A vacation rental property can be a good moneymaker. By leasing out your spare rooms to vacationers, you can generate some extra cash to cover your everyday expenses and even build up some wealth over time, if you play your cards right.
But it is important to understand that operating a short-stay rental accommodation is not all sunshine and rainbows. Like any other business, it has many pitfalls and hurdles you will have to tackle properly if you want your venture to be successful.
From dealing with guest correspondence and handling reservations to arranging cleanup and supplies restocking, from responding to reviews and maintaining a stellar reputation to keeping the availability calendars synchronized, a rental host or manager encounters an avalanche of work.
To take certain responsibilities off their shoulders, many longing hosts and managers implement vacation rental software tools to their business for the sake of automation, time savings, and work stress relief.
However, it can be difficult to pick the best solution among the ocean of available options. These handy tips will help you select the best service for your short-stay rental business.
What is Vacation Rental Management Software?
It is basically a computer program (software) that helps you operate, manage, and control your vacation rental unit. Whether it is a lovely serviced apartment in the heart of a big city or a wood cabin on the picturesque lakeside, a vacation rental software solution can work for any type of property you lease out, occasionally or throughout the year alike.
Vacation rental management software comes with a bevy of vital features aimed to address the challenges that busy owners and managers face daily. The standard functionality offered by such systems includes:
- Booking management
- Payment processing
- Automatic task assignment
- KPI reporting and statistics
- Centralized Inbox
- Multiple property management
- Website builder and SEO
- Auto-pricing
- Guest communication
- Review management
The most advanced vacation rental management platforms such as https://www.hostyapp.com/airbnb-booking-management-system/ also offer the third-party integration feature to let you maximize your bookings across various sales channels. Such a system will connect with the booking website where you advertise your rental property (such as Airbnb or VRBO) to allow you to accept bookings, update your calendar, and manage operational tasks from a single interface.
Even if you have multiple listings on several booking marketplaces, with a proper tool at hand, you will no longer need to juggle between different screens and bother with constant account log ins/outs – you can manage your entire rental portfolio through and through without leaving the app.
How Can Your Business Benefit From Vacation Rental Software?
While Airbnb management software may increase business expenses, the value it delivers makes it worth every cent.
- Time savings. By bringing a solid dose of automation to the entire business, this software saves you from performing repetitive, time-consuming operations, such as manual replies to inquiries, synchronization of reservations, and task distribution, and much more.
- Better reputation. Thanks to comprehensive automation, you are enabled to provide your clients with a smooth guest experience, avoid human-factor-related errors, and ensure critical tasks do not fall through the cracks. This will ultimately translate into an improved rating and more positive reviews on such platforms as Airbnb, raising your credibility in the prospects’ eyes and encouraging them to book exactly your property, not your rival’s one.&
- Business growth. The finest of Airbnb management software tools are loaded with an analytical module, which helps managers and hosts gain valuable insights into their business performance and make data-driven decisions. Considerable time savings on routine operations allow managers to better focus on other aspects of the business.
How to choose Airbnb Management Software?
Compare prices
Pricing is, perhaps, the biggest consideration to bear in mind when shopping for the right Airbnb management software for your specific rental property. Comparison is a good method to pick the best product among many greats. It is your way to know what value you will get for your hard-earned money. It is good if you already have some specific sum in mind that you never want to exceed – this will help immediately screen out many options that cost more than you can afford.
Also, be aware that different vendors will charge you in a different fashion. Some may charge you every month, while others may demand a full-year payment in advance, depending on your subscription plan. Pay attention that the vendor’s price may not be final, and you may face some unexpected costs throughout your journey, such as set-up commissions, software update fees, or customer support charges. Make sure, the vendor doesn’t hide any fees and clearly defines them in the contract.
Compare features
When shopping for vacation rental management software, you want to be sure it offers all the functions your business needs. Such a service is supposed to make your life easier and automate the lion’s share of repetitive tasks – of course, it is not meant to bring even more stress and complication to your work.
You want to have a clear idea of your business’s needs and how rental management software can address them. Create the list of the most ineffective, time-grabbing operations you want to streamline, so you know which components to look for in the software.
Some hosts may require a robust and secure payment processing engine to safely accept bookings and deposits online, while others stand in need of smooth integration with a particular OTA (sales channel) such as Airbnb. Thirds may just want everything at once, and even more. It entirely depends on personal requirements.
Compare additional perks
Don’t say that you don’t want to get more bang for your bucks. Everyone desires to receive the maximum benefit for the given sum of money. While software companies may charge more or less the same prices for their vacation rental management solutions, the functions and perks included in their package may vary dramatically. Along with comparing pricing, try to weigh bonus features you will also get for your dollars. This may include a zero-pay trial period, free telephone support in your time zone, onboarding and training by a real person, etc.
The purpose of Airbnb management software tools is to help rental managers and hosts operate their properties, reservations, calendars, and payments across multiple booking websites from a single dashboard. With a properly chosen solution, you can expect to streamline major business operations, boost your Airbnb ranking, and enhance your managerial efficiency, which ultimately provides room for business growth.