I run hotels in Sweden and built BookingWatch for them, so this comparison is written by an interested party. To keep it fair, every Opally fact below comes from Opally's own website as it read on 7 October 2026, with a link at the end. If something was not published there, the table says so. Check the vendor's site before you decide — prices and plans change.
BookingWatch and Opally side by side
| Opally | BookingWatch | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI receptionist for hotels: e-mail and website chat on Starter; Pro adds voice and WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram | AI assistant that answers the hotel's reservation e-mails |
| How e-mail is handled | Drafts replies; you can approve every action or let it act on routine ones | The hotel chooses: drafts that staff approve, or replies sent automatically |
| Inbox connection | Gmail and Outlook listed as integrations | Your existing inbox over IMAP — any e-mail provider that supports IMAP |
| Availability, prices and bookings | PMS integrations (Mews, Apaleo and Opera Cloud named on its site); Starter includes agent actions and autonomous booking | Availability and prices fetched from your booking system, provided it exports them |
| Pricing model | Per room per month, with a monthly minimum | Monthly fee incl. a number of answered e-mails, then per answered e-mail, with a monthly cap |
| Price | Starter €4/room/month; Pro €6/room/month; Enterprise custom | €45/month incl. 100 answered e-mails, then €0.25 per e-mail, never more than €179/month |
| Minimum per month | Starter €100; Pro €150 | €45 (the monthly fee) |
| Binding period | Not published; the site says "cancel anytime" | None |
| Free trial | 14 days, no credit card required | 30 days |
| Setup fee | None stated ("no setup fees") | None |
| Languages | 100+ languages | Reads e-mails in any language; replies in the languages the hotel chooses |
| Other channels | Website chat (Starter); voice, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram (Pro) | E-mail only |
BookingWatch prices exclude VAT. Opally's page did not say whether its prices include VAT.
What it costs: three example hotels
The two price models follow different things. Opally's price follows your number of rooms; BookingWatch's price follows the number of e-mails it answers. To compare them you need both numbers for your hotel. The e-mail volumes below are assumptions for illustration — count your own from last month's reservation inbox.
| Example | Rooms | Answered e-mails / month | Opally Starter | Opally Pro | BookingWatch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small hotel or B&B | 10 | 150 | €100 | €150 | €57.50 |
| Mid-size hotel | 25 | 400 | €100 | €150 | €120 |
| Larger hotel | 60 | 900 | €240 | €360 | €179 cap |
Assumptions: Opally = rooms × the published price per room, or the plan's monthly minimum if that is higher (Starter is Opally's lowest plan that includes e-mail; Pro adds voice and messaging apps). BookingWatch = €45 including 100 answered e-mails, plus €0.25 per additional answered e-mail, capped at €179 (reached at about 636 answered e-mails). Spam, newsletters, OTA notifications and automatic replies are not counted. Enterprise plans, discounts and VAT are not included.
With today's prices, BookingWatch has the lower monthly price in 2 of these 3 examples. The pattern behind the numbers: a hotel with few rooms pays Opally's minimum regardless of how few e-mails it gets, while BookingWatch costs less in quiet months. A hotel with many e-mails per room reaches BookingWatch's per-e-mail charges faster, and there Opally Starter can be the lower price. Remember that the two prices do not buy the same thing — Opally Starter also includes website chat.
When Opally is the better choice
- You want more than e-mail. If website chat, phone calls or WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram matter as much as the inbox, Opally covers those channels in one product. BookingWatch answers e-mail only.
- You want the AI to act in your PMS. Opally names integrations with Mews, Apaleo and Opera Cloud and lists agent actions and autonomous booking on its Starter plan. If that is your setup and you want bookings made directly, check Opally first.
- Many e-mails per room. A hotel that receives a lot of e-mail relative to its size — for example a small venue with many event inquiries — can pay less with a per-room price.
- Several properties. Opally's Enterprise plan is set up for multiple properties, with an account manager and SLA.
When BookingWatch is the better choice
- Small or seasonal hotels. You pay per answered e-mail, so a quiet month costs little — and the monthly cap of €179 limits the busiest one.
- E-mail is your main channel. If guests mostly write to your reservation address, you do not pay for channels you do not use.
- Any inbox. BookingWatch connects over IMAP, so it works with your current e-mail provider, whether that is a large one or your web host's mail.
- Draft or automatic — your choice. Start with drafts that staff approve and switch to automatic replies when you trust them.
- No binding period and no setup fee. 30 days free, then cancel at the end of any month.
- Built by hotel owners. We use BookingWatch in our own hotels, so it is shaped by the e-mails a small hotel actually gets.
Current BookingWatch prices are always on the pricing page. For a checklist that applies to any tool, read AI e-mail assistant for hotels; for the Norwegian alternative, see BookingWatch vs Altek.
Switching, or trying both
- Count first. Note your number of rooms and how many guest e-mails you answered last month, in a quiet and a busy month. Put both into the cost table above.
- Test in draft mode. Both tools offer a free trial. If you test both at once on the same inbox, keep both in draft mode so a guest never gets two replies.
- Use the same test e-mails. Pick ten typical (anonymized) guest e-mails — availability, parking, late arrival, cancellation, a group inquiry — and compare the drafts for accuracy, tone and language.
- Check what happens when the answer is unknown. Ask something your fact sheet does not cover. A good assistant asks or hands over rather than guessing.
- Switch cleanly. Turn automatic sending off in the old tool before turning it on in the new one, and confirm the cancellation terms in writing.
Source: Opally, homepage with plans and pricing, retrieved 2026-10-07 (plans, per-room prices and minimums, plan contents, 14-day trial without credit card, "no setup fees", "cancel anytime", approval vs automatic actions, Gmail/Outlook and PMS integrations, 100+ languages). BookingWatch prices: pricing page.