An Honest Property Management Software Review: Guesty vs Lodgify

I’m an actual Property Manager and for YEARS I’ve been searching for the best software that would help automate and streamline my work. Being a software engineer, I couldn’t help but document my experience, so I decided to create this in-depth review made specifically for STR owners and managers, comparing all the best channel managers such as Guesty, Lodgify, Hostaway, Hospitable, Uplisting, Tokeet, iGMS, and Host Tools.

Short-term property management software, also known as PMS, is designed to help facilitate the operations of vacation rental companies with channel management (Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com), a unified inbox, automated messaging tools, task management for teams, reporting to property owners, direct booking website, and more. Some important features to look out for include:

• Channel management with a unified inbox
• Automated messages with language detection
• Dynamic vacation rental pricing tool
• Task management for the cleaning & maintenance team
• Short-term rental website builder with widgets
• Owner portals and tools for property managers
• Ticket system for support (guests & owners)
• Business analytics
• Online signed rental agreements
• Accounting & financial logistics
• Payment processing options

Guesty Review

I’ve been using Guesty for over a year now with about 40 properties, so I’ll give the most accurate description of my overall experience as an STR management company using Guesty.

Founded in 2013, the Guesty platform is an end-to-end solution for businesses of any size that streamlines and automates the complex operational tasks of a vacation rental management company. It is one of the best Airbnb management tools for managers looking for a short-term rental property management software that’ll help them save time, increase revenue, and grow their business. They offer two different rental PMS options: Guesty vs Guesty for Hosts.

Guesty for Pros

The software allows users to manage listings across multiple channels from a single platform, including Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, TripAdvisor Rentals, Expedia, Misterbnb, Trivago, Hotels.com, Agoda, and more. The branded website builder also helps set property managers up with an additional means of promoting their properties. Guesty’s dashboard includes tools that allow property managers to automate their routine operations, consolidate their communication, generate detailed reports, analyze their business performance, and process payments. Guesty also says that they have the largest Product Development department in the industry, with over 150 team members.

Pros

• The ease of linking other booking sites and integrating the booking setup into your own website is fantastic.
• The property management unified inbox feature allows you to communicate with all guests from all platforms, all from your Guesty account.
• Their automated messaging tool is very robust. Guesty not only allows for the largest set of events that trigger the messages, but they also offer conditional features. This means that when you set a message to be sent out to all guests 2 days pre-check-in, you can also set a condition that says “only send this message out to guests if they’ve paid in full, and if not, send them this message instead”.
• You can add an unlimited number of users to give your team members access to the platform.
• The dynamic pricing tool allows you to set early-bird discounts or last-minute special pricing. They also recently launched their Price Optimizer. I took a quick look at it and received a demo, and it looks even better than Price Labs! I’m looking forward to testing it out soon.
• I really appreciate the ability to send rental agreements to guests for them to sign before arrival. I wish they were able to upload their IDs here as well (the workaround is to have them upload their IDs through the check-in form).
• Tech support answers very quickly, but their ticket system is terrible. It is very hard to keep track of open tickets, and impossible to hide tickets that have already been solved.
• As property managers, we love the Owner’s Portal feature since Owners can quickly see their existing reservations and block off their own dates… But for some odd reason, owners cannot view the nightly rates we are setting for them, reviews that guests have left, and they don’t have access to the links for all the platforms we publish them on… Come on Guesty, what are you doing?!
• The accounting module (see Guesty pricing below) offers in-depth recording and information.
• Payment processing with Stripe and Guesty Pay (please make it available in Mexico!).
• Use their integrated system for cleaning and maintenance team management.
• If you want to offload customer communication, you can purchase their premium guest communication 24/7 service for $75/month per listing.

Cons

• It is relatively expensive when compared to other options. They also charge you extra for essential tools such as the Accounting Module, and the Advanced Analytics module.
• Many of the properties we manage are rented out 8 months of the year, and the owners come down and stay in the property for the other 4 months. Guesty for Pros still charges you for months when the property is not rented out, which is really unfortunate. Guesty for Hosts policy for these situations is MUCH better. They do not charge the monthly fee for the listing if it was not rented out that month.
• The website builder is pretty sad. The options to modify the direct booking engine website are very limited, so I wish they would offer more customization options. For example, you cannot manually order how the listings are shown, the listings on the map are lazy loaded making it a TERRIBLE user experience (which has personally lost me many customers), and the map doesn’t even work on mobile!
• The booking widget to add to an existing website is too simple. It should allow you to display a tag-filtered list of properties on an existing website.
• Their browser-based platform offers one of the most comprehensive property management systems on the market. However, we perform most of our business on the go, so having a mobile-friendly platform is very important. Unfortunately, the mobile app is very limited. You can message guests, see your calendar, and check your tasks, but that’s about it. You can’t add new reservations, collect payments, or send invoices. You can’t modify the minimum nights or nightly rates on the calendar. You can’t update reservation dates or statuses (especially useful for cancellations). You can’t create new tasks. This is very frustrating since it creates a backlog of tasks for me that have to wait until I can get in front of my computer.
• No ability to create shareable calendar links. This is really important since we would like to be able to share a calendar link to cleaning staff or other interested parties without having to create a username and password for them (Guesty for Hosts has this feature… not sure why GFP doesn’t!).
• I feel like everytime I find an error or a missing feature that is essential, customer support blows me off by saying they have added my “suggestion” as a feature request, without any sort of timeline as to when it could be solved. I wish they would listen more to their users rather than trying to push features that we won’t end up using.

Guesty Pricing Fees

Guesty uses an enterprise pricing model, so they don’t list their current pricing publicly. You’ll need to contact them directly to find out more about their pricing plan and monthly fees. They do have add-ons such as the Analytics and Accounting modules which can add up quickly if you have a large vacation rental property operation, but it will also help you automate tasks, save time, improve your occupancy rate, and scale your business.

Guesty For Hosts

Yes, you are reading correctly. Although this vacation rental property management software has the name “Guesty” in it, it is a completely different branch of the Guesty software. Formerly known as Your Porter, Guesty purchased them back in 2021 in order to offer a lower-cost short-term property management software solution to their customers and rebranded it to Guesty for Hosts. This tool is more focused on property owners who are looking to rent out their own properties, rather than a solution for a property management company.

Guesty For Hosts helps short-term rental managers to save time with the power of automation. Advanced optimization tools significantly increase the revenue coming from different channels and direct bookings. It is a mobile-first, property management app for landlords that use Airbnb, Booking.com, and VRBO. It offers a one-stop solution for channel management, guest communication, message automation, a simple website builder, and teammate management tools.

Pros

• Great value and very reasonable pricing.
• Guest language detection to send the correct automated messages.
• If you list on multiple channels, all of your reservations will appear in your Guesty Multi-Calendar.
• Tech support answers most of your questions very quickly.
• Schedule your cleaning staff with shareable calendars or with SMS / email reminders.
• Download monthly financial reports for each property.
• You can have multiple Stripe accounts connected to the payment processor.
• And my favorite: They do not charge you the monthly fee for properties that do not have reservations that month.

Cons

• There is no option for an Owner’s Portal.
• There is no booking widget to add to an existing website, and their website builder is too simple.
• There is only one user connected to each account, so if you want to give your teammates access to the platform, you have to give them your own username and password to login.
• The dynamic rental pricing tool is only available by hooking up to 3rd party software such as PriceLabs.
• There is no option for sending rental agreements to guests for them to sign.

Guesty Pricing

Guesty for Hosts pricing varies depending on how many properties you have, but with 3 listings you pay around $88 USD per listing per month.

Lodgify

Lodgify is a short-term rental property management software system designed for short term rental owners and managers. Increase your overall occupancy rates with the vacation rental website builder in multiple languages, allowing you to accept direct bookings with an online payment processor. The channel manager tool allows users to synchronize calendar availability, reservations, photos, and pricing on some of the main Online Travel Agencies (OTA) such as Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and Expedia. There is also the property management unified inbox feature with all the messages from all the platforms in one place, making communication with guests much easier. You can also setup automated payment scheduling to allow guests to pay a deposit and charge the remainder later.

Pros

• If you list on multiple channels, all of your reservations will appear in your Multi-Calendar.
• Relatively simple to use.
• Manage owner information and consistently keep them informed with their own owner portal with information such as total revenue, occupancy rates, and more.
• Create a multi-language booking website that is optimized for mobile and SEO.
• Automatically send vacation rental agreements to guests with the document tool for them to sign before arrival.
• Send your guests automated emails to minimize your workload and maximize the guest experience.
• Dynamic pricing tools are available.

Cons

• The payment processor doesn’t automatically charge the guest their balance. You have to remind them to pay it before their arrival.
• It is possible to automate rates with rental price management tools, but you have to pay for the Price Labs integration
• Reports are very limited.
• Not very impressed with their customer service. It’s not conducive to getting things resolved quickly. Their email responses are very informative but it’s just not quick enough.
• The price for the premium version is too high.

Lodgify Pricing

Lodgify gets creative with the pricing, as they offer multiple tiers with a combination of fixed monthly fees and commissions. Check out their website for their latest pricing packages.

Hostaway

Hostaway is a rental property management software that provides tools and features to help property managers and vacation rental owners streamline their operations and effectively manage their listings. It is designed to simplify the process of managing vacation rentals, including properties listed on platforms like Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and others.

Key features of Hostaway include:

1. Channel Management: Hostaway allows users to synchronize their property listings across multiple vacation rental platforms, ensuring consistent availability, rates, and bookings.
2. Booking Management: The software helps users handle reservations, track bookings, and manage calendars efficiently, reducing the risk of double bookings.
3. Automated Messaging: Hostaway can automate guest communication by sending pre-defined messages for inquiries, bookings, check-ins, and check-outs.
4. Payment Processing: The software often facilitates secure payment processing, enabling hosts to accept various payment methods from guests.
5. Reporting and Analytics: Hostaway provides performance reports and data analytics to help property managers track the performance of their listings and make informed decisions.
6. Housekeeping and Maintenance: Some versions of Hostaway offer tools to manage housekeeping schedules and maintenance tasks.
7. Integration with Third-Party Tools: Depending on the version and configuration, Hostaway may integrate with other tools such as accounting software, pricing optimization platforms, and smart home devices.

Hospitable

Hospitable is a leading short-term rental property management software that offers a range of features to streamline your property management tasks. With Hospitable, you can:

1. Automate Personalized Communication: Hospitable allows you to automate personalized, human-sounding conversations with your guests, ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction and engagement.
2. Task Notification: The software automatically notifies your team about new tasks, ensuring everyone stays in the loop and can manage their responsibilities effortlessly.
3. Calendar Synchronization: Hospitable synchronizes your rental property calendar across multiple platforms, helping you avoid double bookings and ensuring your availability is always up to date.
4. Trusted Worldwide: Hospitable is trusted by owners and managers of over 300,000 short-term and vacation rental properties in more than 140 countries, making it a reliable choice for property management.
5. Efficient Team Collaboration: Keep your team informed and equipped with the necessary tools to manage tasks independently. Hospitable assigns tasks automatically and ensures your cleaning schedule remains accurate.

Hospitable is a powerful short-term rental property management solution that automates tasks, enhances guest communication, and provides seamless team collaboration. With its widespread trust and user base, it’s a valuable tool for property owners and managers looking to optimize their operations. For more information, visit their website at https://hospitable.com/.

Uplisting.io

Our review for another very popular vacation rental property management software, uplisting.io, is coming soon! They have amazing features and automation tools such as:

• Channel manager
• Automated guest messaging tools
• Direct booking website
• Unified inbox
• Multi-calendar
• Security deposits
• eSign rental agreements
• Guest identity verification
• Cleaning scheduler

Other Software Options

Check out our Hostaway vs Guesty vs Lodgify vs Tokeet vs Uplisting vs iGMS article to figure out which is the BEST short-term rental property management software with tools and features such as the unified inbox, pricing management, and more! COMING SOON!

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