Bowo - Guest App vs. Crave Mobile Platform (acq by HCN):
Lequel vous convient le mieux ?

The Decision

Choosing the right guest app for your hotel involves weighing the features, user experience, and support each platform offers. Bowo’s Guest App facilitates detailed personalization and integration, while Crave’s platform emphasizes guest engagement through a broad set of features that work across various hotel types. Both aim to enhance operational efficiency and guest satisfaction but diverge significantly in their approach and maturity. Which platform aligns better with your hotel’s current needs and future plans?

Are you looking for a solution that prioritizes customization and revenue opportunities or one that emphasizes ease of use and broad functionality? The answer hinges on your hotel’s size, segment, and strategic focus.

Is Bowo or Crave Better for Hotels?

Bowo and Crave serve different hotel profiles, though both aim to improve guest engagement and streamline operations. Bowo is tailored for properties seeking deep personalization, extensive integrations, and upselling tools, making it ideal for upscale or boutique hotels aiming to differentiate through digital services. Crave, with its comprehensive, easy-to-navigate platform, suits a wide range of hotels—from luxury to mid-market—that want reliable service automation and operational efficiency.

However, Bowo’s review count and recent feedback strongly favor its ongoing development and user satisfaction, giving it a clear edge. Both platforms aim to enhance guest experiences but do so through contrasting techniques: Bowo emphasizes customization, while Crave focuses on simplicity and broad feature sets. Given the data, is your hotel prepared to prioritize advanced personalization or prefer a straightforward, reliable guest engagement solution?

Bowo vs Crave: Which Should Your Hotel Choose?

If your hotel needs intensive customization, personalized guest interactions, and deep integration with property management systems, Bowo is the better fit. It’s especially suitable for luxury and boutique hotels that want to craft unique digital experiences, as evidenced by its high customer satisfaction (ratings up to 4.75/5) and 99 reviews, the majority recent.

If your hotel prioritizes ease of use, quick deployment, and a broad set of features like contactless ordering, QR codes, and payment integrations, Crave is the superior choice. Its more extensive feature list (16 in total vs Bowo’s 2) and higher overall rating (4.75/5 from 48 reviews, all recent) indicate a more mature, widely adopted platform.

In summary, choose Bowo if customization and personalization lead your priorities. Opt for Crave if operational simplicity and broad feature coverage are more important.

Is Bowo or Crave Easier to Use?

Bowo boasts a high ease-of-use rating of 4.87/5 from nearly 100 reviews, with users praising its intuitive interface and straightforward onboarding. Clients frequently mention how quickly staff adopt the platform and how guests find it simple to navigate, even emphasizing its ergonomic design.

Crave, rated at 4.61/5 from 48 reviews, is also praised for its user-friendly interface, especially for the guest-facing app. Reviewers highlight the platform’s simplicity, but some mention that the back-end system could be more modern and faster to navigate.

Edge: Bowo.

Which Has Better Features: Bowo or Crave?

Crave’s platform offers 16 unique features, including Web-based access, QR codes, Apple Pay, in-venue ordering, contactless payments, POS integration, and upselling capabilities—features absent in Bowo. These functionalities enable a variety of guest services, from food ordering to contactless checkouts, allowing hotels to automate many operational tasks.

Bowo provides only 2 unique features—Mobile Check-in and Guest Profiles—focused on personalization and streamlined check-in processes. While these are valuable, Crave’s broader feature set provides more tools for operational automation and guest engagement.

Edge: Crave.

Which Has Better Customer Support: Bowo or Crave?

Bowo’s customer support receives a nearly perfect rating of 4.85/5 from 99 reviews, with hoteliers noting its personalized, proactive approach and quick response times. Many reviews describe support staff as available, helpful, and capable of resolving issues promptly, which greatly enhances user confidence.

Crave’s support, rated at 4.79/5 from 48 reviews, is also highly regarded, with users praising its quick responses and helpful staff. However, some reviews mention that the back-end system’s complexity could benefit from more intuitive support documentation.

Edge: Bowo.

Which Has More Integrations: Bowo or Crave?

Bowo integrates with 31 verified partners, including major PMS, CRM, and distribution systems such as Mews, Oracle Hospitality, and HiJiffy. Its extensive list allows for seamless connectivity with hotel management ecosystems, reducing manual data entry and operational silos.

Crave offers 17 verified integrations, including popular systems like Simphony, Kipsu, and InfoGenesis. While sufficient for many properties, its smaller partner network limits options for some hotels with niche or complex management setups.

Edge: Bowo.

Which Do Hoteliers Rate Higher: Bowo or Crave?

Bowo’s review score (0/5 from 97 reviews) is based on a larger, more recent set of feedback, emphasizing its ease of use, support, and customization. Hoteliers in diverse segments, especially luxury and boutique hotels, rate Bowo highly for its personalized approach and integration capabilities.

Crave’s reviews, from a smaller and slightly older set, rate the platform at 4.75/5, with many praising its reliability and feature breadth. The more recent reviews for Crave affirm its solid performance across hotel segments but lack the volume and recency that bolster Bowo’s credibility.

Given the larger review base and recent feedback, the clear edge goes to Bowo.

How Much Do Bowo and Crave Cost?

Bowo’s pricing is listed at a flat rate of $600, with no freemium options, monthly fees, or implementation costs mentioned. Its straightforward pricing makes budgeting predictable.

Crave charges a base price of $400, with no additional monthly or implementation fees listed. Without detailed pricing tiers or additional costs, both platforms seem accessible, but Bowo’s higher flat fee might reflect its broader customization and integration offerings.

What Type of Hotel Should Use Bowo?

• Hotels that prioritize personalized guest experiences, such as boutique, luxury, and branded hotels.
• Teams aiming to increase revenue through upselling and cross-selling.
• Hotels investing in deep system integrations, especially with PMS and CRM.
• Properties seeking a digital platform that can be customized to match their brand identity.
• Hotels that have a strong focus on automating pre, during, and post-stay communications.

Not ideal if:

• Your hotel needs a quick, plug-and-play solution with minimal customization.
• You operate with a small operational team or limited technological expertise.
• Your focus is primarily on functional food and beverage ordering rather than personalized guest journeys.

What Type of Hotel Should Use Crave?

• Hotels that want a reliable, easy-to-deploy guest engagement platform.
• Properties seeking to enhance operational efficiency with features like contactless ordering and payments.
• Hotels that value a broad feature set, including QR codes, Apple Pay, and in-venue ordering.
• Hotels with a diverse range of property types, especially those needing a solution adaptable across multiple departments.
• Hotels focusing on minimizing staff workload and automating guest interactions.

Not ideal if:

• Your hotel requires extensive customization or deep integration with niche PMS or CRM systems.
• Hardware durability or advanced back-end analytics are a priority.
• You prefer a platform with highly specialized features that only a few competitors offer.

Bowo vs Crave: The Bottom Line for Hotels

Bowo and Crave target different hotel needs—while Bowo emphasizes personalization, deep integration, and upselling, Crave offers a broad, easy-to-use platform that covers essential guest service automation. The choice depends on your hotel’s strategic priorities: do you want to craft a unique digital experience or streamline operational processes?

Choose Bowo if your hotel is upscale, boutique, or highly personalized, and you need a flexible system that integrates with your existing tech stack. It’s ideal for properties that want to stand out through tailored guest journeys and advanced revenue tools.

Opt for Crave if your hotel values quick deployment, ease of use, and a wide array of features covering everyday guest needs. It suits properties seeking operational reliability and a platform that works well across multiple departments without extensive customization.

In conclusion, for hotels with a focus on advanced personalization and integration, Bowo is the definitive choice. For those prioritizing operational simplicity and extensive feature coverage, Crave stands out as the more mature, reliable platform.