A Smoobu alternative for vacation rentals

Smoobu is a serious, popular tool: a channel manager with real-time sync, plenty of integrations and reasonable pricing at around €29-39 per month. The question isn’t whether Smoobu is good — it’s which problem you want to solve. If you’re after a channel manager you configure and maintain yourself, it delivers. If what you want is a custom direct-booking website, built by a team, with Spanish requirements — traveller registration, tourist tax — handled out of the box, that’s Kanarix territory.

Kanarix vs Smoobu: quick comparison

What Smoobu does well

Its strength is the channel manager: direct API connections with Booking, Airbnb and other portals, with real-time sync of prices and availability — faster than standard iCal. On top of that there’s a wide integration ecosystem (dynamic pricing, smart locks, cleaning tools), an included website builder and a fair price for what it offers. As a self-service tool, it’s among the best in its category.

Where it falls short for an owner in Spain

Smoobu is self-service and global, and those are its two limits. Self-service means onboarding, the website, copy, photos, pricing and maintenance are on you; the resulting site comes from a template and looks like the others. And as a global product, Spanish specifics — the SES.Hospedajes traveller report, the tourist tax — aren’t its core: you end up solving them with extra configuration or separate tools. The hidden cost is your time.

How Kanarix is different

Kanarix is a turnkey service focused on direct bookings: a custom website with your brand, a booking engine with 0% commission, online payments (card, Bizum, Apple Pay and Google Pay), deposit/balance splits and a card-hold security deposit, plus a guest portal with digital check-in that collects the traveller registration data. Tourist tax is calculated automatically and guest emails (pre-arrival and post-stay) run on their own. All built by us in about 2 weeks, with support included.

Let’s be honest about sync

Here Smoobu wins: its real-time channel manager is objectively stronger if you move high volume across several OTAs at once. Kanarix syncs calendars via iCal, which has a lag of minutes; it’s designed to keep the double-booking risk to a minimum and is enough for most owners with a few properties. If your number-one priority is a professional multi-channel manager, Smoobu is a reasonable pick.

Pricing compared

Smoobu costs about €29-39 per month depending on plan and property count, plus your setup and maintenance time. Kanarix costs a one-time €490 setup and €49 per month for the first property (€15 per extra), with custom design, Spanish compliance and support included, one month free on annual billing and a 60-day money-back guarantee. Yes, it’s more per month — because the work is done for you.

Who each one is for

Smoobu fits if you’re comfortable with digital tools, work with many OTAs and want real-time sync you manage yourself. Kanarix fits if you have 1 to 10 properties in the Canary Islands or the rest of Spain and want a professional direct channel, with the Spanish legal side handled, without building or maintaining anything yourself.

How to switch without losing bookings

Switching models doesn’t mean turning off what already works overnight. The move happens in steps, in parallel, and is usually ready in about 2 weeks:

• ✓You share your properties, photos, seasonal pricing and rules. We build the custom site with your brand.
• ✓We connect calendars via iCal with Booking, Airbnb and any portals you already use, so booked dates block automatically and the double-booking risk is kept to a minimum.
• ✓We turn on online payments (card, Bizum, Apple Pay and Google Pay) straight to your account, with no portal holds.
• ✓We launch your site and you start taking direct bookings, keeping the portals as a discovery channel.
• ✓Over time, you reconvert guests who arrived via a portal into direct bookings on their next stays.

What Kanarix includes (and you don’t pay extra for)

• ✓Custom design with your brand — not a generic template.
• ✓Ongoing support included in the price, also after launch.
• ✓Calendar (iCal) sync with Booking and Airbnb to reduce the double-booking risk.
• ✓Secure online payments (card, Bizum, Apple Pay and Google Pay) straight to your account.
• ✓Multilingual site optimised for local SEO and AI search.

Pricing is transparent: a one-time €490 setup, €49 per month for the first property and €15 per month per extra property, with one month free on annual billing and a 60-day money-back guarantee. Your system is live in about 2 weeks.

Frequently asked questions

How is Kanarix different from Smoobu?

The model: Smoobu is a global self-service tool you configure yourself, with a real-time channel manager at its core. Kanarix is a turnkey direct-booking service for Spain: custom website, 0% commission, traveller registration and tourist tax included, and ongoing support.

Does Smoobu charge commission per booking?

No, it’s subscription-based (~€29-39/mo). Kanarix doesn’t charge commission on direct bookings either; the difference is who does the setup and maintenance work, and the Spanish compliance included.

Is Kanarix’s iCal sync enough?

For most small owners, yes: calendars sync via iCal to keep the double-booking risk to a minimum, though with a lag of minutes. If you manage heavy simultaneous volume across several OTAs, a real-time channel manager like Smoobu’s has the edge.

How does Kanarix handle traveller registration (SES.Hospedajes)?

The guest portal includes digital check-in: each traveller fills in their details from their phone before arrival, and you receive them structured and ready to report, along with a digitally signed house-rules agreement.

How much does Kanarix cost?

A one-time €490 setup, €49 per month for the first property and €15 per month per extra property, with one month free on annual billing and a 60-day money-back guarantee.