ChargeAutomation Review
A payments-and-deposits specialist with a real free tier, pre-authorization holds and chargeback protection — but the platform fee climbs fast once you're past a handful of properties.
Pros
- Genuine free Basic tier with no subscription fee, useful for a single-property host who mainly wants online check-in and basic payment collection
- Strong, specific payment and risk features: pre-authorization holds, chargeback fraud protection, and security-deposit/damage-waiver collection across 120+ payment gateways
- 50+ published PMS integrations, so it can likely slot into an existing tech stack rather than requiring a switch
- One-click upselling at pre-arrival, in-stay and post-stay touchpoints, with the payment-processing transaction fee percentage dropping as you move up plan tiers
- Annual billing saves roughly 25% over monthly on both paid tiers
Cons
- The platform fee is a flat monthly charge on top of a per-property fee ($49–$149/month plus $5–$8/property), which adds up quickly for a small portfolio compared to a flat per-account price
- The free tier's one-click upsell revenue carries a real commission on top of the payment-processing transaction fee, per our verified research — read the fee schedule closely before assuming "free" means no revenue share
- No phone concierge or voice AI of its own — this is a payments/check-in/upsell tool, not a guest-messaging or call-answering platform
- We found mixed sentiment referenced across review aggregators during our research but could not independently open Trustpilot or Capterra to verify specific complaints, so we're not citing any single negative review here
ChargeAutomation positions itself as guest-experience software built around a specific core: automated payment collection, security-deposit and damage-waiver handling, online check-in, and one-click upselling, integrated with 50+ property management systems and more than 120 payment gateways. It's a narrower, deeper tool than a general messaging assistant — the pitch is that payments, deposits and upsells are handled correctly and automatically, not that it replaces your guest-communication layer.
Pricing
Per ChargeAutomation's own pricing page, the Basic tier is genuinely free — no subscription, no per-property fee — with a payment-processing transaction fee of roughly 1% + $0.25 on optional payment processing, plus a limited feature set (one user, three custom questions, three video guides, 100MB storage). Per our verified research, the free tier's one-click upsell feature also carries its own commission on upsell revenue, separate from that payment-processing fee, so "free" doesn't mean free of all revenue share if you're using the upsell tools. The Essentials tier runs $5/property plus a $49/month platform fee (or $4/property plus $39/month billed annually), with the payment transaction fee dropping to about 0.3% + $0.25 and expanded storage and unlimited questions/guides. Professional, the most popular tier, is $8/property plus a $149/month platform fee (or $6/property plus $99/month annually), with the transaction fee dropping further to roughly 0.15% + $0.25, unlimited users and storage, a custom branded domain, and priority support. Enterprise pricing is custom-quoted for large portfolios.
Who it's for
ChargeAutomation fits a host or small property manager whose biggest operational pain point is payments and deposits specifically — chasing damage-deposit holds manually, worrying about chargebacks, or wanting guests to be able to pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna or another of the 100+ supported methods. The 50+ PMS integrations mean it's designed to sit inside an existing stack rather than replace it. It's a weaker fit for a host whose main gap is guest messaging or phone coverage, since that's simply not what this tool is built around. Do the per-property-plus-platform-fee math against your actual portfolio size before committing to a paid tier: at three properties, Essentials works out to roughly $64/month all-in, and Professional to roughly $173/month — numbers worth comparing directly against a flatter-priced alternative if your portfolio is small.
What we could verify
A testimonial published on ChargeAutomation's own site, attributed to Ramiro Ferrando of Union Square Hotel, describes the platform automating document collection and guest payment requests — a real, named account, though a company-selected one rather than independent verification. We looked for broader third-party review data on Trustpilot and Capterra; both appear to have listings for ChargeAutomation, but we weren't able to open either directly during our research to confirm a rating or read specific reviews ourselves, so we're not citing any individual complaint or rating figure here. If you're evaluating this tool seriously, check those platforms directly as part of your own diligence.
How it compares to our top pick
BnBGenius and ChargeAutomation solve different halves of the automation problem. BnBGenius is a flat $10/month (free for your first 500 messages) AI layer built around guest messaging, phone concierge, review generation and gap-night upsells — no PMS purchase required, no per-property math. ChargeAutomation is stronger specifically on payments infrastructure: pre-authorization holds, chargeback protection, and deposit collection at a depth BnBGenius doesn't attempt, but it has no voice/phone concierge of its own and its pricing scales with both property count and a platform fee.
If deposit and payment risk is your actual problem, ChargeAutomation's specialization is worth the look, starting free. If guest messaging and phone coverage are the gap, BnBGenius is the leaner, flatter-priced option. See the full field — every PMS, channel manager, and AI messaging tool we've evaluated — in our best Airbnb host software ranking.