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Travel · head to head

Shiji vs Smoobu

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
Smoobu logo

Smoobu

Travel

All-in-one channel manager and PMS for hosts with a handful of holiday rentals

From
€29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Smoobu the Flex plan carries a 0.9% fee on every booking, which on an apartment turning over €40,000 a year costs more than the entire annual subscription saving, and the pricing page presents Flex as the cheaper option.
  • They diverge on capability: Shiji covers Daylight PMS, Smoobu covers Channel manager.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Shiji and Smoobu actually diverge.

Attributes where Shiji and Smoobu differ
AttributeShijiSmoobu
Starting priceOn request€29/month
Pricing modelquotePer unit per month

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 Shiji

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

Only in Smoobu

  • Channel manager
  • Website builder
  • Guest messaging
  • Unified calendar
  • Invoicing and e-invoicing
  • Mobile apps

What people use each for

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

Shiji

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

Smoobu

  • A host with three apartments in Berlin who needs Airbnb and Booking.com calendars kept in sync and wants a direct booking site to cut OTA commissionnot Shiji
  • An owner wanting automated check-in instructions and pre-arrival messages sent per channel without logging into each extranetnot Shiji
  • A small manager who needs guest invoices that meet German documentation requirements without adding a separate accounting toolnot Shiji
  • A host testing dynamic pricing through the bundled trial before deciding whether to subscribe to PriceLabs separatelynot Shiji

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Smoobu

  • The Flex plan carries a 0.9% fee on every booking, which on an apartment turning over €40,000 a year costs more than the entire annual subscription saving, and the pricing page presents Flex as the cheaper option.
  • Pricing is per unit, so a ten unit portfolio pays roughly €31.50 plus nine additional units at about €9.60, and the headline monthly figure covers a single apartment only.
  • Write access is charged per account beyond the included seats, so a cleaner, a co-host and an owner all needing to edit bookings turn into a recurring per seat cost.
  • There is no trust accounting or owner statement generation, so anyone managing units on behalf of third-party owners has to build payout reporting outside the system.
  • Housekeeping and maintenance dispatch is minimal compared with manager-grade platforms, so cleaning coordination happens in WhatsApp or a separate tool once you are past a few units.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Smoobu

€29/month
  • Professional Flex$29/month
    • One unit included
    • 0.9% fee on every booking
    • Channel manager, website builder, messaging
  • Professional Prepaid$31.5/month
    • One unit included
    • No booking fee
    • Website builder, invoicing, chatbot, API access
  • Teams Pro+$49.5/month
    • Everything in Prepaid
    • E-invoicing
    • Two write-access accounts, extra accounts from about €12 each

Which should you pick?

Choose Shiji if

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

Choose Smoobu if

  • You need channel manager.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want website builder.
Smoobu review

Questions people ask

Is Shiji or Smoobu better?
Neither clearly leads. Shiji starts at On request and Smoobu at €29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Shiji or Smoobu?
Shiji starts at On request and Smoobu at €29/month.
Does Shiji or Smoobu run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Shiji best used for?
Shiji is most often used for an international luxury group replacing opera across dozens of properties without moving to a small cloud vendor, a resort with a dozen restaurants and bars needing one point of sale across all outlets, an asia pacific group requiring native multi-currency, multi-language operation across markets, a hotel company consolidating pms, pos and payment onto a single vendor contract. Of those, an international luxury group replacing opera across dozens of properties without moving to a small cloud vendor and a resort with a dozen restaurants and bars needing one point of sale across all outlets are not what Smoobu is typically brought in for.
What can Shiji do that Smoobu cannot?
Shiji covers Daylight PMS, Infrasys POS, Payments, Distribution. Smoobu covers Channel manager, Website builder, Guest messaging, Unified calendar.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Smoobu: Which plan is actually cheaper, Flex or Prepaid?

Prepaid, for almost anyone with real occupancy. The 0.9% booking fee on Flex exceeds the subscription difference once annual revenue passes a few thousand euros.

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.

Smoobu: How many properties does the entry price cover?

One. Every additional unit adds roughly €9.60 per month.

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.

Smoobu: Does it include dynamic pricing?

Only two months free on the Teams tier. Ongoing dynamic pricing means subscribing to PriceLabs or similar.

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.

Smoobu: Is there a contract?

Billing is monthly, yearly or two-yearly, with 30 days notice required to cancel; longer terms buy 10% or 20% off.

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