What a bad website really costs your vacation rental

A slow or confusing website can make it harder for guests to contact you or book. But no PageSpeed score tells us how many euros your property is losing. That needs your traffic, confirmed reservations, rates, occupancy and channel costs.

All business figures below are illustrative scenarios, not typical industry results, forecasts or MyStaySite customer results. They show how to ask better questions about your own data.

What counts as a website problem?

Look for friction a guest can actually encounter:

1. Slow loading or buttons that respond late on a phone.
2. Text that requires zooming and controls that are hard to tap.
3. No clear way to request availability or complete a booking.
4. Browser security warnings or broken links.
5. Photos that do not show the rooms and facilities clearly.
6. Missing or inaccurate property and location information.
7. No credible guest feedback or contact details.

A booking enquiry form can be appropriate for a small property. The important points are a clear process, a realistic response time and a reliable way to confirm availability—not an unsupported claim that every property needs instant checkout.

Scenario 1: a change in conversion

Assume 200 visits per month and an average confirmed booking value of €280:

• At 2.5% conversion: 200 × 2.5% × €280 = €1,400 monthly booking revenue.
• At 1.25% conversion: 200 × 1.25% × €280 = €700 monthly booking revenue.
• The difference is €700 in gross booking revenue for that assumed month.

This does not establish that speed caused the difference. The rates are assumptions; demand, price, availability and traffic quality can all affect conversion. Multiplying by 12 gives €8,400 only if the same conditions hold for all 12 months, which is often unsuitable for seasonal accommodation. It is revenue, not profit.

Google recommends assessing Core Web Vitals and page experience, but a technical improvement does not guarantee a commercial result.

Scenario 2: the cost of a channel shift

Assume 10 reservations of €500 each in a month and an agreed commission of 18%:

10 × €500 × 18% = €900 of OTA commission.

If those same reservations could be acquired directly at the same selling price, €900 is the maximum OTA commission avoided in this scenario—not net savings. Deduct direct marketing, payment, software and website costs. Do not assume those guests would otherwise have booked direct.

Use the rate in your agreement and reconcile the calculation with invoices. Booking.com identifies the commission percentage during registration; it does not publish one universal rate for every property. Booking.com registration FAQ

No VAT assumption is included here. Use the accounting treatment of your actual invoices.

Scenario 3: additional organic visits

Assume 80 additional qualified visits, a 3% booking conversion rate and €300 average booking value:

80 × 3% × €300 = €720 of expected gross booking revenue for that period.

The 2.4 reservations are an average in a model, not a promise of fractional or guaranteed bookings. Neither the 80 visits nor the conversion rate is a forecast. SEO work costs time and money, and a website's age or platform alone does not determine its ranking. Start with actual queries and clicks in Search Console.

Reputation: inspect it, do not invent a percentage

Missing details, security warnings and broken links can undermine confidence. Ask a person unfamiliar with your property to find the room, total price or enquiry path on a phone. Record where they get stuck.

We do not have a documented result here establishing that a redesign increases Booking.com reservations by a particular percentage. A before-and-after change alone would not prove the website caused it.

Why you must not add these scenarios together

The same guest could appear in the speed, SEO and channel-shift examples. Adding them would double-count revenue, and it would mix gross revenue with avoided commission.

Compare matching seasonal periods and account for changes in prices, occupancy and marketing.

Three practical checks

1. Mobile speed

Run PageSpeed Insights. Review the reported issues and real-user data when available. A lab score is a diagnostic tool, not a revenue estimate.

2. Mobile usability

Find a room, read its details and contact the property from your phone. Check readability, navigation and form completion.

3. Enquiry or booking flow

Send a test enquiry and verify that it arrives. If you use a booking engine, test dates, availability, pricing and confirmation too. Do not present an enquiry submission as a confirmed reservation.

What it costs to fix

The existing MyStaySite offer is:

• Website Package: from €900 + VAT (mobile-first website, professional presence, integrated SEO, basic enquiry form, 2 languages, first-year domain & hosting if you don't have them)
• Professional: custom quote (custom website, direct-booking structure, AI/LLM visibility, advanced integrations)

There is no guaranteed payback period. Compare a written quote and ongoing costs with a conservative estimate of additional contribution, not gross revenue. You provide the property photos; Kyros handles the website work and ongoing management within the agreed scope.

Send Kyros your property name for a proposal. If you already have a website, you can also use the free website check.

Related articles you might find useful

• Thinking of relying on Booking.com alone? See how much Booking.com really costs.
• Want to reduce your dependence on the platforms? Read our guide to direct bookings.
• For a detailed price breakdown, see how much a vacation rental website costs.