The short-term Vacation Rental business is a burgeoning industry, this calls for being on top of the best vacation rental management software. In the present times of technology, doing everything manually by hand doesn’t make sense. We live in a fast world and technology helps us in keeping up with the pace of the life and with the industry.
Managing a single property or managing multiple properties is never easy. Various aspects need our attention. Broadly categorizing these into marketing, operations, legal and finance functions, could be a daunting task for one person to manage. Either you can delegate these functions (Delegation may not be everyone’s cup of tea) to teams or do the work yourself. First and foremost, it is expensive to hire people and second, not everyone has the required follow up skills to make the delegation effective. These are reasons enough to use vacation rental management software.
There are all kinds of software and you need to identify the need for the software and then research the most appropriate one. For a small property owner, finance software might not be as necessary as marketing or legal software. So, based on what problems are you facing, you’ll need to select the most suitable software within your budget constraints. Let’s look at some of the best vacation rental management software serving the various functions and see which combination might work for you and your business.
Thinking of growing your VR business multi-folds? Below slides list down some fantastic VR Management software to suit your custom needs:
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Best Vacation Rental Management Software for Companies
Although most of the vacation rental management software packages that are mentioned earlier can be used by multi-property owners or vacation rental companies software, some are suitable remote vacation rental property management. These can be niche software specific to a few functions or comprehensive software with unlimited property additions, so let’s look at some of the key software providers:
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MyVR: Apart from being a comprehensive software providing integrations, PMS, and channel management, it connects you with expert services market place. MyVR helps you enhance your offering, innovate, gain expert know-how, and stay relevant to changing times. It also allows you to delegate work for your management teams as your business grows.
- Avantio: This is a comprehensive software but with a small twist. It lets you pick the bundle of services yourself. If you have existing software, then you are able to pick the services required by you out of vacation rental management services (VRMS), channel management, website design, and much more. Avantio also generates the Accounts related reports for the finance function.
- LiveRez: Two added features that make this unique are Customer Relationship Management (CRM) aspect and Automation of the Rental agreement process. The CRM aspect helps you share the guest review on your online presence, which is an added advantage over other comprehensive software packages. Rental agreement preparation falls under the legal function of the business. LiveRez is one of the few software applications which have this functionality and therefore it can ease another complex process for owners.
- Your.rentals: They have multiple plans. The one for a large business assigns you a dedicated account manager if you manage five or more properties. The account manager will lend you a hand in everything, give you advice and assistance, best industry practices, and business development activities.
Independent Property Owner or Manager Software
In the case of individual property owners or managers, the software requirement is quite clear. What they need is a one-stop solution. One vacation rental management software that can handle various functions of the business.
There are several reasons for this, primarily, you don’t want management to become an overwhelming hassle. You are using the software to ease your burdens and not make them more complicated. If you have multiple software packages, managing them would be an added hassle. If not all functions can be included in one software, at least three to four should be. However, if you are hiring a vacation rental property manager, you can check out our guide.
Another important reason is that when the services are bundled together, the average cost is lowered. Buying or subscribing to different software will become more costly because most software requires an ongoing monthly usage-based fee. To avoid paying more, one comprehensive software is a simple solution.
Thinking about this from the revenue side of events, a single property has revenue limitations, so costs can’t be too high to eat into the margins or incur losses. There are numerous advantages of property management software. Having understood the requirement, let’s look into the best vacation rental management software:
- CiiRUS Software: This is a multipurpose solution. It supports bookings and listings management, website creation, hosting and management, marketing, and sales promotion, accounting, taxes, and reporting. You can even integrate guest communications and payments. Further, work orders for housekeeping and maintenance are also possible through the software. CiiRUS provides a flat monthly fee or a small monthly fee plus a 1% transaction fee. This package has very high ratings and reviews on various online platforms that rate best vacation rental management software.
- Kigo Marketplace: This is a close competitor to CiiRUS. It offers every service that CiiRUS offers but one of the best features it provides is the Rate map. Kigo gives a competitive rate per night for similar properties. This is helpful in pricing and profit-maximization. There are peak-seasons when you can charge almost four times your normal rate, so it helps in selecting the right price.
- Your Porter App: This is a niche player in the software market. You can call it a lean software package. It does have similar features as CiiRUS such as auto-communications, listings, website, reporting, and so on, however, it is more focused on Airbnb. Although you can manage listings from other places such as Booking.com, Tripadvisor, and CanadaStays, you get some Airbnb specific features. One such feature is the Airbnb rankings booster, an SEO feature to highlight your property on Airbnb. It also generates an Airbnb rankings report.
- Smoobu: Like all other players, it is a property management software (PMS), channel manager, communication, listings management, etc. However, its USP is the payment integrations and smart-pricing tools. Smoobu is much better than other software. They support, stripe, PayPal, Swinkly, and Sum up and have collaborations with Price labs and Beyond Pricing. Further, the online-check in tie-ups are also wide-spread. Luggage storage service is another differentiator offered by this software. But such partnerships come at a slightly higher price, so be prepared for that.
- The list of other comprehensive software goes on and on. It includes many big names such as Guesty, Lodgify, VRS Scheduler, 365villas, Track Hospitality, Streamline and lodgix among others.
- There are several other software packages that manage a few of the functions of the business if not all. This means they are not as comprehensive as the ones mentioned earlier but these include inroad, bookerville, iGMS, hosttools, rentals united among others.
Wrapping Up
Niche software is required when the business needs to focus its attention on a few key aspects of the business. Over the years, they have realized what works for them and what are the key drivers of success. They want to optimize these by using the vacation rental management software or they might have identified a new opportunity and want a first-mover advantage. Thus, at times, niche software is also required for R&D activities.
Having understood the general offerings of most software, now everything boils down to two key aspects – what do you need and how much can you spend. These are big questions that need special attention and can vary from owner to owner and property to property. There is no one-size fit for these aspects. However, you may undertake a comparative analysis after deciding what kind of software is required by you.
Many aspects of the business are important, however, the most important one is marketing. If you don’t have guests, you don’t have revenue. While choosing a software, keep in mind and confirm that the software is integrated with a wide range of listing websites. It should include big names such as Airbnb, VRBO, and booking.com, but also include newer players in the market such as the rentaltrader.com.
One big reason to include newer players is that they offer competitive pricing because they are just starting. One more reason is that you never know what kind of SEO are they using. If they are using a highly effective one, then they may appear higher in search results. So, it is always best to leave no stone unturned when it comes to listings. Never stay behind your competition. You never know what clicks.
Choosing the best vacation rental management software can be tricky at first as a new one arrives in the market now and then. However, it is recommended to go with an established player with high ratings and reviews. It might be expensive to buy branded software and you might be tempted to go for a cheaper but less established one. However, remember, your entire business relies on this one software. What if it falters and you don’t get immediate support? Imagine that your business could come to a standstill, therefore, don’t cut corners on the software. If you need any more information or assistance, please fill out our web form or feel free to give us a call.
