If you’re a vacation rental business, then you know that keeping track of reservations, payments, and property maintenance can be a daunting task. That’s where property management software comes in for vacation rentals. This type of vacation rental software helps businesses keep track of all the important aspects of their rental properties. In this blog post, we will discuss what property management software for vacation rentals is, why it’s used, and what you should look for when exploring rental PMS options for your business.
What is property management software in the vacation rental industry?
Property management software is a type of software that helps vacation rental businesses keep track of their rental properties. Property owners and property managers can use them to manage reservations and payments and supervise property maintenance. The software can also help with marketing and promoting vacation rentals.
Why use property management software?
There are many reasons why vacation rental businesses use property management software. The software can help vacation rental businesses save time and money by automating a number of daily and routine tasks. It can also help businesses keep track of their vacation rental properties and guests. Additionally, property management systems can help businesses with marketing and promoting their vacation rentals.
Things to consider when choosing a PMS for your vacation rental business:
-Ease of Use: One of the most important factors to consider when choosing a vacation rental PMS is how easy it is to use. You want something that is user-friendly and intuitive, especially if you or your team are not tech-savvy.
-Features: Another key factor to consider is what features the vacation rental PMS offers. Does it have everything you need to manage your vacation rental business effectively?
-Limitations: It’s also important to be aware of any limitations of the vacation rental PMS you’re considering. For example, some PMSs only work with a limited number of vacation rental OTAs (online travel agents) such as Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo, and the like.
-Pricing: Of course, you’ll also want to consider pricing when choosing a PMS. Fortunately, there are many affordable options on the market.
-Customer support: Arguably the most important aspect of a rental PMS is how quickly will your issues be addressed when you have a last-minute issue with a booking. Good customer support can make up for a lot of other features in the longer term.
Functionality to look out for in your vacation rental PMS
Channel Management:
Most vacation rental property management systems come with the ability for reservation management and content management across multiple channels. This allows you to sync the availability for all your listings across platforms such as Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and others to avoid double booking. You can manage bookings and update your listings from one central system. You can learn about channel managers in detail here.
One crucial feature you may wish to look for in your ideal property management system is that it should allow direct bookings. Its booking engine should either enable you to create an easy-to-use website guests can use to book directly with or connect with the existing website that you use for direct bookings.
Guest communication:
The best property management software for vacation rentals will also have features that make it easy to communicate with your guests. This can be anything from a built-in messaging system to automatic email templates that you can customize for different types of messages. Having this kind of communication channels set up will save you a lot of time and hassle in the long run.
Some rental PMS even allows you to view and respond to guest reviews, which is critical for improving the ranking of your listings across booking channels, as well as for improving the guest experience.
Dynamic pricing:
Dynamic pricing tools adjust the prices of your vacation rental properties automatically in keeping with the fluctuation in market prices, as well as your property’s historical data. This is a great way to increase revenue you receive from each short-term rental property, without having to manually change the price each holiday, each weekend, and so on. Most rental PMS come with built-in pricing adjustment tools but if you wish for a more robust system, consider investing in dedicated vacation rental software for pricing.
Accounting software:
Accounting is an extremely time-consuming aspect of the vacation rental business, especially if you manage many listings. Accuracy is paramount in this case, so it is helpful if your rental PMS can help you manage your bookkeeping tasks all in one place. It can allow you to send and retrieve invoices, get insights into your total revenue and profit, and retain key data.
Just make sure that the accounting system is configured taking your local settings into account, such as the tax requirements, currency, etc.
Marketing:
The best property management software for vacation rentals will offer a comprehensive set of features to help you promote your short-term rental business and drive bookings. Some systems also offer automated email marketing tools to stay in touch with past guests and promote special offers to encourage repeat business. And with integrated social media tools, you can share your listings and promotions across your social networks for even more exposure.
Cleaning and maintenance:
When it comes to managing a vacation rental property, one of the most important aspects is keeping the property clean and well-maintained. This is where a vacation rental property management system can be extremely helpful.
Most vacation rental property management systems will have some sort of cleaning and maintenance features. This is important because it can help you keep track of when your rental property was last cleaned and what needs to be done in order to keep it up to standards. This can be a lifesaver when it comes to managing multiple vacation rentals, as you won’t have to waste time trying to remember when you last cleaned each one.
Reporting:
Good reporting and analytics set successful vacation rental managers apart from the others. With the right vacation rental software, you can track how your business is performing and where improvements can be made. For example, you can see which properties are generating the most bookings and guest satisfaction, and then make changes accordingly. You can also keep track of your cleaning staff’s performance and make sure they’re meeting your standards.
There are a lot of different property management system options out there, but not all of them are created equal. With the right vacation rental software in place, property owners, managers, and hosts can streamline their vacation rental business and free up time to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
