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Best virtual concierge for hospitality businesses

Written by Michiel de Vor | Dec 22, 2025 1:47:24 PM

 

In short: Top 5 virtual concierge in 2026

If you’re looking for the best virtual concierge for your hospitality business, these are the leading solutions in the market today and who each is best suited to:

  • Runnr.ai: Hotels, holiday parks, campings, hostels, and aparthotels with 10+ units that want maximum automation with minimal complexity.
  • HiJiffy: Hotels focused mainly on website chat and pre-booking questions.
  • Duve: Larger hotels that want digital check-in, guest apps, and upsell management.
  • Canary Technologies: US-based hotels looking for a guest management system with check-in and payments.
  • Chatlyn: Tech-forward hotels that want a broad, all-in-one platform.

In this article, we explore each of these solutions in more detail. 

 

Note: The information in this article is a subjective opinion based on publicly available details at the time of writing (May 2026). Vendors may update their offerings, so we recommend checking the provider’s official website for the latest information.

 

What is a virtual concierge?

A virtual concierge is a digital assistant that helps guests before, during, and after their stay—without relying on your front desk team.

In practice, a good virtual concierge can:

  • Answer guest questions instantly (check-in time, parking, breakfast, facilities)

  • Communicate via WhatsApp, SMS, webchat, and OTA inboxes

  • Handle guest requests (late checkout, extra towels, housekeeping)

  • Send upsell offers automatically (room upgrades, parking, add-ons)

  • Work 24/7 in multiple languages

For hotels, holiday parks, campings, hostels, and aparthotels, this means less repetitive work for staff and a better guest experience at scale.

Best virtual concierge software compared

1. Runnr.ai

Description: Runnr.ai is an AI-powered virtual concierge built specifically for hotels, holiday parks, campings, hostels & aparthotels.

Website: https://www.runnr.ai 

Best suited for: Hotels, holiday parks, campings, hostels, and aparthotels with 10+ units that want maximum automation with minimal complexity.

Why choose Runnr.ai:

  • Automates up to 95% of guest interactions, from pre-booking to post check-out

  • Reduces inbound emails, calls, and messages by up to 75%

  • Proactive WhatsApp or SMS messaging before guests even ask

  • Chat-native upsells and request management (not just links or web apps)

  • Simple, transparent pricing per room or unit

2. HiJiffy

Description: HiJiffy is a guest messaging and chatbot platform.

Website: https://www.hijiffy.com 

Best suited for: Hotels focused mainly on website chat and pre-booking questions.

Things to consider:

  • Strong chatbot and booking assistant

  • More limited in-stay and post-booking automation

  • Works well for lead generation, but is less complete as a full virtual concierge across the stay

3. Duve

Description: Duve is a guest experience platform with check-in and upsell capabilities.

Website: https://www.duve.com 

Best suited for: Larger hotels that want digital check-in, guest apps, and upsell management.

Things to consider:

  • Very powerful guest experience platform

  • Guest experience often depends on web apps instead of chat

  • Extensive feature set, but may be more than what smaller or lean teams need

4. Canary Technologies

Description: Canary Technologies provides a guest management system, popular in the US.

Website: https://www.canarytechnologies.com

Best suited for: US-based hotels looking for a guest management system with check-in and payments.

Things to consider:

  • Strong coverage of the guest journey

  • Upsells and workflows often live outside messaging channels

  • Solid solution, but less AI-first than newer platforms

5. Chatlyn

Description:  Chatlyn is an all-in-one guest journey and communication platform.

Website: https://www.chatlyn.com 

Best suited for: Tech-forward hotels that want a broad, all-in-one platform.

Things to consider:

  • Many features and configuration options

  • More setup and training required

  • Automation sometimes still needs manual review

Why Runnr.ai is the best overall virtual concierge

If you want a virtual concierge that truly reduces workload, improves guest satisfaction, and drives additional revenue, Runnr.ai is the best choice:

  • Purpose-built for hospitality (not a generic messaging tool)
  • Conversational AI that actually takes action, not just answers FAQs
  • Works across WhatsApp, SMS, webchat, Booking.com & Airbnb
  • Deep PMS integrations for real-time guest and booking context
  • Fully customizable tone of voice, matching your brand
  • Fast + easy setup – most properties are live within an hour

👉 Book a demo and see Runnr.ai in action: