StaySuite vs Smoobu: calendar sync or guest conversations?
Smoobu is a mature channel manager and property management system. StaySuite is an AI phone assistant with a public page for direct contact. Where each wins.
Smoobu and StaySuite both talk to the same portals and both want to make a small owner's life easier, but they start from opposite ends. Smoobu starts from the calendar and the reservation: where is every booking, and is every portal in step? StaySuite starts from the guest: who is writing or calling, in which language, and has anyone answered? This comparison is for an owner choosing between them, or wondering whether to use both.
All statements about Smoobu come from its public website, read on 15 October 2026. Where its site is silent on a feature, we say it does not mention it, which is not the same as saying the product lacks it.
Feature by feature
- Calendar sync: Smoobu, a channel manager whose website says connected listings synchronise in real time. StaySuite, iCal in both directions, read about every twenty minutes.
- Direct bookings: Smoobu, a booking system with card and PayPal payments and a website builder. StaySuite, a public page with direct contact and a request taken by the assistant that lands in your panel for you to confirm, with no commission to anyone.
- Guest messaging: Smoobu, automated messages and a shared inbox. StaySuite, an AI assistant that answers the phone in the caller's language, from the facts you have entered.
- Call recording: Smoobu, not mentioned on the pages we read. StaySuite, every call recorded and transcribed, announced to the caller.
- Traveller registration: Smoobu, online check-in with an electronic signature that collects the details, and for filing it points to third-party integrations. StaySuite, a form per booking, validation, export and print, with the filing left to you.
- Ecosystem: Smoobu, an API, a mobile app and many integrations. StaySuite, a closed product that does fewer things.
What it costs
Smoobu publishes its prices per number of units, with a free trial. On the day we read it, the table showed a mid-priced plan at about the mid-thirties of euros a month for one unit on monthly billing, a cheaper plan that adds a small commission per booking, and a higher plan for teams. One line in the Spanish FAQ quoted a different base figure from the table, so we are not certain which applies and suggest you read the live page before relying on any number. Costs rise with each extra unit.
StaySuite is a flat monthly fee per plan, excluding VAT. Until 31 December 2026 the pioneer price for one property is €29 a month, €49 for up to three and €99 for a manager plan with up to ten. The standard rate for one property is €59. There is no commission on your bookings.
Pros and cons of Smoobu
- Pro: real-time channel management according to its website, which is the safest protection against a double booking.
- Pro: a low, clear entry price and a free trial.
- Pro: a mature product with an API, a mobile app and plenty of integrations.
- Con: pricing grows with every unit you add.
- Con: its website does not describe an AI assistant for calls and conversations in several languages.
- Con: filing the traveller report relies on a third-party tool, which has its own cost.
Pros and cons of StaySuite
- Pro: an assistant that answers the phone at any hour in the caller's language, so enquiries are not lost while you are asleep or on the beach.
- Pro: a public page with direct contact and no commission, and booking requests taken by the assistant.
- Pro: recorded and transcribed calls you can listen back to.
- Con: iCal, not a real-time channel manager. A window of about twenty minutes exists in which a double booking can slip through.
- Con: it does not send the traveller report to SES.Hospedajes. You file it yourself.
- Con: a smaller product with no public API or marketplace of integrations.
When to choose Smoobu
Choose Smoobu if you manage several units across many portals, if instant synchronisation is non-negotiable, or if you want an API and a mobile app to run operations. If you already work with its integrations, there is no reason to leave.
When to choose StaySuite
Choose StaySuite if your real pain is the guest conversation: calls arriving in other languages at midnight, phone calls you miss while showing a property, and enquiries that go cold. It also suits you if you want direct contact and requests on your own page, and one or a few properties on which a twenty-minute calendar delay is an acceptable risk.
Using both
They can coexist. A sensible split is to let Smoobu be the master calendar and have StaySuite read it, rather than letting both write to the portals. StaySuite then handles the guest calls and the direct contact page. Ask yourself first whether you need both, because two subscriptions add up quickly for one property.
If you want to hear the assistant before deciding, try the demo on the StaySuite website. It answers the questions a guest would ask.