How much does it cost to build a vacation rental app like Airbnb?

Short answer: the cost depends mainly on the apps you launch (guest, owner and admin), search and availability, payments with escrow and payouts, how you verify owners and listings, digital keys and the AI features you want. Our FindMy Stay concept is designed end to end and takes about 18 weeks to build. We give a fixed quote after a short workshop.

What you are paying for

• The guest app: search, maps, property pages, booking, payments, trips, digital keys and reviews.
• The owner app: listing a property, calendars and pricing, reservations, messages and earnings.
• The admin console: listing verification, bookings, disputes, refunds, payouts and reports.
• The backend: availability, pricing rules, payments in escrow, payouts with tax and notifications.

What drives the cost

• Search and availability. Calendars, minimum stays, blocked dates and pricing by day are the core of the product, and the trickiest to get right.
• Payments. UPI, cards, EMI, split payments, escrow until check-in, refunds and owner payouts with TDS each add work.
• Trust. Owner KYC, ownership proof, photo checks and live video verification protect guests, and your brand.
• Digital keys. Smart-lock integration means hardware partners, offline access and expiring keys.
• AI features. A concierge that understands plain-language requests, listings drafted from photos, smart pricing and dispute summaries can be phased in.
• Markets. Each country adds currencies, taxes, payment methods and languages.

What to launch first

• One region with a focused set of properties you can verify well.
• Guest and owner apps with the core booking flow, payments in escrow and payouts.
• The admin console for verification and disputes from day one.
• Add digital keys, smart pricing and the AI concierge in phases, as supply grows.

Running costs to plan for

Cloud hosting, maps, payment gateway fees, SMS and email, AI usage, smart-lock services, app store accounts, and maintenance as phones and operating systems change.

How long it takes

Our plan for FindMy Stay is about 18 weeks: a workshop in week 1, design in your brand in weeks 1 and 2, the guest app and Aurora concierge from week 2, the owner app and listing flow from week 3, search, calendars and smart pricing from week 3, payments and payouts from week 5, the admin console from week 7, digital keys from week 8, testing with real owners and guests in weeks 16 and 17, and the store launch in week 18.

Try the FindMy Stay live demo and ask us for a fixed quote.