Both turn the living-room TV into a branded guest welcome screen. The difference: BetterSTR TV is a full Android TV launcher that takes over the whole home screen (welcome screen, WiFi QR, guidebook, live TV and streaming apps) on any inexpensive Android TV device, free to start.
WelcomeScreen is a welcome screen plus a mobile guidebook. BetterSTR TV is the entire guest TV experience. WelcomeScreen greets guests by name on the TV and pairs it with a phone-based digital guidebook and AI local tips. BetterSTR TV replaces the TV’s home screen entirely, so the guidebook, WiFi QR code, house info, live TV/IPTV, Plex and streaming apps all live on the TV itself, managed remotely over the air. And on price it’s an easy call: WelcomeScreen is $9.99 per property, per month, while the BetterSTR TV welcome screen is free forever, with every Premium feature free for the first 2 weeks and Premium from just $2/month after that. No card required to start.
A guest welcome screen is the first thing a guest sees when they turn on the TV in a short-term rental: a branded screen that greets them by name, shows check-in/out details, and points them to everything they need for their stay. The best ones remove guest questions, look professional, and reset cleanly between bookings.
Where products differ is how much of the TV they own. Some show a welcome card and hand off to a phone app; others take over the entire TV home screen so every tile (guidebook, WiFi, things to do, streaming) is right there on the big screen.
A native Android TV / Google TV launcher that becomes the home screen on any compatible device:
A guest-experience platform centred on a TV welcome card plus a phone guidebook:
| Feature | BetterSTR TV Best Value | WelcomeScreen |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Welcome screen free forever; Premium from $2/month | $9.99 per property / month |
| Full TV home-screen takeover (launcher) | ✓ Yes, kiosk launcher | Welcome screen + phone guidebook |
| Branded welcome by guest name | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Guidebook on the TV screen | ✓ On the TV | Primarily on the guest’s phone |
| On-screen in-room purchases & upsells | ✓ Early check-in, extras & activities | Activity bookings only |
| Logs guests out of apps at checkout | ✓ Yes | Not documented |
| WiFi QR code on the TV | ✓ Yes | ✗ Not a TV feature |
| Live TV / IPTV & streaming apps | ✓ Built in | ✗ Not the focus |
| Chromecast (cast from a phone) | ✓ Built in | Varies by device |
| Gated in-app Plex (Movies/TV) | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Marketing screensaver | ✓ Your photos and branding, upsells, your other properties and local restaurants & tours (yours or paid sponsors), updated across the fleet | ✗ No |
| Fleet management | ✓ Bulk-update screensavers, settings, content and app versions in one go: by property, tag, building, city or the whole fleet | ✓ Cloud dashboard |
| Rename / rebrand device from portal | ✓ Yes | Not documented |
| Auto power-on at check-in / standby at checkout | ✓ Yes (supported hardware) | ✗ No |
| Full remote control of each TV | ✓ Power on and off, reboot and drive the TV remotely from your portal | Not documented |
| Mobile phone remote control | ✓ Guests scan a QR, no app needed | ✗ No |
| Smart home: climate, lights, blinds & locks | ✓ Air-con temperature & mode, lights, fans, blinds, locks and scenes on the TV and the guest’s phone; auto on/off at check-in & checkout (Home Assistant or Shelly, Premium) | ✗ No |
| Open API & Claude MCP | ✓ REST API plus a Claude MCP server: control TVs, send guest messages and update properties and bookings by asking Claude. API docs | Not documented |
| Guest activity for troubleshooting | ✓ Power on/off history, which apps are in use and whether a guest is casting | Not documented |
| Guest languages on the TV | ✓ 19 languages | Not documented |
| Background music with volume control | ✓ Music of your choice, with the volume set from your portal | ✗ No |
| QR-code cast isolation (no seeing other rooms’ TVs) | ✓ Yes, cast & AirPlay per room | ✗ No |
| Hotel support | ✓ Yes, Better Hotel | Vacation rental focus |
| AI local recommendations | Guidebook + AI guest support | ✓ AI discovery |
| Activity booking (Viator) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Hardware | Any Android TV box, or our HDMI stick | Google TV Streamer, Roku, Fire TV, Onn |
| PMS integrations | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
Because BetterSTR TV is a real launcher, everything a guest needs is one click away on the big screen, not buried behind a phone link. And because it owns the whole screen, you can sell on it: offer early check-in, late checkout, extras and local activities as on-screen in-room purchases, right where the guest is sitting. At checkout it logs the guest out of streaming apps so no logins linger for the next booking.
WelcomeScreen’s guidebook is something guests have to open on their phone. BetterSTR puts your guidebook on the TV, and backs it with a full standalone digital guidebook that’s more capable than WelcomeScreen’s (fully branded, multi-language, QR-accessible, synced to your PMS, with upsells built in) and free to use. Activity booking? BetterSTR runs the same Viator integration, so there’s nothing you give up there either. The honest takeaway: WelcomeScreen’s one genuine extra is AI local discovery; on everything else BetterSTR does more, on a bigger screen, for less.
WelcomeScreen runs on the usual streaming devices (Google TV Streamer, Roku, Fire TV, Onn) and is priced at $9.99 per property, per month, which adds up quickly across a portfolio. BetterSTR TV runs on practically any Android TV box, including very cheap ones, or you can order our HDMI stick with the app pre-installed. The welcome screen is free forever and every Premium feature is free for the first 2 weeks with no card. Premium is from just $2/month (still well under WelcomeScreen’s $9.99), so you can roll it out across every property and only pay once it’s proven its value.
A branded welcome screen, WiFi QR, guidebook and streaming, on any Android TV, managed remotely.
Start free, no card needed Explore BetterSTR TVYes. BetterSTR TV does everything a welcome screen should (a branded, name-personalised greeting on the TV) and goes further by replacing the entire Android TV home screen with your guidebook, WiFi QR, live TV and streaming apps, all managed remotely. It’s free to start, so it’s an easy product to trial against WelcomeScreen.
No. With BetterSTR TV the guidebook and house info are on the TV itself. WelcomeScreen leans on a mobile guidebook that guests open on their phones; BetterSTR TV keeps everything on the big screen (and still offers QR access where you want it).
Any compatible Android TV / Google TV device works, including inexpensive boxes. You can also order a pre-configured HDMI stick from us. Plug it into the TV, scan a QR code to pair it to the property, and it’s live in minutes.
The welcome screen is free forever, and every Premium feature is free for the first 2 weeks with no credit card required. After that, stay on the free plan or upgrade to Premium from just $2/month. WelcomeScreen is priced at $9.99 per property, per month, so BetterSTR TV is significantly cheaper to run across a portfolio of rentals.
Yes. BetterSTR TV clears the previous guest’s app sign-ins (e.g. streaming services) and re-personalises the welcome screen for the next booking, so every guest gets a clean, branded start.
If you want to own the whole TV experience (cheaply, on any hardware, free to start), BetterSTR TV is the stronger choice. WelcomeScreen is a solid welcome-card-plus-phone-guidebook platform; BetterSTR TV turns the TV itself into your branded guest hub. Compare it next to LG Pro:Centric Stay, or see the full BetterSTR TV product page.
Running WelcomeScreen alongside a guidebook and WiFi tool? BetterSTR Simple covers the TV, guidebook, WiFi marketing and an in-room tablet together for $15 a property a month.