What a hospitality website should cost in Thailand

Ask three agencies what a website costs and you will get three numbers that are nowhere near each other, plus a fourth who will not tell you until you are on a call. The reason is not that anyone is lying. It is that "a website" describes a business card and a booking system with the same two words. This guide is about what you are actually paying for, so the number makes sense before you commit to it.

The honest range

For a venue in Thailand, in broad terms:

• A one-page site (one good page: who you are, the rooms or the menu, hours, a map, a way to be contacted) starts in the region of ฿7,000 and up. For a small café or bar this is often all you need.
• A full multi-page site (separate pages that can each rank, editable by your team, built to bring in direct business) starts in the region of ฿20,000 and up.
• A booking system, ordering, or a CRM (guests actually book or order, and it talks to the tools you already run) starts in the region of ฿40,000 and up, because it is software, not just pages.

These are starting points, not quotes. What moves them is below. Our own current numbers are on the pricing page, stated plainly and in baht.

What changes the number

• Pages and languages. One page in one language is not five pages in Thai and English. More to build, more to write.
• Whether guests transact on it. A page that shows information is one thing. A page that takes a booking, a deposit, or an order, and does not double-sell a room, is software, and priced like software.
• Integrations. If it has to talk to a channel manager, a PMS, a POS or a delivery app, that plumbing is real work.
• Who writes the words and takes the photos. A site is only as good as what goes in it. If you have the photos and the copy, you save. If you do not, that is part of the job.

The three ways you actually pay

1. Once, up front, for the build. Clear, and what you should expect for the site itself.
2. A monthly amount for care. Hosting, updates, being reachable when something breaks. This should be optional and small (in the region of ฿1,000 a month), never a way to hold the site hostage.
3. Quietly, forever, when it is done badly. A slow site that loses bookings, or one you cannot edit without paying the agency every time. This is the most expensive option and it never appears on the quote.

Telling a fair price from a trap

A few signals, in both directions.

Reasons to walk away:

• "Contact us for a price." If a supplier will not give you a starting number, it is usually because the number depends on how much they think you will pay.
• You do not own it at the end. If the code, the content, the domain or the hosting stay with the agency, you have rented a website, not bought one. Ask who owns what, in writing.
• A "free" website from a page-builder or a booking platform. It is free because it works for them: it keeps you on their platform, on their subdomain, paying commission or a monthly fee, unable to leave.

Reasons to trust it:

• A starting price stated openly, in baht.
• A plain answer about what you own when the work is done.
• Someone who will tell you when the cheaper option is the right one.

What you should own at the end

When the work is done, these should be yours outright, whether or not you keep working with the people who built it: the code, the content, the domain, and the hosting. If any of those stay behind, you do not own your website.

That is how we price and how we hand over. The current numbers are on the pricing page, and if you want a straight answer for your specific venue, tell us what you are working with.