Duve vs Runnr.ai
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 6/10.
Duve is built for larger hotels with dedicated tech staff wanting a full guest platform. Runnr.ai is built for hotels wanting WhatsApp-native guest communication with good integrations.
Which we'd pick
Duve for breadth, Runnr.ai for WhatsApp depth and PMS write-back.
Runnr does one channel and does it seriously. Built around WhatsApp from the first day, messages queue properly and nothing gets lost, and its best feature is that conversation summaries flow back into PMS guest profiles so the front desk can see what was discussed. Thomas built a working CRM automation on his first attempt, which took three hours and failed on Quicktext. Email and SMS, by contrast, feel abandoned.
Duve is the broader platform: guidebook, check-in, translation, upselling, and a proven season behind it at Elena's resort. Duve now publishes package minimums from $120 a month against Runnr's three tiers from €100 plus roughly €0.75 per room in WhatsApp usage, so which is cheaper depends on whether your costs track tiers or messages. Runnr's gaps are real: no revenue attribution, email-only notifications from a messaging company, PMS triggers limited to a handful of predefined actions, WhatsApp routed through an intermediary, and no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 of any kind.
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.
| Duve | Runnr.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Our rating | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Pricing | Published package minimums: Basic from $120/month, Pro $150, Premium $200, Enterprise custom | Entry prices only, all stated as starting at: Pro from €100/month, Plus €200, Enterprise €400, with the per-unit rate unpublished; WhatsApp usage ~€0.75/room/month |
| Best for | Larger hotels with dedicated tech staff wanting a full guest platform | Hotels wanting WhatsApp-native guest communication with good integrations |
| HQ | Israel (Tel Aviv) | Netherlands (Utrecht) |
| Founded | 2016 | 2022 |
| Reviewed by | elena | thomas |
What each one costs
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.
Runnr.ai pricing
- Pro From €100/month
- The entry tier, and the same €100 floor our review recorded, now with a name and two tiers above it.
- Plus From €200/month
- Marked as the most popular option on the pricing page.
- Enterprise From €400/month
- Top published tier.
- Groups and chains Custom
- Above 10,000 units, priced by arrangement.
- WhatsApp usage ~€0.75/room/month average
- Charged on top of the platform fee and stated as an average across conversation volume and guest location. More useful for budgeting than the per-conversation framing we recorded.
Runnr.ai has gone further in the right direction since our review. The €100 monthly floor is unchanged, but where we recorded a single starting price there are now three named tiers with figures attached, an average WhatsApp cost of about €0.75 per room per month rather than a vague per-conversation note, and a thirty-day trial on annual plans with setup and support included. Billing is per unit, and Runnr counts rooms, beds, apartments, cottages or camping pitches, which suits properties that are not shaped like hotels. Thomas credited Runnr for publishing anything at all when most rivals would not; it now publishes more than most.
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 Duve pricing and Runnr.ai pricing.
Common questions
Which is better, Duve or Runnr.ai?
On our ratings Duve scores 7/10 against Runnr.ai at 6/10. But the better tool is the one that fits your property, so read both reviews before you decide.
How much do Duve and Runnr.ai cost?
Duve: Published package minimums: Basic from $120/month, Pro $150, Premium $200, Enterprise custom
Runnr.ai: Entry prices only, all stated as starting at: Pro from €100/month, Plus €200, Enterprise €400, with the per-unit rate unpublished; WhatsApp usage ~€0.75/room/month
Read the full reviews
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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.
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Runnr.ai
Runnr.ai built their product around WhatsApp from day one instead of adding it later. The difference is visible in the API design, the message flow, and the integration quality. It's what I wished Quicktext had done.