The project dashboard is a free tool that is only available to verified hoteliers to make adopting new technology easier by streamlining their research and simplifying their communication workflow.
TLDR
We analyzed 26 verified hotelier reviews, compared feature sets, pricing, and real-world case studies to break down where each platform delivers. The right choice depends on your property type and priorities:
Gastfreund shines in ease of use and customer support .
Great Stay App shines .
Side-by-side ratings based on 26 verified hotelier reviews on HTR.
| HTScore |
|
|
| Likelihood to Recommend |
|
|
| Ease of Use |
|
|
| Customer Support |
|
|
| Value for Money |
|
|
| Starting Price | From $100/mo | Contact sales |
| Verified Reviews | 26 | 0 |
After analyzing 26 verified reviews, Gastfreund users most value its support, onboarding, and responsiveness, guest app usability and ease of setup, guest information and digital directory, while Great Stay App users highlight . Click any theme to see what reviewers say.
|
|
|
|---|---|
| Pros | |
|
+
Support, onboarding, and responsiveness
▾
|
|
|
+
Guest app usability and ease of setup
▾
|
|
|
+
Guest information and digital directory
▾
|
|
|
+
Reducing reception workload and self-service communication
▾
|
|
| Cons | |
|
−
Local recommendations, excursions, and activity promotion
▾
|
|
|
−
Multilingual support and translation quality
▾
|
|
How each product ranks among Hotel Guest Apps vendors for different property sizes, types, and regions — based on verified reviews from hoteliers in each segment.
By Hotel Size
| Segment |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Small (10-24 rooms) | #21 3 reviews | — |
| Mid-Size (25-74 rooms) ▾ | #18 7 reviews | #38 0 reviews |
| Large (75-199 rooms) | #27 1 reviews | — |
By Property Type
| Segment |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Boutique | #25 3 reviews | #38 0 reviews |
| Luxury | #25 3 reviews | — |
| Branded / Chain | #19 3 reviews | #33 0 reviews |
| Extended Stay | #17 1 reviews | — |
By Region
| Segment |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Europe ▾ | #14 13 reviews | #36 0 reviews |
Choosing between Gastfreund | Hotelcore and Great Stay App hinges on your hotel’s specific needs and priorities. Both are guest communication platforms, but Gastfreund | Hotelcore boasts more reviews, more recent feedback, and a broader international footprint, making it the more established option. Great Stay App, while innovative, has yet to accumulate reviews or evidence of widespread adoption, which limits its reliability for now. So, which platform aligns better with your hotel’s goals?
Gastfreund | Hotelcore provides a comprehensive guest experience system, focusing on digital guest directories, info channels, and automation tools designed to reduce front desk inquiries and improve guest engagement. Its emphasis on seamless integrations with PMS and partner systems streamlines operations, freeing your staff to focus on hospitality. Conversely, Great Stay App concentrates heavily on guest communication and AI-driven insights, offering features like guest profiles and feedback analysis, but lacks the extensive integrations and modular options of Gastfreund.
The key divergence lies in scope and maturity. Gastfreund | Hotelcore has been operational since 2013, with over 7,000 accommodations trusting its solutions across multiple continents, including North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. It has a solid reputation backed by 11 recent reviews, a high likelihood to recommend (90%), and strong support ratings. Great Stay App, founded in 2012, has no current reviews, limited regional presence (primarily Europe), and fewer integrations, raising questions about its stability and scalability.
Are you seeking a proven, globally deployed platform with extensive features and integrations? Or are you interested in a newer, potentially innovative tool still establishing its reputation?
If your hotel needs a full-fledged digital guest experience platform with proven results, go with Gastfreund | Hotelcore. Its broad feature set, proven customer support, extensive integrations, and positive review trends make it suitable for properties of all sizes, especially those with complex operations or multiple guest touchpoints.
If your hotel primarily wants a communication-focused app, and you’re willing to accept the risks of a less proven platform, Great Stay App might appeal. Its unique feature of guest profiles can help tailor interactions and enhance guest engagement, but the lack of reviews and limited regional presence suggest it’s less established. For hotels prioritizing reliability and proven ROI, Gastfreund remains the safer choice.
Gastfreund | Hotelcore scores a 4.27/5 for ease of use, with high marks for onboarding (4.44/5) and support (4.27/5). Review comments highlight its intuitive interface, quick setup, and friendly support team, making staff adoption straightforward. Meanwhile, Great Stay App offers no reviews or user ratings, leaving its usability unverified. Its absence from review data suggests it may not yet have a mature or user-friendly interface.
Edge: Gastfreund | Hotelcore.
Gastfreund | Hotelcore hosts 11 shared features, including digital guest directories, info channels, and automation tools, with no exclusive features listed. Great Stay App offers a single unique feature: guest profiles. While guest profiles can personalize communication, the platform lacks other functionalities like digital directories or multi-channel communication.
Given the broader feature set and proven integrations, Gastfreund | Hotelcore in total offers more tools to improve guest experience and streamline operations. The presence of more features suggests greater flexibility and value.
Edge: Gastfreund | Hotelcore.
Gastfreund | Hotelcore’s customer support scores 4.27/5, with reviews praising its quick, friendly, and solution-oriented responses. Users report that support staff are proactive and accommodating, easing onboarding and troubleshooting. Great Stay App provides no publicly available support ratings or recent reviews, so its service quality remains uncertain.
In the absence of data for Great Stay App, Gastfreund’s support reputation clearly favors it for hotels that prioritize reliable assistance.
Edge: Gastfreund | Hotelcore.
Gastfreund | Hotelcore integrates with 13 verified partners, including RoomRaccoon, Winhotel, SiteMinder, and Mews, covering a broad spectrum of PMS, booking engines, and distribution platforms. Great Stay App only has 2 verified integrations, sharing RoomRaccoon but lacking other major partner connections.
This extensive integration network enables Gastfreund | Hotelcore to fit into complex tech stacks, making it more adaptable to your existing systems.
Edge: Gastfreund | Hotelcore.
Gastfreund | Hotelcore boasts 11 reviews from the last six months, with a 90% likelihood to recommend and an overall rating of 0/5 (indicating more qualitative than quantitative feedback). The recent reviews focus on its ease of use, support, and digital solutions, showing a consistent positive trend.
Great Stay App has no reviews, making it impossible to gauge user satisfaction. Without recent feedback, its rating remains unverified.
Edge: Gastfreund | Hotelcore.
Gastfreund | Hotelcore charges a flat $400 monthly fee, with no freemium, trial, or implementation costs listed. Its transparent pricing makes budgeting straightforward. For Great Stay App, pricing details are unavailable—no information on costs, subscription models, or trial options is provided.
The lack of transparent pricing for Great Stay App complicates the decision, favoring Gastfreund | Hotelcore for clarity and predictability.
Gastfreund | Hotelcore delivers a well-rounded, reliable digital guest experience platform with ample features, integrations, and proven support. Its international presence and recent reviews make it the safer choice for hotels seeking a mature solution capable of supporting complex operations.
Great Stay App offers innovative guest profiles and AI insights but remains unproven at scale. If your hotel values a new approach and is willing to accept limited support and reviews, it may fit your needs—though caution is advised.
For most hotels seeking stability, proven functionality, and extensive integration options, Gastfreund | Hotelcore stands out as the superior choice.
Hotel Guest Apps pricing is rarely straightforward. Here is what we know from each vendor's public pricing data. Always request a custom quote for your property size.
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | From $100/mo | — |
These are the features each vendor has configured, organized by feature group — the same data shown in the vendor dashboard. Expand a group to compare features side by side.
| Feature |
|
|
|---|---|---|
|
▾
Communication & Messaging
|
|
|
| Automatic Translations (Multi-Lingual) | ||
| Request Management | ||
| Room Service Ordering | ||
| Guest Messaging | ||
| App download | ||
| Web-app | ||
|
▾
Content Management
|
|
|
| Hotel Directory | ||
| Guest Profiles | ||
| Local Recommendations | ||
| Web-app | ||
|
▾
Upselling
|
|
|
| Payments | ||
| Room Service Ordering | ||
|
▾
Request Management
|
|
|
| Request Management | ||
| Room Service Ordering | ||
| Mobile Checkout | ||
| Mobile Checkin |
We analyzed 3 verified case studies to compare what hotels actually achieve with each platform across four key business objectives.
"To us, digitalisation means not replacing humanity, but strengthening it. With Gastfreund and the integration of our hotel software Casablanca, we have simplified processes while s..."
No published case study for this goal yet.
What hoteliers love
Positive reviews consistently praise Gastfreund’s onboarding, training, and quick support response when issues arise. At the same time, one review rep... Positive reviews consistently praise Gastfreund’s onboarding, training, and quick support response when issues arise. At the same time, one review reports very slow responses and poor handling of a business relationship, so service consistency appears to matter a lot to buyers.
Reviewers frequently describe Gastfreund as intuitive for both guests and hotel teams, with straightforward setup, customization, and day-to-day use.... Reviewers frequently describe Gastfreund as intuitive for both guests and hotel teams, with straightforward setup, customization, and day-to-day use. Ease of administration is seen as important because it lowers internal effort and makes it faster to launch and maintain the guest app.
Reviewers most often say Gastfreund centralizes essential hotel information so guests can find Wi‑Fi, check-out times, house rules, amenities, and pro... Reviewers most often say Gastfreund centralizes essential hotel information so guests can find Wi‑Fi, check-out times, house rules, amenities, and property details instantly on their own devices. Hotels see this as a practical way to improve the guest experience while reducing repetitive staff questions at reception.
Where hoteliers push back
Many hotels use Gastfreund to showcase regional attractions, excursions, hiking tips, and leisure activities, helping increase guest engagement and po... Many hotels use Gastfreund to showcase regional attractions, excursions, hiking tips, and leisure activities, helping increase guest engagement and potentially drive ancillary revenue. Reviewers like the ability to inspire guests before and during the stay, though some note they must manually create a lot of this content.
Several reviews mention multilingual functionality as a key requirement, especially for international or seasonal guests. While the ability to offer m... Several reviews mention multilingual functionality as a key requirement, especially for international or seasonal guests. While the ability to offer multiple languages is seen as valuable, users also report translation gaps, incomplete coverage, and weaker quality in some languages, which can limit usefulness.
Ranks higher for
Where the ratings diverge most
It depends on your requirements. Gastfreund and Great Stay App share many core Hotel Guest Apps features, but each has unique capabilities. Gastfreund offers 16 verified integration partners, while Great Stay App offers 2. Review the feature comparison above to see where they differ before switching.
Small hotels should prioritize ease of use and fast onboarding. Gastfreund leads in ease of use at 4.6/5 vs 0.0/5. Look for transparent pricing and a trial or demo option. Filter reviews on each product page by property size to hear from hotels like yours.
Gastfreund: No. Great Stay App: No. Neither product currently offers a free tier. Most Hotel Guest Apps vendors offer demos or trials — request one from each to evaluate before committing.
The HT Score is a composite ranking that considers 4 criteria groups and over a dozen variables to help hoteliers objectively compare hotel technology products. Gastfreund has an HT Score of 80 and Great Stay App has 0. Here is how the score is calculated.
| Criteria Group | Weight | What It Measures |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Ratings & Reviews |
|
How highly do users recommend this product? Ratings Score, Review Volume, Share of Voice, Review Depth, Review Recency, Success Stories ▾ The most heavily weighted factor. Analyzes average satisfaction ratings (likelihood to recommend, ease of use, support, ROI), total review count relative to category peers, review recency (at least 20 reviews in the trailing 6 months), and share of voice across unique hotel clients to detect selection bias. |
| Partner Ecosystem |
|
How highly do tech partners recommend this company? Partner Recommendations, Integration Quantity, Integration Quality ▾ Evaluates partner recommendations as expert votes of confidence, the number of verified integrations, and ecosystem quality — the average HT Scores of integration partners. Products with higher-quality integration ecosystems are more likely to deliver a connected tech stack. |
| Customer Centricity |
|
How customer-centric is this organization? Certified Support, Review Consistency, Profile Completeness ▾ Assesses whether the company has earned HTR Customer Support Certification, maintains consistent review collection over time (an indicator of feedback-driven culture), and keeps product profiles complete with capabilities, screenshots, pricing, and features. |
| Reach, Staying Power & Resources |
|
How extensive is this company's reach and resourcing? Geographic Reach, Staying Power, Company Resources, Trending Score ▾ Measures global presence (countries and regions served), years in business as a stability proxy, team headcount as a resource proxy, and a trending score based on trailing-twelve-month buyer inquiries, reviews, partner recommendations, and press activity. |
Customer ratings and reviews are by far the most important factor in the HT Score algorithm. HTR does not accept payment for higher rankings. All reviews are verified — only hotel industry practitioners with confirmed affiliations can submit ratings. View full HT Score methodology →
Custom recommendations tailored to your property