The verdict in three sentences
For a 4-hotel group in Dubai, a trilingual English, Arabic and French website with RTL layout and a direct booking engine costs 25,000 to 60,000 USD in 2026, delivered in 10 to 14 weeks. Every booking that comes direct instead of through Booking.com saves 15 to 18% in commission. Once a few hundred room nights a year shift to direct, the website becomes one of the group's most profitable investments.
What a trilingual hotel website costs in USD
Arabic is more than a translation: the layout mirrors, and menus, carousels, forms and calendars must work right to left, with typography that stays readable on mobile.
| Item | Essential group version | Premium group version | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design and group identity | 4,500 USD | 9,500 USD | One page per hotel, shared identity |
| Development EN and FR | 7,500 USD | 15,000 USD | Headless CMS, rooms and offers pages |
| Arabic RTL adaptation | 4,000 USD | 8,500 USD | Mirrored components, Arabic fonts |
| Arabic translation and copy | 2,000 USD | 5,000 USD | Native translator, no raw machine translation |
| Booking engine and channel manager | 4,000 USD | 12,000 USD | PMS connection, card payments |
| Multilingual SEO and hreflang | 1,500 USD | 5,500 USD | Google Hotel Ads optional |
| Photo and video | 1,500 USD | 4,500 USD | Shoot per property |
| Total | 25,000 USD | 60,000 USD | 10 to 14 weeks |
CDN hosting with certificates, backups and monitoring is about 400 USD per month. A rented third-party booking engine usually adds 1 to 3% of direct revenue or a subscription of 300 to 800 USD per month. For reference, the same scope in Casablanca costs 120,000 to 280,000 MAD.
Booking.com or direct booking: the calculation that matters
| Indicator | Via Booking.com | Direct on the website |
|---|---|---|
| Commission or cost per room night | 15 to 18% | 2 to 5% (engine and payment) |
| Average room night | 300 USD | 300 USD |
| Cost per room night | 45 to 54 USD | 6 to 15 USD |
| Guest data captured | Partial | Full, with UAE PDPL consent |
| Loyalty potential | Limited | Email, direct offers, loyalty scheme |
| Target direct booking share | 10 to 15% today | 25 to 35% within 18 months |
Guest data is governed by the UAE Personal Data Protection Law (and GDPR for European guests). The site needs a trilingual consent banner and a compliant privacy policy.
Mini case study
Omar, marketing director of a 4-hotel business group in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, sells 52,000 room nights a year, 12% of them direct. He invests 45,000 USD plus 400 USD per month of hosting, so 49,800 USD in the first year. If he shifts 8% of room nights from Booking.com to direct, 4,160 nights, he saves about 38 USD of net commission per night (45 USD minus 7 USD of direct costs): 158,000 USD a year. The website pays for itself in under 4 months.
FAQ
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Is Arabic essential for a hotel in Dubai?
For GCC guests and many regional corporate clients, yes. A polished Arabic version adds 6,000 to 13,500 USD to the budget but opens a high-value segment with 3 to 5 night stays.
Can we keep our current booking engine?
Often, yes. If your engine has an API or an RTL-compatible widget, integration costs 2,000 to 4,000 USD instead of a full build.
How long to rank well in three languages?
Allow 4 to 8 months for solid positions on queries such as 'hotel Downtown Dubai' and their Arabic equivalents, with correct hreflang tags from launch.
Which payment method should we offer for direct bookings?
A local acquirer for UAE cards plus an international provider for foreign cards. Expect fees of 1.5 to 3% per transaction depending on your contract.
Can the website show lower rates than Booking.com?
Rate parity depends on your contracts; most hotels prefer exclusive direct perks such as breakfast or late check-out, which raise conversion by 15 to 25%.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your number of properties, the languages you need and your current booking engine, and we will propose an indicative budget with a 10 to 14 week plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
