—PreArrive vs. Touch Stay
If you are comparing Touch Stay and PreArrive, it helps to know they are not really competitors. Touch Stay is a digital guidebook. PreArrive is a signed acknowledgment. They solve different problems, and a lot of hosts run both.
Touch Stay is a digital guidebook: it shows the guest the WiFi, the door code, the checkout steps, and your local tips during the stay. PreArrive is a different category. It captures a signed acknowledgment of your rules and fees before check-in and returns a dated PDF certificate. Many hosts run Touch Stay for the experience and PreArrive for the record.
01At a glance
Most Touch Stay alternative lists compare guidebook against guidebook: price, languages, upsells. That is the right list if you want a cheaper guidebook. If what you actually need is a record that the guest agreed to your rules and fees, the rows that matter are different.
| Touch Stay | PreArrive | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A digital guidebook and guest-experience platform | A pre-check-in signing step for your house rules and itemized fees |
| Price for 1 property | Starter $99/yr, Growth $139/yr, Pro $159/yr billed annually; Starter is $12.50/mo billed monthly | Free for 1 property; paid tiers from $9/mo ($90/yr billed annually) |
| Price as you add properties | Starter, billed annually: 2 properties $150/yr, 5 properties $285/yr, 10 properties $495/yr | 2 properties: Solo plus one at $7/mo. 5 properties: Host at $19/mo. 10 properties: Host plus five at $5/mo each, or Pro at $79/mo |
| Free plan or trial | Its pricing page says you can start free, and every paid plan has a 14-day free trial with no credit card | A free plan, not a trial: no card, no expiry |
| Guest needs an app | No: guests open the guide from a link or QR code | No: guests sign on a web link, with no app or account |
| Guest signs your rules | Not its job: rules are shown in the guide, not signed | Guest taps through each rule, then draws a signature |
| Itemized fees acknowledged | Fees can be described in the guide | Each fee is acknowledged line by line before arrival |
| Record you can attach to a claim | None built for disputes | A dated PDF certificate with a two-event audit trail and a SHA-256 hash |
| WiFi, door codes, how-tos, local tips | Yes, this is the core product | No. Keep a guidebook for this |
| Guest messaging and AI chatbot | Two-way messaging, scheduled messages and an AI chatbot on Growth and up | No inbox. PreArrive sends the signing link and tracks who has signed |
| Upsells store | Yes, on every plan | No |
| Languages | Translations and additional languages for the guide | English plus host-reviewed Spanish packet terms; no automatic translation of rules or fees |
| Offline or PDF copy | Offline and PDF guidebook on Growth and up (not on Starter) | Every signed stay produces a PDF certificate you can download and keep |
| Guest details before arrival | Guest registration on Growth and up | Name and drawn signature on every plan; optional photo at signing on paid tiers |
| Bookings | PMS integrations, including Hostaway and Guesty (see its integrations page) | No PMS needed: Airbnb, VRBO or Booking.com calendar links, forwarded booking emails, manual entry, or the REST API on Pro |
| Best for | Hosts who want fewer logistics questions and a branded guest experience | Hosts whose costly problem is broken rules, unpaid fees, or a claim they could not document |
Touch Stay pricing and plan features checked on its public pricing page on November 11, 2026 (USD, annual billing unless noted). Vendors change pricing, so confirm on their site before you buy.
02What Touch Stay is good at
Touch Stay is a digital guidebook tool, and a good one. It gives guests a clean, mobile-friendly place to find the WiFi password, the door code, how the thermostat works, checkout steps, and your local restaurant picks. It cuts down the "how do I work the TV?" messages and makes a stay feel looked-after. If your goal is a smoother guest experience and fewer logistics questions, that is exactly what Touch Stay is built to do.
PreArrive does not try to be a guidebook. It exists for the moment after something goes wrong (a damage dispute, an unbilled extra guest, a denied claim) when you need to show a guest agreed to a rule or a fee. A guidebook informs the guest. PreArrive produces a record. That is the whole difference.
03What PreArrive is
Touch Stay is great at showing the guest the rule. It does not capture an acknowledgment that the guest agreed to it. The point of a signature is not to win a fight later. It is to make sure most fights never start, because a rule someone actively acknowledged is a rule they tend to keep.
The gap is easy to miss. A guest can open the guidebook link, jump straight to the WiFi password, and never scroll past your no-smoking rule or your extra-guest fee. A link in the message thread does not show whether it was opened, and a PDF attached to a booking message has the same problem. Proof of delivery is not proof of acknowledgment.
PreArrive does that one job: it gets each guest to read, tap through, and sign your house rules and itemized fees before check-in, and gives you a PDF certificate: a drawn signature, line-by-line acknowledgment, a two-event audit trail with IPs and timestamps, and a SHA-256 content hash. If a dispute does escalate, that certificate is the document you attach to an AirCover, insurance, or small-claims filing.
The two columns above are not a win-and-lose chart. They are two different products. Touch Stay is built for one job; PreArrive is built for another. Reading them side by side just makes the line between the two jobs clear.
04When each is right
Neither tool replaces the other. The honest answer for most hosts is that the guidebook and the signed acknowledgment do separate jobs, and running both is a perfectly reasonable setup. If you only have room for one, ask which problem has actually cost you money: guest questions about the thermostat, or a dispute you could not document.
You want guests to stop messaging you about the WiFi and the thermostat
The right toolTouch Stay: that is squarely what a digital guidebook is for.
You want a signed record that the guest agreed to your rules and fees
The right toolPreArrive: a guidebook discloses information; it does not capture acknowledgment.
A guest broke a rule and you need evidence for an AirCover or insurance claim
The right toolPreArrive: the PDF certificate is built to be that evidence.
You run one or two straightforward rentals and your costly problem is broken rules, not logistics questions
The right toolPreArrive: a full guest portal solves a communication problem you may not have; the signed step closes the one you do.
You host across several properties and want the same pre-check-in acknowledgment step on every one
The right toolPreArrive: one packet per property, the same signing flow for every guest, a certificate per stay.
You want both a great guest experience and a defensible paper trail
The right toolBoth: many hosts send a guidebook for the stay and a PreArrive packet for the signature.
PreArrive is the acknowledgment layer, not a guidebook replacement. Free covers one property, no credit card.
05FAQ
For the guidebook itself, several guidebook tools offer free single-property plans, and Touch Stay's own pricing page now says you can start free, with a 14-day trial of its paid features. For the signed side, PreArrive is free for one property with no credit card and no expiry.
On November 11, 2026, Touch Stay listed three self-serve plans for one property on annual billing: Starter at $99 a year, Growth at $139 a year, and Pro at $159 a year, plus a custom plan for larger portfolios. Starter is $12.50 a month on monthly billing. Price rises with property count: Starter is $150 a year for 2 properties, $285 for 5, and $495 for 10. Each paid plan has a 14-day free trial with no credit card.
Touch Stay is built to show guests information: WiFi, door codes, checkout steps, local tips, and your rules. It is not built to capture a signed, timestamped acknowledgment of those rules and fees. That is the job PreArrive does, which is why many hosts run both.
Yes, and it is a common setup. Send the PreArrive signing link before check-in so the guest acknowledges your rules and fees, then share your Touch Stay guide for the stay itself. The guidebook handles the experience; the PreArrive certificate is your record.
It gives you a dated document showing the guest saw and acknowledged the specific rule or fee before arrival, which is the piece most denied claims are missing. It does not guarantee an outcome; Airbnb and insurers still weigh photos, invoices, and messages alongside it.
No for both. A Touch Stay guide opens from a link or QR code in the browser, and a PreArrive packet is signed on a web link with no app and no guest account. The guest gets one link from each, usually at different times: the signing link before check-in, the guide for the stay.
PreArrive does not need a PMS. Reservations come in from your Airbnb, VRBO, or Booking.com calendar links, from forwarded booking emails, or by hand, and the Pro plan adds a REST API and webhooks if you want your PMS to create them. Touch Stay lists native PMS integrations, including Hostaway and Guesty, which matters more for a guidebook that pulls in booking details.
If you want a cheaper guidebook, compare the free and low-cost guidebook tools on price and languages. If you run one to five rentals and the costly problem is broken rules or unpaid fees, PreArrive covers one property free and five on the Host plan, and it adds the signed record a guidebook does not create.
Only if your real problem is documentation rather than guest questions. PreArrive has no guidebook, no local recommendations, and no messaging inbox. If you mostly want fewer "where is the WiFi?" messages, a guidebook is the right tool; if you want a signed record of your rules and fees, PreArrive is.
06Keep reading
One email a month on what actually holds up in a dispute — no vendor spin, no filler.
Double opt-in. Unsubscribe anytime.
