A multilingual site helps guests who would otherwise go to an OTA because of the language book direct instead. But every added language is also a cost — for translation and then for upkeep on every change. This article helps you choose which languages are actually worth it.
Start from the data
Don't guess. Three sources show which languages you need:
- Google Analytics 4 — the browser language and country of your site visitors.
- Booking / PMS — the nationality and country of your actual guests.
- Email enquiries — the language people write to you in.
If 70% of your guests are Bulgarian and Romanian, a German version is wasted effort. If you have a steady flow from Israel or Greece — those are exactly the languages that bring direct bookings.
Which languages for a Bulgarian hotel
- Bulgarian and English — the base, always.
- Romanian — for Black Sea coast and northern Bulgaria hotels, often the #2 market.
- German — with a strong German-speaking flow (seaside and mountain resorts).
- Greek, Hebrew, Polish, Serbian — only if the data shows real volume.
Better 3 fully translated languages than 6 half-done.
Cost per language
Indicative, for a typical hotel site (10–20 pages):
| Approach | Starting cost / language | Upkeep |
|---|---|---|
| Machine translation + native-speaker editing | €150–400 | low |
| Professional human translation | €400–900 | medium |
The hidden cost is upkeep: every change of a price, package or condition has to be reflected in all languages. With 5 languages, one update is 5 times more work.
Machine vs human translation
Modern machine translation (DeepL and similar) is good for structured text but gets tone, local idiom and marketing headlines wrong. The split that works:
- Main market and English — human translation, or machine with serious native-speaker editing.
- Secondary languages — machine translation + editing of the key pages (home, rooms, rates, contact).
Technical requirements
- A separate URL for each language (e.g.
/en/,/ro/) — not a button that swaps the text without changing the address. - hreflang tags — tell Google which version to show for which language/region.
- Full versions — each language version covers at least the key pages. A half-translated language confuses both Google and the guest.
- A default language matching the main market, with a clear switcher.
Summary
Choose the languages from real guest data, not by feel. Bulgarian and English always; the rest — only with proven volume. Better a few fully translated languages than many partial ones. With us, multilingual support is part of the hotel website.
Get in touch — we'll review your data and say which languages are worth it.
