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Travel · head to head

Bokun vs Little Hotelier

Bokun logo

Bokun

Travel

Tour and activity booking platform tied to Viator distribution, from free to $499 a month

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Little Hotelier logo

Little Hotelier

Travel

SiteMinder owned front desk and distribution system for properties under twenty rooms

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Bokun has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Bokun viator bookings are exempt from the booking fee while your own direct bookings are not, so the pricing structure rewards selling through the parent marketplace rather than through your own site.; Little Hotelier the product is capped by design at small properties, so a hotel growing past roughly twenty rooms faces a migration rather than an upgrade, usually into SiteMinder plus a separate PMS.
  • They diverge on capability: Bokun covers Channel manager, Little Hotelier covers Simplified front desk.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bokun and Little Hotelier actually diverge.

Attributes where Bokun and Little Hotelier differ
AttributeBokunLittle Hotelier
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelPer month plus a booking feequote
Free tierYesNo

Identical on both: platforms (Web, iOS, Android), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Travel).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Bokun

  • Channel manager
  • Booking widgets
  • Marketplace
  • Product and availability setup
  • Offline bookings
  • Vouchers and redemption

Only in Little Hotelier

  • Simplified front desk
  • Channel management
  • Direct booking engine
  • Payments
  • Mobile app
  • Guest communication

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Bokun

  • An operator already doing significant Viator volume who wants that channel to cost nothing in software feesnot Little Hotelier
  • A city tour company reselling partner products and taking commission through the Bokun marketplacenot Little Hotelier
  • An operator wanting a fixed monthly subscription rather than a percentage of every booking as FareHarbor chargesnot Little Hotelier
  • A business taking most bookings by phone, which incur no Bokun booking fee at allnot Little Hotelier

Little Hotelier

  • A ten room guesthouse where the owner works reception and wants OTA sync without a separate channel manager contractnot Bokun
  • A hostel needing reliable Booking.com and Hostelworld connectivity more than deep property management featuresnot Bokun
  • A rural B and B replacing a spreadsheet and manual OTA extranet updatesnot Bokun
  • A small property already comfortable with SiteMinder support and wanting one bill for distribution and front desknot Bokun

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Bokun

  • Viator bookings are exempt from the booking fee while your own direct bookings are not, so the pricing structure rewards selling through the parent marketplace rather than through your own site.
  • The booking fee sits on top of the monthly subscription, so an operator on Start pays $49 plus 1.5% of direct online revenue and the plan price alone understates the cost.
  • The free plan is limited to a single user and constrained features, so any business with staff has to move to a paid tier almost immediately.
  • Adopting it deepens commercial dependence on Tripadvisor and Viator, which is uncomfortable if your strategy is reducing OTA commission exposure.
  • Reporting and back-office depth are lighter than dedicated operator platforms, so businesses with complex resource scheduling or multi-site operations often need workarounds.

Little Hotelier

  • The product is capped by design at small properties, so a hotel growing past roughly twenty rooms faces a migration rather than an upgrade, usually into SiteMinder plus a separate PMS.
  • Reporting is limited to basic occupancy and revenue summaries, which leaves owners exporting to a spreadsheet for anything an accountant or lender asks for.
  • Rate and package logic is simple, so properties with seasonal packages, meal plans or complex tax handling end up adjusting rates manually.
  • The non-distribution integration list is short, so accounting, door lock, POS or CRM tools outside the small supported set have to be handled by rekeying data.
  • Pricing is banded by room count and paid monthly per property, so an operator with three small properties pays three subscriptions with no consolidated view worth the name.

Pricing, plan by plan

Bokun

Free
  • FreeFree
    • One user
    • No monthly fee
    • No Bokun booking fee
  • Start$49/month
    • Up to 5 users
    • 1.5% booking fee on direct online bookings
    • No booking fee on Viator bookings
  • Plus$149/month
    • Up to 10 users
    • 1.25% booking fee on direct online bookings
    • No Bokun fee on Viator bookings
  • Premium$499/month
    • Unlimited users
    • 1% booking fee on direct online bookings
    • No Bokun fee on Viator bookings

Little Hotelier

On request
  • Little Hotelier$undefined/month
    • Monthly subscription banded by number of rooms
    • Booking engine and channel manager included
    • Card processing charged per transaction

Which should you pick?

Choose Bokun if

  • You need channel manager.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want booking widgets.
Bokun review

Choose Little Hotelier if

  • You need simplified front desk.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want channel management.
Little Hotelier review

Questions people ask

Is Bokun or Little Hotelier better?
Neither clearly leads. Bokun starts at Free and Little Hotelier at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Bokun or Little Hotelier?
Bokun has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Bokun and On request for Little Hotelier.
Does Bokun or Little Hotelier run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Bokun for free?
Yes. Bokun has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Little Hotelier starts at On request.
What is Bokun best used for?
Bokun is most often used for an operator already doing significant viator volume who wants that channel to cost nothing in software fees, a city tour company reselling partner products and taking commission through the bokun marketplace, an operator wanting a fixed monthly subscription rather than a percentage of every booking as fareharbor charges, a business taking most bookings by phone, which incur no bokun booking fee at all. Of those, an operator already doing significant viator volume who wants that channel to cost nothing in software fees and a city tour company reselling partner products and taking commission through the bokun marketplace are not what Little Hotelier is typically brought in for.
What can Bokun do that Little Hotelier cannot?
Bokun covers Channel manager, Booking widgets, Marketplace, Product and availability setup. Little Hotelier covers Simplified front desk, Channel management, Direct booking engine, Payments.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bokun: Are Viator bookings really free of Bokun fees?

Yes on the paid plans. Direct online bookings through your own widget carry 1% to 1.5% depending on tier.

Little Hotelier: Who owns Little Hotelier?

SiteMinder. It is the small property product line of the same company that sells the SiteMinder channel manager.

Bokun: Can I pass the booking fee to customers?

Yes, on the paid plans the fee can be added to the customer price rather than absorbed.

Little Hotelier: What happens when the property outgrows it?

Most operators move to a fuller PMS and keep SiteMinder for distribution. Expect a data migration rather than a plan change.

Bokun: Who owns Bokun?

Viator, which is part of Tripadvisor.

Little Hotelier: Does it include a channel manager?

Yes, built on the SiteMinder network, which is the main reason to choose it over other small property tools.

Bokun: Is the free plan usable in a real business?

Only for a solo operator. It is one user with limited features.

Little Hotelier: Can one login manage several properties?

Each property is a separate subscription and the multi-property view is thin, so operators of more than two or three properties usually look elsewhere.

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