Transparent pricing
Tools that publish pricing publicly without forcing a sales call.
19 reviews
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8/10
Bookboost review: the privacy story holds up, and the messaging got better
I reviewed Bookboost previously and liked the data handling. Coming back to it, the privacy fundamentals haven't slipped, and the WhatsApp integration has turned it into a proper messaging platform.
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8/10
askng.it review: proactive WhatsApp guest messaging, tested
askng.it is, for all practical purposes, a new product: the February 2026 rebuild of Lacoly, which I ran for a year and rated a 4. I tested the new one in March at my 80-room Amsterdam hotel. It is a different animal, and it earns an 8.
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8/10
Mews review: the privacy audit of Europe's biggest cloud PMS
Mews processes over $10 billion in payments for its hotels. I wanted to know what that means for where your guest data ends up.
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7/10
chatlyn review: a Viennese case for keeping guest data close to home
chatlyn is Austrian, EU-hosted, and does omnichannel messaging with a privacy posture that holds up under scrutiny. The product is young, and it shows in places. But the foundations are right.
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7/10
Clock PMS+ review: thirty years of European independence in a market full of venture capital
Every subscription is a vote. Clock has been building hotel software since 1994 without taking venture capital. In a market where your PMS vendor might get acquired next quarter, that counts for something.
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7/10
Duve review: WhatsApp changed the game for my seasonal staff
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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7/10
Cloudbeds review: what a quarter-billion in funding buys you
Cloudbeds has raised $253 million and SoftBank is involved. I wanted to know what that buys an 80-room city hotel that could use the money elsewhere.
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7/10
HiJiffy review: WhatsApp automation that actually works
I didn't think my smallest property, a 45-room boutique in the Cotswolds, was the right place to trial an AI chatbot on WhatsApp. Three months later, my front desk staff disagree with me less often than they used to, which is how I know it's working.
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7/10
RoomRaccoon review: the all-in-one PMS my newest hire could actually use
I gave Nikos the login on his second day. By lunch he was making reservations. That's the test, and RoomRaccoon passed it.
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7/10
Sweeply review: the housekeeping app my staff understood without being told what it does
I handed Sweeply to Nikos and Katerina and watched. The colour-coded boards made sense to both of them inside twenty minutes. But the reporting left me wanting, and I still don't know many small hotels using it.
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6/10
Amenitiz review: the numbers behind Southern Europe's fastest-growing PMS
A PMS that publishes its pricing, charges no commission, and starts at €42/month. I checked the maths. Then I checked whether you actually get a PMS for that.
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6/10
Noovy review: €5 per room and a PMS built by people who've done the night shift
A PMS that costs less per room than a coffee. I wanted to know what you give up for that price, and whether my staff would notice.
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6/10
RoomChecking review: a French housekeeping tool with more ambition than headcount
I tested RoomChecking across my three English properties because the flexibility promise sounded right for multi-property operations. Some of that promise held up. Some of it didn't survive contact with a Tuesday morning housekeeping briefing.
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6/10
Quicktext review: good chatbot, integration gap persists
Quicktext's chatbot still converts direct bookings and still handles multilingual queries well. They've added WhatsApp and a new brand name. Neither fixes the integration problems I flagged previously.
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6/10
Runnr.ai review: WhatsApp-first and it shows, in the right ways
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.
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5/10
Actabl review: four acquisitions in a trench coat, sold as a platform
Actabl is a private equity roll-up of four separate hotel tech companies, headquartered in Florida, backed by a PE firm managing $18.8 billion. The labour management tools are strong. Everything else is a sovereignty and integration problem dressed up in enterprise marketing.
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5/10
Akia review: the AI keeps getting better, and it's still in the wrong country
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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5/10
Canary Technologies review: a $175M American solution to European problems we don't have
Canary Technologies has raised $175 million, built a strong guest management platform, and is now eyeing Europe. The product is good. The question is whether European hotels should care.
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5/10
Breezeway review: a vacation rental tool that wandered into my hotel
A colleague recommended Breezeway for housekeeping. The scheduling works, the mobile app is decent, but the whole product thinks in vacation rentals, not hotel rooms. My staff could use it, but they shouldn't have to.