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Travel · head to head

Smoobu vs ThinkReservations

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
ThinkReservations logo

ThinkReservations

Travel

Property management and booking system for North American inns, B&Bs and small hotels

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; ThinkReservations no pricing is published anywhere, so you cannot compare it against Cloudbeds or Little Hotelier without first sitting through a sales call and extracting a quote.
  • They diverge on capability: Smoobu covers Channel manager, ThinkReservations covers Reservation calendar.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Smoobu and ThinkReservations actually diverge.

Attributes where Smoobu and ThinkReservations differ
AttributeSmoobuThinkReservations
Starting price€29/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer unit per monthquote
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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 Smoobu

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

Only in ThinkReservations

  • Reservation calendar
  • Direct booking engine
  • Channel management
  • Integrated payments
  • Yield rules
  • Reporting

What people use each for

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

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 ThinkReservations
  • An owner wanting automated check-in instructions and pre-arrival messages sent per channel without logging into each extranetnot ThinkReservations
  • A small manager who needs guest invoices that meet German documentation requirements without adding a separate accounting toolnot ThinkReservations
  • A host testing dynamic pricing through the bundled trial before deciding whether to subscribe to PriceLabs separatelynot ThinkReservations

ThinkReservations

  • A fourteen room inn moving off a spreadsheet and a phone diary that needs breakfast counts and minimum stay rules handled nativelynot Smoobu
  • A B&B selling gift certificates and packages that wants them redeemable in the same system that takes the bookingnot Smoobu
  • An owner of three small New England properties wanting one login and consolidated occupancy reportingnot Smoobu
  • A campground or cabin operator needing nightly and multi-night rules plus OTA distribution without buying a separate channel managernot Smoobu

Where each one falls short

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

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.

ThinkReservations

  • No pricing is published anywhere, so you cannot compare it against Cloudbeds or Little Hotelier without first sitting through a sales call and extracting a quote.
  • The product is built for North American operations, so European tax handling, guest registration requirements and local OTA mix are not supported and it is effectively unsellable outside the region.
  • There is no revenue management or dynamic pricing, so rates rely on manual seasonal and day of week rules that go stale unless someone actively maintains them.
  • Payment processing is bundled, which is convenient but means the effective card rate is negotiated inside a software deal rather than shopped separately, and operators rarely check it against a standalone merchant account.
  • There is no native point of sale, spa or restaurant module, so an inn with a dining room runs a second system and reconciles revenue by hand.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

ThinkReservations

On request
  • ThinkReservations$undefined/month
    • Property management system
    • Direct booking engine
    • Channel management to major OTAs

Which should you pick?

Choose Smoobu if

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

Choose ThinkReservations if

  • You need reservation calendar.
  • You also want direct booking engine.
ThinkReservations review

Questions people ask

Is Smoobu or ThinkReservations better?
Neither clearly leads. Smoobu starts at €29/month and ThinkReservations at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Smoobu or ThinkReservations?
Smoobu starts at €29/month and ThinkReservations at On request.
Does Smoobu or ThinkReservations run on more platforms?
Smoobu runs on Web, iOS, Android. ThinkReservations runs on Web.
What is Smoobu best used for?
Smoobu is most often used for 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 commission, an owner wanting automated check-in instructions and pre-arrival messages sent per channel without logging into each extranet, a small manager who needs guest invoices that meet german documentation requirements without adding a separate accounting tool, a host testing dynamic pricing through the bundled trial before deciding whether to subscribe to pricelabs separately. Of those, 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 commission and an owner wanting automated check-in instructions and pre-arrival messages sent per channel without logging into each extranet are not what ThinkReservations is typically brought in for.
What can Smoobu do that ThinkReservations cannot?
Smoobu covers Channel manager, Website builder, Guest messaging, Unified calendar. ThinkReservations covers Reservation calendar, Direct booking engine, Channel management, Integrated payments.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

ThinkReservations: How much does ThinkReservations cost?

It is not published. Pricing is quoted per property, generally scaled by room count, after a sales conversation.

Smoobu: How many properties does the entry price cover?

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

ThinkReservations: Is the channel manager an extra subscription?

No. OTA connectivity is part of the platform rather than a separately priced module, which is the main saving against a PMS plus channel manager pairing.

Smoobu: Does it include dynamic pricing?

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

ThinkReservations: Does it work outside the United States?

In practice no. Tax, payments and support are built around North America.

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.

ThinkReservations: Can it handle more than one property?

Yes, small portfolios are supported, but it is designed for a handful of properties rather than dozens.

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