Everyone pays this; it is not optional.
- Upkeep: updates, plugin renewals, security, and the hours you or someone else spends keeping it all working.
The rule of thumb
A brochure website is cheap. A website that takes bookings and payments and syncs your calendar is the real product, and its price is set by the booking engine, not the pretty template on top.
See what a done-for-you site would look like
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Build my free preview →How much do Wix, Squarespace and GoDaddy cost for a B&B?
A general builder costs roughly £110-£300 a year, but none of them ship with a proper accommodation booking calendar, so you almost always bolt a booking tool on top. Squarespace runs about £12-£17/mo on annual billing (with a free domain for year one) and its built-in Acuity scheduling suits appointments better than multi-night stays. Wix starts around £9/mo and has booking add-ons, though they are aimed at classes and slots rather than nightly availability with deposits and OTA sync. GoDaddy sits in a similar band. These builders are genuinely good at design and easy to start with; the catch is that the booking side is an afterthought, so you end up paying for the builder and a separate booking system.
What about dedicated booking systems like Freetobook and Bookalet?
Booking-specific tools are the sweet spot for availability and cost surprisingly little to start, but read the fee line carefully. Freetobook has a free base booking engine, and crucially your own direct bookings stay free; you pay only around £1 per booking made through connected channels (capped at roughly £49/mo), plus small fees for extras like a channel manager or payments. Bookalet starts at about £129-£139/yr for its Lite plan, with an optional website builder module at roughly £150-£195/yr on top and payment-gateway fees of 1%-3%. Both are excellent at calendars and OTA sync. The trade-off: the website they give you is functional rather than beautiful, and you are the one wiring it all together.
The hidden per-booking gotcha
"Free" and "low-cost" booking tools often earn on a per-booking fee or a payment mark-up, sometimes even on bookings that came straight from your own website. Always check whether direct bookings are genuinely free or quietly carry a percentage. A £0/yr tool that skims 2% on every booking is not £0.
Is WordPress plus a booking plugin cheaper?
On paper WordPress looks the cheapest, and for a technical host it can be. Reckon on hosting at roughly £60-£150/yr, a premium theme at a one-off £40-£80, and an accommodation booking plugin at around £70-£200/yr. So £150-£400/yr all-in, before your time. The honest catch is that time: WordPress is a maintenance commitment. Plugins update, break, and occasionally conflict; security patches matter; and if something goes wrong at 9pm the night before a guest arrives, you are the support team. It is the best-value route if you enjoy tinkering, and a false economy if you don't.
💷 The commission you're giving away
£110 booking × 15.5% (Airbnb) × 45 a year = about £767 a year handed to the platform.
Direct bookings cost 0% commission, just ~1.5% card processing. You'd keep about £693 of that back.
See your free site →How much does a custom or agency-built website cost?
A bespoke design agency build typically runs £2,000-£15,000 up front, plus ongoing maintenance or a retainer. For a boutique hotel or a portfolio of holiday lets with a real brand budget, that can be money well spent. For a one or two-room B&B, it rarely pays back: you are buying a level of customisation you don't need, and you inherit a site that costs money every time it needs a change. Unless you have a specific reason to go bespoke, a small host almost never needs to spend four figures to take direct bookings.
What does a done-for-you service like FindYourStay cost?
Done-for-you sits in the honest middle: someone builds and hosts the whole thing for you, booking engine included, and you pay a predictable yearly fee instead of assembling parts. With FindYourStay, you take a directory listing plan (roughly £79-£299/yr depending on tier) and add the booking website for around £120/yr on top. That covers the design, hosting, SSL, your own domain and a booking flow that pays you directly. The part that matters most: we charge 0% commission on the bookings themselves. You still pay the unavoidable card-processing fee, but no platform cut and no per-booking skim.
Why the commission line is the whole game
A website's yearly fee is fixed and small. Platform commission is a percentage of everything you earn, forever. Move even 30-40 nights a year to a direct, 0%-commission site and the saving dwarfs what any of these websites cost. The cheapest website is the one that stops handing ~15% of every booking to Airbnb.
So which option is right for a small host?
Here is the realistic 2026 UK picture, side by side. Prices are typical ranges and exclude the card-processing fee everyone pays.
| Option | Typical yearly cost | Booking engine? | Commission on direct bookings | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wix / Squarespace / GoDaddy | £110-£300 | Bolt-on, weak for stays | None from builder (card fees only) | Design-led hosts happy to add a booking tool |
| Freetobook | £0-£150 + extras | Yes, strong | Direct usually free; channel bookings ~£1 each | Budget-conscious hosts who will self-assemble |
| Bookalet | £129-£340 all-in | Yes, strong | Payment-gateway 1%-3% | Self-catering hosts wanting calendar + site |
| WordPress + booking plugin | £150-£400 + your time | Yes, via plugin | None beyond card fees | Technical hosts who enjoy maintaining it |
| Custom agency build | £2,000-£15,000 up front | Custom | None beyond card fees | Boutique hotels / branded portfolios |
| FindYourStay (done-for-you) | ~£120 site + £79-£299 listing | Yes, built for you | 0% | Independent hosts who want it done + a direct channel |
Typical 2026 UK costs for a small B&B or holiday let booking website. Excludes card-processing fees (~1.5%-3% + ~20p per transaction), which apply to every option.
The right answer depends on your appetite for admin, not just your budget. If you love a project, WordPress or Freetobook self-assembly is the cheapest route in pure pounds. If you want it handled and want a booking channel that keeps 100% of what guests pay, a done-for-you site earns its fee back fast. Whichever you pick, the goal is the same: get off the commission treadmill. Our guides on whether you even need a website, the best direct-booking builders, and how to take bookings on your own site go deeper on each path.
Watch the ongoing costs, not just the setup
A £2,000 agency build sounds worse than a £120 subscription until you count year three. Add up the domain, hosting, SSL, plugin renewals, payment fees and your hours across a few years. A predictable all-in yearly fee is usually cheaper and far less stressful than a cheap starting price with surprises attached.
The honest middle option, done for you
We build and host your direct-booking website on your own domain, take payments straight to your account, and charge 0% commission on the bookings. One predictable yearly fee, no per-booking skim.
See how it works →Frequently asked questions
How much does a B&B website cost per year in the UK?+
Most small hosts pay around £100 to £350 a year once a real booking system is included. General builders like Wix or Squarespace are £110-£300/yr but need a booking tool added; dedicated systems like Freetobook or Bookalet are £0-£170/yr. Everyone also pays card-processing fees of roughly 1.5%-3% per transaction on top.
Do I need a separate booking system as well as a website?+
Usually yes if you use a general builder. Wix, Squarespace and GoDaddy are designed for brochure sites and appointments, not multi-night stays with deposits and calendar sync, so you bolt on a booking engine. Dedicated tools and done-for-you services include the booking engine, so there is nothing extra to wire up.
Are cheap booking systems really free?+
Rarely fully free. Many low-cost or free tools earn on a per-booking fee or a payment-gateway mark-up of 1%-3%, sometimes even on bookings that came from your own website. Always check whether direct bookings are genuinely free before you assume a tool is £0, because a small percentage on every booking adds up fast.
Is it worth paying for a custom agency-built website?+
For a boutique hotel or a branded portfolio, sometimes. For a one or two-room B&B, rarely. An agency build costs £2,000-£15,000 up front plus maintenance, and a good template or done-for-you site takes direct bookings just as well for a fraction of the cost.
What is the cheapest way to take direct bookings?+
In pure pounds, WordPress with a booking plugin or Freetobook's free base engine are the cheapest, if you are happy to assemble and maintain them yourself. If you value your time, a done-for-you site at around £120/yr is cheap once you count the hidden hours and the commission you stop paying Airbnb and Booking.com.
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