Akia vs Enso Connect: Features, Pricing, Alternatives
If you’re seeking the right platform to manage messaging in your short-term rentals, we’ve compared these two options for you. Three main differences between Enso Connect and Akia lie in their streamlined guest journey approach, inbox functionality, and AI capabilities.
June 13, 2024
In today’s hospitality industry, operators always look for tools to save time, drive revenue, and enhance guest experience. One of the areas that can be significantly improved with technology is communication. This is why guest messaging and communication platforms for hospitality are on the rise.
Searching for solutions, available for professional property managers, you will find Enso Connect and Akia. These two software stand out for their innovative approaches to communication in the hotel and short-term rental space. While both companies talk about guest engagement and automated guest journeys, there are significant differences between their capabilities and offerings. If you’re seeking the right platform to manage messaging in your short-term rentals, we’ve compared these two options for you. Three main differences between Enso Connect and Akia lie in their streamlined guest journey approach, inbox functionality, and AI capabilities.
Akia VS Enso Connect: Top Three Differences
GUEST APP
Enso Connect offers a unified “single-link” approach for managing the entire guest journey. This means that guests can interact with all aspects of their stay through a single, streamlined interface, simplifying their experience from booking to check-out. This cohesive approach ensures that all guest interactions and communications are seamlessly integrated and easily accessible. Also, the branding reflects your property and your brand and is completely configurable - essentially 'white-labelled'. The guest's Boarding Pass can also be added into the guest's Apple Wallet - which makes access and check-in instant and easy.
In contrast, Akia utilizes separate “mini-apps” for different stages of the guest journey. Each mini-app is designed to handle specific aspects of the stay, such as booking confirmations, pre-arrival instructions, and post-stay follow-ups. While this approach allows for specialized functionality at each stage, it may require guests to navigate between different apps or interfaces, potentially impacting the continuity of their experience. Akia also offers very limited branding - so the guest will experience the Akia brand and not yours.
With the Boarding Pass, the guest journey is a state-of-the-art engagement and e-commerce tool for hospitality operators. On average, property managers using Enso Connect drive an incremental $157USD per guest with upsells and Enso Experiences. CALCULATE YOUR POTENTIAL INCREMENTAL REVENUE
GUEST MESSAGING (and/or Unified Inbox)
Akia’s approach to a unified inbox differs from the conventional chronological view. Instead of displaying all communication threads in a single chronological order, Akia groups messages by channel (e.g., email, SMS, Airbnb). This means users need to open each channel separately to view the respective messages, which are ordered by the channel rather than chronological order across all channels.
Akia positions this approach as a way for businesses to “own their guests” by separating pre-booking communication (typically email) from post-booking interactions (often SMS). While this method may appeal to some, it deviates from the traditional unified inbox experience where all messages are displayed in a single chronological feed, regardless of the channel.
Enso Connect adopts a different approach by presenting all communication types chronologically in a single inbox (aka Unified Inbox). This chronological view ensures that every message and conversation thread, regardless of SMS or email or Airbnb chat, is displayed in the order it was received.
This method provides better context and allows property managers to track the entire flow of the conversation with each guest. By viewing all interactions in sequence, Enso Connect helps maintain a comprehensive understanding of the guest’s journey, enabling more informed and timely responses. In contrast, Akia’s threaded messaging may require users to switch between different threads to get a full picture of the guest’s communication history.
AI CHATBOT
Enso Connect’s AI CoPilot delivers highly customizable and information-rich responses. This integration allows for dynamic, context-aware interactions that can adapt to a wide range of guest inquiries, providing detailed and personalized replies that enhance the overall guest experience.
In contrast, Akia’s AI capabilities focus on preset automated FAQ responses based on confidence ratings. While effective for handling common questions, this approach is limited in its ability to offer personalized or nuanced responses. Enso Connect’s use of advanced language models enables more sophisticated communication, allowing for tailored responses that can address a broader spectrum of guest needs and scenarios.
Dive into our in-depth comparison of features, pricing and other data points, designed to help you make an informed decision.
Product Overview and Key Features: Akia
Akia offers a cloud-based text messaging platform designed to facilitate direct communication, service recovery, and review management for hotels.
Their primary focus is on enabling direct communication between hotel staff and guests, leveraging the effectiveness of text messaging. Akia provides contactless communication tools, including service recovery and review management to streamline operations and enhance the guest experience. Key features include contactless check-in, communication inbox, automated message handling tailored to guest location, and upselling tools.
Akia Mini Apps offer a range of tools to automate communication, streamline workflows, and personalize guest experiences. Here are the main features, presented by the mini apps, offered by Akia software:
Communication & Automation
Scheduled Journey: Automated messages throughout the stay.
Automatic Responder: Pre-written responses to common questions.
Personalized Messaging: Use guest data to tailor communication.
Task Automation: Automate post-checkout tasks like automatic review requests or thank you messages.
Information & Services
Arrival Guide: Customizable digital guidebooks.
Food Menus: Digital menus with easy ordering and customization options
Registration Cards:Guest verification requests to capture guest IDs, signatures, and deposits remotely.
Pet Waiver: A pet policy waiver
Akia’s product, functionality, features, and aesthetics are geared towards standardized hotel operations, offering amenities like food menus and arrival guides. In contrast, vacation rental operators require tailored upsells and condition-based automations to cater to the unique nature of each property. While traditional hotels follow more uniform procedures due to their centralized location, short-term rentals demand a higher level of customization. They need to streamline operations according to their specific business needs. Akia’s most expensive plan limits customization to just 10 triggers, which may not suffice for vacation rental businesses seeking granular control over their processes.
Product Overview and Key Features: Enso Connect
Enso Connect is an AI-powered guest experience platform for vacation rentals, boutique hotels and serviced apartments. The platform offers a range of tools and features, allowing to personalize and monetize interactions throughout the guest journey.
Alongside AI-driven unified messaging, Enso Connect offers a Boarding Pass guest app, customized upsells, smart automation, CRM, and more.
Enso Connect’s key features include:
Unified inbox for managing email, SMS, WhatsApp messages, and Airbnb correspondence
EnsoAI, powered by integration with ChatGPT, unlocks advanced language capabilities within the platform
Customizable upsell and in-app payment options for additional revenue streams
Built-in guest verification services through partnerships with safety providers like Autohost and Superhog
Ability to create automated workflows and set conditions based on booking sources or other factors
Hospitality CRM hub, allowing to centralize guest data and personalize interactions.
What’s Unique About Enso Connect?
Two key characteristics differentiate Enso Connect from other solutions:
Flexibility and granular control over functionality. This allows hospitality businesses to fine-tune processes according to their unique requirements.
The connectivity approach. Like Zapier of hospitality, the platform is connecting software that hospitality operators love and use, like Autohost or Superhog. Thanks to its high quality integrations with those partners, the platform allows integrating the services into one smooth and streamlined guest journey, without a need for guests to jump between different links or the team to log into many applications.
Other Key Differences
UX and Interface
There are a couple of significant differences between user experience and user interface in Enso Connect and Akia.
The distinct differences are in messaging and guest experience. Akia’s messaging system groups communications by type (SMS, email, WhatsApp, etc.), which can lead to loss of context, or require users to click through each group to view messages. In contrast, Enso presents all messages in chronological order within a single thread, providing a more seamless and coherent view of guest interactions.
Enso Connect’s approach to streamlining the guest experience differs from Akia’s. Enso Connect uses a single Boarding Pass link that guests use throughout their entire journey. This unified experience simplifies navigation and interaction for guests which enhances the overall experience. Akia uses “mini-apps,” which involve different links at various steps of the guest journey. This can create a fragmented experience, requiring guests to manage multiple links at different stages.
Integration Capabilities
Enso Connect’s unique vision emphasizes integration rather than replacing existing software, positioning it as the “Zapier of hospitality.” This approach allows users to create seamless guest journeys by connecting various tools and platforms, eliminating the need to log into multiple apps or send numerous links to guests. Enso Connect’s ability to unify different systems into a cohesive workflow streamlines operations and enhances the guest experience.
In contrast, Akia’s approach to connecting software often falls short, particularly when integrating three different types of systems. Users frequently encounter difficulties in achieving smooth integration, leading to fragmented processes and inefficiencies. Enso Connect’s commitment to integration ensures that users can manage their operations more efficiently and provide a more unified experience for their guests.
Pricing and Scalability
Enso Connect is a premium product with a plethora of features and capabilities, designed to streamline operations and drive revenue. The unmatched customization, allowing operators to become significantly efficient and revenue-generating tools make it a worthwhile investment for scaling businesses.
For those looking for a “budget” alternative and less customization, Akia is a viable option with its basic packages and no SMS charges.
The average ROI for Enso Connect customers is 4.7, highlighting its premium value despite higher costs. Watch a case study, where the users explain how Enso Connect covers the software costs and brings new revenue.
Both Akia and Enso Connect lower their rates when the number of listings increases. They employ tiered pricing, based on the size of the property manager, determined by the number of listings they manage. This approach ensures that pricing scales according to the needs and scope of the property management operations. It provides flexibility for growth and accommodates varying business sizes. Both platforms offer fair and scalable pricing that cater to the specific requirements of property managers. Whether you manage a handful of listings or operate on a larger scale, you’ll find an offer that fits you.
Customer support and training
Enso Connect prioritizes delivering attentive, human-centric support and boasts a swift onboarding process that includes at least two dedicated sessions with their team. This approach ensures that users receive personalized assistance and a smooth transition to using the platform. Customer feedback frequently highlights the exceptional quality of Enso Connect’s onboarding process and the professionalism of their support team.
Both Akia and Enso Connect charge an onboarding fee, but Enso Connect distinguishes itself with its comprehensive support and personalized onboarding experience, which significantly contributes to a smoother and more effective implementation for its users.
Conclusion
Akia predominantly caters to traditional hotels, tailoring its features to meet the specific needs of this sector. Enso Connect serves vacation rentals, boutique hotels and serviced apartments, optimizing its functionalities for these business models.
For scaling short-term rental businesses, using multiple channels for guest communication, Enso Connect’s unified inbox is a no brainer. It is more convenient and organized, empowering small teams to respond quickly with the AI and priority inbox functionality. In addition, a single-link guest portal that is seamlessly navigating guests throughout their entire journey provides a better guest experience. This also increases guest engagement with the app, driving higher upsell conversion and reducing questions asked.
Operators using third-party guest verification and smart locks appreciate Enso Connect’s seamless integration of all these services into a simple unified interface.
