Guest Communication
Chekin
Guest registration, ID verification, and EU compliance for short-term rentals
Best for Enterprise
The default guest-registration layer for EU short-term rental operators
From €3.95 • No free trial
Comparison
Chekin vs Touch Stay
Pricing, pros and cons, and buyer-fit side-by-side. Pick the one that matches your operation — or see why neither should.
Guest Communication
Touch Stay
Digital guidebooks that cut guest questions by up to 80%
Solid Option
Feature-rich digital guidebook platform with a premium price tag
From $8.25/listing • Free trial
✓Editorial verdict
Which Should You Pick: Chekin or Touch Stay?
Pick Chekin if you operate STRs in Europe and need automated police and tourism authority reporting, ID verification, and tourist tax collection alongside your PMS. Pick Touch Stay if your priority is a digital guidebook platform with bundled guest communication, upselling, and review collection — and you have no regulatory filing obligation.
Editorial perspective from the Chekin side; factual claims about Touch Stay are drawn from its review.
Pricing Side-by-Side
Chekin
Full pricing →From €3.95 • No free trial
Basic
€3.95/property/mo
- Online check-in and guest registration
- Police/tourism authority reporting
- Tourist tax collection
Premium
€5.95/property/mo
- Everything in Basic
- One premium feature: ID verification, virtual keys, Guest App, digital guide, unified inbox, or e-invoicing
- Payment processing 1.5% + €0.99/transaction; 1% upselling commission
Enterprise
€7.95/property/mo
- Everything in Premium
- Customized configuration ('Personalizado')
- Same 3-unit monthly / 20-unit annual minimums
Touch Stay
Full pricing →From $8.25/listing • Free trial
Annual plan
$8.25/mo per property ($99/yr)
Per property
- Digital guidebook (PWA)
- Email and SMS messaging
- Upsell widget
- 5-star review popup
- Contact collection
- Analytics dashboard
- PMS integrations
Monthly plan
Higher per-property rate (exact pricing varies)
Per property
- All features in annual plan
What each tool does well — and where it falls short
What Chekin does well
Police reporting coverage spans 20+ countries
Hotel Tech Report (accessed 2026-04-25) says Chekin handles 'police reporting (20+ countries)' alongside ID verification, digital signatures, tourist tax, and deposits. Removes manual filing for operators in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, and beyond.
Slots alongside ~35+ named PMS and channel partners
The vendor integrations page lists Guesty, Hostaway, Cloudbeds, Lodgify, Smoobu, Mews, OwnerRez, Hostfully, Avantio, Hospitable, and more. Operators don't need to swap their stack to add a compliance layer.
Documented public REST API with self-serve API key generation
Chekin's public API documentation covers Reservations, Housing, Rooms, Police, and Stats endpoints with HTTPS-only access. Operators can build embedded check-in pages or pipe data into custom dashboards.
What Touch Stay does well
Reduces guest questions by up to 80%
Thousands of hosts report significant time savings from automated responses and comprehensive digital guidebooks, with 92% of users reporting happier guests.
No-download progressive web app
Guests access guidebooks directly on their devices without downloading anything. They can optionally add to their home screen for offline access with a custom icon.
Extensive bundled features beyond guidebooks
Touch Stay bundles email and SMS messaging, an upsell widget, a 5-star review popup, contact collection, and an analytics dashboard — reducing the need for separate tools.
Where Chekin falls short
Customer support repeatedly described as unresponsive in 2024–2025 reviews
A January 2025 Capterra review says 'Support is zero. We sent several emails... without success.' Capterra customer service score sits at 2.3/5 across multiple reviews — the most consistent negative signal across independent sources.
Minimums force small hosts to overpay
Vendor pricing page requires 3 units monthly or 20 units annually. A 1- or 2-property host pays for 3 units they don't have on monthly billing, and the annual discount is locked behind a 20-unit commitment.
Compliance value is overwhelmingly EU-centric
Authority connectors include Policía Nacional, Guardia Civil, SES.HOSPEDAJES, Alloggiati Web, ISTAT, SEF Portugal, eVisitor, and Feratel — with limited non-EU coverage (Dubai Police, EMAAR). US operators pay the per-property rate without the police-reporting feature that anchors the value prop.
Where Touch Stay falls short
No permanent free tier
Touch Stay offers only a 14-day trial with no free plan, making it harder for small operators to test long-term before committing.
Higher cost than key competitors
Competitors like GoGuidebook offer similar digital guidebook functionality at roughly 25% lower cost, which adds up for larger portfolios.
Cumbersome multi-guide management
While you can duplicate and edit guidebooks, syncing changes between multiple guides for similar properties is tedious and error-prone.
Which Should You Pick
Pick Chekin if
European STR operators in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, and France who must submit guest data to police or tourism registries and want online check-in, ID verification, and tourist tax collection in one workflow.
Skip Chekin if
You're a sub-3-property US/non-EU host with no police-registration obligation, or you require fast, responsive customer support.
Pick Touch Stay if
Larger vacation rental portfolios (10+ properties) already integrated with PMSs like Hostaway or Guesty who want comprehensive guest communication tools with upselling features.
Skip Touch Stay if
Small operators (1–5 properties) who prefer free options or don't need extensive PMS integrations — competitors like GuestIntro offer similar functionality at lower cost.
Where Chekin and Touch Stay actually differ
- Chekin starts at €3.95/property/mo (Basic) up to €7.95 (Enterprise) with a 3-unit monthly minimum or 20-unit annual minimum and no free trial; Touch Stay starts at $8.25/property/mo on annual plans ($99/yr) with a 14-day free trial and no unit minimums.
- Chekin's core value is regulatory compliance: police and tourism authority reporting in 20+ countries, ID verification, and tourist tax collection. Touch Stay's core is a digital guidebook PWA with bundled guest communication, upselling, review collection, and analytics.
- Chekin charges transaction fees on deposits (1.5% + €0.30) and $2.50–$4 per booking for Waivo damage protection on top of its per-property subscription; Touch Stay uses flat per-property pricing with no disclosed transaction fees.
- Chekin integrates with 35+ PMS, channel, and smart-lock partners (including Guesty, Hostaway, Cloudbeds, Nuki) and offers open API access; Touch Stay lists 10+ native integrations (Hostaway, Guesty, OwnerRez) with limited API access.
- Both rate "great" for multi-channel operators, but Chekin is strongest for mid-portfolios (10–50 EU units needing compliance) while Touch Stay is strongest for large portfolios where the per-listing cost is offset by up to 80% fewer guest questions.
Common objections
- Touch Stay claims up to 80% fewer guest questions — isn't that a bigger operational win than Chekin's compliance focus?
- For operators with no police-registration obligation (most US hosts), yes — Touch Stay's guidebook-first approach directly reduces repetitive inquiries, and Chekin's per-property fee buys compliance value you can't use. For EU operators where police filing is mandatory, the math flips: manual registration costs more time per booking than answering guest questions. They solve different problems — Chekin removes a regulatory burden, Touch Stay removes a communication burden.
- Touch Stay has a 14-day free trial and no minimums — Chekin requires 3 units monthly or 20 annually. Doesn't that make Touch Stay friendlier for small hosts?
- It does. Chekin's minimums penalize 1–2 property hosts who'd pay for units they don't have, and the 20-unit annual minimum locks the discount behind a portfolio commitment. Both tools rate 'skip' for small portfolios, but Touch Stay at least lets you trial before committing. Chekin's pricing is designed for operators with 3+ EU units who need compliance — outside that profile, the minimums are a real friction point.
- Chekin prices in EUR and Touch Stay in USD — how do I compare costs across currencies?
- At current rates Chekin's Basic tier (€3.95/property/mo) converts to roughly $4.30–$4.50, making it cheaper per-unit than Touch Stay's $8.25 annual rate. But the comparison isn't apples-to-apples: Chekin adds transaction fees on deposits and damage protection that Touch Stay doesn't charge. For a true cost comparison, factor in your booking volume and whether you'll use Chekin's deposit or Waivo features.
Keep Digging
Chekin
The default guest-registration layer for EU short-term rental operators
Touch Stay
Feature-rich digital guidebook platform with a premium price tag