CheckMyStay vs DoNotStay: The Whole Story, Not Just the Red Flags
By Rustam Akhmetov ·
You have 14 tabs open and still don't know which hotel to book
You know the routine. You find a hotel on Booking.com, the score looks fine, and then the doubt starts. Is it really quiet? Did that one review about the shower mean anything? So you scroll. And scroll. Three hundred reviews later the tab count keeps growing and you still can't decide.
AI review tools for Booking.com fix this, and two of them do it in very different ways: DoNotStay and CheckMyStay. If you're picking one before your next trip, here's how they compare.
What DoNotStay does
DoNotStay is built to hunt for deal-breakers. Its Chrome Web Store listing promises "instant verdicts" and highlights red flags such as "noise, bedbugs, mold, hidden fees, and safety concerns". Each flag links back to real guest quotes, and you get a confidence score plus catchy tags like "Sleep Destroyer". It works on Booking.com, and the listing says more booking sites are "coming soon".
If your only question is "is there anything here that should scare me off?", that's a fair approach, and the quote links are a nice touch.
But a hotel isn't only its worst problems. You're also paying for what's good about it.
What CheckMyStay does
CheckMyStay reads the guest reviews on a Booking.com hotel page and gives you a summary in about 10 seconds, split into three parts:
- Positive: what guests keep praising
- Negative: what guests keep complaining about
- Verdict: the overall call
That's the picture you'd get from a friend who actually read all the reviews. Hearing that the breakfast is great and the street is loud is far more useful than a single scary label. It lets you decide whether that trade-off is fine for you: a light sleeper reads it one way, a couple out until 2 a.m. reads it another.
We stay focused on purpose. CheckMyStay works on Booking.com hotel pages only, because that focus is what keeps the summaries sharp. And we're upfront about it: treat the summary as a sharp friend who read everything, not as gospel. The original reviews are always one click away.
Side by side
- What you get
- CheckMyStay: positives, negatives and an overall verdict, all in one view
- DoNotStay: a red-flag verdict ("Stay", "Questionable" or "Do Not Stay") with a confidence score and quote-linked flags (source)
- Speed
- CheckMyStay: about 10 seconds per hotel
- DoNotStay: "know in seconds" (source)
- Free use
- CheckMyStay: 3 hotels every 30 days with Google sign-in, no card needed
- DoNotStay: 5 free checks without an account, then 10 more with a free account (source)
- When you need more
- CheckMyStay: Trip Pass, $4.99 for 30 days of unlimited hotel checks, no auto-renewal, with a 14-day refund window
- DoNotStay: credit packages for regular travelers (source)
- Sites
- CheckMyStay: Booking.com hotel pages
- DoNotStay: Booking.com, with more platforms listed as "coming soon" (source)
Why a flat Trip Pass beats counting credits
Planning a trip isn't one hotel check. It's a short, intense sprint where you compare fifteen hotels in one city, then do it again for the next stop. That's exactly when counting credits gets stressful: every extra check costs something, so you start skipping the ones you were unsure about. Those are often the ones that matter.
The CheckMyStay Trip Pass removes the counting. You pay $4.99 once and get unlimited checks for 30 days. It doesn't renew on its own, so there's no subscription to forget to cancel. If it isn't for you, you have 14 days to get a refund. Check every hotel you're curious about, compare them all, and book the one that fits.
Between trips, the free plan still gives you 3 hotels every 30 days, which covers a quick weekend away.
Who should pick which
Pick DoNotStay if you only want a fast deal-breaker scan and like seeing each flag tied to a guest quote.
Pick CheckMyStay if you want the full picture (the good, the bad and a verdict) so you can weigh trade-offs yourself, and if you'd rather pay one flat price for a whole trip than buy credits.
Don't book your next hotel blind
Every hour you spend scrolling reviews is an hour you're not planning the fun part. And every hotel you skip checking is a gamble on your sleep, your budget and your trip.
Install CheckMyStay, open any Booking.com hotel page, and get the whole story in about 10 seconds. Start free with 3 hotels, and grab the Trip Pass when your planning sprint begins.