—PreArrive vs. Chekin

Looking for a Chekin alternative?

Be clear up front: PreArrive does not compete with Chekin on ID verification, and is not trying to. Chekin verifies guest identity and handles police or tourism registration. PreArrive is the signed-acknowledgment layer, deliberately lightweight, with no ID scans and no biometric matching.

01What Chekin is good at

What Chekin does well.

Chekin is a serious online check-in product, and for hosts with a legal identity-capture obligation it is genuinely the right tool. It handles guest ID verification, biometric and document checks, and automated police or tourism-authority registration in the jurisdictions that require it. In many European markets (and some others) a host is legally required to register guests with the authorities, and Chekin is built to do exactly that, well.

Where Chekin earns its place

  • Guest ID verification with document and biometric checks
  • Automated police / tourism-authority guest registration where required
  • Online check-in flows that satisfy legal identity-capture obligations
  • Tourist-tax collection and reporting in supported jurisdictions
  • The right fit when ID verification is a legal requirement, not a preference

A different job, not a worse one

PreArrive is a lighter tool by design. It does not scan IDs, it does not run biometric checks, and it does not register guests with any authority, by design. If you legally need to capture and verify guest identity, Chekin is the correct choice and PreArrive will not replace it. What PreArrive does is the separate job of getting the guest to sign your house rules and fees.

02What PreArrive is

PreArrive captures the rules acknowledgment, not the ID.

Chekin is built around who the guest is: identity documents, biometric checks, authority registration. PreArrive is built around what the guest agreed to, the house rules and the itemized fees. Two different obligations, two different records, and the disclosure–acknowledgment gap is the one PreArrive is built for.

PreArrive does that one job: each guest taps through and signs your rules and fees before check-in, and you get a PDF certificate: a drawn signature, line-by-line acknowledgment, a two-event audit trail with IPs and timestamps, and a SHA-256 content hash. No ID scans, no biometric matching, no registration, by design. If a dispute escalates, that certificate is the document you attach to an AirCover, insurance, or small-claims filing.

PreArrive

  • Guest taps through and signs your rules and itemized fees
  • No ID scans, no biometric matching, no document uploads: lightweight by design
  • A PDF certificate timestamped before check-in, with an audit trail
  • A SHA-256 content hash so the signed version can’t be quietly edited
  • A paste-ready "Additional Rules" block for the Airbnb listing

Chekin

  • Guest ID verification with document and biometric checks
  • Automated police / tourism-authority guest registration where required
  • Online check-in flows that satisfy legal identity-capture obligations
  • Tourist-tax collection and reporting in supported jurisdictions
  • The right fit when ID verification is a legal requirement, not a preference
Not a scorecard

The two columns above are not a win-and-lose chart. They are two different products. Chekin is built for one job; PreArrive is built for another. Reading them side by side just makes the line between the two jobs clear.

03When each is right

Which tool fits which moment.

These two tools genuinely do not overlap. ID verification and a signed rules acknowledgment are different obligations. The honest recommendation: if you need identity capture, use Chekin, and consider PreArrive only for the acknowledgment piece.

Your jurisdiction legally requires you to verify and register guest identity

The right toolChekin: this is its core purpose, and PreArrive does not do it.

You need biometric or document-based ID checks before a guest arrives

The right toolChekin: PreArrive deliberately captures no ID scan and does no biometric matching.

You want a signed, dated record that the guest agreed to your rules and fees

The right toolPreArrive: that is the one job it is built for.

You have a legal ID obligation and also want a signed rules acknowledgment

The right toolBoth: Chekin for identity and registration, PreArrive for the rules signature.

Need the signed acknowledgment, not ID capture?

PreArrive is the lightweight signed-acknowledgment layer: no ID scans, no biometric matching. Free covers one property, no credit card.

Sign the rules, free See how it works

04Keep reading

Related, if you're going deeper.

Why PreArrive existsThe case for a signed acknowledgment before check-in. How it worksFrom a packet of rules to a signed PDF certificate, in four stages. Trust & securityThe evidentiary chain: hash, audit trail, signature, retention. Touch Stay alternativeA different alternative: guidebook tools vs. signed acknowledgment. Hostfully Guidebooks alternativeA different alternative: portfolio guidebooks vs. signed acknowledgment. DocuSign vs. PreArriveA different alternative: general signature tool vs. purpose-built for STR.