Websites for guesthouses and agritourism farms: rooms, seasonal rates and direct bookings
What a guesthouse or agritourism website needs: rooms and seasonal rates, direct bookings and what they save in commission, a menu of local produce and selling farm products.
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A guesthouse or agritourism website should answer the questions guests ask before they book: what the rooms are like, what a stay costs on their dates, exactly where you are and how to get there, what they will eat and how to book. Booking.com and Airbnb bring new guests, but they keep a commission on every stay. Your own website lets returning guests, groups and people who find you on Instagram or Google book directly, without the platform’s commission. Direct bookings have their own costs, such as booking software and card fees, so compare them with the commission you pay today. The difference is that the guest stays in touch with you, not with the platform.
Foreign visitors keep growing. According to INSTAT, 12.47 million entries of foreign citizens were recorded in Albania in 2025, 6.6% more than a year earlier. These are entries, not people: anyone who enters several times is counted each time.
Laws, platform fees and Google guidance were checked against official sources on 27 October 2026. Terms change, so confirm them before you decide.
The pages you need
A small guesthouse does not need many pages, but each one should answer a clear question.
| Page | What it contains | The question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Home page | Real photos of the place, what makes it different, the booking button and contact details. | “Is this the place we are looking for?” |
| Rooms | A page for each room type, with photos, beds, capacity, bathroom and a “from” price. | “Where will we sleep?” |
| Rates and booking | The calendar, seasons, what is included and the cancellation rules. | “What does it cost on our dates, and how do we book?” |
| Restaurant | The menu, opening hours, whether you serve visitors who are not staying, and group bookings. | “What do we eat, and when?” |
| Farm products | What you produce, in which season, how to order and how to collect. | “Can we take some home or order later?” |
| Activities | Walks, tours, farm work and cooking, with duration and price. | “What can we do during the day?” |
| Getting here | A map, road conditions, parking, transfers and the distance from town or the airport. | “Can we get there in our own car?” |
| Contact | A phone number with +355, WhatsApp, email and the hours you reply. | “How do we reach you before booking?” |
If your guests come from abroad, these pages also need to be in their language. Our guide to a website in two languages explains which to translate first.
Rooms and seasonal rates
Guests choose a room from the photos and decide on the price for their dates. For each room, include:
- how many people it sleeps and the beds: double, single or an extra bed for children;
- a private or shared bathroom, heating, air conditioning, the view, the floor and any stairs;
- what the price includes: breakfast, dinner, parking, towels;
- real photos of the room, the bathroom and the view from the window. Our photo guide explains how to take them with a phone and prepare them for the website.
Seasonal rates
Do not publish rates as an image or a PDF that nobody remembers to update. Set the seasons by date, for example high season from 1 July to 31 August, the price per room per night in each season, the minimum stay in high season and the price of an extra bed or for children. If you use booking software, keep rates and availability only there and let the website display them, so you never have two lists that disagree.
Also say whether the price includes the overnight tax. Under Article 26 of Albania’s local taxes law, the tax also applies to pensions, guesthouses and family tourism, is charged per night of stay, and its rate is set by the municipality. The guest owes it; the property collects it on the municipality’s behalf and shows it on the invoice.
Direct bookings: what they save and what they cost
Platforms keep part of every booking. Booking.com charges its commission once the stay is over, and properties in its Preferred programme pay a higher commission in return for more visibility. Under Booking’s general delivery terms, the percentage is set in the property’s agreement, and commission is also charged on charged cancellations and no-shows (clause 2.3). Airbnb is moving all hosts to a single service fee, usually 15.5%, paid by the host (Airbnb’s announcement).
Direct bookings carry no such commission, but they have their own costs: the subscription for the booking software, the card fee on each payment and the time it takes to answer messages. There are three ways to set them up:
| Method | How it works | When it suits you | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form or WhatsApp | The guest sends their dates; you confirm availability and the price. | Few rooms and few direct bookings. | That you reply within the day and close the dates on the platforms too. |
| Booking engine | A calendar with availability and rates; guests book on their own. | When direct bookings grow. | The booking page’s languages, payments for a property in Albania, and the cost. |
| Channel manager | Syncs the calendar and rates with Booking, Airbnb and your website. | When you are on several platforms at once. | Connections to the platforms and to Google, and the cost per room or per property. |
For a property in Albania, check two things before choosing the software:
- Payments. Many tools take card prepayments through Stripe, which does not include Albania in its list of supported countries. Beds24, for example, lists Stripe, PayPal and several other gateways, and offers to connect a gateway that works in your country; Octorate lists Stripe, PayPal, Nexi, SysPay or bank transfer. Ask the provider how guests pay when the property is registered in Albania. The alternatives are bank transfer, a payment link from a bank or licensed institution, or payment on arrival.
- Language. The booking page should be in your guests’ languages. Beds24 lists 39 languages for its booking page, without Albanian, and Octorate says it offers 10 languages. For Albanian-speaking guests, ask whether you can translate the texts yourself.
After every direct booking, close the dates on the platforms too. Without a channel manager this is done by hand, and one slip leads to an overbooking. Under Booking’s terms, commission is charged on an overbooking anyway.
Booking, Airbnb and the price on your website
Before you publish a lower price on your website than on Booking, read your contract. Booking.com’s general delivery terms divide countries into three groups:
- No parity: the countries of the European Economic Area, such as Italy and Greece, plus Switzerland, Chile, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa. Properties there set their prices freely, including on their own website; in the EEA this has applied since 14 November 2024 under the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
- Narrow parity: a list of twelve countries, such as the United Kingdom, Turkey and Japan.
- Wide parity: every other country. Albania is not named in the first two lists, so under these terms it falls here, unless Booking has indicated otherwise.
Under wide parity, rates and conditions on Booking must be the same as or better than those on your website, in apps, by phone or directly at the property, including extras such as free breakfast or a late check-out. Rates for a closed group of members, who sign up themselves and log in with a password, are an exception as long as those rates are not made public. Check your own agreement with Booking and with every other platform.
This does not make direct bookings pointless. Even at the same price, a direct booking pays no platform commission, and returning guests, groups who email you and people who find you on Instagram or Google book with you directly. The website also serves guests who find you on Booking and then search your name in Google for more photos, the menu or directions.
Google: your profile and free booking links
- Google Business Profile: photos, restaurant hours, your phone number and a link to the website. Our Google Business Profile guide explains how to complete it; for reviews, see how to get more Google reviews.
- Free booking links: Google can show your booking page in hotel searches, next to the platforms, and charges no fee for clicks on these links. The link comes through your booking engine or channel manager when it is a Google partner: the partner list includes, for example, Octorate, Beds24, Cloudbeds and HotelRunner. Google’s pages do not say which countries are eligible, so ask the provider whether it works for properties in Albania.
- The “Official site” badge: Google shows it next to the link from the property or its provider, but not for platforms such as Booking. It helps guests recognise your website in the results.
- Name and details: use the same name, address and phone number on your website, on Google and on the platforms.
A menu of local produce
For many agritourism farms, the restaurant is the reason for the trip. Publish the menu as text on the website, not as a photo of the menu card:
- dish names in Albanian, with a short explanation in your guests’ languages;
- what comes from your farm and what from the village or the area: cheese, meat, vegetables, wine, raki;
- a seasonal menu, with the date it was last updated;
- opening hours, whether you serve visitors who are not staying, and how to book a table for groups or celebrations;
- the main allergens for each dish, or a clear note that staff can provide allergen information.
For certified agritourism, Council of Ministers Decision no. 22/2018, as amended, requires at least 30% of food and drink to come from the farm and at least 40% from the municipality where the business operates (point 11). The menu is the place to show it: mark which products are your own.
Selling farm products
The cheese, honey, oil, jam or raki that guests taste at the table are often wanted to take home or to order later. A website can do this in three steps:
- A simple catalogue: products with a photo, quantity and price, ordered by WhatsApp and collected at the farm.
- Orders with prepayment: the same list, with a payment link for orders from other towns or from abroad.
- An online store: when products and orders grow, with stock, delivery and payment on the website. Read how to start an online store.
Food has its own rules. Under Article 19 of Law no. 9863/2008 on food, establishments for primary food production are entered in the register of the ministry responsible for food. Before you sell online, ask the ministry or the National Food Authority which registration your products need, how to label them and how to ship perishable goods. Every sale is invoiced under the fiscalisation rules.
What the law requires
Albania’s Law no. 93/2015 on tourism, as amended, defines a guesthouse (bujtinë) as a building partly used as the owner’s home, where tourists are offered accommodation and food for payment, and agritourism as hospitality on a farm, often with visitors taking part in farm work (Article 4). Some obligations affect the website directly:
- Categorisation: within 30 days of registering with the National Business Centre (QKB), an accommodation business applies to the ministry responsible for tourism for a categorisation certificate. The certificate does not expire and is entered in the Central Tourism Register (Article 43/1).
- Guest registration: every accommodation business registers its guests electronically, with the number of visitors, nights, nationality, residence, gender and age (Article 43/1). The booking form does not need to ask for all of this up front; collect it on arrival.
- The word “agroturizëm”: under Decision no. 22/2018, only certified businesses may use the name “agroturizëm” (agritourism) in their trade name or on their premises. The ministry issues the certificate for 5 years, renewable. Use the word on your website and Google profile only if you hold the certificate.
- Tax relief: for businesses certified as agritourism, VAT on accommodation and restaurant services, excluding drinks, is 6% (VAT law, Article 49), and the 5% income tax rate applies until 31 December 2029 (Law no. 29/2023, Article 69). Check the conditions with your accountant.
A draft decision prepared in 2026 would replace Decision no. 22/2018 and issue certificates through e-Albania, so check the rules in force when you apply. This section is not legal advice.
Illustrative example: an agritourism farm with six rooms
A certified agritourism farm near Përmet has six rooms and a restaurant with 40 seats, and it produces cheese, honey and raki. Most bookings come through Booking and Airbnb, while returning guests and groups message on WhatsApp. The owner puts the rooms on the website, each with its own page and real photos, along with rates for three seasons, directions from town with a map and the menu with the farm’s products.
Direct bookings come in through a booking engine connected to a channel manager, which closes the dates on the platforms as soon as someone books. Before publishing the site, the owner checks the parity terms in the Booking contract and keeps the website’s rates the same as on the platforms. Guests who want to prepay by card receive a payment link from the bank; the others pay on arrival. The farm products are listed on a page with prices and shipped by courier after a WhatsApp order. At the end of the season, the owner compares how many nights came in directly and how much commission was saved.
Checklist
- Does each room type have its own page, with real photos, capacity and what is included?
- Are seasonal rates text on the website, with the season dates and minimum stay?
- Does the website say whether the price includes the overnight tax?
- Have you read the parity section of your Booking contract before publishing rates?
- Does the booking software accept payments for a property in Albania, and does it close dates on the platforms?
- Is the menu text, with dish names, explanations, allergens and opening hours?
- Do you use the word “agroturizëm” only if you are certified?
- Does the website show directions, parking and a phone number with +355?
- Does your Google profile lead to the website and to direct booking?
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a website if I am on Booking and Airbnb?
The platforms bring new guests. A website lets you take bookings from people who already know you without commission, show your restaurant and products, and avoid depending on a single platform.
What does direct booking cost?
Booking engines and channel managers usually charge a subscription, by room or by property, and card payments carry the bank’s or provider’s fees. Compare that with the commission you pay today for the same nights.
Can my website appear in Google Hotels?
Yes, if your booking engine is a Google partner for free booking links and covers Albania. Ask the provider before choosing it.
We build websites for guesthouses and agritourism farms with rooms, rates, the menu and a connection to the booking software you use. When you need a booking system of your own, we plan it as custom software. Explore our website design service or tell us about your guesthouse.