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Travel · head to head

Bookinglayer vs Shiji

Bookinglayer logo

Bookinglayer

Travel

Booking system for surf camps, retreats and activity-led accommodation

From
€260/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Shiji logo

Shiji

Travel

Enterprise hospitality platform covering PMS, point of sale and payments, owned by a Chinese listed group

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Bookinglayer at 260 euros a month the entry tier is a heavy fixed cost for a fifteen-bed camp, several times what a comparable small hotel pays for a property management system.; Shiji chinese ownership and a Shenzhen listing raise data residency and supply chain questions that must be settled during procurement, and in United States government or defence-adjacent accounts they can end the evaluation outright.
  • They diverge on capability: Bookinglayer covers Package builder, Shiji covers Daylight PMS.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bookinglayer and Shiji actually diverge.

Attributes where Bookinglayer and Shiji differ
AttributeBookinglayerShiji
Starting price€260/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer month by planquote

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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 Bookinglayer

  • Package builder
  • Activity scheduling
  • Instalment payments
  • Guest portal
  • Direct booking engine
  • Back office
  • Multi-location support
  • API access

Only in Shiji

  • Daylight PMS
  • Infrasys POS
  • Payments
  • Distribution
  • Guest engagement
  • Open API access
  • Regional data centres
  • Multi-language and multi-currency

What people use each for

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

Bookinglayer

  • A surf camp selling seven-night packages where lesson capacity, not bed capacity, is the constraintnot Shiji
  • A yoga retreat taking deposits nine months ahead with staged balance paymentsnot Shiji
  • A dive centre allocating instructors and equipment alongside accommodationnot Shiji
  • A ski school running two locations under one booking system and one guest portalnot Shiji

Shiji

  • An international luxury group replacing Opera across dozens of properties without moving to a small cloud vendornot Bookinglayer
  • A resort with a dozen restaurants and bars needing one point of sale across all outletsnot Bookinglayer
  • An Asia Pacific group requiring native multi-currency, multi-language operation across marketsnot Bookinglayer
  • A hotel company consolidating PMS, POS and payment onto a single vendor contractnot Bookinglayer

Where each one falls short

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

Bookinglayer

  • At 260 euros a month the entry tier is a heavy fixed cost for a fifteen-bed camp, several times what a comparable small hotel pays for a property management system.
  • The Essential plan includes only two users, so a camp with a reception team, an instructor coordinator and a manager is pushed to the 415 euro tier by headcount rather than by features.
  • The 2 per cent commission alternative carries a 100 euro monthly minimum, so a genuinely closed off-season still costs money.
  • API access sits only on the quoted top tier, which blocks integration work for mid-sized operators unwilling to move to bespoke pricing.
  • The product is deliberately narrow: an operator whose business shifts toward conventional room-night accommodation will find the package model is overhead rather than advantage.

Shiji

  • Chinese ownership and a Shenzhen listing raise data residency and supply chain questions that must be settled during procurement, and in United States government or defence-adjacent accounts they can end the evaluation outright.
  • Pricing is entirely quoted with no published figures at any product level, so comparing Shiji against Oracle or Mews on cost requires a full sales engagement.
  • The portfolio is partly assembled from acquisitions, and the degree of integration between products varies, so a group buying several Shiji modules should test the joins rather than assume them.
  • Implementation timelines at enterprise scale run to many months and require interface development that is charged on top of licence, which is a substantial hidden budget line.
  • It is not a realistic option below roughly the mid-scale group level; a single independent hotel will not get sensible pricing or attention.

Pricing, plan by plan

Bookinglayer

€260/month
  • Essential$260/month
    • About 300 USD equivalent
    • Two users included
    • Package builder and booking engine
  • Pro$415/month
    • About 445 USD equivalent
    • Ten users and two locations
    • Extended functionality
  • Alpha$undefined/month
    • Custom quote
    • Multiple locations
    • API access included
  • Commission alternative$undefined/month
    • 2% of booking value instead of a fixed fee
    • Minimum EUR 100 per month
    • Suits seasonal businesses with quiet months

Shiji

On request
  • Shiji Enterprise Platform$undefined/year
    • Quoted per property and per portfolio
    • PMS, POS and payments priced as separate lines
    • Implementation and interface development charged separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Bookinglayer if

  • You need package builder.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want activity scheduling.
Bookinglayer review

Choose Shiji if

  • You need daylight pms.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want infrasys pos.
Shiji review

Questions people ask

Is Bookinglayer or Shiji better?
Neither clearly leads. Bookinglayer starts at €260/month and Shiji at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Bookinglayer or Shiji?
Bookinglayer starts at €260/month and Shiji at On request.
Does Bookinglayer or Shiji run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Bookinglayer best used for?
Bookinglayer is most often used for a surf camp selling seven-night packages where lesson capacity, not bed capacity, is the constraint, a yoga retreat taking deposits nine months ahead with staged balance payments, a dive centre allocating instructors and equipment alongside accommodation, a ski school running two locations under one booking system and one guest portal. Of those, a surf camp selling seven-night packages where lesson capacity, not bed capacity, is the constraint and a yoga retreat taking deposits nine months ahead with staged balance payments are not what Shiji is typically brought in for.
What can Bookinglayer do that Shiji cannot?
Bookinglayer covers Package builder, Activity scheduling, Instalment payments, Guest portal. Shiji covers Daylight PMS, Infrasys POS, Payments, Distribution.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bookinglayer: How much does Bookinglayer cost?

Essential is 260 euros a month for two users, Pro is 415 euros for ten users and two locations, and Alpha is quoted. There is a 5 per cent discount for annual payment.

Shiji: What do you actually buy from Shiji?

Most commonly Daylight PMS, Infrasys point of sale, or both, plus payments. The group name covers a wider portfolio than any one hotel purchases.

Bookinglayer: Is there a commission option instead?

Yes, 2 per cent of booking value with a minimum of 100 euros a month, which suits businesses with a pronounced off-season.

Shiji: Does Chinese ownership matter?

It can. For United States government-adjacent business and some corporate accounts it triggers data residency and supply chain review, so raise it at the start of procurement rather than at contract stage.

Bookinglayer: Why not just use a normal hotel PMS?

Because a package that bundles nights, lessons, equipment and transfers with capacity limits on the activities rather than the beds does not fit a room-night model.

Shiji: Is Shiji an alternative to Oracle Hospitality?

Yes, and that is largely its positioning at the enterprise end, particularly in international luxury groups where Infrasys already has deployment.

Bookinglayer: Does it include API access?

Only on the top Alpha tier, which is quoted rather than published.

Shiji: Can a single hotel buy it?

In principle, but the commercial model, implementation cost and support structure assume a group, and small properties are better served elsewhere.

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