BetterSTR’s free digital guidebook is real — unlimited properties, no credit card. The page guests actually use on the stay does not market your direct booking website. KoruStay’s live guidebook does (KoruSignal). Pio is an AI Concierge — not a FAQ chatbot: house rules, Koru Compass day plans, and live local events (concerts, sport, what’s on this week) where we have coverage. Host Analytics shows what they asked in the guide — the questions they never message and never put in a review. No ranking promise.
BetterSTR wins on price if you only need a free welcome book. Hosts who want the guidebook plus host tools and 100+ languages in the guide itself; outgrow that free tier.
Guests live in the reservation guidebook (Wi‑Fi, house rules, Ask AI). That page is private. It does not market your direct booking website. Their optional Google indexing is a separate public BetterSTR page including booking.betterstr.com. KoruStay’s published guidebook markets your Airbnb / Booking.com listings from the live guide. On Pro, Preferred Booking Link can be your site. Guests never see a switch. It does not guarantee a Google ranking.
BetterSTR “guest analytics” is what they opened and how many views. KoruStay Host Analytics is live on Performance: midnight questions in the guide — Wi‑Fi, parking, the hot tub — that they never text you and never write in a review. You see the pattern. You fix it once. Guide Health is on every plan. Guest Experience themes are Pro.
Their public language figures are 14 (paid translations), 18 (homepage), 20+ (AI). KoruStay guide UI languages are 100+ on Concierge and above, including Te Reo Māori. Free Guide stays English. Their upsells: 7% on the free guidebook, 3% on Premium / Simple. KoruStay Checkout: 4.5% Guide and Concierge, 1.5% Pro, White Label, and Agency.
BetterSTR Ask AI is a paid FAQ bot on the guidebook. Pio is an AI Concierge inside the KoruStay guidebook: your house rules, Koru Compass day plans, weather, and live dated events — concerts, sport, markets, what’s on this week — plus bookable tours where we have coverage.
The live guidebook markets your Airbnb / Booking.com / other listing pages. On Pro, Preferred Booking Link steers rebooking to your website — not a BetterSTR directory. No ranking promise.
Guests ask the guide at midnight. You see themes, not a pile of chats and not a view counter. Catch friction before it is a review. Double down on the tips they actually open.
A basic chatbot is like a vending machine. It only works if the guest presses the exact button. “What’s the Wi-Fi?” is easy. “Our flight landed early — can we drop bags and where do we get coffee while we wait?” is not. The bot gives a short or wrong answer, the guest messages you at midnight, and the review mentions they could not get help.
A chatbot’s job is to end the chat. Pio’s job is the stay. Pio reads your house rules first, then can add what’s on this week — the concert, the game, the market — where we have coverage. Guests stay in the guidebook instead of Googling and leaving.
BetterSTR Simple is US$15 a property: premium guide, Ask AI, Wi‑Fi, a tablet, TVs, 3% extras. That is a hardware-and-Wi‑Fi stack, plus PMS sync we do not have. KoruStay is not that stack. It is the live guidebook that markets your listings and your preferred booking link, plus Host Analytics, Pion, and Market Compare — on the guest’s phone.
Keep BetterSTR if you bought it for free unlimited guides and Airbnb sync. Switch when you want that guidebook to market your own booking website, and Insights instead of page views.
Protect your sensitive property data (Wi-Fi, lockbox codes) behind secure PINs.
Integrated with official government feeds to automatically warn guests of severe weather, protecting both them and your revenue from opportunistic refunds.
(For Agencies) Role provisioning, global overrides, and the Kover Engine for staff leave routing. Update 500 properties instantly.
See what professional hosts and property managers are saying about the KoruStay experience.
(click to actual review site ie. google)
Stop running a free guidebook that does not market your booking site. Join hosts who run KoruSignal, live Host Analytics, and extras from 1.5% on one dashboard.
* The Automated Safety Engine is currently active in select regions (New Zealand feeds: MetService & GeoNet). Global emergency feeds are rolling out soon.
