Akia vs Duve
The facts side by side, what each one costs tier by tier, and which of the two we'd pick. Both have been paid for and run at a working European hotel.
The short version
On our hands-on ratings, Duve takes it overall, 7/10 against 5/10.
Akia is built for US hotels wanting AI-driven guest messaging. Duve is built for larger hotels with dedicated tech staff wanting a full guest platform.
Which we'd pick
Duve, unless you are a US property that wants the sharper AI.
Both have changed how they sell since we reviewed them: Duve now publishes package minimums from $120 a month, while Akia has withdrawn its $5 per room rate and gone quote-only. Duve has been proven at working hotels: ninety per cent of Elena's guest communication runs through it, the digital guidebook gets opened where the paper one never did, pre-arrival upselling brought in real money across a season, and new seasonal staff pick it up in ninety minutes.
Akia's advantage is the AI itself, which is the best Marc has tested for English accuracy, and an automation model good enough to negotiate and book a late checkout unattended. What undermines it for most properties is everything around the AI: guest passport data on US servers with no EU option, no Booking.com or Expedia integration so OTA guests are invisible, and SMS links that look like phishing to guests. Duve has its own faults, chiefly a dashboard Elena calls a maze, automation setup that fails silently on one wrong condition, support that thins out in peak season, and surprise charges reported by multiple hoteliers.
Drawn from our individual hands-on reviews rather than a fresh head-to-head test. Where a finding belongs to one of us, we've said whose it is.
| Akia | Duve | |
|---|---|---|
| Our rating | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | Quote only since 2026. Basic, Pro and Max tiers listed without prices; the former $5/room/month is no longer published | Published package minimums: Basic from $120/month, Pro $150, Premium $200, Enterprise custom |
| Best for | US hotels wanting AI-driven guest messaging | Larger hotels with dedicated tech staff wanting a full guest platform |
| HQ | United States (San Francisco) | Israel (Tel Aviv) |
| Founded | 2019 | 2016 |
| Reviewed by | marc | elena |
What each one costs
Akia pricing
- Basic Quote only
- Tier exists with a feature list and usage limits attached, but no price, no currency and no billing terms. Ends at talk to sales.
- Pro Quote only
- Same again: the features are visible, the cost is not.
- Max Quote only
- Top tier, also quote only. Every route out of the pricing page goes to sales or a demo booking.
Akia has stopped publishing the per-room rate our review recorded. The $5 per room per month figure is gone from the pricing page, replaced by three named tiers with their features intact and their prices removed. The tier structure is genuinely useful, so you can still work out what you would be buying. You just cannot work out what it costs, which for a tool whose appeal to smaller American properties rested on an affordable per-room price is a strange thing to take away.
Duve pricing
- Basic From $120/month
- Stated as a minimum package rather than a per-room rate. Online check-in, branded guest app, check-out coordination, analytics and support.
- Pro From $150/month
- Adds the communication suite: unified inbox, SMS, WhatsApp messaging, automations and workflows. Carries the 0% commission claim on in-house upsells.
- Premium From $200/month
- Adds upsells and ecommerce: room upgrades, custom upsells and payment processing integration.
- Enterprise Custom
- Everything above plus advanced customisation and a dedicated account manager. Contact required.
Duve now presents four package minimums where our review recorded a single per-room figure of about $6 per room per month. For most properties the new shape is more useful, because $120 a month is something you can put in a budget where about $6 per room left you guessing at the floor. Read it against the warning in Elena's review though: several hoteliers reported charges they had not expected, and a published minimum is not a published total. Every one of these tiers is stated as a starting point.
Prices as last verified during each review. Hotel software pricing moves, and per-room rates behave very differently at 20 rooms and at 200, so run the arithmetic at your own room count. Full detail on Akia pricing and Duve pricing.
Common questions
Which is better, Akia or Duve?
On our ratings Duve scores 7/10 against Akia at 5/10. But the better tool is the one that fits your property, so read both reviews before you decide.
How much do Akia and Duve cost?
Akia: Quote only since 2026. Basic, Pro and Max tiers listed without prices; the former $5/room/month is no longer published
Duve: Published package minimums: Basic from $120/month, Pro $150, Premium $200, Enterprise custom
Read the full reviews
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Akia
Akia's AI chatbot is the best I've tested in hotel messaging. It also means your guest passport data lives on American servers under American law. The technology has improved since my last review. My position hasn't.
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Duve
A second season with Duve and the rating goes up. WhatsApp changed everything for how we talk to guests, and Katerina can now train new hires on it herself. Still not simple, but no longer unmanageable.