Guesty Acquires French Rental Platform Smily to Expand European Footprint

The deal brings together two established players in the vacation rental technology space. Smily, originally founded in 2005 as BookingSync by Sébastien Grosjean, grew from a family-run operation into a comprehensive platform that has processed €3.3 billion in bookings for 13 million travelers. By integrating Smily’s established regional infrastructure with Guesty’s expansive AI-driven platform, the companies aim to accelerate the deployment of advanced automation tools for French property managers.

Guesty CEO Amiad Soto highlighted the strategic importance of the acquisition, noting that the move allows the company to merge its global innovation capacity—which included the launch of 300 new features in 2026 alone—with Smily's deep-rooted trust among European operators. For his part, Grosjean emphasized that the rapid pace of industry evolution made joining a global leader the most effective path forward. While the financial terms of the transaction remain undisclosed, the deal includes a provision where Smily’s five founders and a group of shareholders are reinvesting a portion of the proceeds into Guesty equity. The combined teams will now focus on merging product resources to integrate Guesty’s specialized Agent Hub technology into the French market, setting a new operational standard for local hosts.