Vacation rental software has grown increasingly popular in recent years, especially with startups and small businesses. These systems automate and enhance all aspects of a vacation rental business. They provide tools that help the host manage booking and reservations, streamline financial operations, and improve the overall user experience.
If you are looking for the best vacation rental software, we have a few suggestions. If you want free vacation rental software, you may be pleasantly surprised. The fact is there is a gigantic number of products and services available to the vacation rental market.
Small businesses are always searching for the software solutions to simplify their operations and make them more efficient. For small business owners, the process of renting a vacation property as part of their business can seem like a daunting and tedious task – especially when multiple staff members are involved.
Picking the right vacation rental software can be a daunting task. With so many different types of software, it may be hard to select the right one for your needs and budget.
How We Chose the Best Vacation Rental Software
The quality of vacation rental software should match the quality of an amazing rental property. A great software system can positively affect ROI and renter satisfaction. From managing a multitude of online property listings to collecting deposits, payments, and cleaning fees, users demand a reliable and sophisticated vacation rental software that’s also easy to use. While researching the best vacation rental software, we focused our attention on three critical factors that should help make rental management easy and efficient.
Vacation Rental Features
Features like channel management help wrangle the many different rental sites. Other features like website builders can help ensure a consistent online presence is available for on-site booking and quick unit turnover.
Integrations
Integrations are especially important in the vacation rental industry. Being almost exclusively based on calendar availability, having the ability to sync calendars and integrate with different web channels is a must.
Reports
Powerful and extensive reporting helps keep track of no-show bookings, discover peak rental times, and gain a better overall understanding of each rental property’s revenue potential.
Hostaway
Hostaway is an innovative vacation rental software that is feature-rich offering deep channel integrations and support. Hostaway provides property managers with the flexibility of the most advanced solutions while being easy to use.
Providing PMS and channel management all in one along with cutting-edge technology, Hostaway is at the forefront in providing the best solutions to the vacation rental industry – unparalleled customer support and customer engagement are some of our strong suits. The PMS scales as your business grows, so you don’t need to change. Our customer success team ensures you can configure the platform to your needs, and train yourself and your staff on all the features. Our marketplace includes more than 200 integrated software partners in addition to our industry-leading PMS and Channel Manager. By integrating these companies, daily life will be made simpler and easier. Our company is well known for being able to meet deadlines and stay on budget while providing customized solutions.
Features
- Channel Manager
- Open API
- CRM & Lead Management
- Trust Accounting
- Mobile App
- Websites
- Promotional & Negotiated Rates
- Multi-Language
- Responsive Design
- Guest Portal
- Owner Statements
- Financial Reporting
- Task Management
- App Marketplace
- Unified Inbox
Integrations
Hostaway has an open API which means that developers can build right to their product. Hostway’s marketplace boasts integrations ranging from key distribution channels to payment processors all the way to advanced pricing optimization software so you can run your vacation rental with the sophistication of a major hotel chain.
Pricing
Plans start at $100/mo and vary based on which features you add on to your package as well as the scale of your operation. 2% of Net Booking Value (NBV), or fixed price per listing depending on client requirements (starting at around $20-30/listing)
Set-Up Fees
$250-1000 depending on the size of the client & onboarding requirements
Free Trial Only for enterprise prospects, upon evaluation of sales team
Free Demo Offered for 5+ listing prospects
iGMS
The iGMS vacation rental software automates the short-term rental process for property managers and hosts. iGMS is a cloud-based vacation rental software solution that lets you manage your business’ day-to-day operations, including guest communications, bookings, and alterations.
Features
- Channel Analytics
- Commission Management
- Contact Management
- Guest Communications
- Guest Experience Management
- Housekeeping Management
- Inventory Control
- Lead Management
- Order Management
- Owner Statements
- Partner Management
- Payment Processing
- Reservations Management
- Vendor Management
- Work Order Management
Integrations
Direct integrations are available with Airbnb and Vrbo (for rates, availability, and reservation); all other sites use a simple iCal connection. iGMS doesn’t offer much in terms of third-party software integration.
Pricing
After a 14-day free trial, iGMS offers two plans.
Plan 1
A pay-per-booking plan with a fixed cost (around $1) per booking, or a monthly or yearly subscription with no fees per booking.
Plan 2
The “Pro” plan costs $100 per month for 5 properties and includes 24/7 email and phone support. Under the same plan, 20 listings cost $360 per month with an annual subscription
Lodgify
Lodgify is a cloud-based software system designed for vacation rental owners and property managers. By using the software, you can save time, increase direct bookings, and connect with top channels. All types of property managers can benefit from it, from small hosts to larger companies. It simplifies daily management tasks, has a modern and intuitive user interface, and is perfect for property managers who have between five and twenty properties.
Features
- Reservation Management
- Scheduling
- Activity Management
- Customizable Templates / Email Templates
- Design Management
- Credit Card Payments / Electronic Payments
- Application Integration
- Channel Management
- Multi-Property / Multi-lingual / Multi-currency
- Online Bookings
- Tracking management
- Notifications in Real-Time
- Web Analytics
- Calendar management
Lodgify’s website builder is one of the best on the market. The tool includes several templates so you can quickly drag and drop widgets and add your own custom text. You can even add videos, maps, and custom code.
Integrations
Lodgify integrates via API and real-time synchronization with the top vacation rental channels (Airbnb, HomeAway/Vrbo, Booking.com and Expedia). This includes bookings, availability, rates, images & descriptions, messages and listings.
Pricing
After a 7-day free trial, Lodgify’s annual subscriptions for one property start at $12 per month with a 1.9% booking fee, or you can opt for the Professional version ($32 per month) which has no booking fee. For 25 properties, the Professional version costs $220 per month. Monthly subscriptions without an annual commitment cost slightly more.
Kigo – The Trusted Global Platform for Vacation Rental Managers
About Kigo : Designed to maximize revenue and streamline operations, Kigo allows vacation rental managers and owners to spend less time managing more properties. Kigo is a web-based, scalable solution that provides vacation rental managers all of the critical features they need in one, easy-to-use solution, including reservation management, distribution, marketing, revenue management, eSignature and websites.
Kigo Vacation Rental Features : Contact Management, Fee / Commission Management, Guest Reviews / Ratings, Housekeeping Management, Lead Management, Owner Statements, Payment Processing, Property Database, Reservations Management, Vendor Management, Work Order Management
365villas – Cloud based rental management software for short-stays
About 365villas : 365Villas is a property management platform simplifies and streamlines your business, and at the same time, enhance your occupancy rates across your whole short-stay rental portfolio. The software does all of these by centralizing all the aspects and facets of your operations, enabling you to manage your entire business from a single location.
365villas Vacation Rental Features : Contact Management, Fee / Commission Management, Guest Reviews / Ratings, Housekeeping Management, Lead Management, Owner Statements, Payment Processing, Property Database, Reservations Management, Vendor Management, Work Order Management
LiveRez – Cloud based vacation rental management software
About LiveRez : LiveRez is a complete vacation rental software and services solution. Our solution includes a website, property management system, and online marketing services. We pride ourselves on taking a partnership approach with vacation rentals property managers to drive more bookings for their business.
LiveRez Vacation Rental Features : Contact Management, Fee / Commission Management, Guest Reviews / Ratings, Housekeeping Management, Lead Management, Owner Statements, Payment Processing, Property Database, Reservations Management, Vendor Management, Work Order Management
Properly – Cleaning & operations management for short term rentals
About Properly : Properly is the leading operations platform for Airbnb hosts and vacation rental property managers. Properly’s tools allow property managers to implement brand standards across their operations, instruct and manage their teams on how to perform perfect housekeeping and maintenance tasks, and provide real-time data from the field. Our Marketplace of thousands of high-quality cleaners and service providers all around the world provides hosts and PMs with the resources they need to manage and grow their business.
Properly Vacation Rental Features : Contact Management, Housekeeping Management, Vendor Management, Work Order Management
Guesty
As one of the most well-known companies in the vacation rental technology space, Guesty offers a lot of value to short-term rental owners and managers who are looking to take their businesses to the next level. The company has generated a lot of buzz, having graduated from the Y Combinator startup incubator and raising nearly $60M in funding (including a $35M series C investment in 2019).
Guesty offers all of the standard property management system functionality: a multi-calendar, a messaging tool, and reporting and analysis tools. The system also allows you to set up multiple user accounts with different access levels, create automated message templates and tasks (charging the balance of a reservation on the day of arrival, for example), and manage your listings’ content and photos from one central place. Guesty pushes rates, availability, content, photos, fees, and policies to its direct integration channels, so you don’t need to update this information on each channel individually.
Unique features: The owner view allows you to configure special accounts for property owners to view only their specific properties – a major plus for property managers who manage listings on behalf of several owners. With certain subscription plans, you may also receive access to a dedicated account representative or a 24/7 support line.
Integrations: Guesty offers full, direct integrations with Agoda, Airbnb, Booking.com, HomeAway/Vrbo, Misterb&b, and TripAdvisor. Guesty also connects to Rentals United, a channel manager, which provides connections to more than 60 additional channels like Expedia, Housestay, Trip.com, and Google. Guesty’s extensive Marketplace offers integrations with dynamic pricing software (Wheelhouse, PriceLabs), payment processors (Stripe), home automation and monitoring systems (Noiseaware, Minut), luggage storage solutions (LuggageHero), and keyless entry solutions (RemoteLock) – just to name a few.
Pricing: Guesty charges a commission between 2% and 5% per booking (including cancelled bookings), depending on how many listings you have. Accounts with more listings receive a lower commission rate. Guesty may also charge a setup fee (sometimes over $1000) depending on the plan you choose.
Disadvantages: While Guesty’s direct integrations with the most popular channels are handy, the system does not offer iCal integration. If you use smaller, regional channels (or use an iCal feed for some other purpose), then Guesty may not be the best solution for your business.
Bottom Line: Guesty is one of the best short-term rental property management systems available, due to its impressive set of features and integrations. However, the system is also one of the most expensive (especially for high-end properties due to the commission structure), so you will need to decide for yourself whether Guesty’s features justify the cost.
What are the Benefits of Vacation Rental Software?
Although property management systems do come with a subscription fee or commission, that fee is far less than what it costs vacation rental managers in time and lost bookings when trying to complete those same tasks without them. From the moment you set up your system and sync all of your channels, you can rest assured that you won’t receive a double booking or lose a reservation in the shuffle. These systems also allow vacation rental owners to automate many operational tasks from bookings to guest experience. For example, you can configure check-in templates to be sent automatically before arrival. You could also set up automated text messages for your cleaning staff to alert them when you need a new cleaning. Many property management systems also offer a booking engine, which lets you easily accept direct bookings with major credit cards and other mainstream payment methods to rely less on the online travel agencies.
Conclusion
Renting out your property has always been an excellent way to make the most of it. When you rent out, you provide an extra source of income that would otherwise go unused. And let’s face it, with today’s economy, everyone could use a little extra income.
The holiday rental is one of the market forms that, in recent years, has gone through a real boom. The number of establishments that make these spaces available for vacation, short or long stays, has grown exponentially. And in this way also the demand by users, who increasingly want to enjoy the services and advantages that these properties offer.