Kigo vs Smoobu
This article examines Kigo vs Smoobu by concentrating on the main features that a hospitality management software should offer. The data has been collected from Kigo’s and Smoobu’s websites and help articles. We also checked their reviews at Capterra to find the aspects that the actual users are emphasising.
Guest Review
In Capterra, Kigo has a rating of 3.7, with the highest score for Features.
Trustpilot introduces Kigo as a Poor tool with a 2.6 TrustScore.
In Capterra, Smoobu has a rating of 4.5, with the highest score for Customer Service.
Trustpilot introduces Smoobu as an Average tool with a 3.5 TrustScore.
Kigo enables the automation of responding to enquiries to convert them to bookings as quickly as possible. You can build a template and automated response emails that confirm the availability of the property of interest or show other available properties.
In the Kigo Reservation Module, you can check:
- Booking source
- Occupancy dashboard
- Full portfolio
- Revenue breakdown
Kigo has an integrated payment processor which has a Single Settlement reporting capability. It helps in fraud prevention and checking transaction history. Kigo charges 5% per booking for using KigoPay.
Smoobu offers a “native online check-in tool,” through which you can collect guest information for compliance with local laws or for your own safety.
You can customise all the standard fields, including name, gender, nationality, document number, etc. Additionally, you have the option to add custom fields, require e-signature, and allow guests to attach files.
Smoobu’s integration with ChargeAutomation enables you to automate payment collection for reservations, security deposits, refunds, and fees.
Two-way real-time connection with all of Kigo’s partner channels.
Kigo’s channel manager:
- Keeps rental rates competitive across portals.
- Fills the calendar gaps by automatically relaxing length-of-stay limits and adjusting pricing to optimise occupancy.
- Charges 3% per booking for all the payments outside Kigo, for example, for your Airbnb bookings.
Smoobu’s channel manager synchronises all the bookings, calendar blocks, cancellations, and rates. For Vrbo/HomeAway, there is iCal synchronisation.
Smoobu has integration with more than 100 channels; it has an API integration with 15 channels.
Price synchronisation is available for Booking.com, Expedia and Agoda. You can add a mark-up in percentage to the base rate. It applies to the minimum stay and the price according to the days of the week.
Prices can be exported/imported from one channel into another.
With Kigo Operation Manager, you can:
- Schedule cleans and tasks in the centralised management area.
- Give your cleaners and maintenance staff easily accessible clear sets of daily and weekly tasks to complete.
- Set your expectations by attaching photos and have a place to receive photos in real-time from cleaners.
- Automate all communications through the system by email and SMS.
Smoobu offers integration with cleaning software such as Properly, TurnoverBnB, and VRScheduler.
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Smoobu’s “native online check-in tool” helps you to collect information that you need for the local laws or the information you need for your safety as a host.
Smoobu’s integration partners for online check-ins are Checkin, Wishbox, Mymaison, Vikey, Avs, and Check-in Scan.
Smoobu’s integration partners for smart locks are KeyNest, NUKI, igloohome, Keysoft Claud, SCLAK, TheKeys, and Operto.
Kigo’s Website Starter Package makes an image-driven, mobile-friendly, secure WordPress website for all of your properties.
The website Kigo makes for you:
- Allows map search.
- Manages multiple properties easily by organising units from countries to buildings based on a geographic hierarchy.
- Groups properties together to increase the occupancy rate like homes by the beach, pet-friendly, cabins, etc.
- Tracks your website performance through analytics.
Kigo charges for Premium Websites a set-up fee of £404 ($499) plus a monthly subscription of £50 ($59).
- Smoobu provides you with a direct booking website, which is commission-free. You can add photos, location, description, logo, Google Maps, and policies, and collect payment through Stripe/PayPal.
- You can use it with your domain. Smoobu’s booking engine iFrame can be integrated with your current website.
- You can translate the website into over 25 languages.
- The website covers 50 currencies.
- “You can add custom Javascript.”
- For the website, you can specify rates per person, per night, per booking, and define minimum stays. The availability calendar can be embedded on the website, and the guests can see it.
- The website is responsive on all devices.
- For the website, you can set “min days between booking and arrival, arrival and departure days, long stay discount, and discount code.”
- The website can be integrated with content management systems such as WordPress, Wix, Weebly, Strato, Typ03, Drupal, Joomla, GoogleSite, Jimdo, and Squarespace.
- Smoobu integrates with Google Analytics.
- You can make restrictions regarding check-in and check-out days for your website.
- You can embed Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Youtube, and LinkedIn on your website.
The web pages are NOT generated for different locations.
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You can define long-stay discounts with “dynamic minimum length” for your website. For example, after 20 nights, your guests get a discount.
- Kigo has made a mobile-friendly link to communicate in real-time with guests, chase down reviews, and target repeat referrals and direct bookings for the future. You can test it by typing rebrand.ly/guestxp on your phone.
- Kigo’s bank-safe eSignature helps in sending, signing and securely storing documents.
- Kigo provides a ready-to-use template for your automated guest messaging system.
- Smoobu automates your communication with the guests by creating message templates like “thank you messages” and setting trigger events. The templates are customisable according to the guest name, check-in, and check-out times.
- Smoobu’s “Dynamic Guest Guide,” generated uniquely for each booking, provides your guests with all the necessary information in 40 languages until they check out.
Smoobu has full integration with Booking.com & Airbnb messaging APIs.
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Smoobu’s CRM tool collects all guest contacts from all the connected portals on one page.
You can edit the data and export the list and send SMS and emails through third parties.
You can download the mobile app to be in touch with your guests.
With Kigo Operation Manager, you can:
- Schedule cleans and tasks in the centralised management area.
- Give your cleaners and maintenance staff easily accessible clear sets of daily and weekly tasks to complete.
- Set your expectations by attaching photos and have a place to receive photos in real-time from cleaners.
- Automate all communications through the system by email and SMS.
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With Kigo, you will not force your guests to download and install an app. Kigo provides a URL or a web-based link that you send to the guests, and they can open it and access the information.
This platform allows you to communicate with your guests pre-arrival, during the stay, and after check-out. You can automate sending the terms and conditions, and they can use the e-signature tool to sign.
You can also send local attractions, coupon codes, or FAQs to them.
Smoobu’s mobile app includes a unified inbox.
There is a mobile app for the guests by which they can check Wi-Fi credentials, maps, tours, weather, etc. It is integrated with Smoobu’s tools, and you can cross-sell extra services during their stays.
Smoobu’s app also helps you collect reviews.
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With Kigo Operation Manager, you can:
- Schedule cleans and tasks on the centralised management area.
- Give your cleaners and maintenance staff easily accessible clear sets of daily and weekly tasks to complete.
- Set your expectations by attaching photos and have a place to receive photos in real-time from cleaners.
- Automate all communications through the system by email and SMS.
Smoobu’s “central operations cockpit” shows you the key performance indicators such as occupancy and distribution rates, current bookings, and a list of upcoming guests.
You can add a booking on this page.
Kigo’s Owner Portal:
- Creates multiple owner statements in bulk.
- Provides automatic calculation of property management commissions and accounting adjustments like credit card fees, channels’ commissions and promotions.
- Customises the type of information to display.
Owners can:
- Check property availability calendars.
- Book an owner stay or guest-of-owner stay.
- Download their owner statement.
You can share your Smoobu’s account with your partners and cleaning teams, allowing them access to general account settings, guest data, properties, messages, and prices.
KigoPay is a payment solution designed by Kigo.
- KigoPay processes multi-currency transactions from one centralised location.
- KigoPay automatically generates event triggers and notifications for reconciliation, fraud, chargeback disputes, etc.
- Kigo payment processing services are PCI DSS compliant with bank-level encryption.
Smoobu creates custom invoice templates. Cross-selling items from the bookings will be shown in the invoice. You can insert PayPal links automatically to the invoice.
Smoobu integrates with Stripe, PayPal, Sumup, and Swikly. The payment integration is just for the booking engine.
Smoobu charges card details.
You can choose how you want to receive payment on your website (Bank transfer, Stripe, Patpay, Payment on Arrival, and iDEAL for Dutch users).
KigoPay is in charge of reporting by integrating KigoPay with Kigo’s new channel management technology.
Smoobu’s “Statistics” enables you to break down the reports by “revenue, bookings, cancellations, occupancy rate, dates, properties, and nights.”
You can download the list of reservations in Excel, PDF or CSV formats.
On the “Cockpit Page,” you can check the occupancy rate and channel.
Kigo Revenue Management:
- Studies your occupancy rates and sets the prices.
- Updates the prices across your properties.
Smoobu’s dynamic pricing integration partners are Beyond and PriceLabs.
- Kigo has a one-time set-up fee of £810 ($1000).
- Kigo Platinum Support provides direct access to an expert who speaks your language and offers product walkthroughs and tailored tutorials.
- Kigo Platinum Support costs a monthly subscription of £400 ($500).
The link of help articles and instructions are uploaded on the platform, and you can check them while you set your system up.
You can schedule a call to ask your questions.
Upon logging into the system, you can be in touch with a representative through email.
KigoPay completely streamlines all reconciliation and financial data. Integrating KigoPay with Kigo’s new channel management technology simplifies complex calculations for tax and fee reporting from channel partner bookings.
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The messages from various booking platforms will be allocated to the bookings, and you can chat and see the conversation history online or via the mobile app.
Pricing
Kigo charges around 3% for offline transactions and 5% for online transactions made through KigoPay. A 0.5% payment gateway fee is applied to all payments processed through non-KigoPay integrated payment gateways.
Kigo also offers optional add-ons with separate set-up fees and monthly subscriptions:
- Kigo Platinum Support: monthly subscription of £400 ($500)
- Kigo Check-Out: set-up fee of £242 ($299) plus a monthly subscription of £43 ($49)
- Premium Website: set-up fee of £404 ($499) plus a monthly subscription of £50 ($59)
In addition, a minimum monthly fee of £161($199) is charged if the monthly fees are less.
If you want to have a more accurate estimation of how much your costs would be, you may schedule a call with the Kigo sales team.
Smoobu offers three packages. One is free and covers limited features. The Professional and Team packages have three plans: monthly, yearly, and two years. As the number of units goes up, around £7 will be added to the price for each unit. Smoobu offers a custom price for more than 20 properties.
Kigo vs Smoobu: Which Property Management System to Choose?
Kigo has a good reputation in support services and functionalities. This software also offers direct integration with Airbnb, Booking.com, and HomeAway/Vrbo and pushes not only rates and availability, but also photos and descriptions in real-time. However, the commission-based pricing strategy of Kigo, sometimes, becomes too costly as apart from the subscription fees you pay to this PMS provider, they get a commission for each booking made on any channels the moment you start using Kigo.
Smoobu is the right choice if you want an affordable, easy-to-use system with a PMS, channel manager, and website builder. With Smoobu’s guest app, you can provide your guests with a happy and pleasant experience. Furthermore, by accessing a contact list, you can directly connect with your guests or use the list for your email marketing. Since Smoobu does not offer cleaning, maintenance, and operations management, you should be mindful of other expenses you might have to pay for buying other software or hiring staff members. As your business grows, or if you decide to manage properties for other owners, Smoobu may not be able to meet your expectations because of the lack of functionalities in reporting, accounting, expense allocation, and profit splitting.
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