Top 7 Alternatives to Zendesk for Hotels

Freshdesk is a cloud‑based customer support platform that has grown into a comprehensive help desk solution, offering ticketing, a knowledge base, and omnichannel support that includes email, chat, phone, and social media. Freshdesk’s intuitive interface and powerful automation engine make it a popular choice among small to medium‑sized hotels that want to keep guest inquiries organized and responses consistent. The platform’s AI assistant, Freshservice, can auto‑classify tickets, suggest solutions from the knowledge base, and even generate responses, reducing the workload on support staff. Freshdesk’s knowledge base is searchable and can be structured into categories and tags, allowing hotel staff to quickly retrieve FAQs about room amenities, booking policies, and local attractions. Integration with popular booking engines and property management systems (PMS) such as Opera, Cloudbeds, and Guesty streamlines data flow, ensuring that support agents have up‑to‑date information on reservations and guest profiles. Freshdesk also offers a robust reporting suite, giving managers insight into ticket volume, response times, and agent performance. Pricing starts at a free tier for basic ticketing and knowledge base, with paid plans ranging from $15 per agent per month for the Blossom plan to $49 per agent per month for the Garden plan, which includes advanced automation and reporting. Freshdesk’s strengths lie in its ease of use, integrations, and scalable pricing. However, its AI capabilities are not as advanced as some niche platforms and it can become expensive as agent counts grow. In summary, Freshdesk is a solid choice for hotels that need a feature‑rich, scalable help desk with strong integration capabilities and a user‑friendly knowledge base. Its automation and AI tools help reduce response times, but the platform may feel pricey for larger hotel chains with numerous support agents.

Intercom is a conversational platform that blends live chat, help desk, and marketing automation into a single interface. The platform’s real‑time messaging engine is designed to engage guests instantly, while its help desk module tracks and resolves support tickets. Intercom’s knowledge base, called Articles, allows hotels to publish FAQs, booking guides, and hotel amenities, all searchable and updatable by staff. The platform’s automation features—including bots, workflows, and product tours—enable hotels to guide guests through booking steps, check‑in processes, and post‑stay surveys without manual intervention. Intercom also offers robust integrations with booking engines, PMS, and payment processors, ensuring that support agents have instant access to reservation data. The platform’s reporting dashboards provide insights into chat volume, response times, and customer satisfaction scores. Intercom offers a range of pricing plans, starting at $39 per month for the Essential plan (up to 1,000 contacts) and scaling up to the Premium plan at $99 per month (up to 5,000 contacts). For hotels with larger guest pools, the Professional plan at $149 per month or the Enterprise plan (custom pricing) may be more appropriate. While Intercom’s features are powerful, the platform can be complex to set up and may require a learning curve for smaller teams. Additionally, the cost can quickly rise as contact volumes increase.

Help Scout is a customer support platform that prides itself on a human‑centric approach to ticketing. Rather than a traditional ticket queue, Help Scout’s interface mimics a shared email inbox, making it intuitive for support teams to manage guest inquiries. The platform offers a knowledge base that can be embedded directly into the support portal, enabling hotels to publish FAQs, booking policies, and local attraction guides. Help Scout’s automation engine allows hotels to set up rules and triggers that route tickets to the appropriate agents, ensuring timely responses. Importantly, Help Scout provides integrations with a wide range of booking engines, payment processors, and CRMs, allowing support agents to access guest data and reservation history directly within the ticket. Help Scout’s pricing starts at $20 per agent per month for the Standard plan, which includes core ticketing and knowledge base features. The Unlimited plan, priced at $45 per agent per month, adds advanced automation, reporting, and custom branding. For larger hotels, the Enterprise plan offers custom pricing and additional support. Help Scout’s strengths lie in its simplicity, email‑centric workflow, and easy integration with PMS systems. However, it lacks advanced AI features such as chatbot automation or knowledge graph search, which may limit its effectiveness for hotels looking for a fully automated support experience.

Zoho Desk is part of the Zoho suite of business applications and offers a full‑featured help desk solution tailored for customer support teams. The platform supports multi‑channel ticketing across email, phone, chat, and social media, and its AI engine, Zia, can automatically classify tickets, suggest knowledge base articles, and even generate responses. Zoho Desk’s knowledge base is highly customizable, allowing hotels to create structured FAQs, booking guides, and service manuals that can be linked to tickets for quick reference. The platform integrates seamlessly with Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, and other Zoho applications, as well as popular booking engines like ResNexus and Cloudbeds. Zoho Desk’s workflow automation enables hotels to set up approval processes, escalation rules, and auto‑responses, streamlining operations. Reporting dashboards provide insights into ticket volume, agent performance, and customer satisfaction. Pricing for Zoho Desk is tiered: the Basic plan starts at $14 per agent per month, the Professional plan at $29 per agent per month, and the Enterprise plan at $49 per agent per month. A free tier is available for up to five tickets per month. Zoho Desk is ideal for hotels that already use Zoho products or require strong integration across CRM and accounting.

Kayako is a customer service platform that focuses on providing a unified, omnichannel experience for both support teams and guests. The platform offers ticketing, live chat, and a knowledge base that can be embedded into hotel websites or mobile apps. Kayako’s AI features include automated ticket routing and response suggestions, which help agents resolve inquiries faster. The platform also supports integration with booking engines, CRMs, and payment gateways, ensuring that support staff have real‑time access to reservation data. Kayako’s workflow automation allows hotels to set up triggers, auto‑responses, and escalation rules. The platform’s reporting tools offer insights into ticket volume, response times, and guest satisfaction scores. Kayako offers a free trial and a pricing model that starts at $29 per agent per month for the Starter plan, scaling up to $99 per agent per month for the Enterprise plan, which includes advanced automation and dedicated support. Kayako’s strengths include its clean interface, strong live‑chat capabilities, and robust integration ecosystem. However, the platform’s AI features are not as advanced as some competitors, and the pricing can be a barrier for smaller properties.

Groove is a lightweight, customer support platform designed to provide a simple, no‑frills help desk experience. The platform offers ticketing, a knowledge base, and basic live chat, making it suitable for small hotels or boutique properties that prefer a straightforward interface. Groove’s knowledge base is searchable and can be embedded into hotel websites, allowing guests to find answers to common questions about room rates, amenities, and booking policies. Groove’s workflow automation enables hotels to set up auto‑responses, ticket routing, and escalation rules. The platform integrates with popular CRMs such as HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zoho, as well as booking engines, providing support agents with the data they need to resolve inquiries efficiently. Groove offers a free tier for up to five tickets per month, and paid plans start at $12.50 per agent per month for the Standard plan, scaling up to $24.99 per agent per month for the Enterprise plan. While Groove’s simplicity is a major advantage, it lacks advanced AI features such as chatbot automation or sophisticated knowledge graph search. The platform is best suited for hotels that need a basic, cost‑effective support solution without complex automation.