luca and LIKE MAGIC are among the closest providers in the market: both cover the guest journey and hotel operations on one platform, both work without an app download, and both bring together check-in, upselling, digital keys, communication, and payment. This page is for you if you are weighing the two and want to line up the differences cleanly.
LIKE MAGIC is based in Zurich and grew out of the Swiss SV Group as a corporate venture, with LIKE MAGIC AG established in 2023. luca is a German platform that connects hotel and restaurant in one system, with German-language support and native payment.
Restaurant, POS, and F&B on one platform
LIKE MAGIC connects the guest journey and hotel operations. A dedicated POS or F&B product for the restaurant is not part of the offering.
luca covers hotel and restaurant in the same system. Guests order and pay at the table, at the pool, or in the room via QR code. At Isla Brown Corinthia, a 165-room resort in the Curio Collection by Hilton, this created 180 additional order points and €12,500 in additional F&B revenue in one month. If your property has food and beverage that should earn its keep, this is the clearest difference. More on the restaurant page.
Native payment instead of integration
Both providers bring payment into the guest journey. The path there differs. LIKE MAGIC embeds contactless payment through integrations. luca brings payment itself: luca Pay runs natively on Adyen, with less than 1% card fee on all cards, no subscription, and 24/7 availability.
Because payment and POS live in the same platform, order, bill, and payment come together without detours. On top of that come terminals from €19/month and Tap to Pay, which turns a smartphone into a card reader.
A German company with German-language support
luca is a German company and serves operators across the DACH region with German and English support. LIKE MAGIC is based in Zurich and is also active in the DACH region, in German and English.
For German operators, a German contracting partner and German-language support can be a criterion. Data protection applies across the EU, yet the question of company location and support language stays a real consideration.
Events as a third vertical
Alongside hotel and restaurant, luca also covers events: ordering and payment wherever your guests are, without a queue. References include the Bavarian State Opera.
LIKE MAGIC focuses on hotel and operations. A dedicated events vertical is not publicly marketed (as of July 2026). If you run events beyond the hotel, luca gives you a building block for that.
When LIKE MAGIC is the better fit
LIKE MAGIC has real strengths worth knowing.
For lifestyle or serviced-apartment concepts that put a lot of weight on the operations side, the operational grounding of the SV Group is an argument. The workflows grew out of the practice of an actual hotel operator, with front-desk automation and team tools at the center.
If your property is hotel-only, with no restaurant running its own POS, and a Swiss-built, ops-heavy stack appeals to you, LIKE MAGIC is a fitting choice. You then do not need the POS and F&B breadth that luca adds.
Find more comparisons in the 2026 overview of guest experience platforms.
