Get started

What is vacation rental management software?

Vacation Rental Management Software

Vacation rental management software is technology designed specifically to help facilitate the routine operations of short-term property managers, including managing listings on multiple channels, communicating with guests, assigning tasks to personnel, reporting to homeowners, analyzing their business performance, processing payments and more. 

An individual or company seeking rental property management software in 2019 has a wide range of options to choose from, including both desktop platforms and property management apps. 

 

How Much Does Vacation Rental Management Software Cost?

The price of a vacation rental management software can vary greatly depending on the type of software as well as the scope of features offered. While some price plans are commission-based, requiring a specific percentage (generally 2-5%, for full-service management software) of the client’s income per reservation, others charge flat monthly or annual fees. 

There is also free property software that property managers can use to assist them in their business operations, but these are generally unadvanced and quite limited in capability. 

 

Types of Vacation Rental Management Software

Generally, vacation rental management software refers to a system that simplifies and centralizes the major aspects involved in short-term property management. 

However, there are also more fragmented solutions and vacation rental software tools that focus on individual components of vacation rental management operations. They include:

  • Channel management – syncs all of the channels on which property managers have listed their properties to help them avoid double bookings and edit their listings on all channels simultaneously.
  • Home automation – helps property managers monitor activity at their rentals and regulate thermostats and energy usage to save costs.
  • Dynamic pricing – automatically increases and reduces prices to account for supply and demand and maximize occupancy and revenue.
  • Staff management – enables smooth coordination between teams and allows managers to easily assign tasks and track progress.
  • Business intelligence – analyzes businesses to offer property managers insights into their performance and help them identify strong and weak points in their companies.
  • Accountinghandles all financial logistics involved in running a short-term property management company.
  • Keyless entry facilitates key-free access for guests through temporary passcodes or mobile apps.
  • Guest experienceaims to enhance guests’ stays and provide guests with smoother check-in and check-out experiences.
  • Payment processing provides tools to accept payments, manage revenue and prevent fraudulent activity.

 

Who Needs a Vacation Rental Management Software?

Generally speaking, managers with only a few listings will not find themselves in need of comprehensive end-to-end vacation rental management solutions, though they may benefit from more focused solutions that can assist them with pricing, guest experience, payment processing and keyless entry. 

Managers with a portfolio of three or more listings may find it difficult to process all of their reservations and tend to all of the regular maintenance of their properties, and will therefore require sophisticated software to help them centralize and automate their activity.

Read more about Vacation Rental Management Software

Vacation Rental Management Software Features
Benefits of Vacation Rental Management Software
Vacation Rental Management Software Integrations

 

See Guesty in Action

Get Started