Hi,

 

I have a 16 bedroom hotel and am thinking of creating the website using WordPress. Does anyone have any idea how much this should cost me? It should include a booking system. There are so many different prices for each item such as theme, plugin etc that I've no idea how much to budget?

Welcome to the forum I would say it will cost you more to do the website yourself than to hire a professional

 

Edit: Probably it would be best to have a chat with a developer, discuss your needs and requirements, they should be able to give you a quote based on that.

Edited May 9, 201412 yr by teodora

Depends how good a system you want.,,,

There are some software out there to do the management of your hotel etc... have a google "hotel online booking system" and see the software is avaliable,

Then you create a website based on that system if you get a good one, it will come with an API structure for you to communicate into that system and allow people to view rooms and availability online.

 

But it depends how much you want to spend really.... what is your budget?

As others have said, it's best to speak to someone that knows what they're doing. Be sure to shop around, and preferably find someone who has a similar site or two in their portfolio. There's a lot of people who claim to know what they're doing, who will unfortunately give you a less-than average final product that will require fixing in future. It's best to get everything done properly the first time and just pay once.

 

With regards to the cost, it probably won't be cheap, but a well-designed website that showcases your hotel well has the potential to greatly boost sales so it's worth the investment.

Get a good developer who can help you in building website in wordpress.

I'll echo what the others above have said, if you try to do it yourself it won't be as good as some of your competitors sties who made the choice to go with professionals.

 

If you decide to use a developer / agency then make sure they have something similar in their portfolio to ensure that they are competent enough to take on the project. Good developers are in high demand and are not cheap. Like in all industries you generally get what you pay for. The last thing you want is to spend 4-5 months + costs with a cheap developer who makes a complete hash of things to then have to spend further time and costs to hire a more experienced developer to fix the mess created.

The total time and cost will be much higher than just doing it right in the first place.

 

I travel a lot and I do all my hotel bookings online, so do many of the people I know. It really is worth the investment to get something that not only showcases your hotel but is also easy for the user to navigate and make those all important bookings - especially on mobile devices to target those last minute bookings for folk on the move.

Get a good developer who can help you in building website in wordpress.

 

Although Wordpress would probably be a viable option, I think it makes more sense to shop around for someone without having a specific platform in mind. After all, you may surprise yourself and find an agency that doesn't use Wordpress, but have outstanding results with hotels in that area.

 

On another note. If you go down the hiring route, seriously consider hiring a professional photographer (if you don't already have high-quality images available).

Why wordpress? How do you know that the best cms for your business?

 

Don't make choices like that before a professional has assessed your business and it's needs, wordpress might be totally inappropriate for what you need

 

Don't listen out for buzzwords like wordpress and think it's the correct solution for your business.

Totally agree that its worth the cost to get a professional photographer.

WWith the whole jumping on the WordPress bandwaggan i can see where clients are coming from - the back end UI is very user friendly and its a platform most have used before. As for developing on it I wouldnt see it as a problem for a hotel website, its perfectly capable of doing tasks outlined above (using an outside API) for bookings. Weve made large muli language sites for some large PLC's in WordPress. Again i'm not saying its always the best solution, but its far more capable than many assume. The biggest draw being the great back-end UI. In comparisson Joomla is just a nightmare to teach clients.

I use expression engine most the time, there are many reasons I stopped using wordpress a few years ago, here are a few http://www.webbedfeetuk.com/news/10-reasons-why-web-developers-should-not-use-wordpress

That article isnt correct in a lot of cases. Im on my phone so wont go into it now but im sure a quick google can bring up responses to those 'issues' WordPress is not perfect but most of the faults outlined in that article are out of date and greatly overexagerrated.

A few things I'll add - I migrate WordPress websites from live servers to my local machine on a daily basis, I also migrate websites from our temp server to the live server once a project has been approved. The migration process takes little more than 5 minutes using the terminal and Git. -- The speed being dictated by the size of the database and connection speeds etc. So that part of the article is not correct.

 

The security thing - If you choose sensible usernames and passwords, and follow the correct security recommendations then the security is about as tight as the other common CMS systems and is being continually updated. That article would only ring true for users using the suggested 'admin' username which any sensible person wouldn't. Obviously it's not going to be as secure as something like a Bank, but then they won't be using a CMS it will all be coded from the ground up.

 

Plugins - Yes there are many bad ones out which is unfortunate so this part is partially true, This isn't a problem if you are very selective with your plugin usage. We only use Advanced Custom Fields and SEO by Yoast. These are professionally coded and regularly updated and in 99% of cases will not be affected by a WordPress update.

 

SEO - That is a ridiculous comment, you have FULL control of SEO through WordPress - most of which is content based anyway. Our agency's homepage is built on WordPress and is #1 for the term Webbyrå (Swedish for web agency) in the country, seems odd seen as WordPress is so poor for SEO doesn't it?

 

 

Obviously for a huge scale application / website or shop we'd look alternatives to WordPress, However if you want to go for something super fast then a combination of Node.js and Angular would be faster than all the traditional PHP CMS systems.

For small to medium sized websites like a hotel then WP is just as viable as the other CMS systems so I don't quite get some of the hatred towards it.

I should really have clarified more, I was in a rush, I agree with some of the article not everything

 

The db and file size: The db is not of huge size agreed

 

The security: as it's open source like all open source cms it's open to attack, this would include not just usernames and passwords into the admin panel, check backdoor out http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-find-a-backdoor-in-a-hacked-wordpress-site-and-fix-it/ and this can be hidden anywhere, a client would not know to look through all those files before downloading a plugin direct from the admin panel to install on to their website - I think that covers plugins too - unless of course you count the stupidity up until a while ago where the version number was placed in the html by default? It does say in that article that the current version has no vulnerabilities as far as they know but a client will still download 3rd party scripts that makes it vulnerable.

 

SEO - you are right, you can get some great SEO plugins, but without those plugins the SEO would be rubbish, in order to do anything decent you have to load files on top of the base system, you cannot just simply use the base system and expect everything to work out of the box.

 

My opinion is not hatred, I used it for years, but as I said before my reasons for not using it include what I have said here, so there are better solutions available.

3rd party scripts on pretty much any CMS could lead to security vulnerabilities. It's pretty easy to disable the installation of plugins for a client in WP. Being open source doesn't make something easier to attack, you don't think that hackers can't get access to the source code for expression engine?

 

If security is a huge issue you build a custom CMS from the ground up that is unique to that project - a pretty huge undertaking.

 

The SEO in WP can be done just as easily as any other CMS. Good SEO these days means good good, well structured and relevant content - Every CMS system that I know of allows you to do this. Any experienced developer would have their own base system in place anyway and not be hacking away at a pre-built WordPress template.

A plugin like Yoast-seo just makes it easier for the client to have a bit more control over keyword density etc.

Edited June 2, 201412 yr by rbrtsmith

Just noticed the OP's username. Spent a week there a few years ago, lovely place

3rd

party scripts on pretty much any CMS could lead to security

vulnerabilities. It's pretty easy to disable the installation of

plugins for a client in WP. Being open source doesn't make something

easier to attack, you don't think that hackers can't get access to the

source code for expression engine?

 

If security is a

huge issue you build a custom CMS from the ground up that is unique to

that project - a pretty huge undertaking.

 

The SEO in

WP can be done just as easily as any other CMS. Good SEO these days

means good good, well structured and relevant content - Every CMS system

that I know of allows you to do this. Any experienced developer would

have their own base system in place anyway and not be hacking away at a

pre-built WordPress template.

A plugin like Yoast-seo just makes it easier for the client to have a bit more control over keyword density etc.

 

 

You are right, expression engine can take both modules and plugins but there are four very important things you are missing -

 

1) expression engine has the ability to do most things without plugins, not as many are needed so the risks are less than that of wordpress.

2) how many clients actually add plugins after a developer has finished making the site?

3) how many clients actually bother to update plugins and the software as if comes out?

4) wordpress offers no official support so should things go wrong there is no guaranteed fast answer should things go wrong.

 

Again, plugins are needed to do almost everything decent including seo, with the issues I have mentioned in the four points above, I still think something like expression engine is a better choice for the client.

Plugins are not strictly required for WP They make it easier for less experienced developers to add functionality. Developers that have the know how have full control and can write the functionality directly into the theme. - That includes SEO Stuff which like Ive said doesnt make much difference nowadays.

We disable the clients ability to add plugins and we cover security updates and so on for a small fee. All this stuff is pretty straightforward to do.

Yes there is no official support ill give you that, but we're yet to have a major issue on the 100+ WP sites that we manage. If there was an issue the chances of finding a solution quickly on somewhere like stackoverflow is very high.

Edited June 2, 201412 yr by rbrtsmith

Ahh, now we are getting to your business directly, most developers or companies would lay no such safeguards, they simply want to get a site built, see wordpress as a cheap, fast solution and leave it as that.

Ahh, now we are getting to your business directly, most developers or companies would lay no such safeguards, they simply want to get a site built, see wordpress as a cheap, fast solution and leave it as that.

 

Ones to avoid then.

Yes WordPress used in that fashion could lead to issues, many of which you described, but that doesn't make it a bad system of choice for the kinds of projects we or many others work on. Of course it isn't the only viable solution there are many more other great CMS systems, we just feel WP is the easiest for the client to use and manage so that's why we generally go with it as that is a high priority for the client.

 

Of course if we needed something super robust like a bank or features that are just not practical to implement in WP then clearly there are better alternatives most suited for the task

No, you are right that it's most certainly not a bad system of choice but I tend to lean away from it because of those issues, you should not have to hack the system, core files with scripts or add plugins in order for a cms to be 'safe' for the client to use.

 

I will use expression engine again..

 

When you create an expression engine theme you have the option to set up the client access differently in the admin, you can choose which features and abilities you want your client to have, so you can stop them being able to upload plugins, edit that all important CSS or script and even control whether html tags are automatically included when a client writes a post or something meaning you can control the output to always be clean valid html no matter what the client does.

 

Then you have the ability to restrict by length the amount of post elements, for example images that can be used in a section, all of this is the base system with no hacks and no plugins ensuring the client cannot break the theme and come complaining to a developer when they lose clients because the site no longer performs as it should due to their edits

 

This leads to a far cleaner and less 'script heavy' more secure cms because third party scripts are for the most part simply not needed (even if the 3rd party script is yours), reducing all outside scripts or stopping them entirely will make it less likely to have script clashes and potential security bugs.

If Wordpress is a suitable option, and you know how to use it well, then why not use it.

 

I no longer use Wordpress in favour for Craft, but I have no doubt it's suitable for a lot of projects. It's more of a personal thing for me. I don't like WP, the templating, the plugins, and the UI isn't great. That said, it's clearly popular for a reason.

 

EE is a nice system, but it also fails in some areas. Updating EE is always a pain, custom fields aren't re-usable, and development by EllisLab is notoriously slow. They have only just started picking up the update momentum again, and I think that's mainly down to competitive systems like Craft and Statamic.

 

I look forward to seeing EE3, if it ever happens, but for me Craft has already replaced EE almost completely. Literally the only thing missing at this stage is a large catalog of plugins, however you don't really need many (if any at all), and the plugin community will grow over time.

Jack what you say is right, but I am simply comparing Wordpress with another cms not 'bigging up' expression engine

 

The discussion has turned to be more about security and IMO expression engine ( due to your last comment ) is more secure.

 

I think Wordpress is so popular because it has become more and more robust throughout the years, it's slowly but surely kicking the stigma of only being a 'blogging platform' it's also relatively easy to theme if you know html, CSS and php.

 

The system is 'easy' and it demands great respect for that, but being easy to use and theme does not mean it's suitable for the majority of clients because of things like security as if they are using it as something it's really not (lets use ecommerce as an example) they may be unaware of its security flaws which can leave it seriously open to attack

I must add to do any the things I mentioned in my earlier posts you do not have to change any of the core WP files, you can and should do it all from within the theme itself, mostly in the functions.php and obviously any javascript and ajax stuff will be done in a js file.

 

You should never touch the WP core files unless you really know what you are doing, certainly I would not feel comfortable changing stuff in there.

 

Those security flaws as I pointed out are not present with WP if you follow good practices. It's every bit as secure as EE, just don't use poorly written plugins - or better still write your own functions. Advanced Custom Fields being an exception as it is a very well written plugin.

 

Myself I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with Node.js and some of the frameworks that sit atop that like Meteor.js. The Javascript code gets compiled into C which runs a faster than PHP due to everything being asynchronous. Huge potential there

Edited June 3, 201412 yr by rbrtsmith

@@Fuzzy Logic Have you tried Craft? If you're coming from EE, I think you'll love it. A lot of EE developers are active in the Craft community.

 

V2.1 got released today, with some nice entry and draft workflow stuff.

To be honest I had never even heard of it until you mentioned it, it's amazing what you miss.. But of course I will have a look now, thanks

 

Found this also https://buildwithcraft.com/showcase pmsl it shows a company in ashford, redcarrot.co.uk not far from me, in fact they come to my uni to talk in a lecture and I can conclusively say that it is built on expression engine and not craft as claimed on that site, either that or the company did use craft but changed to expression engine (as opposed to the other way around) wonder why that would be, maybe I will ask them

To be honest I had never even heard of it until you mentioned it, it's amazing what you miss.. But of course I will have a look now, thanks

 

Found this also https://buildwithcraft.com/showcase pmsl it shows a company in ashford, redcarrot.co.uk not far from me, in fact they come to my uni to talk in a lecture and I can conclusively say that it is built on expression engine and not craft as claimed on that site, either that or the company did use craft but changed to expression engine (as opposed to the other way around) wonder why that would be, maybe I will ask them

 

To be fair, the showcase should be a hidden page. I think it's undergoing work at the moment and it's in need of updating.

 

They did actually use Craft in the screenshot on that showcase page (https://plus.google.com/113585877090227742205/posts/c3arWek4BPp). It looks they re-designed, so I'm not sure if they still are, although they claim to be experts on both.

 

If you've used Matrix, Playa, Assets or Wygwam in EE then you should be familiar with the Craft developers.

Hi,

 

I have a 16 bedroom hotel and am thinking of creating the website using WordPress. Does anyone have any idea how much this should cost me? It should include a booking system. There are so many different prices for each item such as theme, plugin etc that I've no idea how much to budget?

Um back to the hotel. In my opinion what you choose to use is up to you. If you are running on a tight budget you could go full cms or make a static html site with a prebuilt booking engine, something like phpjabbers who have simple tools for this, they can also customise it for you. Also if you have not thought of it check out working with laterooms or similar. I did a small site for a bnb which we intergrated the booking.com api and they're always pretty full now. Excuse type errors, man hands trying to type on a phone :s

I actually make hotel websites using WordPress and like others have said it depends on the specific needs of the project but for those I work with WordPress seems to be working well.

 

For anyone interested (as the OP seems to be long gone) there is quite a lot that needs doing to adapt it to hotels. First, you need to have a strong grasp of gettext calls and fully understand the concept of I18N (internationalisation) as most hotel website need to be multi-lingual, something that is not native to WordPress. Secondly you need to be able to integrate various booking APIs and sometimes even help create or translate one (long story ). A lot of hotel booking systems are integrated with hotel management software and not originally conceived of for the web.

 

I wouldn't say WordPress is the cheapest way to go either. Especially for custom themes that are hotel specific.

Yes i agree with what other said, you need to get clear idea about how your website should look like design, look of your site moreover if you need to integrate any other functionality then you should discuss this with any expertise developer, I can be of your help in this let me know if you need further details.

Let visit http://freemiumdownload.com/ to get free WordPress theme for your hotel.

 

 

Not the best idea. Although this is an old thread if you read the dates, I imagine the site was completed a long time ago..

Edited April 20, 201511 yr by rbrtsmith

I like making website on my own more. But I use some push notification system from Jeapie service. I guess, they will be nice for such a website as yours. What do you think?

Edited June 6, 201511 yr by roteiro

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Edited June 20, 201511 yr by jack44denial

^^ LOL I think 'best' is just a slight exaggeration there..