Website payback
Holiday Let Website ROI and How Many Bookings Pay for It
A website is worth it when the commission it saves is bigger than what it costs. Here is the sum, with real examples.
You’ve been told you need a website, and you’re not sure it’s worth the money. The sum is simple. Divide what the site costs you each year by the commission you save on one direct booking, and you get the number of bookings that pays for it.
In the examples below, that number is somewhere between 3 and 14 bookings a year. For many holiday lets and glamping sites, that is a few weekends. Here is how to work out your own holiday let website ROI.
How to work out holiday let website ROI
Holiday let website ROI is the commission you save on direct bookings, minus what the site costs, over a year. You need three numbers, and you already have all of them.
- Yearly site cost. Monthly fee times 12, plus any one-off build cost, copy or photos.
- Commission per booking. Take the average stay value and multiply it by the commission your listing site charges. Your host statements show the exact figure, so use those rather than a guess.
- Bookings to break even. Yearly site cost divided by commission saved per booking. Round up.
Most of what ranks for this search is about the return on buying a holiday let in the first place. That is a different sum. Here we only look at the website and what it saves you.
A worked example
A site that costs £600 a year pays for itself after about 7 direct bookings worth £600 each, if the listing site takes 15%. The 15% here is just an example rate to make the sums easy, so swap in yours.
First, how the site cost changes the number. Each stay is worth £600, so each direct booking saves £90.
| Yearly site cost | Commission saved per booking | Bookings to break even |
|---|---|---|
| £228 (£19 a month) | £90 | 3 |
| £600 | £90 | 7 |
| £1,200 | £90 | 14 |
Next, how the stay value changes it. Here the site costs £600 a year.
| Average stay value | Commission saved at 15% | Bookings to break even |
|---|---|---|
| £300 (a short midweek) | £45 | 14 |
| £600 (a long weekend) | £90 | 7 |
| £900 (a week) | £135 | 5 |
The pattern is easy to see. Higher stay values and a lower yearly cost both bring the break-even number down. A shepherd’s hut with a hot tub that gets £600 weekends needs far fewer bookings than a £100 a night pitch that mostly gets one-night stays.
Every booking after the break-even one is money you’d otherwise have paid in commission. That is where the return comes from.
What it looked like at Millie the Hut
Millie the Hut is a shepherd’s hut and Shack in a meadow near Presteigne. Its website brought 42 direct bookings in its first year, saving the owners over £3,000 in commission. That works out at roughly £70 saved per booking.
Count only the bookings the site really wins
Count a booking when the guest booked with you directly and would otherwise have paid commission. It is tempting to credit the site with every direct booking, but some guests would have come back or phoned anyway.
A fair way to sort them.
- Counts. A guest who found you on Google, an enquiry from the site, a payment through your booking page.
- Counts, with care. A guest who found you on a listing site, then searched for your own website. This is common behaviour, because guests hope for a better deal or know the owner keeps more of the money. Without a good site, they book on the listing after all.
- Doesn’t count. Repeat guests who already had your number and would have rung you regardless.
Keep the last group out of your sum. If the site still pays back without them, you can trust the answer.
Costs the monthly fee doesn’t cover
The monthly fee is not the whole cost. Add anything else you pay for or spend time on, or your payback number will look better than it is.
| Possible extra cost | What to think about |
|---|---|
| Photos | Good photos sell stays. If you only have phone shots, budget for a shoot or a few hours reshooting. |
| Copy | You can write it yourself, or have someone write it. Copy from your CoolStays or similar listing is a helpful start. |
| Booking system | Check whether online payments and calendar sync are included, or charged separately. |
| Domain and email | A small yearly cost, easy to forget. |
| Your time | Updating rates, answering enquiries and keeping calendars current. |
Calendars matter more than most owners expect. A double booking costs you a refund and a bad review, so make sure the site’s availability matches what’s on your listing sites. We can sync calendars with Airbnb, Booking.com, Canopy & Stars, CoolStays and others.
When a cheaper or DIY site is enough
A cheap or DIY site is enough if you have one or two units, a steady flow of repeat guests, and no plans to chase Google traffic. In that case, a one-page site with a calendar and an enquiry form can still cover its cost.
Spending more starts to make sense when you want guests to find you on Google, take payments online, or when your listing commission is high enough that each saved booking is worth a lot. Run both costs through the same sum and see how the break-even number changes.
You can also see how we work to get a feel for the build, and find owners in your area on our UK locations page.
Your numbers in five minutes
You can have your own payback number in five minutes with last year’s statements and a calculator.
If that number is lower than the direct bookings you could realistically win, the site is worth it. If it’s higher, start with a cheaper site or fix what’s holding bookings back first.
Figures and examples accurate as of October 2026.
FAQs
Is a website worth it for a holiday let?
Usually, if it brings in even a handful of direct bookings a year. Each one saves the commission you would have paid a listing site. If your yearly site cost is lower than that saved commission, the site has paid for itself. Run the sum with your own host statements to be sure.
How many bookings does a holiday let website need to pay for itself?
Divide the yearly cost of the site by the commission you save on one direct booking. In our worked examples, a site costing £600 a year pays back after about 7 bookings worth £600 each, if the listing site charges 15%. Cheaper sites need fewer, and pricier stays need fewer.
Do guests who book through my website count if they first found me on Airbnb?
They count if they booked with you directly and would otherwise have paid commission. Many guests find a place on a listing site, then search for the owner’s own website. Only count bookings you can trace to the site, such as enquiries and payments that came through it.
Can a free or cheap website be enough?
Yes, for a small business with one or two units and little extra demand. A simple site with a clear booking route can be enough. Moving to something more built out makes sense when you want to rank on Google or bring in more direct bookings than you get now.
Find out what’s stopping your site getting bookings
Send us your website and we’ll tell you, for free, what’s stopping it getting bookings. Start with the free website audit, or get in touch through the contact page if you’d like to talk it through first.