info@cultbooking.com 
0049 30 726225 0 
How to Create a Hotel Booking Website? with WordPress
Published: 26 Oct 2020 (BA)
In this day and age, responsible hoteliers have to be vigilant when it comes to cutting down on costs, but what costs can be axed?
You are not going to cut down on maintenance by letting your brother in law do the plumbing? What about skipping that order of branded pens? Maybe buy fewer international flags? You never know when to expect a group from Liechtenstein.
What about if there was one cost you could cut down? Something you could ax without any consequences?
By taking control over your webpage you can save a lot of money, but first and foremost you get to be in charge. Look at it like your reception, what is the first thing your guest sees in this day and age?
After all, you are probably using all kinds of on-line services at the moment. The reason you switched to those was probably because of how cost-efficient and simple they were.
Prepare to be surprised again!
In this day and age, responsible hoteliers should evaluate every option.
Would you like to know the basic steps to creating your own hotel website with WordPress?
Please, after you.
Step 1. WordPress
For the sake of simplicity, we recommend WordPress.
WordPress is a free and open-source content management system (CMS). Which basically means, a simple, efficient way to make a webpage any way you need it.
Many confuse WordPress as a platform that is just for blogging, but that is nowhere true. With their powerful tools at your fingertip, you can easily build your own webpage, with the modules you wish for. When you are set up, Hotel Booking Software companies like CultBooking can then connect your WordPress site with booking engines, channel managers, and so on. Other great features for WordPress user is their plugin architecture and a template system.
There is a plugin for everything from SEO to e-mail marketing campaigns, advertisements, vouchers, and so on.
It might surprise you how many big webpages and prestigious brands are built on the WordPress platform, even the article you are currently reading on our website is built on the world’s favorite CMS.
You can go to their webpage to start out: www.wordpress.com
It’s free to start but they also offer subscription services, you can get a premium subscription for less than 7 EUR, Business and Ecommerce subscriptions are from 20-40 EUR.
Step 2. Domains
I expect you have been having fun with all the myriad of features and options available to you on WordPress. Hopefully, you have landed on your feet, filled with aspirations on where you want to take your Hotel webpage.
Now you have either literally(or mentally) set the foundations for your hotel on the internet but you still need an address.
Hence, Domains.
If your hotel name is, for example, ‘Hotel Greatness’, you would, of course, want the name in your domain.
Domain names have to be bought (if you have not already claimed your domain).
First thing first, find yourself a simple tool to check availability, let’s for fun check out if the Hotel-Greatness is available by using Hostinger.com
https://www.hostinger.com/domain-checker
The joy! This “suave” name I just thought of is available. A double whammy for the Hotelier who was looking for a “how-to guide and a new name!” Your welcome.
With a discount, Hostinger offers it for 8,99 USD per year, less than 8 EUR.
There are many other options to choose from when looking to buy a Domain.
Here are a couple more.
Even the least tech-savvy Hoteliers has heard of Google and it is no surprise that they sell domains.
If you like to cheer for the little man, check out Namecheap, their name kind of “tells it all”
Step 3. Server space and “tech stuff”
Having your own perfect design for a webpage and a gleaming domain is great but it needs space to breathe in. Which basically means, in layman terms, server space. Your webpage needs a web server which allocates the space need so anyone from around the world can access your website to book a room.
This step is probably the most technical one, but thankfully you can and should, like with your pro- plumbing or Pro Hotel booking software, leave it to the professionals.
Similar to the Domains there are many hosting providers available to you online. We recommend Bluehost, Hostgator, and Hostinger.
It surely is a buyer’s market when you compare prices between the main rivals.
Bluehost offers its specific WordPress web hosting normally at 14,99 USD, but they are having a sale so you could get it for less than 8 EUR a month. Just keep in mind, I am currently looking at their priciest subscription option called the Choice Plus.
In the beginning, the Basic plan is more than enough for your hotel website. You may start with a 3,30 EUR/month plan that includes also an SSL certificate and a free domain for 1 year.
This means for hosting you will be paying annually around 40 eur.
Step 4. Hotel templates
Thank you for hanging in! Now to the fun stuff, Hotel templates!
No, we are not talking beds or linen.
A Hotel template for your webpage is a bit like shopping for clothes.
You try on as many articles of clothing as you need until you get the look you are after. That something that says “you” or in your case, that look and feel which matches your Hotel and your brand.
There are loads of templates to choose from, some of them are free but the good ones you can buy for a reasonable price.
We have created a top 3 list of what we find as great examples for Hotel templates and themes. These are all available through Digital Marketplaces like Envato.
https://themeforest.net/user/themelexus/portfolio
Click on the pictures to check them out
Top 3 – Hotel Templates
2. Here is another great example of Hotel templates called the Gem
3. Theme Lexus- check them out on the Envato digital marketplace
Each theme’s prices vary but most of them start at less than 50 Eur, but some of them come with a licensing deal which is in general moderately priced.
Conclusion.
This guide is meant as a primer for Hotelier’s curious about the world of web design.
Obviously creating your own webpage demands a lot of work, but that’s something Hoteliers know well. Thanks to technology it’s simpler than ever to make your own webpage.
If we take together how much ‘The Hotel Greatness’ would cost in subscriptions per month it would be less than 4 EUR a month. That includes subscriptions to WordPress, the domain, and hosting.
So you can have your complete hotel website for as little as 50 EUR per year, this includes domain name and hosting space (this is the rent you pay for your website to be online). In the first-year costs are a bit higher as you need to add another 60 EUR for buying the template and also the developer costs that normally are around 40-50 EUR per hour.
Many Hotel booking suites offer as part of their subscription-based models overly priced webpages for their clients. That in some case start from as much as 5000 EUR for initial setup followed by monthly maintenance for hundreds of euros.
We at CultBooking are always here to help out and have already advised many of our clients on how to cut costs and check review all options.
Imagine all the care you can give to the design, from the slogan to the ‘About’ page.
Guests like to know about the hotel they are staying at, not only where they are staying.
Did anyone ever tell you how great their weekend was at the Hotel “Greatness”?
Support and help
CultBooking is here to help you with your new website or even your existing one. Our main product service is Booking Engine, but we help with additional services as well. Here is our email: info@cultbooking.com