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 12 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:
Sojern shines in ease of use and customer support , with exclusive features like Guest profiles and Guest Feedback Module (comment cards/reviews).
WhatCounts shines .
Side-by-side ratings based on 12 verified hotelier reviews on HTR.
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| Likelihood to Recommend |
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| Ease of Use |
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| Customer Support |
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| Value for Money |
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| Starting Price | From $400/mo | Contact sales |
| Verified Reviews | 12 | 0 |
How each product ranks among Hotel CRM & Email Marketing vendors for different property sizes, types, and regions — based on verified reviews from hoteliers in each segment.
By Hotel Size
| Segment |
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| Small (10-24 rooms) | #20 1 reviews | — |
| Mid-Size (25-74 rooms) ▾ | #21 7 reviews | — |
| Large (75-199 rooms) | #16 2 reviews | — |
| X-Large (200+ rooms) | #14 2 reviews | — |
By Property Type
| Segment |
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| Boutique | #21 4 reviews | — |
| Luxury | #27 1 reviews | — |
| Branded / Chain | #21 4 reviews | — |
| Extended Stay | #29 0 reviews | — |
By Region
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| North America ▾ | #9 9 reviews | — |
| Europe | #28 2 reviews | — |
| Asia Pacific | #18 0 reviews | — |
| Middle East | #15 0 reviews | — |
Choosing between Sojern Guest Marketing Suite by Sojern and WhatCounts hinges on your hotel’s specific needs for guest engagement and email marketing. Both platforms aim to refine your communication with guests, but they differ heavily in features, regional presence, and user feedback. Given the current landscape, your decision should reflect the importance of recent reviews and active user engagement.
Sojern offers a targeted guest engagement platform built specifically for hotels, with comprehensive features and a growing regional footprint. WhatCounts, on the other hand, is an email marketing service with a broader travel industry focus but lacks recent reviews and regional depth. Which solution truly aligns with your hotel’s strategic goals?
Both products serve to enhance your guest relationship management, but Sojern is tailored explicitly for hospitality. It emphasizes multi-channel communication (email, SMS, chat) at all guest journey stages, making it ideal for hotels seeking a full-spectrum guest engagement tool. WhatCounts primarily focuses on email campaign management with a broader travel industry scope, which may appeal to hotels with complex email marketing needs but less emphasis on guest-specific engagement.
Sojern's recent reviews and high ratings—4.92/5 for customer support and 4.91/5 for onboarding—highlight its strong reputation for hospitality-specific service. WhatCounts, with no current reviews and no recent user feedback, lacks the recent validation that hoteliers rely on when selecting a partner. Do you prioritize a platform with proven hotel-focused support and features?
If your hotel needs a comprehensive guest marketing system capable of engaging guests through multiple channels pre-, during, and post-stay, go with Sojern. Its suite includes 11 unique features such as guest profiles, segmentation, and a guest feedback module, making it ideal for hotels wanting targeted, personalized outreach.
If your focus is solely on sophisticated email campaign management and you already have other tools to handle guest relationships, WhatCounts might be suitable—though the lack of recent reviews and features makes it less compelling. For most hotels, Sojern’s dedicated hospitality focus and recent positive feedback make it the stronger choice.
Sojern's UI scores 4.75/5 in ease of use, with a highly recent onboarding rating of 4.91/5, reflecting a smooth setup process and user-friendly interface. Its extensive reviews emphasize a platform that’s simple to reconcile with reservations and manage marketing campaigns, even for users new to guest engagement tools.
WhatCounts has no recent reviews or user ratings available, making it difficult to assess its usability or onboarding experience. Without recent user feedback or a dedicated hospitality interface, it’s likely less intuitive for hotel staff. Edge: Sojern.
Sojern’s platform boasts 11 features exclusive to it, including campaign and transactional templates, guest profiles, GDPR and CCPA compliance, automatic de-duplication, database health monitoring, PCI compliance, segmentation, a guest feedback module, and a centralized data warehouse. These features directly support personalized guest communication and data security.
WhatCounts offers no unique features listed and appears more generalized for broader travel and leisure marketing. Its lack of specific hotel-centric tools makes Sojern’s feature set significantly more suited to hotel marketers. Edge: Sojern.
Sojern’s customer support scores impressively at 4.92/5, with recent reviews praising its personalized service and helpful onboarding. A reviewer highlighted how the platform is easy to reconcile reservations and monitor bookings, with ongoing support that extends to monthly updates.
With no recent reviews or support ratings available for WhatCounts, it's impossible to gauge its service quality. Given the positive recent feedback for Sojern, it clearly provides more reliable support tailored for hospitality clients. Edge: Sojern.
Sojern integrates with 33 verified partners, including major hotel and booking platforms like Profitroom, Mirai, HOTELTIME, ROIBACK, and Net Affinity. This extensive list facilitates seamless operation within your existing property management and distribution systems.
WhatCounts has no verified integrations listed, which could limit its adaptability within hotel tech stacks. For hotels seeking a platform that connects easily with their current systems, Sojern’s broader integration network is advantageous. Edge: Sojern.
Sojern’s recent reviews, totaling 12 over the last six months, reflect high satisfaction, with a perfect likelihood to recommend score of 100%. Hotels of various segments, including boutique and limited service hotels, praise its ease of use, support, and features.
WhatCounts, with no recent reviews or ratings, cannot currently be compared on user sentiment. The recent positive feedback for Sojern makes it the more trusted option from a user perspective. Edge: Sojern.
Sojern’s pricing starts at a flat $400 monthly fee, with no trial period or additional implementation costs listed. Its straightforward pricing simplifies budgeting for your hotel’s marketing budget.
WhatCounts provides no specific pricing details, limiting direct comparisons. Without transparent costs, its value proposition remains unclear. For budget planning, Sojern’s clear pricing makes it the preferable choice.
Not ideal if your hotel relies solely on email campaigns without a need for guest profiles or integrated messaging. Hotels that prefer a broad, generalized email marketing tool without a hospitality focus may find Sojern’s features unnecessary.
Not ideal if your hotel needs a full guest engagement suite or values recent reviews and dedicated hospitality features. Smaller hotels or those new to email marketing may find the lack of recent feedback and integrations limiting.
The core difference lies in focus: Sojern is built specifically for hotels, offering a suite of features tailored to guest engagement, with strong recent reviews and support. WhatCounts, while capable as an email platform, lacks recent validation, hotel-specific tools, and regional presence, making it less attractive for most hoteliers.
Choose Sojern if your hotel prioritizes a dedicated, multi-channel guest marketing platform with proven support and integrations. Opt for WhatCounts only if your marketing team requires a sophisticated email tool and can manage without recent reviews or hotel-specific features.
For most hotels, Sojern’s recent reviews, comprehensive feature set, and active customer support make it the more reliable choice. Its focus on hospitality ensures your team can better build guest relationships and increase revenue through targeted, relevant communication.
Hotel CRM & Email Marketing 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.
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| Starting Price | From $400/mo | — |
According to HTR's product database, Sojern Guest Marketing Suite and WhatCounts share 0 features. Here are the key differences — features one has that the other lacks.
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| Automatic De-Duping | ||
| CCPA Compliant | ||
| Campaign Templates | ||
| GDPR Compliant | ||
| Guest profiles | ||
| Transactional Templates |
Unique capabilities
Where the ratings diverge most
It depends on your requirements. Sojern Guest Marketing Suite and WhatCounts share many core Hotel CRM & Email Marketing features, but each has unique capabilities. Sojern Guest Marketing Suite offers 33 verified integration partners, while WhatCounts offers 0. Review the feature comparison above to see where they differ before switching.
Small hotels should prioritize ease of use and fast onboarding. Sojern Guest Marketing Suite leads in ease of use at 4.8/5 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.
Sojern Guest Marketing Suite: No. WhatCounts: No. Neither product currently offers a free tier. Most Hotel CRM & Email Marketing 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. Sojern has an HT Score of 0 and WhatCounts has 0. Here is how the score is calculated.
| Criteria Group | Weight | What It Measures |
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| Customer Ratings & Reviews |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 →
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