Do you want to streamline your vacation rental management? The right vacation rental property management software can help.
As a vacation rental owner or manager, you have to stay on top of many tasks – like managing bookings, scheduling housekeeping, checking in and out guests, marketing listings, scheduling vendors, maintenance, and more.
With so much to keep track of, it’s easy to forget crucial tasks (like avoiding double bookings). Letting even a few tasks slip through the cracks can lead to a poor guest experience, bad reviews, and even a loss of revenue.
The good news is you don’t have to manually manage your vacation rental property. Instead, you can use vacation rental property management software to manage day-to-day operations, guest communication, and more. Plus, this software can help you cut costs, save time, increase revenue, and boost the guest experience.
Wondering if vacation rental management software is for you? You’re in the right place. In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about vacation rental software – and the top 8 options. Before we get into which vacation rental software you should choose, let’s take a look at what vacation rental property management software is.
What is vacation rental property management software?
Property management software for vacation rentals allows you to manage every aspect of your vacation rental business in one place. As such, you can manage marketing, bookings, check-in/out, guest communication, housekeeping, guest payments, invoicing, vendor scheduling, maintenance, and more from one application.
Along with consolidating your operations into one platform, some vacation rental management software options can also automate tasks. This software can automatically put your listing on multiple sites, sync your calendar, communicate with guests, send team reminders, schedule housekeeping, and more. This can make you and your team much more efficient.
While the right vacation rental software should have everything you need to manage your property and devices, many solutions only focus on a few areas (like marketing or guest management). If you want to manage other aspects of your property with tech, you’ll need another tech solution – which is expensive.
Instead of choosing a partial solution, you should look for a complete property and device management platform for vacation rentals. That way, you’ll have everything you need in one, easy-to-use platform.
How does vacation rental management software work?
Vacation rental management software works first by connecting to any software or devices you currently use. So, if you use booking sites, smart locks/thermostats, or other software/devices, you’ll need to connect those to your vacation rental management system.
Once you have everything connected, your vacation rental software can start managing your listings and direct bookings. This software can put your listings on multiple listing sites, update the listings in real-time, handle any bookings, and note bookings on your calendar.
After a guest books your rental, your vacation rental property management system can send welcome messages, check-in/out instructions, booking updates, and more. Upon arriving at your property, your guest can check in from a smartphone, kiosk, or other convenient self-check-in/out methods with this software.
During your guest’s stay, vacation rental management software can schedule housekeeping, process guest payments, enable amenity access, and more to keep guests happy. After your guest’s stay is over, this software can automatically send review requests to boost your reviews.
Property management software for vacation rentals can also generate reports to help you find opportunities to improve the guest experience, cut costs, and increase revue.
What are the benefits of property management software for vacation rentals?
Now that you know what vacation rental management software is and how it works, you might be wondering what benefits you could see. Here are the top benefits of vacation rental property management software:
Increase bookings
One benefit of vacation rental management software is that it can help you get more bookings. Manually managing bookings requires creating a listing, putting it on every booking site (like Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com), updating it if there are any changes, marking bookings on your calendar, communicating with guests, and collecting reviews.
Staying on top of all those tasks can be almost impossible. But, if you don’t have your listing on multiple sites, double book units, don’t collect reviews, or forget any of the necessary tasks, you’ll have fewer bookings.
With vacation rental management software, you don’t have to manually manage bookings. Instead, the software can automate booking tasks to ensure everything gets done. This saves you and your team time. It can also make your listing marketing more effective to get more bookings, boost occupancy, and increase revenue.
Cut costs
Along with increasing bookings, vacation rental management software can also help you reduce expenses. To manage all property tasks, you need a large team and someone working at your property around the clock. This staffing can be expensive.
Vacation rental property management software can help you cut costs by automating administrative tasks (like syncing your calendar and access control). With automation, you no longer need as large of a team – which can cut costs by thousands. Plus, vacation rental management software with reporting can help you find ways to further slash expenses.
Save time
Another benefit of vacation rental property management software is that it can save time. Manually managing all property tasks (like scheduling, sending team reminders, and putting bookings on your calendar) can suck up hours a week. Instead of focusing on high-value tasks (like improving the guest experience), your team has to spend time on tedious administration.
Property management software for vacation rentals can automate these menial tasks. This can save your team hours every week. With the time they no longer have to spend on administration, your team can focus on getting more bookings, boosting the guest experience, and other tasks that can help you maximize revenue.
Improve the guest experience
Vacation rental management software can also help you improve your guest experience. Today’s guests expect a streamlined digital experience. If you manually handle bookings, guest communication, check-in/out, amenity access, and other guest interactions, you can’t create the digital experience guests expect – costing you revenue.
With property management software for vacation rentals, you can digitize the entire guest experience. So, guests have everything on their smartphones. Creating a modern, digital guest experience can improve the guest experience, get your property better reviews, and increase your revenue.
What features should you look for in vacation rental management software?
Before choosing a vacation rental management solution, you need to know what features to look for. That way, you can maximize the benefits you see. Here are the top features to look for:
Vacation-rental-specific
One important vacation rental management software feature to look for is that it’s made for vacation rentals/short-term rentals. There’s property management software for every type of real estate property. However, if you choose property management software exclusively for multifamily or commercial properties, it won’t have the features you need (like guest check-in/out or housekeeping scheduling).
So, you should look for vacation rental management software that’s built for vacation rentals. This software doesn’t have to be only for vacation rentals, but it should have a specific vacation rental module. That way, your property management tools will have everything you need to successfully manage your vacation rental.
Integration
Another important feature to look for in vacation rental management software is integration. You rely on third-party software to market listings, manage bookings, and do other crucial tasks. And, you likely have smart devices (like smart locks or thermostats).
If your vacation rental management software doesn’t have good integration, it won’t be able to talk to your other software or devices. So, you’ll have to manually put listings on booking sites, manage access control, and more – wasting your time and potentially reducing bookings.
To avoid this, you should look for vacation rental property management software with wide software and device integration. That way, you can easily connect your entire tech ecosystem for a streamlined workflow and digital guest experience.
Comprehensive
Along with integration, you should also look for a complete vacation rental property and device management platforms. Many vacation rental management software focus on one aspect of your property (like marketing, maintenance, or guest communication). If you choose a solution that’s not comprehensive, you’ll need additional tools to manage the rest of your property – which is expensive.
Instead, you should look for an end-to-end vacation rental property and device management platform. It should have a variety of features like:
- Multi-calendar
- Reservation management
- Online booking/booking engine
- Mobile app
- Customizable reporting
- Guest communication
- Invoicing/payment processing
- Housekeeping scheduling
- Maintenance/inspections
With a complete vacation rental property and device management solution, you can manage everything you need in one place – saving you money and improving efficiency.
Modular
The last must-have feature you should look for is modularity. Any vacation rental management software you choose will likely have multiple functions. You may not need to use all the features of the software. Without modularity, however, you’ll be stuck paying for features you don’t even use.
So, you should look for a modular vacation rental management system. That way, you only pay for modules you currently use. If your needs change in the future, you can add or remove modules – making modular software a good investment for years to come.
What is the best vacation rental property management software?
You now know the benefits of and the features to look for in vacation rental management software. It’s time to choose the right solution for your property. Here are the top 8 vacation rental property management software options:
1. BeHome247
Top Features:
- End-to-end platform
- Middleware for legacy tech
- Wide integration
- Responsive customer support
- Guest communication app
BeHome247 is a complete property and device management platform for vacation rental, hospitality, multifamily, and single family properties. While BeHome247 does work for a variety of properties, it has a specific vacation rental management module with everything you need to manage your vacation rental.
As an end-to-end property and device management platform, BeHome247 helps you manage every aspect of operations, communication, and guest management from one, modular, user-friendly application.
BeHome247 can also automate all of your vacation rental day-to-day operations – like guest communication, marketing, booking management, housekeeping scheduling, guest payments, team reminders, vendor management, and more.
Along with being a comprehensive platform, BeHome247 also has middleware functionality. As a middleware solution, BeHome247 works with your existing legacy tech and can add new functionality (like EV charging). In addition to wide software integration, BeHome247 works with most devices regardless of connectivity or protocol.
Final word: BeHome247 is the best vacation rental management software because it’s comprehensive, modular, vacation-rental-specific, and has wide integration.
2. Escapia
Top Features:
- Owner portal
- Lead management
- Reservation calendar
Escapia is a vacation rental management solution for portfolios of all sizes. However, Escapia won’t work for a mixed portfolio because it only has solutions for vacation rentals. In its vacation rental property management offering, Escapia has features like housekeeping scheduling, accounting, maintenance, and lead management. While Escapia integrates with some third-party software (like booking sites), it doesn’t integrate with or manage smart devices. So, you’ll need additional tech to manage smart devices if you choose Escapia.
Final word: If you’re looking for property management software for only vacation rentals without device management, Escapia could work for you.
3. Guesty
Top Features:
- Booking website
- Channel manager
- Unified inbox
Guesty is a property management platform for vacation rentals, urban rentals, aparthotels, and other similar properties. As such, it won’t work for portfolios with properties like multifamily or single family rentals. Additionally, Guesty provides solutions for both property owners and property managers. Although Guesty provides integrations to booking channels, it has limited integration to other software and has no integration with smart devices. In its vacation rental management software, Guesty has features like accounting, channel management, a mobile app, owner portal, payment processing, guest communication, and a multi-calendar.
Final word: If you’re looking for vacation rental management software and don’t need wide integration or device management functionality, Guesty could be a good option.
4. Hostaway
Top Features:
- CRM/lead management
- Performance dashboard
- Guest invoicing
Hostaway is a property management software solution for vacation rental properties. It only offers solutions for property managers and management companies. If you’re a vacation rental owner, Hostaway won’t work for you. In terms of features, Hostaway’s platform offers functionality like lead management, performance dashboard, a mobile app, unified inbox, expense tracking, multi-calendar, and payment processing. Hostaway has an integration marketplace, with integrations like Expedia and Tripadvisor. Like many other vacation rental management solutions, Hostaway doesn’t offer device management or integration.
Final word: If you’re looking for vacation rental management software that only works for property managers and don’t need device integration, Hostaway could work for you.
5. Lodgify
Top Features:
- Website builder
- Channel manager
- Task management
Lodgify is a property management platform for vacation rentals, bed and breakfasts, resorts, cabins, and other short-term rental properties. Both vacation rental owners and property managers can use Lodgify. However, if you own or manage a mixed portfolio, Lodgify likely won’t work for you. In terms of functionality, Lodgify offers features like a reservation system, guest management, channel management, website builder and templates, and reporting/analytics. Lodgify has very limited software integration and non-existent device integration. If you want to use third-party software or manage devices, Lodgify isn’t the best choice.
Final word: If you’re looking for vacation rental management software with good vacation rental website building options but hardly any integration, Lodgify could be a good option.
6. Lodgix
Top Features:
- Online booking
- Credit card processing
- Automated communication
Lodgix is a vacation rental management solution for vacation rental managers and owners. Since it only offers solutions for vacation rentals, it doesn’t work for a mixed portfolio. While Lodgix has a property management offering, it’s much less robust than other options. In terms of features, Lodgix offers capabilities like channel management, reporting, online booking, guest communication, email marketing, and digital signatures. Lodgix focuses mostly on channel integrations, with little other software or device integration.
Final word: If you’re looking for vacation rental management without robust property management features or wide integration, Lodgix could work for you.
7. OwnerRez
Top Features:
- Guest messaging
- Reporting
- Expense tracking
OwnerRez offers property management solutions for vacation rental owners and property managers. With its focus on vacation rentals, OwnerRez won’t work for you if you also own or manage other property types (like multifamily). As a web-based solution, OwnerRez doesn’t have a mobile app or work on most mobile devices. For its property management offerings, OwnerRez has features like guest messaging, channel management, websites, accounting, payment processing, reporting, and expense tracking. OwnerRez integrates with a variety of software, but it relies on software integration to manage smart devices.
Final word: If you’re looking for vacation rental management software and don’t need a mobile app or access, OwnerRez could be a good option.
8. Streamline
Top Features:
- Revenue management
- Phone system
- Automated guest reviews
Streamline offers vacation rental management solutions to property managers. If you’re a rental property owner, Streamline won’t work for you. In its property management offerings, Streamline has features like revenue management, CRM, lead management, automation, a reservation portal, a mobile app, reporting, and revenue management. For integration, Streamline integrates with software providers like payment processors, channel managers, and guest marketing. Streamline also relies on integration with leading smart home automation providers (like BeHome247) to manage smart devices.
Final word: If you’re looking for vacation rental management software only for property managers with a variety of software integration, Streamline could work for you.
Conclusion
Vacation rental property management software can help you increase bookings/revenue, cut costs, boost efficiency, and create a great guest experience. However, you’ll only see those benefits if you choose the right software – with features like comprehensiveness, integration, modularity, and being vacation rental specific.
All 8 vacation rental management software options can meet some of your needs. But, if you want best-in-class vacation rental management software, BeHome247 is the way to go. Its end-to-end platform with wide integration and middleware capabilities has everything you need to manage your vacation rental. BeHome247 has modular solutions tailored to meet your vacation rental needs and can even be fully integrated with most of the PMS software systems featured in this article. If you already use one of those providers, you can get the best of two worlds by boosting your functionality by adding BeHome247. Book your BeHome247 demo today to start managing your vacation rentals better.
