A restaurant or hotel builds a big guest list but emails it only now and then — a seasonal offer, an event, a reservation reminder that often needs to be a text, not an email. That combination breaks the pricing model of most email tools, which charge by list size whether you send or not. We ranked on the thing that actually fits hospitality: email and SMS together, priced by what you send.
For hospitality two things decide it: email and SMS in one place (guests reply to a reservation text far faster than an email), and pricing that does not punish you for holding a large list you email occasionally. We weighted those over raw automation depth, because a hotel or restaurant needs reliable sends and reminders, not a marketing-ops suite it will never fully use. See the full rubric →
Email + SMS in one platform25%
Automation & segmentation (by visit)20%
Deliverability20%
Value (send-volume pricing)20%
Ease & templates15%
01
RANK
★ Editor’s Choice
Brevo
Best email + SMS value
Brevo is built exactly for this: email and SMS under one roof, and pricing based on emails sent rather than contacts stored — so a restaurant with a 20,000-guest list it emails twice a month pays for the sends, not the database. Reservation reminders go out as texts, offers as email, from one tool. For hospitality's send-occasionally-to-a-big-list reality, nothing here fits better.
Clean, cheap and genuinely pleasant to use, MailerLite gets a small hotel or cafe sending beautiful newsletters in an afternoon. Its automations cover the essentials — welcome, birthday, win-back. SMS is thinner than Brevo's, so if texting reservations is central, Brevo edges it; if you mostly send email and want the lowest-friction tool, MailerLite is a joy.
If you run a hotel group or a multi-location restaurant and want serious guest-lifecycle automation — branching journeys by visit history, spend and preferences — ActiveCampaign is the most powerful here. It is also the priciest and charges per contact, so a large occasional-send list gets expensive. Worth it when marketing sophistication, not simplicity, is the goal.
Familiar, polished and full of good-looking templates, Mailchimp is a safe pick for a venue that wants pretty emails without a learning curve. But it prices by total contacts — the exact wrong model for a big list you email occasionally — and the bill climbs fast. Fine for a small list; expensive as your guest database grows.
GetResponse bundles email, landing pages and even webinar tools, handy if your venue promotes ticketed events or tasting nights and wants signup pages in the same place. Core email is capable and priced fairly. It is a jack-of-all-trades rather than the sharpest email tool, but for an events-driven hospitality business the bundle is convenient.
Constant Contact is easy and has good support, but there is no free plan, pricing scales steeply with list size, and it charges by contacts — a rough combination for a hospitality list you send to occasionally. Unless you are already on it and happy, the value here trails Brevo and MailerLite meaningfully.
Almost never — that is the wrong-fit trap. Klaviyo is built for ecommerce and now prices by total active profiles, so a restaurant holding a big guest list it emails occasionally pays ecommerce prices for machinery it will not use. Brevo or MailerLite deliver what hospitality actually needs at a fraction of the cost.
Why does Brevo win for hospitality?
Two reasons: it does email and SMS in one tool, and it prices by emails sent rather than contacts stored. That fits the hospitality pattern perfectly — a large guest list you send to now and then, plus reservation and event reminders that work better as texts. MailerLite is the close, email-first runner-up.
How do I text reservation reminders and confirmations?
Use a platform with native SMS — Brevo, ActiveCampaign or GetResponse here — so email and text live in one contact record. SMS is billed pay-as-you-go on top of your email plan. Keep transactional booking confirmations separate from marketing texts, and honor opt-outs to stay compliant.
My guest list is large but I only email monthly. What's cheapest?
Brevo, clearly. Because it bills on sends, holding 30,000 guests you email twice a month costs far less than on a per-contact tool like Mailchimp or Constant Contact, where that list size sets your price whether you send or not.