How much does it cost to build a hotel app?

Updated 20 October 2026

Most custom app projects cost $10,000 to $50,000, and the average project reviewed on Clutch is about $90,000, plus 15–20% of the build cost every year to keep it running. Expect several months of work. If your hotel app's job is to look after guests (rooms, services, opening hours, notifications, offers) rather than sell rooms, there's a way that costs €69 a month and is ready in days: your own app, with your hotel's name, on a platform that already exists.

Telaio hotel app: the guest's Home screen — The Home screen of a hotel's app: the weather, the button to book, the welcome and the photos.

Hotel app: the rooms, each with its own photos, price and amenities — **The Rooms** Every room with its own photos, its price and what is in it.

Digital guest directory: Wi-Fi, check-in and check-out times in the hotel’s app — **The practical things** Wi-Fi, check-in and check-out times, the children's area: what reception is asked all day long.

Digital concierge in eight languages: the hotel app in the language of the guest’s phone — **Eight languages, their choice** The app switches itself to the phone’s language, and the guest can change it whenever they like.

The hotel app’s Manager: rooms, services and events to switch on and off — **Your areas** Rooms, services, events, Loyalty Card: switch on and off whatever you like, whenever you like.

Telaio: a hotel app you don’t have to build

Your own app, with your hotel’s name, logo and colours, on your guests’ phones. They install it by scanning the QR code in the room or at the front desk: ten seconds, no App Store, no account.

Rooms, services, opening hours and a digital guest directory, updated from your phone in thirty seconds
A digital concierge in eight languages: guests read it in their own
Five stay messages that go out by themselves, from the day before arrival to months after check-out
A review request on Google or Tripadvisor, the day after check-out
Offers, a loyalty card and notifications, and it works with no signal in the room

€69 a month · no setup fee · no commission · cancel any time

Founder code: a reserved price for twelve paid months, plus one month free · 44 of 50 left · Get it ›

Build your app See Hotel Cesare Augusto’s app ›

What drives the price

The price is hours of work times an hourly rate. A simple first version, 5 to 10 screens, takes 150 to 400 hours (Techsy, June 2026); Clutch lists typical rates of $25–49 an hour, and Western European agencies often charge more. Projects reviewed on Clutch typically cost $10,000–$49,999, with an average of about $90,780.

Every extra adds to the bill: both iPhone and Android, a panel to update it without calling the developer, more languages for international guests, and above all the connections to your property management system (PMS), your booking engine and payments.

With Telaio: you know the price before you start: €69 a month, everything included.

The costs that come later

Maintenance: usually 15–20% of the build cost every year, after a first year that can reach 25–50% (Techsy). Every new version of iOS and Android has to be followed.
The app stores: Apple charges $99 a year to publish on the App Store, Google a one-time $25.
Getting it downloaded: a store app has to be found and downloaded, with an account and a password. For a three-night stay, many guests don't bother.

With Telaio: maintenance, iOS and Android updates and hosting are included, and there’s no app store to pay.

How long it takes

A simple first version takes one to two months, a mid-complexity app two to four, a complex one four to eight (Techsy). Across the projects reviewed on Clutch, the average timeline is about eleven months. Then come Apple's and Google's reviews before it goes live.

With Telaio: your app goes live the same day, with your name and every area in place; if you’d rather we fill it, it’s ready in 2–5 days (a separate job, priced up front).

When building one is the right call

When you need things only your hotel has: booking and paying for the room inside the app, opening the door with the phone, check-in linked to your PMS, a chain's own loyalty program. Then a custom build is the right road, and it's worth getting at least three quotes against a precise list of features.

With Telaio: bookings stay on your website, and the app looks after the guest.

The alternative: a hotel app you don't have to build

If the app is there to give guests what they'd otherwise ask at the front desk, you don't need to write it from scratch. With Telaio you get your own app, with your hotel's name, logo and colours:

rooms, services, opening hours and a digital guest directory, in eight languages (your texts in the languages you write them in);
notifications, scheduled if you like, to guests who said yes, and five stay messages that go out by themselves;
a review request on Google or Tripadvisor, the day after check-out;
offers and a loyalty card, and it still works with no signal in the room.

Guests install it by scanning a QR code: no App Store, no account, no password. What it doesn't do, said up front: it doesn't sell rooms and it doesn't connect to your PMS. Bookings stay on your website.

Three years, side by side

	Custom build (simple version)	Telaio
To start	$10,000–$50,000 for most projects	no setup fee
Every year after	15–20% of the build cost	€69 a month, or €48 on the 12-month plan
App stores	$99 a year (Apple) and $25 (Google)	none
Ready in	months	the same day, or 2–5 days if we fill it for you
Over three years	from about $13,000 to $70,000	from €1,728 to €2,484

Telaio's figures leave out loading your content, if you'd like us to do it: that's separate work, at a price agreed beforehand. Telaio is billed in euro.

Who already uses it

In Bibione, Hotel Cesare Augusto, Hotel Lido Bibione Beach and Hotel Principe; in the Dolomites, Hotel Fontana in Vigo di Fassa and Cèsa Planber in Canazei. Each has its own hotel app, with its own name, on its guests' phones.