Airbnb can be described as a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace that has two interfaces – one for the guest and one for the host.  This website acts as an intermediate platform where hosts can let out their homes or rooms for rent and tourists and travelers looking for accommodation can search for the best place within their budget.

The website has admins who ensure the letting and renting process goes on smoothly. If you are planning to build a website like Airbnb, you need to first understand the core components of this real estate website and also its functions. These aspects will also give you an idea of the cost to create a website like Airbnb.

How does Airbnb work?

Hosts can share details of rooms or properties for rent on the Airbnb website. The website offers a platform for the hosts to reach out to a global audience and Airbnb gets service charges and commissions for every successful transaction.

Read Also: How to Create a Website Like TripAdvisor

Guests can search the huge listing available on Airbnb to find the right property that matches their requirements and fits their budget. Airbnb gets service fees from guests for every successful booking.

Core Components of Airbnb Website

Before we estimate the cost to create a website like Airbnb, we need to look into the various aspects, design elements, development features, and more that go into building the website.

Authorization

Both guests and hosts need to sign up to access the information available on the website or in case of hosts, advertise their property. Airbnb allows guests to sign up via Google and Facebook accounts also.

Filtered Accommodation Search

The filtered search option uses accurate tags and filters to allow guests to quickly find accommodation with minimum clicks. Guests can find rentals based on location, budget, type of accommodation, number of days, and other details.

Geolocation

The website provides the precise location of the places available for rent, both in terms of address and on the map.

Listing Page

The listing page has all the accommodation and rental details classified based on location and type of property.

Property view option

This option allows guests to get a clear view of the property, the surroundings and the facilities available.

Online Payment

The online payment option makes it easy for guests to pay for the rentals while booking.

Reviews

Guest reviews help new visitors gain in-depth information about rentals. Reviews also add user-generated content on the website.

Messaging

Airbnb messaging system enables guests and hosts to communicate over the platform and negotiate details. However, admins will be watching the conversation to ensure that contact information or personal details are not exchanged.

What is the technology used in Airbnb Website?

Web Server: Nginx and Varnish

Operating system and server: Envoy

Web hosting: Amazon, Akamai hosted

Email hosting: Sendgrid, Zendisk, and Google Apps for Business, SPF, Microsoft Azure DNS

JavaScript Libraries and Functions: Twitter Platform, Facebook for Websites, jQuery, HTML5 History API, and Google API

Content Management System: Status Page IO

Payment: Stripe, Euro, Pound Sterling, Japanese Yen, Israeli New Shekel, South Korean Won

Content Delivery Network: Content Delivery Network, Facebook CDN

Framework: Adobe Enterprise Cloud, Adobe Enterprise Cloud, PHP, Ruby on Rails Token, Ruby on Rails, Perl, Facebook Domain Verification

Widgets: WebEx, Google Plus One Button, Facebook Like Button, Twitter Tweet Button, Google Tag Manager, Pinterest, Microdata for Google Shopping, Google No Translate, reCAPTCHA

Read Also: Top 15 Hotel Booking Sites

Tracking and Analytics: ClearBrain, Inspectlet, Branch, Google Analytics with Ad Tracking, New Relic, Facebook Domain Insights, Google Analytics, Google Conversion Tracking, DoubleClick Floodlight, Facebook Pixel, Fastly, Yahoo Web Analytics, Google Analytics IP Anonymization, Global Site Tag, Google Conversion Linker

How does Airbnb generate revenue?

If you want to monetize your travel website, you need to understand the various ways in which Airbnb generates revenue. Its revenue models include:

• Promoted listings – Hosts who want to promote their rental properties need to pay a small fee to Airbnb
• Host commission – Airbnb gets a flat 10% commission fee for every rental booking made on the website
• Transaction fee – Airbnb gets 3% fee for all transactions that happen on the website
• Service fee – Airbnb charges 5 to 15% fee of the reservation fee paid by the guests

Factors that determine the cost to create a website like Airbnb

Two major factors determine the cost of building a website like Airbnb. First, it’s technical factor and the second is the resource factor.  By technical factor, we are talking about the expenses involved in subscribing for web hosting, getting a web framework, investing in technology, adding the payment option and more.

Resource factor includes the cost of hiring developers and designers to create the website from scratch. Apart from this, you may also have an annual maintenance charge to ensure that the website is performing well without any broken links or other issues.

The average costs that you could incur while building a website like Airbnb are listed below:

• Website registration – $10 to $1000
• Web hosting – $50 to $300
• Website development with themes – Free to $50,000
• Website development from scratch – $5000 to $50,000
• Mobile App Development – $3000 to $50,000
• Content creation – Approximately $500 to $1000 per month, initially content creation costs may be high as you populate the website with SEO friendly content
• Maintenance – $500 to $1000 per year

If you are planning to build a website like Airbnb, there are three ways in which you can do that:

1. Get a readymade script for the real-estate website

A readymade script is already coded and includes all the features and functions that you can expect to need in a website like Airbnb. The script is written by developers to match the most common requirements of such a rental website.

The script will also allow for customizations, which will allow you to add features that you want. The advantage of getting a readymade script is that you can get your website up and running in the shortest possible time. Also, you can avail maintenance services from the provider.

The cost is also relatively affordable compared to building a website in-house. The downside of this option is that you cannot make major changes to the readymade script. So, your website may look like hundreds of other online booking websites.

On average, the cost of a readymade script is around $600. Above this, you need to pay extra for each kind of customization that you choose to add. If you want to avail maintenance services, then you need to account that into your cost as well.

2. Have an internal team to build your website

If you have specific ideas about how you want your real-estate website should look like, you can get an internal team of developers and designers to build the website for you.

While this method will give you complete freedom on the website design and development, it can also turn out to be very expensive. Also, if you are a travel agency, then it doesn’t make practical sense to have an internal team of developers just to build one website.  Also, you will incur a lot of expenses in managing the resources and building the website.

The below list will give you the approximate number of hours involved in building a website like Airbnb from scratch.

• Planning, preparing the site structure, and other predevelopment tasks: 100 hours
• Building the property catalogs with details and registration: 300 hours
• Building options to edit details, approvals, cancellations, payments: 350 hours
• Adding features such as online chats, review systems, notifications: 240 hours

Based on the total number of hours, you can calculate the cost to create a website like Airbnb with an internal team.

3. Outsource web development to a reliable vendor

Outsourcing your website development to a reliable vendor gives you the best of both options. The website development company will have on roll, expert developers and designers who are experienced in building peer-to-peer marketplaces.

They also have in-depth knowledge of the latest trends in the industry. They will be able to easily build a website like Airbnb based on your specific requirements and preferences.

The best part of outsourcing to a web development company is that you can get a website like Airbnb based on your budget. You don’t have to ask how much does it cost to create a website like Airbnb. You can let them know your budget, and request for website development services.

Read Also: How To Build a Hotel Booking Site Like Trivago?

Want to build a website like Airbnb within your budget? We can take care of it for you. We will not just copy the Airbnb website, but build a similar P2P website based on your target audience, business model, location, and your personal preferences. Contact us for a consultation and quote.