An honest ReservationKey review, and when Malvavisco fits instead.
Looking for a ReservationKey alternative? Start with what ReservationKey does well and what it costs, taken from its own pages. ReservationKey, founded in 2007, sells simple reservation software for a flat monthly fee, with a booking engine and a channel manager, to hotels, rentals, campgrounds, ranches and lodges. Malvavisco is newer and built around running the stay: guides, horses and boats, the kitchen and the bill, in English, Spanish or Portuguese. We wrote this page, and we say when ReservationKey is the better choice.
What is the best ReservationKey alternative?
It depends on what you want to change. If you mainly need a calendar, a booking engine and Airbnb or Booking.com sync for a low flat fee, ReservationKey is hard to beat; stay with it. If your stays include guided days, horses or boats, meals and a bar tab, and the week is run on paper next to the calendar, try Malvavisco. For packaged ranch weeks sold online, look at The Flybook or GraceSoft.
What ReservationKey does well
From ReservationKey’s own website, checked on 23 October 2026.
ReservationKey was founded in 2007 and sells one reservation system to hotels, B&Bs, vacation rentals, resorts and cabins, campgrounds, vehicle and boat rentals, and ranches and lodges. Its pages describe a deliberately simple product.
- Ranches and lodges. Its ranch page names guest ranches, dude ranches, hunting, fishing and wilderness lodges, with a color-coded calendar for cabins, lodge rooms and ranch units, and package-based stays (source).
- Direct bookings. A mobile-friendly booking engine that embeds in WordPress, Wix, Squarespace or a custom site, and a website builder (source).
- Payments. Cards, PayPal and e-check online; deposits, full or partial payments by your own rules; Square, Stripe, Authorize.net or Yapstone, and Square Terminal in person (source).
- Channels. Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and other channels through its channel manager, or free iCal sync (source).
- Extras at booking. Packages, add-ons and upsells such as breakfast or activity packages, equipment rentals and retail items, plus gift certificates (source).
- Automation and reports. Automated guest emails, confirmations and payment reminders; revenue, occupancy, expense, tax and housekeeping reports (source).
- Switching to it. It offers assisted migration from most property management systems and says it can import reservations, guest data and property details (source). A broader onboarding service is optional and priced per property (source).
- A real trial. 30 days with every feature and no credit card (source).
It doesn’t try to run the stay: its ranch page covers rooms, bookings, payments and channels, not guides, horses, meals or a bar.
How much ReservationKey costs
As published on ReservationKey’s pricing page on 23 October 2026.
ReservationKey charges a flat monthly fee by the number of units you manage:
| Up to | Monthly fee |
|---|---|
| 4 units | $41 |
| 10 units | $49 |
| 20 units | $65 |
| 40 units | $92 |
| 70 units | $149 |
| 100 units | $192 |
| 500 units | $835 |
- The channel manager costs $29 a month more; iCal sync is free.
- Verified email is $2 a month; one website is included and each extra one is $20 a month.
- “Pay as you go. No long-term contracts, no booking commissions, and no per-user fees.”
- No setup fees, according to its home page (source).
- The optional onboarding service is quoted before work begins and doesn’t include extensive data entry unless agreed (source).
Source: reservationkey.com/pricing. Malvavisco doesn’t publish prices; it quotes after a demo.
Malvavisco and ReservationKey, row by row
Malvavisco wrote this comparison. ReservationKey’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 | ReservationKey |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Remote lodges in the Americas where a stay includes guided days, meals and a bar: fishing, hunting, guest ranches, eco lodges | Small lodging businesses, from hotels and campgrounds to ranches and lodges; founded in 2007Source |
| Guest online booking | No: staff enter bookings from email, phone and agents | Yes: a booking engine on your website, and a website builderSource |
| Card processing | No: staff record cash, transfer and card-terminal payments with receipts. Mercado Pago links in Argentine pesos are built but not yet live | Square, Stripe, Authorize.net and Yapstone; PayPal and e-check; Square Terminal in personSource |
| Channel manager | No: no connection to Booking.com, Airbnb or Expedia | Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and others for $29 a month more; free iCal syncSource |
| Packages and extras | No package prices: a nightly rate plus per-person prices for activities and extras; included items show as Included on the bill | Packages, add-ons and upsells at booking, such as breakfast or activity packagesSource |
| Guides, boats and horses | Named guides with skills and languages; boats, horses, vehicles or floatplanes as assets; overlap, capacity and skill checks on every assignment | Not mentionedSource |
| Kitchen | Included meals planned per stay, a daily dietary brief, kitchen tickets from preparing to ready to served | Not mentioned; breakfast can be sold as an add-onSource |
| Bar and shop | Point of sale on the booking’s bill, with stock counts, supply orders and supply receipts | Retail items as add-ons at booking; no point of sale mentionedSource |
| Staff roles | Eleven roles enforced on the server, including guide, kitchen, housekeeping, finance and owner read-only; two-factor sign-in | No per-user fees; roles not describedSource |
| Currencies | Rates in about 30 currencies, one per booking, reported separately with no automatic conversion | Dollar, pound, euro and other currency symbols for properties outside the USSource |
| Staff interface language | English, Spanish or Portuguese, set per workspace | Not stated; website in EnglishSource |
| Price | Not published; quoted after a demo | $41 a month for up to 4 units to $835 for 500; no contracts, commissions or per-user feesSource |
When to choose each
Stay with ReservationKey, or choose it, if…
- Guests book and pay online on your website
- You list cabins on Airbnb, Booking.com or Vrbo and need one calendar
- Your stays are mostly lodging, with a few extras sold at booking
- You want a published flat price, month to month, and a 30-day trial
- You run it yourself and want something you can set up in a day
Choose Malvavisco if…
- Your team works in Spanish, or in Spanish and English
- Every stay includes guided days, and you want each one scheduled with a named guide and the boat, horse or vehicle it needs, with overlap checks
- The kitchen cooks for every guest and needs a daily dietary brief and tickets
- The bar or the shop should charge to the guest’s bill, with stock counts
- You bill in pesos, reais or other currencies and want each one reported on its own
- Guides, kitchen staff and housekeepers each need their own view and permissions
What ReservationKey’s pages don’t cover
We found no mention of guides, horses, boats, meal planning, a point of sale, waivers, offline use or a staff interface in languages other than English. Some lodges keep ReservationKey for online booking and run the week on paper; Malvavisco has no connection to ReservationKey, so using both means typing every booking twice. For a wider field, see the best guest ranch software, best fishing lodge software and best hunting lodge software comparisons, or how Malvavisco runs a guest ranch, a fishing lodge or a hunting lodge.
ReservationKey reviews and alternatives
For a small ranch, lodge or cabin business that mainly needs a reservation calendar, a booking engine, online payments and Airbnb or Booking.com sync, yes: it has run since 2007, publishes a flat price from $41 a month and offers a 30-day trial without a card. It fits less well when every stay includes guides, horses or boats, meals and a bar, because its pages don’t cover them.
Its pricing page lists a flat monthly fee by units: $41 for up to 4, $65 for 20, $92 for 40, $192 for 100 and $835 for 500. The channel manager is $29 a month more. There are no long-term contracts, booking commissions or per-user fees.
For running the lodge, yes: bookings, rooms, guides, assets, the kitchen, the point of sale, payments and reports. It does not replace ReservationKey’s booking engine, website builder, channel manager or online card payments.
Yes, for free. Our team sets up your rooms or cabins, rates, services, guides, assets and staff roles, enters every upcoming booking with its deposits, loads your guest list and rebuilds your emails. Past bookings stay in ReservationKey, so keep its export.
Its ranch page doesn’t mention guides, horses, boats or meals; activities appear as packages or add-ons sold at booking. Malvavisco schedules each activity with a named guide and the horse, boat or vehicle it needs, and refuses overlapping assignments.
You can, but they don’t connect: every booking taken online would be entered again in Malvavisco. Lodges that sell mostly online are usually better served by one system with a booking engine.
