Malvavisco and The Flybook, side by side.
Looking for a Flybook alternative for a lodge or ranch? The Flybook, from Bend, Oregon, is activity reservation software for tour operators, rentals, lodging resorts and dude ranches. Malvavisco is lodge operations software for the team that runs the stay. They overlap less than their pages suggest, and we say where The Flybook fits better.
What is a good Flybook alternative for a lodge?
A good Flybook alternative for a lodge depends on what you sell. If guests book activities, packages and gift cards online, The Flybook fits, and its rivals are other activity booking platforms. If the stay is the product, with guides, boats or horses, included meals and a bar on one bill, lodge software such as Malvavisco or LodgeRunner fits better.
What each one offers
Malvavisco wrote this comparison. The Flybook’s column comes from its own website, checked on 23 October 2026, with a link for each row. Its details may have changed since.
| Feature | MalvaviscoLodge software | The Flybook |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Lodges where a stay includes guided days, meals and a bar: fishing, hunting, guest ranches, remote lodges | Activity operators: guided tours, rafting, adventure parks, cycling, backcountry, winter sports, eco tours, lodging resorts and dude ranchesSource |
| Pricing | Not published; quoted after a demo | Standard: a 4% online booking fee or a 2% fee on all transactions, based on eligibility. Negotiated: a fixed monthly or annual fee, or a monthly subscription plus usageSource |
| Guest online booking | No: bookings are entered by staff | Yes: separate booking flows for lodging, tours and rentals, plus bundlesSource |
| Waivers | No: guests cannot sign waivers in Malvavisco | Digital liability waivers completed before arrival or at a self check-in kioskSource |
| Packages | No: rooms have nightly rates and activities per-person prices; anything priced at zero shows as Included | Packages combining lodging, meals, horseback riding and activitiesSource |
| Gift cards | No | Digital gift cards and certificates sold on your websiteSource |
| Memberships | No | Membership and loyalty programsSource |
| Guides and equipment | Guides with skills and languages; boats, horses and vehicles as assets; overlap checks on every assignment | Guide roles, a staff calendar and optional auto-assignment; equipment shared between tours and rentalsSource |
| Kitchen and meals | Included meals planned per stay, a daily dietary brief, kitchen and bar tickets | Meals and dining inside packages; we found no kitchen tickets, meal counts or dietary brief on its pagesSource |
| Point of sale | Charges go straight to the guest’s booking; stock counts and supply orders | Retail point of sale for merchandise, food and drinks, with barcode scanners and inventory reportsSource |
| Card payments | No card processing: staff record cash, transfer and card-terminal payments. Mercado Pago links in Argentine pesos are built but not yet live | Flybook Pay, powered by Fullsteam, in the US and CanadaSource |
| Channels | No channel manager | Integrations with Airbnb, Vrbo, Expedia and Booking.com, and with Viator and GetYourGuideSource |
| Currencies | Rates in about 30 currencies, one per booking, reported separately with no automatic conversion | Not stated on its pagesSource |
| Spanish staff interface | Yes: the staff app runs in English, Spanish or Portuguese, set per workspace | Not stated; website in EnglishSource |
When to choose each
Choose The Flybook if…
- Most of your revenue comes from activities, rentals or packages booked and paid online
- Guests must sign waivers before they arrive
- You sell packages, gift cards or memberships
- You list on Airbnb, Vrbo or Viator and want bookings synced
- You are comfortable paying a share of each booking, or can negotiate a fixed fee
Choose Malvavisco if…
- Most bookings arrive by email, phone or agents and your team enters them
- The stay is the product: rooms, guided days, included meals and the bar on one bill
- The kitchen and the bar should work from tickets, with dietary notes acknowledged
- You bill in pesos, reais or dollars and want each currency reported on its own
- Your team works in Spanish, or in Spanish and English
Using both
Some lodges sell activities online with one tool and run the lodge with another. Malvavisco has no integration with The Flybook, so bookings would be entered twice.
Other Flybook alternatives for lodges
- LodgeRunner: online booking, card processing, waivers, a kitchen portal and a bar tab for fishing and hunting lodges; most lodges pay $100–$300 a month. See our LodgeRunner comparison.
- Hookset: online booking with a guide board for fishing lodges; free, $149 or $299 a month plus a transaction fee.
- GraceSoft or ReservationKey: booking engines and channel managers used by guest ranches; ReservationKey starts at $41 a month.
All prices from each company’s own site on 23 October 2026. For the full field, see best guest ranch software and best fishing lodge software.
Flybook alternatives
Its home page lists standard pricing of a 4% online booking fee or a 2% fee on all transactions, based on eligibility, and negotiated pricing as a fixed monthly or annual fee or a monthly subscription plus usage. In Canada, Flybook Pay’s flat rate is 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction, according to its blog.
Its industry pages cover tours, rafting, adventure parks, cycling, backcountry, winter sports, eco tours, lodging and dude ranches, with no fishing or hunting page, although fishing guides appear among its reviewers. A lodge that sells guided fishing or hunting weeks should also look at lodge software such as LodgeRunner or Malvavisco.
For running the ranch, yes: cabins, horses as assets, wranglers, included meals, the bar and one bill per family. It does not replace The Flybook’s online booking, waivers, packages, gift cards or memberships.
Yes, for free. Malvavisco has no self-serve import tool, so our team sets up your rooms, rates, services, guides and assets, enters your upcoming bookings with their deposits and loads your guest list from what The Flybook exports. Past bookings stay in The Flybook.
We found no kitchen tickets, meal counts or dietary brief on its website, although its dude ranch page offers packages that include meals and its point of sale sells food and drinks. Malvavisco has kitchen and bar tickets, included-meal planning and a daily dietary brief.
Malvavisco’s staff app runs in Spanish, English or Brazilian Portuguese. We found The Flybook’s website in English only, with no mention of other interface languages. This comparison is also published in Spanish.
