In short: who is each system built for?
Ten points that can be checked on both vendors’ websites.On its website, Smoobu describes itself as software for holiday apartments and homes, chalets and huts, camping and glamping, and bed & breakfasts. Billing is per unit, and you can start with a single apartment.
STRYK is a hotel PMS for small and mid-sized properties that equally serves guesthouses and aparthotels. Besides calendar and booking engine, the standard scope includes invoicing, tourist tax, guest registration, housekeeping, gift vouchers and team roles. Billing is a base price plus an amount per room or unit.
| Criterion |  STRYK | Smoobu |
|---|---|---|
| Target group | Small and mid-sized hotels, guesthouses, aparthotels | Holiday apartments and homes, chalets and huts, camping and glamping, bed & breakfasts |
| Pricing model | €59 base price plus €6 per room or unit per month, net, billed annually; 20% more if billed monthly | According to the pricing page €28 for one unit plus €9.60 per additional unit per month; plans Professional Flex (€29, 0.9% booking fee), Professional Pre-paid (€31.50) and Teams Pro+ (€49.50) |
| Channel manager | Yes, in the core price | In all plans: Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and, according to the pricing page, more than 100 other portals |
| Booking engine | In the core price, own subdomain or own domain, upsells, online payment | In all plans, plus website builder |
| Online check-in | Separate module in the core price: registration details, ID, signature, review by the team | In all plans: guest details, ID details and copy, signature; form in the guest’s browser language where supported |
| On-site self check-in | Kiosk as a separate module in the core price; shows the room number or a stored key safe code | Kiosk not mentioned |
| Invoicing, tourist tax, guest registration | Unchangeable invoices numbered without gaps; tourist tax with age bands and exemptions; Austrian guest registration with deadline monitoring and export | Guest invoices; tourist tax as an extra item that cannot be charged to adults only; registration form (Meldeschein) via connection to Feratel MeldeClient (AT/DE); e-invoicing in the Teams Pro+ plan, otherwise €5.90 per account per month |
| Payments | Online: deposit, balance collected automatically at the cancellation deadline, refund on free cancellation | According to the pricing page, booking system with PayPal and one other online payment provider |
| Languages | Interface, booking engine, guest pages and documents in 18 languages | Interface in ten languages (including German, English, Italian) |
| Users | Unlimited | Additional accounts with write access €12 per month; Teams Pro+ with two accounts |
| Trial, contract, set-up | 14-day trial, no set-up fee | 14-day trial without credit card, no set-up fee, 30-day notice period |
| Smartphone app | STRYK app for iPhone and Android, plus browser | iOS and Android app in all plans |
What 10, 25 and 50 units cost
Calculated with public prices only, without payment fees and without add-ons.The two pricing models work differently. Smoobu starts low and charges €9.60 per month for each additional unit. STRYK has a base price of €59, but each unit costs €6, both excl. VAT. For very small portfolios, Smoobu is therefore cheaper: three holiday apartments cost €77 a month with STRYK and around €47 with Smoobu based on the pricing page figures. At around ten units the two are almost level; after that, the gap widens with every unit.
For Smoobu, we used the figures from the FAQ on the pricing page (€28 for the first unit, €9.60 for each additional one). The plan and term behind them change the amount; Smoobu’s price calculator is authoritative. No volume discount for larger portfolios is stated on the pricing page.
Two fees belong in an honest calculation: on Smoobu’s Professional Flex plan, according to the pricing page, a booking fee of 0.9% applies. With STRYK, direct bookings paid online carry a platform fee of 1.9%; without integrated online payment, it does not apply. Additional users with write access cost €12 per month with Smoobu; with STRYK, users are unlimited.
| Portfolio | STRYK, billed annually | STRYK, billed monthly | Smoobu, calculated from the pricing page |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 units | €119 | €142.80 | approx. €114.40 |
| 25 units | €209 | €250.80 | approx. €258.40 |
| 50 units | €359 | €430.80 | approx. €498.40 |
Where Smoobu is strong
Smoobu is built for holiday rentals, and it shows. According to the pricing page, starting with a single apartment costs €28 a month, and the channel manager, booking system, website builder, online check-in and digital guest guide are already included in the cheapest plan.
The choice of portals is broad: according to the pricing page, Smoobu syncs calendars with Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and more than 100 other portals. For hosts who also list on smaller holiday rental portals, that is a real advantage.
Smoobu offers an iOS and Android app and full API access in all plans. If you mainly check and reply to bookings on the go, you are well equipped. For guest registration there is a connection to Feratel MeldeClient for municipalities in Austria and Germany, according to the help centre with a dedicated button per booking to update the registration form (Meldeschein). On top of that come e-invoices in the Teams Pro+ plan, a trial without a credit card and a 30-day notice period.
Where STRYK is strong
STRYK plays to its strengths where a guesthouse or aparthotel works like a small hotel. The tourist tax is calculated with age bands and exemptions and appears correctly on the price and invoice. Invoices cannot be changed once issued and are numbered without gaps; credit notes, e-invoicing and a tax advisor package for DATEV or BMD are included. For Austria, STRYK monitors the 24-hour deadline for guest registration and creates the export.
Online check-in and the self check-in kiosk are separate modules included in the core price. Guests enter registration details, ID and signature in advance, and your team reviews the information. At the kiosk, guests see their room number or a key safe code that you store. There is no integration with electronic door locks and no payment terminal.
In daily operations, you are helped by the housekeeping plan based on actual occupancy, roles and permissions for the team, gift voucher sales online and at reception, and a POS interface through which restaurant or bar tills post sales to the room. STRYK is not a restaurant till; for payments at the front desk, Austria and Germany have the ‘Cash register & fiscalisation’ add-on. Online payments run through the built-in payment service, and the balance is collected automatically at the cancellation deadline. The interface, booking engine, guest pages and documents are available in 18 languages.
Hotel software should feel good to use. STRYK pairs a modern, clear interface with everyday reception tasks: editing calendar bookings, checking room status and opening guest details directly. Consistent controls across pricing, housekeeping and billing make moving between departments feel familiar.
How to switch smoothly from Smoobu to STRYK
Switching is above all a question of the cut-over date: two channel managers connected to the same portals quickly lead to wrong availability.
For the data migration, you use the STRYK data import: you upload guests and future bookings as a CSV or XLSX file, map the columns, and the test run shows what would be created, linked or skipped before anything is saved. Which exports Smoobu offers on your plan is best clarified directly with Smoobu; according to the pricing page, full API access is included in all plans.
Five steps from Smoobu to STRYK
- 01Set up units and prices
Set up categories, rooms or units, rates, cancellation terms and tourist tax in STRYK. You can do this during the 14-day trial without touching Smoobu.
- 02Check data in a test run
After accepting the terms and the data processing agreement, export guests and future bookings from Smoobu, map the columns in the data import and start the test run. Only import once the numbers and date ranges are right.
- 03Run a trial day
Test a booking through the booking engine, an online check-in and a departure with an invoice including tourist tax.
- 04Set the cut-over date and switch portals
On the cut-over date, disconnect the portals in Smoobu and connect the portals confirmed for your property in the STRYK channel manager. Then spot-check availability on all portals.
- 05Reconcile and cancel
Compare the bookings for the coming weeks in both systems. Only then cancel your Smoobu subscription with its 30-day notice period.
The questions that decide
Decide first by how your property operates, then by price.
Checklist for your decision
- How many units do you have today, and how many in two years? Below around ten units Smoobu is usually cheaper, above that STRYK.
- Do you need tourist tax with age bands and exemptions directly on the invoice?
- How do you handle guest registration today, and should the system monitor the deadlines?
- How many people work in the system, and do they all need write access?
- Is there breakfast, a cleaning team or a reception that needs a shared daily plan?
- Is a dedicated smartphone app a must for you?
- On which portals do you list, and are smaller holiday rental portals among them?
