The digitization of hospitality isn’t just the future: it’s happening now.
Choosing the right hospitality app for your business can eliminate all your usual stresses, such as spending way too much time checking in guests, answering the same questions over and over again, or repeated issues with access (lost keys, demagnetized keycards, unreliable lockboxes, etc).
What’s more, using great apps means you can blow guests away with personalized recommendations for the local area. They also make communication easy, quick, and friendly, without you having to spend every waking hour emailing, texting, or manually setting new codes for each guest or staff member.
Our research shows that 89.5% of hospitality professionals see automation and digitization of hospitality as one of their major priorities in the next 2 years. Today’s thriving businesses ‘delegating’ time-consuming admin tasks to digital apps, so they can focus on providing a personalized, stress-free guest experience with a human touch.
As Wil Slickers, hospitality expert, creator of the smart vacation rental group Recreation Rentals (pictured above) and the Slick Talk: The Hospitality Podcast, told us: “These tools enable the human-to-human connection, right?”
“We’re not using smart home technology to get rid of humans. We’re using it so we don’t have to worry about a lot of the stuff these companies take care of.
“Using smart tech allows us to focus on what matters most; building a business that intentionally creates beautiful and very human moments.”
But we know it can be difficult to know what’s out there, which mobile apps are best, which will work for you and your guests, and how to implement tech without getting overwhelmed, or spending hours researching it all.
If that sounds familiar, you’re in the right place.
We’ve drawn up this ultimate list of excellent hospitality apps to help you improve your guests’ experience as easily and seamlessly as possible. We’ve considered the main ways they might help your business, so you can see what’s out there, and make the best choice for your hotel and guests.
The right app will free you and your team from boring, time-consuming admin, so you have more headspace and time to do what you do best: delivering excellent hospitality and making your hotel guest experience as memorable as possible.
Read on to discover our pick.
Are happy guests important to you?
Operto takes the guest experience above and beyond with a powerful suite of guest technologies.
What is a hospitality app?
A hospitality app is a piece of software that improves both your hospitality business and the customer experience. 
Depending on the app, it might automate repetitive tasks that you previously had to do manually, such as sending guest confirmation emails, collecting details for check-in, check-in keycodes, local recommendations, or check-out instructions.
It might make guest communication more streamlined so you can provide quicker in-room service, or help you coordinate staff more easily to make cleans between guests more prompt.
The best apps will do all of this, and more. Ultimately, a great app will save you and your guest time and stress, and free up you and your team to offer a better hospitality experience.
We recommend looking for the following in a good hospitality app:
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Online booking – Does the app enable, or integrate with, software that takes bookings and payments, and store useful guest data so you can personalize their stay?
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Check-in/check-out – Does it offer guests contactless hotel check-in automation from within the app?
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In-room control – Does it allow guests to control in-room smart devices such as lights or AC?
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Communication – Does it enable you to send automated messages to guests and chat with them in a friendly way on the same platform?
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In-room purchases – Does it enable guests to buy additional products and services, or to book extra nights from you, from the convenience of their rooms?
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Single view – Does it present all the relevant details around a guest’s stay in one convenient place, including easy access to reservation details, amenities and property information, and local recommendations?
6 apps for hospitality that make a memorable guest experience
There are a ton of apps out there, all of which promise to be the ultimate hospitality software for your business. That’s why it makes sense to weigh up the options before making a choice.
The right app for you may not even be an app! A webapp may be a better choice for most hospitality businesses.
To help, we’ve looked at the following apps, and summarized their key features and functionality, so you can pick one that’s right for you.
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Operto Guest
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Alice Guest App
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Hostfully Guidebooks
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Duve (Wishbox)
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Touchstay
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YourWelcome
Operto Guest
Operto Guest is a “one-stop hospitality operating system,” with its Connect for Guests platform improving your operations and guests’ experience before, during, and after their stay.
Why this app?
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Manages all aspects of check-in, including sending guests their keycode or mobile key in advance, and integrates with a range of leading smart locks.
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Acts as a concierge, integrating with your PMS for in-room communication and upsells.
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Enables you to perform guest ID checks, and integrates with tools such as Autohost to verify guests and improve security.
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Provides useful information for guests, such as directions, check-out times, and Wi-Fi passwords, within the same space.
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Enables you to offer local recommendations with interactive maps, to help guests feel at home quickly.
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Connects to a wide range of PMS and smart devices for personalization, and in-room control, such as AC, thermostat, noise monitoring, and more.
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Integrates to the rest of the Operto hospitality suite, so you can manage guests and staff from the same platform.
Operto Guest is actually better than an “app” in the true sense of the word because it works on a mobile device browser. Download rates for company-specific apps are extremely low, even for the big hotel chains, whereas using a webapp increases the chance of guests taking advantage of these services.
That means guests aren’t required to download yet another thing onto their phone, saving time, data, and obstacles to access.
Pricing
$7.50 per month, per room or unit. Also available bundled as part of Operto’s wider suite of services.
Alice Guest Services
Credit: Aliceplatform.com
In its own words, this app promises to “enable hotel staff to do the most impactful work in the most efficient way.” Its main function is to simplify communication between guests and hotel staff, and offer paperless ways to book extras, such as spa treatments and room service.
Why this app?
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Offers guest communication such as automated booking confirmation, local recommendations, and personalized service.
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Manages guest complaints and resolutions, and provides ‘lost and found’ services.
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Provides data and insights into operations, for actionable tips department by department.
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Users have reported it being easy to use, and say it improves staff communication.
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Integrates with the rest of the Alice suite, including guest messaging, and housekeeping, plus major PMS such as WebRezPro.
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Used by 25,000+ hoteliers worldwide, including major chains Marriott and Fairmont.
The Alice suite of products has also won awards for their customer support.
Pricing
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Charges a monthly subscription fee based on room count, and the modules used.
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Pricing packages are available on request from Alice.
Hostfully Guidebooks
Credit: Hostfully.com
Hostfully Guidebooks does what it says on the tablet. It offers intuitive and simple digital guidebooks for your guests.
Why this app?
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Sends a mini, mobile-first guidebook ‘website’ to your guests via a single link, which acts as a guidebook and house rules in one.
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Provides local recommendations so your guests feel right at home.
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Enables you to send the link by email or text, for super-easy access for guests.
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Includes tools for you to include house information such as check-in codes, Wi-Fi password, check-out policies, and more, so guests no longer need to ask you for basic details.
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Easy to set up and use, with templates and fill-in-the-blank spaces for a quick creation.
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Users report that it is easy to work with, and looks professional to guests.
Hostfully Guidebooks is created by the PMS of the same name, an award-winning and widely-used property hotel management platform.
Pricing
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Free for one guidebook, including home information, recommendations, and customer support.
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From $7.99 when billed annually, for one guidebook with extra features, such as guest email address capture, and brand personalization.
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From $19.99 for 1-5 listings and $44.99 for 6-10 listings, including everything above plus extras such as Hostfully PMS integration, and multiple languages.
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For 11 or more listings, pricing is available on request from Hostfully.
Duve (Wishbox)
GetDuve.com
Rather poetically, Duve (formerly known as Wishbox) describes itself as “your canvas” for the “art of hospitality.” It aims to make the hotel experience friendlier by improving guest communication and saving time on tasks that can easily be automated.
Why this app?
- Offers data designed to help hoteliers tweak their strategy.
- Includes online booking and payments.
- Enables guest communication via email and SMS.
- Facilitates online, contactless, automated check-in.
- Upsell to guests, offering local excursions and tours.
- Integrates with major PMS such as Mews and Cloudbeds.
- Enables brand personalization to help build customer loyalty and good reviews.
- Used by top hotels worldwide, including major chains Crowne Plaza and Ramada.
- Users report excellent customer service and say it is very helpful for guest communication.
Duve is also available on a web browser, so there is no need for guests to download another app.
Pricing
- Basic: €5 per room per month, for online check-in, check-out, guest app, and analytics.
- Pro: €6.50 per room per month, including everything in Basic plus SMS and WhatsApp, and automated messaging.
- Premium: €9 per room per month, everything in Pro, plus room upgrades, credit card processing, and upsells.
- Enterprise: Customized package. Available on request.
Related post: Alternatives to Duve (Wishbox): 7 Powerful Tools for 2022
Touch Stay
TouchStay.com
This app is similar to Hostfully Guidebooks, in that it focuses on offering what it calls digital Welcome Books to guests, so they can have all the crucial information they need in one place.
Why this app?
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Simple, straightforward, focused on one thing; giving your guests a great welcome book.
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Combines practical information such as nearby ATMs and check-in times, with fun recommendations such as local attractions and restaurants.
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Enables you to print the Welcome Book in PDF too, as well as send digitally.
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Enables you to send to guests automatically with their booking confirmation email.
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Works on any device, in multiple languages.
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Personalized to your brand and theme.
Touch Stay also regularly receives positive reviews for its friendly and useful customer service and won The Shortyz Virtual Award 2021 for Best App.
Pricing
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Owners & Hosts: $99 per year for the first property, $51 for a second, $45 for the next three.
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Property Managers: $2-$6 per property per month depending on portfolio size.
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Hotels and B&B Owners: From $99 per year, depending on the number of bedrooms.
YourWelcome
YourWelcome.com
YourWelcome promises to help you “make more money from your vacation rental”, and aims to add an extra “service layer” for guests, between booking and check-out. It also works with a proprietary tablet, similar to an iPad.
Why this app?
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Works with a tablet, which is synced to your property and calendar.
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The YourWelcome system works across several products, including the Tablet, and its Advance package, which enables pre-arrival messaging and check-in.
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Enables automated messaging and email templates.
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Allows personalized branding.
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Used by 1,500+ property managers and companies, including Mint House.
YourWelcome also integrates with the YourWelcome PropertyCare.com platform, which enables housekeeping task management (but the two are separate, and billed separately too).
Pricing
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Subscription-based, on a 12 or 24-month recurring contract.
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Actual pricing available after booking a demo on request.
The best hospitality apps: Making your hotel or short term rental better
Ultimately, the best apps will simplify and automate your business processes, so you spend less time on repetitive admin, and more time on pleasing guests.
While Hostfully Guidebooks specializes in welcome books, and Alice Guest Services focuses on great guest communication, YourWelcome might be best if you also like the idea of offering in-room tablets.
Operto Guest offers an all-in-one platform that is specially designed to manage all your operational processes. It also connects to the wider Operto suite, including smart device management, and Connect for Teams, for staff coordination.
From booking to confirmation and guest communication to check-out and reviews, it simplifies your guests’ user experience throughout.
And, because it makes things simpler for you, you can spend less time stressing over repetitive admin, and more time giving guests the memorable stay they want and deserve.
If you find that your guests could benefit from the power of a powerful automation app platform, and you think Operto Guest could be right for your business, then we’d be happy to help you get set up with ease.
Related Post: YourWelcome Alternatives: 7 Powerful Tools for 2022
Are happy guests important to you?
Operto takes the guest experience above and beyond with a powerful suite of guest technologies.
Frequently asked questions about hospitality apps
Are happy guests important to you?
Operto takes the guest experience above and beyond with a powerful suite of guest technologies.