What is Vacation Rental Software?

Vacation rental software is the go-to tool for hosts and property managers to streamline their rental operations. It's there to help hosts and property managers handle all sorts of tasks easily, making sure that everything from check-in to check-out runs smoothly. The goal? To make sure guests have a fantastic stay every single time.

This is also known as Airbnb management software, short-term rental management software, and property management software (PMS).

Vacation rental software really shines when it comes to working together with all sorts of other apps. This teamwork is super important because it makes running your rental business a whole lot smoother and more effective.

Another great thing about property management software is how it grows with you. Whether you're managing just a few properties or juggling a whole bunch of them across different sites, this software can handle it all. It's flexible enough to fit your needs.

What are the Benefits of Vacation Rental Software?

Let's talk about vacation rental software. Why it is not an extra; it's the essential gear for running a vacation rental business like a pro.

Enables multichannel distribution

Diversifying your channel mix by listing your vacation rental on multiple booking channels is a critical strategy to grow your occupancy, rates, and revenue. The multi-calendar synchronization and management features of vacation rental software allow you to safely incorporate multichannel distribution by eliminating the myriad issues, such as double booking.

Seamless interconnectivity

By integrating with an entire marketplace of vacation rental tools such as dynamic pricing, marketing, guest screening, etc, a short-term rental management system allows you to seamlessly automate your processes.

Saves considerable time and effort

Managing a vacation rental involves juggling multiple tasks all day long, and if you're not using vacation rental software, it can feel like a non-stop marathon. But hey, vacation rental software is a real game-changer! It streamlines your tasks, automates workflows, and frees up your time.

So now, instead of being buried in to-dos, you can actually focus on growing your business.

Allows for a leaner team

Because a PMS enables you to considerably reduce the amount of work required to be done manually through automation and organizes your processes to be efficient, you don’t have to hire as many staff members (or any at all) as you would otherwise, allowing your vacation rental business to function with a much leaner team.

Grow revenue

The combination of automation, efficiency and added capability, multichannel distribution, cost reductions and ability to scale faster allow you to grow your revenue and maximize profits.

What are the Key Features of Vacation Rental Software?

Typically, a property management system will include a number of core functionalities that are considered important to run one or more vacation rentals efficiently. These are offered within an integrated software environment and include:

Reservations manager

Sometimes known as the central reservation system, this allows property managers to manage the entire reservations process, from guest inquiry and booking confirmation to guest messaging and reviewing, self-check-in, marketing and CRM, upselling, staff management, payment invoicing and processing, etc.

Channel manager

Sometimes offered as a standalone service, the channel manager allows property managers to list on multiple booking platforms, making sure that booking calendars are synced across all listings and updated in real time. It also enables hosts to populate other updates, such as pricing, messaging and screening across listings.

Centralized or multi-calendar

Also known as a multi-calendar, a centralized calendar will display your booking calendars, across your different properties and channels, in a unified view. It also allows to make bulk updates.

Unified inbox

A single interface where all guest communication is gathered. A unified inbox makes it easier to view, respond and manage all types of guest communications across the booking channels.

Automations

A good PMS will allow users to automate repetitive tasks such as messaging guests, reviews, cleaning tasks, payments, etc.

Reporting & analytics

The reporting and analytics features utilize the data gathered through the various components of the vacation rental software to provide hosts with an overall view of their performance, generate reports across key performance indicators, and offer valuable insights.

Website builder & booking engine

Leading vacation rental software providers will also provide website building capabilities and a booking engine so users can build their own vacation rental websites and take bookings managing it alongside the bookings received through online booking channels.

Third-party Integrations

Vacation rental software enables integrations with companion applications such as dynamic pricing tools, guest screening software, cleaning services, smart locks, payment services, accounting software, etc. By plugging-in these third-party software into the PMS, users gain added capabilities for managing their properties.

Mobile application

A good PMS will come equipped with a mobile app that offers full or near-complete functionality so vacation rental property managers and hosts can check in and utilize the features on-the-go.

Why Hostaway is the Best Vacation Rental Software

Hostaway is the leading vacation rental software

Hostaway is the leading all-in-one vacation rental software in the market worldwide. The award-winning platform offers everything property managers need to streamline every aspect of their operations and automate their vacation rental management business. Hostaway connects every stage of the guest journey through a unified software interface.

As an all-in-one PMS, its features include vacation rental operations management, property management, channel management, communications, marketing, reporting and analytics, automations, website builder and booking engine, owner portal to better manage the homeowner relationship, guest portal to simplify customer relationship management and upsell, and mobile app available on iOS and Android.

Hostaway is a top-ranked vacation rental software across a variety of trusted review sites. For example, it has been rated 4.9 out of 5 on Trustpilot and recognized as a GetApp Category Leader 2023, SourceForge Leader - Summer 2023, G2 Leader -Summer 2023, and Software Advice Front Runner 2023.

Hostaway holds triple crown status

Hostaway has been awarded the highest possible recognition by Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com in their 2023 partner programs. Hostaway is the only combined PMS and channel manager to hold the ‘triple crown’ designation having achieved Airbnb Preferred Plus Partner, Vrbo Elite Partner, and Booking.com Premier Partner status, which speaks to the strength and seamlessness of its integration with the three big online travel agencies (OTAs). Hostaway is also integrated with Google Vacation Rentals, enabling its users to list their short term rentals across Google Travel, Google Search, and Google Maps. These recognitions translate into reliability and quality for the user.

Easy to use

User-friendliness of vacation rental software is of significant importance to users and Hostaway has long been recognized for its ease of use by its users. Recently, it was awarded the Capterra Best Ease of Use 2023 recognition.

24/7 customer support

From free demos to onboarding and post-implementation support, Hostaway provides its customers with 24/7 support that they can count on. Most recently, its support services was recognized by the award of Crozdesk Happiest Users 2023 for High User Satisfaction.

Largest vacation rental marketplace

Integrating third-party tools into their PMS is important to most vacation rental property managers, enabling them to expand their operations and automations and ultimately get more bookings and earn more revenue.

Hostaway’s marketplace has a diverse range integrated software partners, making it possible for property managers to automate most of their processes. Furthermore, short term rental hosts can utilize Hostaway’s connection with Zapier to access over 3,000+ additional connections, delivering endless possibilities. Hostaway even allows users to build their own connections with the platform’s open API.

Scalable solutions

Hostaway has been intelligently designed so each module enables property owners and managers to grow from 5 to 20, from 50 to 200, or even from 1,000 to 5,000 properties across booking platforms large and small. These range from Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, and Marriott to Hopper, Got2Go, GetawayGoGo, Whimstay, Golightly, and many more.

Future prospects

In May 2023, Hostaway announced they received $175 million in funding, an all-equity-round, that is being hailed as the single biggest investment in the industry. Provided by a sole investor, PSG Equity, the funding will enable the platform to expand and improve its offerings and support services and extend its customer base beyond the 100,000 properties it manages across 100 countries. The investment highlights its potential and future prospects in the industry and the growing value it can deliver to its users.