Managing short-term rental properties can be a very stressful proposition. There are lots of moving parts, such as managing bookings, organising cleaning crews, communicating with guests, and much more.
Managing short-term rental properties can be a very stressful proposition. There are lots of moving parts, such as managing bookings, organising cleaning crews, communicating with guests, and much more.
As soon as you deal with one issue, another rears its ugly head. You might have a team to help out, which is great, yet they’re likely to be doing things by hand, just like you. They’re doing the best they can, but a host of minor issues can force them to be reactive despite their best intentions.
The result? Your business doesn’t grow as fast as it should.
More and more property managers are relying on vacation rental property management software to help deal with the deluge of tasks, logistics, and information. And if you’re feeling the pressure of keeping up with it all, you can probably benefit from one, too.
These software solutions can look very similar to the uninitiated. You’re already time-strapped, so the prospect of learning the ins and outs of these tools can seem intimidating—especially when there’s so much at stake.
Well, we’ve been running Uplisting for 6 years, and we’ve seen it all in the vacation rental space. We’ve helped hundreds of property managers and founders choose and implement vacation rental software solutions, and are uniquely qualified to help you through this selection process.
In this guide, we’ll help you learn:
Let’s get started:
Vacation rental property management software helps STR owners and managers run their business more effectively. This software is built specifically for managing short-term vacation rentals, not typical long-term tenancy. It typically comes with a collection of tools designed to automate or simplify many aspects of running a vacation rental property, such as guest communication, booking management, or rental agreements.
All vacation rental businesses can get value from using this software, especially larger property management companies that have to deal with dozens to hundreds of properties.
On average, we find most founders and property managers start considering vacation rental management software right around the 5-10 property mark. Usually this is because … (top reasons why)
With the right software, you will be able to:
Investing in property management software is an incredible advantage—not because of the time you save, but because of what you could do with that time. You could spend an afternoon marketing your properties or conduct a long-overdue financial audit. You could even start looking around for more properties to add to your portfolio.
These are all activities that have the potential to grow your business, but are often lost in the shuffle of urgent low-level tasks. Vacation rental property software can clean some task clutter away so you can concentrate on higher-level needs.
Guests appreciate frequent and clear communication, and short-term rental software can help you achieve that. For example, when a guest books a stay, the software can immediately send them all they need to know—and send automated reminders as the date of their booking approaches. You no longer have to worry about forgetting to message a guest just because you were busy.
One of vacation rental property management software’s biggest advantages is that it can help you keep better track of bookings. These days, even a single property has to be listed on half a rental marketplaces like Airbnb in order to make a profit. When you have over a hundred properties, managing such bookings by hand (or even by spreadsheet) is simply overwhelming. A software tool can centralise all of these bookings in one interface and make the whole process much simpler and more practical.
Software can help you improve your bottom line in multiple ways. For instance, it can lower your operational costs. You’ll be able to do more with less staff and keep better track of booking revenue.
Software also has features that can earn you more money, such as integrations with dynamic pricing platforms that can help keep your pricing competitive and properties consistently booked. Some software also has marketing features that can help you stand out from your competitors.
Every vacation rental software is going to have different strengths and weaknesses. Some will be more suited towards smaller operations with one to five properties. Others will be more appropriate for companies with over a hundred properties in different cities. That said, every software is going to have some combination of these key features:
A multi-calendar is one of the most important and valuable capabilities that vacation rental software offers. With it, you can manage all of your bookings from a single screen, no matter which vacation rental site they’re on: Airbnb, VRBO, or even direct bookings.
This is a huge time saver and helps prevent properties from being double-booked—which can happen when you have the same property listed in different places.
Like bookings, the more listings you have on different sites, the more places you have to go to send and check guest messages (including email). You’re more likely to lose track of conversations and miss important replies.
A unified inbox eliminates this risk by aggregating all messages across the different booking platforms into one place. You can read, respond, and review all messages conveniently and efficiently.
Vacation rental software also uses automation to help simplify communications. Instead of manually sending house rules, directions, and booking confirmations every single time a guest books a stay with you, the software can send it all for you. All you need to do is set up which messages to send at which time, and the software will message the guest automatically.
Any vacation rental software worth their salt will give you the option to integrate with other apps and platforms. This is important for the multi-calendar, as you need to connect with the different booking platforms in order to manage listings on different properties. But it’s also important for other third-party software's like dynamic pricing apps, which can give you a huge advantage.
Read more about what you need to look out for when assessing what vacation rental software to buy.
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