Aven Hospitality Retailing vs. Oaky by Plusgrade:
Which Is Right for You?

The Decision

Choosing between Aven Hospitality Retailing and Oaky by Plusgrade hinges on your hotel’s specific upselling needs. Both products aim to increase ancillary revenue by engaging guests at different touchpoints, but they diverge in features, user experience, and scope. Your team’s operational style and strategic goals will determine which solution fits best.

If you want a platform with a larger user base, more recent reviews, and a broader regional presence, Oaky by Plusgrade stands out. Conversely, if your focus is on a comprehensive retailing system that integrates easily with existing hotel operations, Aven Hospitality may appeal more.

Are you seeking a simple, effective upselling tool or a robust retailing platform with diverse features? Let’s compare.

Is Aven Hospitality or Oaky Better for Hotels?

Both products address the common hotel challenge of boosting ancillary revenue without overburdening staff. Aven Hospitality’s retailing platform emphasizes selling goods and services beyond rooms, offering features like gift vouchers and prepaid experiences, designed to diversify revenue streams. However, its limited review count and older data weaken confidence in its current effectiveness.

Oaky, with over 440 reviews and recent activity, specializes in targeted upselling throughout the guest journey, using automation and segmentation to maximize conversions. It supports dynamic offers, multi-channel communication, and personalized deals, making it highly adaptable.

While Aven focuses on expanding revenue via retail, Oaky concentrates on optimizing guest upgrades and ancillary sales through automation. Which approach aligns better with your hotel’s revenue strategy?

Oaky vs Aven Hospitality: Which Should Your Hotel Choose?

If your hotel needs a flexible upselling platform that enhances guest experience with personalized, automated offers, go with Oaky. It’s ideal for properties prioritizing in-stay and pre-arrival upselling, particularly if they value detailed segmentation, dynamic pricing, and multi-channel communication.

If your hotel is seeking an all-in-one retailing solution that allows you to sell a variety of goods, services, and experiences beyond room upgrades, Aven Hospitality might be more suitable. It caters to hotels wanting a unified checkout experience and inventory management for retail items, fitting well into a retail-focused revenue strategy.

For hotels aiming for continuous upsell engagement, especially those with a large, diverse guest base, Oaky’s extensive features and recent positive reviews make it the stronger choice. Conversely, if your goal is to expand revenue streams via retail and prepaid experiences, Aven provides tailored tools for that purpose.

Is Aven Hospitality or Oaky Easier to Use?

Aven Hospitality receives a perfect 5/5 ease-of-use rating, with reviewers praising its intuitive reservation system and straightforward onboarding. Support is highly commended, with comments like “The Sabre team has been excellent in helping us onboard the retailing feature.”

Oaky scores slightly lower, at 4.84/5, but remains highly rated for its user interface and ease of management. Its onboarding process is quick, and users appreciate its simple setup, although some mention a learning curve with extensive features.

Edge: Aven Hospitality.

Which Has Better Features: Aven Hospitality or Oaky?

Oaky offers 8 shared features with Aven, plus 4 exclusive features like offer experimentation, multi-channel delivery, offer orchestration, and a multi-property dashboard. These enable advanced segmentation, automation, and personalized communications.

Aven Hospitality provides 2 unique features: digital acceptance/payment capture and gift vouchers/prepaid experiences, focusing on retailing and pre-paid services. It lacks some of Oaky’s dynamic and multi-channel capabilities, but excels in retail-specific functions.

Edge: Oaky.

Which Has Better Customer Support: Aven Hospitality or Oaky?

Aven Hospitality boasts a 5/5 support rating, with reviewers highlighting excellent communication and onboarding assistance. The support team’s responsiveness and clarity are frequently praised.

Oaky also performs exceptionally well with a 4.87/5 rating, supported by quick, knowledgeable responses and dedicated customer success teams. Users note that support helps overcome initial learning curves and technical hurdles.

Edge: Aven Hospitality.

Which Has More Integrations: Aven Hospitality or Oaky?

Aven Hospitality offers 80 verified integration partners, including key players like WebRezPro, Profitroom, and Koddi, along with common PMS integrations such as SiteMinder and Mews. Its extensive network supports diverse hotel tech stacks.

Oaky has 54 verified partners, including popular PMS and channel management systems like Bookassist, Stayntouch, and Infor. It also shares 19 integrations with Aven, ensuring smooth operation with major hotel tech providers.

Edge: Aven Hospitality.

Which Do Hoteliers Rate Higher: Aven Hospitality or Oaky?

Oaky, with over 443 reviews, has a high overall rating of 4.84/5, with recent reviews confirming continued satisfaction. Hotels across segments, especially independent and branded properties, praise its revenue lift and ease of use.

Aven Hospitality, with only 1 review, lacks sufficient recent data and user feedback to assess satisfaction. The limited reviews prevent a conclusive rating.

Edge: Oaky.

How Much Do Aven Hospitality and Oaky Cost?

Aven Hospitality’s pricing starts at $600, with no free trial or flexible monthly options. Its flat fee may be suitable for larger, revenue-focused hotels.

Oaky’s pricing is $300 per month, with no trial available, but its lower base price and flexible setup make it an attractive option for hotels seeking ROI-driven investment.

What Type of Hotel Should Use Aven Hospitality?

• Hotels that want a retail platform to sell goods, services, and prepaid experiences.
• Properties aiming to offer seamless checkout for retail items.
• Hotels with a focus on expanding revenue through non-room sales.
• Large hotels or chains with existing retail operations.

Not ideal if:

• Your primary goal is targeted upselling during stay.
• You need extensive automation and guest segmentation.
• You prefer a solution with dynamic offers and multi-channel communication.

What Type of Hotel Should Use Oaky?

• Hotels seeking to maximize revenue through personalized, automated upselling.
• Properties that value guest segmentation and targeted offers.
• Hotels wanting multi-channel communication (email, SMS, WhatsApp).
• Chains or independent hotels with a focus on pre-arrival, in-stay, and post-stay upselling.

Not ideal if:

• Your hotel relies mainly on retail sales of goods and experiences.
• You prefer a simple, non-automated upselling tool.
• Your team is unlikely to invest time in learning a feature-rich platform.

Oaky vs Aven Hospitality: The Bottom Line for Hotels

Oaky’s core advantage lies in its high adoption, recent reviews, and extensive feature set tailored for personalized upselling. It excels in automation, segmentation, and multi-channel engagement, proven by over 440 recent reviews and a near-perfect overall rating.

Aven Hospitality offers a solid retailing platform with unique features for selling goods and prepaid experiences. However, its limited review data and narrower scope make it less appealing for hoteliers prioritizing dynamic upselling or guest segmentation.

Choose Oaky if your focus is on optimizing guest revenue through targeted, automated offers. Opt for Aven Hospitality if expanding retail sales and pre-paid experiences is your primary goal.

In summary, for hoteliers looking for a highly-rated, actively used upselling platform with recent reviews and proven results, Oaky by Plusgrade is the clear choice. Its extensive features, ease of use, and large user base make it a safer bet. If retailing of goods and prepaid services is your main revenue avenue, and you prefer a dedicated, retailer-focused platform, Aven Hospitality is worth considering, but with the caveat of limited recent data.