Beth has four properties around Stowe, Vermont. When she decided to build a real site, she did the sensible thing and got three quotes. They came back at $900, $6,400, and $22,000.
She sent them to me with a one-line message: "What am I even comparing?"
That's the right question and almost nobody asks it, because a quote arrives looking like a price and it's actually a description of a completely different product. The $900 was a freelancer installing a theme. The $22,000 included a brand identity, professional photography, and a year of ongoing SEO. The $6,400 was in between and, as it turned out, excluded the booking integration entirely — which was the only reason Beth wanted a site.
None of those quotes was dishonest. They were answers to three different questions, and Beth hadn't been given the vocabulary to ask hers precisely. This article is that vocabulary: what the price bands actually mean, the questions that reveal what you're buying, the red flags worth walking away from, and — since we're one of the vendors you might be evaluating — our own answers to every question, so you can hold us to the same standard.
The three kinds of vendor
Almost everyone you'll talk to falls into one of three groups, and knowing which one you're talking to explains most of the price spread.
The individual freelancer
Usually the cheapest, sometimes excellent, always a single point of failure. A good freelancer with real property experience can deliver something genuinely strong. The risks are structural rather than about competence: they get busy, they take a job, they move, they get sick, and your site has no one. Ask directly what happens when they're unavailable, and ask what happens in a year when you need a change.
Best fit: one property, a clear scope, and a personal recommendation from someone whose site you've actually seen working.
The generalist agency
Builds websites for dentists, law firms, landscapers, and you. Professional, has a process, will produce something competent. What they usually don't have is lodging-specific knowledge — how booking engines integrate with property management systems, what ranks in a destination market, why a rental site's needs differ from a restaurant's.
You'll often get a good-looking site and then discover the booking integration was scoped as "we'll embed whatever you use," which is the part that decides whether the site earns.
The specialist
Works in your industry specifically. Costs more than a freelancer, sometimes less than a big generalist agency. The value is entirely in what they already know: which booking engines integrate cleanly with which property management systems, which page structures rank in destination markets, what converts a guest who just came from Airbnb.
You're paying for the mistakes they've already made on someone else's project. That's a real thing to buy, and it's the reason specialists exist in every industry.
Cavmir is in this third category, and I'd rather say so plainly than pretend to be a neutral referee. What follows is still the checklist I'd give a friend, including the questions that are uncomfortable for us.
The fifteen questions
Ask every one of these, of every vendor, in writing. The answers matter and so does how willingly they're given.
About what you're actually getting
1. What exactly is included, page by page? A number of pages is not a scope. Ask for the list.
2. Is the booking engine included, and which one? This is the single most common gap between what an owner assumes and what a quote covers. "We'll embed your existing one" is a different product from "we'll integrate booking against your property management system."
3. Will it sync with my property management system, and have you done that specific integration before? Name your system and get a yes or no. A vendor who has done it will say so immediately.
4. Who writes the copy? Owners routinely discover after signing that they're expected to write every word, which is the part that stalls projects for months. If it's you, that's fine — but know it now.
5. Are photos included, or am I supplying them? And if I'm supplying them, will you edit and optimize them?
6. What's included on SEO? "SEO optimized" means nothing. Ask specifically: page structure and titles, structured data, sitemap submission, market-targeted content pages, ongoing work — which of these, exactly?
7. Are the privacy policy, cookie consent, and accessibility conformance part of the build? If the answer is vague, assume no.
About ownership — the ones nobody asks
8. Who owns the domain? It should be you, registered in your name, with you holding the account. If a vendor registers it for you on their account, you're one dispute away from losing your address.
9. Who owns the site once it's built? Get this in writing. Some vendors license you a site you never own, which means leaving means starting over.
10. If I leave, what do I take with me? The ideal answer is everything — files, content, images, access. The common answer is "you can export your content," which means you're taking your words and leaving the site.
11. Where is it hosted, and whose account is it? You want hosting in your name where possible, or at minimum a clear path to move it.
About how it will actually go
12. What's the timeline, and what makes it slip? Every honest vendor will tell you the same thing: projects slip when the client doesn't deliver content. Ask what they need from you and when.
13. How many rounds of revisions, and what counts as one? This is where relationships go wrong. Get the number and the definition.
14. What happens after launch? Who fixes a broken form in month four? Is there support, is it billed, is there a care plan? A site with no aftercare is a site that decays — the pattern documented in the true cost of an unmaintained site.
15. Can I talk to two clients with properties like mine? Not a testimonial page. Actual people, ideally ones whose sites you can look at and search for. A vendor with happy clients will connect you within a day.
Send all fifteen questions to every vendor in one email and compare the replies side by side. The speed and specificity of the answers tells you more than the answers themselves. A vendor who answers precisely in a day is telling you how the project will feel; so is one who takes a week and answers around the questions.
Reading the price
Once you have real scopes, the spread stops being mysterious. Here's roughly what the bands buy in this industry.
| Band | What it typically is | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Under $1,500 | A freelancer installing and configuring a theme; you supply everything | No booking integration, no SEO structure, no aftercare, no compliance |
| $1,500–$5,000 | A real small build: custom-styled, some copy, basic SEO, simple booking | Whether the booking is integrated or embedded; who writes the copy |
| $5,000–$12,000 | Multi-property, PMS-synced booking, brand work, content pages, proper SEO structure | Whether ongoing SEO is included or sold separately |
| $12,000+ | Portfolio builds, full brand identity, photography, video, ongoing marketing retainers | Whether you need all of it yet |
The useful question isn't "which is cheapest," it's "which one includes the thing I'm buying this for." Beth wanted to stop paying commission on four properties. That requires PMS-synced booking, which the $900 quote didn't have and the $6,400 quote had excluded. Once she knew that, the comparison took ten minutes.
For the underlying arithmetic on what a build should return, we ran it properly in what a direct booking website actually costs.
Red flags
Things that should make you slow down, from most to least serious.
They won't put ownership in writing. Non-negotiable. If you can't get a plain sentence saying you own the site and the domain, walk.
They guarantee a search ranking. Nobody controls Google. A guarantee of a first-page position for a competitive term is either a misunderstanding of the work or a claim that will be quietly redefined later — usually to a term nobody searches.
They guarantee legal compliance. Accessibility and privacy exposure depend on your business, your state, and facts a web vendor is not qualified to assess. A vendor can build to a recognized standard. A vendor promising you can't be sued is selling something they can't deliver.
The price is dramatically below everyone else with the same scope. Either the scope isn't the same or something is being made up later. Ask what's excluded and get it in writing.
They can't name a booking integration they've done. For a lodging site this is the core technical work. Vagueness here predicts exactly where the project will go wrong.
No written proposal. If you can't get a document that says what you're getting, for how much, by when, you don't have an agreement, you have a conversation.
Pressure and expiring discounts. Real vendors have capacity constraints and will tell you honestly when they can start. Artificial urgency is a sales technique, not a schedule.
Before you sign anything, search the vendor's own client sites. Take a client property name, search it, and see whether their site or their Airbnb listing comes up first. It's the most honest portfolio review available and it takes five minutes — a web vendor whose clients can't be found by name is telling you something a case study won't.
What a good proposal actually contains
You should receive a document, not a number in an email. It should contain: the page list, the booking integration named specifically, what's included on SEO in concrete terms, who writes copy and who supplies photos, the compliance items, the timeline with milestones, the revision terms, the ownership statement, what happens after launch, the total price and the payment schedule, and what's explicitly excluded.
That last item is the tell. A proposal with an exclusions section is written by someone who has done this enough times to know where misunderstandings happen. A proposal with no exclusions is one where the misunderstanding is still ahead of you.
Our answers to all fifteen
Since we're one of the vendors, here's Cavmir answering its own checklist. Hold anyone else to the same specificity, including us.
Scope is a page list, not a page count — you see exactly what you're getting before you agree to anything. Booking is integrated and synced to your property management system on the packages that include it, not embedded as a third-party widget, which is what keeps availability real and the most important step from being the slowest and least accessible one on the site. Tell us your PMS by name and we'll tell you plainly whether we've integrated it before.
We write the copy. That's the piece that stalls most projects, and handing it back to the owner is how six-week builds become six-month ones. Image editing is included on most packages, and market-targeted blog posts come with every package because page inventory is what makes a site rank at all, as covered in why sites don't show up on Google.
On SEO we'll tell you which parts are in the build — structure, titles, lodging structured data, internal linking, sitemap, and the included content pages — and which parts are ongoing work under the SEO service. We won't blur the line, and we won't guarantee a ranking, because nobody can.
Privacy policy, cookie consent, and accessible markup built to WCAG 2.1 AA are part of every build rather than an upsell. We won't guarantee legal compliance, because your exposure depends on facts we're not qualified to assess — ask your attorney. What we'll do is build to the recognized standard so that conversation is short.
On ownership: the domain is registered in your name, the site is yours, and if you leave you take it. That's the structural difference between a one-time build and a subscription — with a monthly platform you're renting a storefront, and at the end of five years you own nothing. Ours is bought once.
On timeline: we give you a date and tell you what we need from you to hit it. On aftercare: support is included, and ongoing care is available through consulting for owners who'd rather have someone watching the site than trusting it. On references: ask and we'll connect you with owners running properties like yours.
And on price: current scopes and numbers are published on our pricing page rather than held back for a discovery call, and every engagement is quoted to your actual portfolio and market with a written proposal — including exclusions — back within 48 hours.
Making the decision
Once you have three comparable proposals, the choice usually comes down to three things, in this order.
Does this vendor understand lodging specifically? Not websites generally — lodging. Ask them what page structure they'd use for your market and listen to whether the answer is specific.
Is the booking integration real? This is the mechanism by which the site earns. Everything else is presentation.
Do you want to talk to these people for six weeks? You will be. The vendor who answered your fifteen questions clearly and quickly is telling you how the project will feel. Believe them.
Price matters, but it's the fourth question, not the first — because the cheapest quote that omits the thing you're buying it for costs you the entire amount plus another project.
Common questions
What should I ask a web design agency before hiring them?
Ask all fifteen questions above, in writing, of every vendor. If you only ask four, make them these: is the booking engine included and which one, will it sync with my property management system and have you done that integration before, who owns the site and the domain when it is done, and what happens after launch. Those four separate the vendors who understand lodging from the ones who build websites generally.
How much should a vacation rental website cost?
Under $1,500 usually buys a freelancer configuring a theme with you supplying everything. Roughly $1,500 to $5,000 buys a real small build with some copy and simple booking. Around $5,000 to $12,000 covers multi-property builds with property-management-system-synced booking and proper SEO structure. Above that you are into portfolio builds with brand identity and photography. The right question is not which is cheapest but which includes the thing you are buying it for.
Who should own my website and my domain?
You, in writing, both of them. The domain should be registered in your name with you holding the account — if a vendor registers it on their own account you are one dispute away from losing your address. And you should own the site itself, with the right to take everything if you leave. A vendor unwilling to state that plainly is telling you something important.
How do I tell whether an agency is actually any good?
Search their clients. Take a client property name, search it, and see whether their site or the Airbnb listing comes up first. Then ask to speak with two clients running properties like yours — real people, not a testimonial page. A vendor with happy clients will connect you within a day. It is the most honest portfolio review available and it takes five minutes.
Should I hire a freelancer or an agency?
A good freelancer with real property experience can do excellent work and will usually cost less. The risk is structural rather than about competence: they are a single point of failure, and when they are unavailable your site has nobody. That is an acceptable trade for one property with a clear scope and a personal recommendation. It is a harder trade for a portfolio you depend on.
What should be in a website proposal?
A page list rather than a page count, the booking integration named specifically, what is included on SEO in concrete terms, who writes copy and supplies photos, the compliance items, a timeline with milestones, revision terms, an ownership statement, what happens after launch, the price and payment schedule — and an explicit exclusions section. That last item is the tell: a proposal with exclusions was written by someone who has done this enough times to know where misunderstandings happen.
What are the red flags when hiring a web designer?
Refusing to put ownership in writing. Guaranteeing a search ranking, which nobody controls. Guaranteeing legal compliance, which depends on facts a web vendor cannot assess. A price dramatically below comparable scopes, which means either the scope differs or something appears later. Inability to name a booking integration they have actually done. No written proposal. And manufactured urgency — real vendors have capacity constraints and will simply tell you when they can start.
The verdict
A quote spread from $900 to $22,000 isn't a market being irrational. It's three different products with the same label, and the only way to compare them is to force everyone to describe what they're actually selling.
Send the fifteen questions. Insist on a written proposal with an exclusions section. Get ownership in writing. Walk away from ranking guarantees, compliance guarantees, and manufactured urgency. Then pick on understanding, integration, and fit — with price as the tiebreaker rather than the criterion.
Beth went with the middle vendor in the end, but only after they revised the scope to include the PMS integration, which moved the number and made it the right number. Four properties, one site, live in seven weeks. The $900 quote would have cost her $900 and a year.
If you'd like a proposal that answers all fifteen questions in writing — including what it excludes — tell us the properties, the market, and which property management system you run, and we'll have it back to you within 48 hours. Start at the direct booking website service or get in touch.
Photography via Wikimedia Commons (hero, inline); licences as noted on each file page.
