Where Both Platforms Shine—and How They Differ
Both SmoothStay and Touch Stay give guests a clear, mobile guidebook so they ask fewer questions and enjoy a smoother stay. Touch Stay is the more established option, widely adopted and tightly integrated with popular PMS and channel managers, with extra modules like an e‑commerce store for upsells. SmoothStay is newer but evolving fast—adding rich design options like slideshows, background videos, and deeper branding controls—while keeping pricing simple and scalable as you add properties. Both now include AI chatbots, but SmoothStay is rapidly catching up on features and already surpasses Touch Stay in several design features, at a more scalable, straightforward cost per guidebook.
Quick Decision Summary
Choose SmoothStay if:
You want an AI chatbot answering guest questions 24/7, trained on your guidebook content
Fair, predictable pricing per guidebook matters as you add more properties
You care about sleek design, branding, and rich layouts like slideshows and video-heavy pages
You prefer a fast-moving product that’s shipping new features regularly and catching up quickly on “big player” functionality
You want cutting-edge AI and guest tools without enterprise-style pricing
You’re happy to plug SmoothStay into your current workflows today and adopt native PMS-style flows as they roll out
Choose Touch Stay if:
You prioritize a long-established platform with a large user base, proven track record and more features
Native PMS and channel integrations (Airbnb, Guesty, Hospitable, Lodgify, etc.) are must-haves right now
You want built-in guest messaging, guest data flows, and registration-style workflows today.
You want an e-commerce store to sell your upsells and services
Cost is not a concern to you
A straightforward, template-driven guidebook with offline-capable access fits your needs
Main Features Face-Off: SmoothStay vs Touch Stay
Feature | SmoothStay | Touch Stay |
|---|---|---|
Digital guidebook platform | ✅ Core features. | ✅ Core features. |
Video backgrounds and slideshows | ✅ Rich media layouts and highly visual pages. | ❌ No. |
AI chatbot (24/7 guest answers) | ✅ Yes, built-in AI chatbot trained on your guidebook. | ➖ Yes, but only on their more expensive plans. |
AI writing assistant | ✅ Yes. | ✅ Yes. |
Printable PDFs | ❌ Not yet, in roadmap. | ➖ Yes, but only on their more expensive plans. |
Map-based local recommendations | ✅ Yes. | ✅ Yes. |
Sync content across guidebooks | ✅ Yes. | ✅ Yes. |
Multi-language translations | ✅ Yes, 100+ languages. | ✅ Yes + with manual overwrite. |
Custom branding options | ✅ Strong branding (logos, colors, media, layout control), including option to overwrite per property. | ✅ Branding options, though within more fixed structural templates. |
Modern, smooth design | ✅ Modern, mobile-first, highly visual design. | ✅ Clean and guest-friendly, but more utilitarian. |
Guest registration and collect emails | ❌ Not native yet; on roadmap. | ✅ Yes. |
Invitation-only links | ✅ Yes. | ✅ Yes, including text or email. |
Built-in weather widget | ❌ Not yet; on roadmap. | ➖ Yes, but only on their more expensive plans. |
Store and upsells | ❌ Not yet; on roadmap. | ✅ Yes. |
Guide performance analytics | ✅ Yes. | ➖ Yes, but only on their more expensive plans. |
See who's reading & when | ✅ Yes. | ✅ Yes. |
Quick QR code creation | ✅ Yes. | ✅ Yes. |
Integrations | ❌ Not yet. Hospitable Connect and Zapier coming soon. | ✅ Multiple integrations with PMS/channel tools and marketplaces (e.g., Guesty, Beds24, Hostex). |
Free option available | ✅ Yes, basic features for one property without AI features and no ads. | ❌ No. |
Monthly pricing | ✅ $6.90 for the first guide, then $2.90 for each additional guide. | ❌ Starter Plan $12.50 for the first guide, Growth Plan $15.00 |
Cost example at 10 guidebooks | ✅ $33.00 per month (save 61% over Touch Stay's Starter Plan). | ❌ $85.50 per month (Starter Plan). |
