Choosing the right vacation rental channel manager can be vitally important to your rental business. From managing reservations to updating pricing and availability, a vacation rental channel manager can automate many of the tasks that take up your time.
In this guide, I ranked and reviewed the 7 best vacation rental channel manager tools, along with my top 3 choices, so that you can pick the best one for you.
Properties that are listed on multiple channels compared to just one can expect to see as much as 2x the bookings.
With that in mind, it’s important that hosts consider using a vacation rental channel manager tool that saves them the time and stress of switching between various channels.
A vacation rental channel manager can help you automatically update your vacation rental listing across multiple booking platforms, communicate with guests from a central location, easily manage reservations, and much more.
However, with so many vacation rental channel managers on the market, it can be hard to know which one is right for you.
The right vacation rental channel manager for you will depend on your specific needs and vacation rental business.
Let’s get started.
What is the best vacation rental manager?
Here are my picks for the best vacation rental manager to help you save time and increase bookings with your vacation rental property.
1. Uplisting
Best overall vacation rental channel manager
Uplisting is one of the best solutions for small to mid-sized vacation rental businesses. It can help you manage bookings, customer support, and housekeeping through an easy-to-use platform. Users can import listings from various websites like Airbnb, Vrbo, or Booking.com for easy access through a single centralized platform.
It offers many features to keep your vacation rental business running smoothly. Some of the key features of Uplisting include a centralized communication hub, reporting and analytics, calendar management, credit card payments validation, and a dedicated client/owner portal for property managers. The platform also offers automation tools for creating custom guest messages, scheduling cleanings, and coordinating team members.
Key features
- Manage bookings, prices, availability, and restrictions for all booking sites in one place
- Centralize guest communications into a single inbox
- Automate operational tasks like messaging, leaving reviews, and assigning tasks
- Automatically collect security deposits from different booking channels
- Automatically create and send personalized rental agreements for guests to sign
Cons
- More pricey than alternatives
Pricing
Uplisting offers a 14-day free trial and pricing is based on the number of listings you have. 1-5 properties cost $100 per month. Each additional property after 5 costs $20 extra per month.
2. Lodgify
Best for small vacation rental businesses
Lodgify is a premium vacation rental channel manager for hosts and property managers alike. It can help you easily create a vacation rental website, accept direct bookings, process credit card payments, and manage the day-to-day operations of your listings. You can also synchronize reservations, listings, calendar availability, requests, and payments across Airbnb, Vrbo, and more from a single platform. Lodgify also offers a vacation rental website builder, which allows you to create a professional vacation rental website without any coding knowledge. You can choose from a variety of templates and designs to create a website that fits your vacation rental business.
Key features
- Manage all guest communications from a single, unified inbox
- Coordinate every single task and member of your team from a centralized platform
- Automate repetitive tasks, like adjusting rates, communicating with guests, and providing check-in and check-out instructions
- Monitor your business by generating income reports, comparing results, and overseeing financial and performance data
- Easily create your own vacation rental website and get direct bookings
Cons
- Limited features available on the mobile app
- Lack of integration with Booking.com messaging
Pricing
Lodgify offers four pricing plans and a 7-day free trial.
- The Lite plan costs $0 per month but charges a 3.9% booking fee on all bookings
- The Starter plan costs $12 per month and charges a 1.9% fee on all bookings
- The Professional plan costs $32 per month
- The Ultimate plan costs $56 per month
3. Hosthub
Best for a simple user interface
Hosthub is a centralized platform for all your properties, calendars, bookings, and more. You can set up and manage your listings across over 200 different channels, like Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, and your own website. The dashboard provides insights into your listings’ occupancy rates and upcoming bookings. And the multi-calendar displays bookings and availability across all listings. Hosthub also offers great reporting and analytics tools to help you understand your business performance.
Key features
- Integrates with 100s of platforms, including Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia
- Tools for managing your team, expenses, invoices, and more. Also includes 20 additional integrations for managing price, remote home features, alerts, and tasks.
- Build your own vacation rental website to get direct bookings for your property
- Get full reports on performance metrics, like nights booked, occupancy rate, and revenue.
Cons
- No mobile app currently available for iOS or Android
Pricing
Hosthub offers a 14-day free trial and pricing is based on the number of listings you have, for example:
- 1 rental property costs $19 per month
- 2 rental property costs $35 per month
- 3 rental property costs $51 per month
- 4 rental property costs $67 per month
- Custom pricing on more than 30 properties
4. Hospitable
Best for automating
Hospitable is an easy-to-use rental manager designed to streamline guest communication and automate daily tasks. It seamlessly connects to all the major channels, like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo, Hospitable, and lets you manage all your listings and operations from a single platform. Some helpful features include a unified inbox, native pre-approvals, task automation, calendar integrations, and pricing tools. You can also easily manage check-in/outs, use pre-loaded messaging templates, create custom notifications, and more.
Hospitable is all about improving the guest experience and lightening your workload through automation. You can automate messages to cover the guest’s entire experience from initial request to check-out. Hospitable also has some advanced AI features where it can detect frequently asked questions and return personalized canned responses for each inquiry.
Key features
- Automate messages and create templates for responding to guests
- Get real-time alerts for new reviews, bookings, and cancellations
- Easily manage tasks and team members by automating assignments, messages, and scheduling
- Use the intuitive app to manage your vacation rental business on the go
Cons
- Less features available for direct bookings than competitors
- Messages arrive slightly delayed compared to the timing of the booking channel
Pricing
Hospitable offers a 14-day free trial and pricing is based on the number of listings you have, for example:
- 1-2 rental property costs $25 per month
- 3 rental property costs $33 per month
- 4 rental property costs $41 per month
- 5 rental property costs $49 per month
- Custom pricing on more than 99 properties
5. Hostaway
Best for large vacation rental businesses
Hostaway is a powerful vacation rental software with expansive integrations and advanced solutions. The platform was designed to automate and streamline many activities, like managing staff, tasks, reservations, and listings. You can oversee marketing, communication, accounting, reporting, sales, and payments from one dashboard or from the intuitive mobile app. You’ll also have access to more than 100 integrations on the Hostaway marketplace, making it a truly flexible solution for users who need extra features. Being the top-quality solution for property managers with multiple listings and team members, you can expect a simple learning experience when training staff on the platform.
Key features
- Hostaway’s performance dashboard displays all the info you need at a glance
- Advanced communication tools like an owner portal, guest portal, and native text and WhatsApp support for property managers
- Easily get access to valuable business insights and reports on occupancy, revenue, and expenses
- Automate repetitive tasks and manage every aspect of your daily operations in one place
Cons
- No option for a global pricing strategy across all listings
- Simplistic website templates compared to competitors
Pricing
Must contact Hostaway for pricing.
6. Guesty
Best for property managers
Guesty is a property management platform that provides you with a comprehensive solution for streamlining a vacation rental business. It offers several features for property managers and management companies, such as task automation, a centralized property management hub, and a vacation rental website builder. You can use Guesty’s API to create custom integrations and connect to hundreds of vacation rental software solutions. One notable feature is the ability to manage a large number of listings and staff members on a single account. This is one of the best solutions for vacation rental operators who are looking to free up their time by centralizing and optimizing how they manage their listings.
Key features
- Advanced analytics tool to easily measure performance and earnings
- Automate everything from communication to pricing
- Build your own booking website for free and get paid commission-free
- Manage your calendar, notifications, bookings, and communications from anywhere with the intuitive mobile app.
Cons
- Customers have experienced functionality issues with the mobile app
Pricing
Guesty offers a 14-day free trial and pricing is based on the number of listings you have, for example:
- 1 rental property costs $44 per month
- 2 rental property costs $66 per month
- 3 rental property costs $87 per month
- Custom pricing on more than 3 properties
7. iGMS
Best for small to mid-sized vacation rental businesses
iGMS is a powerful tool for hosts and rental managers who want to optimize their daily operations, free up time, and grow their business. The platform offers a vacation rental website builder, automatic guest communication, and payment processing capabilities for direct bookings. You can also use iGMS to manage your calendar, reservations, and listings from one central dashboard. One of the best features of iGMS is the ability to launch a website for direct bookings in a couple of minutes without any coding knowledge. This vacation rental software also offers a free mobile app for managing your business on the go.
Key features
- Automatically distribute tickets and messages to your support team based on a specific subject matter
- Create and manage a website for direct bookings, online payment processing, and guest management operations
- See your day-to-day activities, routine tasks, and calendars on a single dashboard.
- Advanced team management features, like auto-scheduling, notifications via email or text, checklists for tasks, and more.
Cons
- Mobile app user interface can be confusing to navigate and slow
- Currently no support for security deposits on direct bookings
Pricing
iGMS offers four pricing plans and a 14-day free trial.
- The Lite plan costs $14 per month
- The Flex plan costs $1 per booked night with a minimum of $20 per property, per month
- The Pro plan costs $20 per month
- The Enterprise plan requires a custom quote
What is a vacation rental channel manager?
A vacation rental channel manager is a tool that helps you manage your vacation rental across different booking platforms. It can automatically update pricing, adjust availability, communicate with guests, and manage reservations all in one system. This can save you a lot of time and effort, especially if you have multiple vacation rentals.
What are the benefits of using a vacation rental channel manager?
The benefit of using a vacation rental channel manager is that you can easily list your vacation rental on multiple booking platforms and manage all of your reservations in one place. This can save you a lot of time and effort, especially if you have multiple vacation rentals.
However, there are several other benefits, including:
- Automating tasks: Automate tasks like updating prices, adjusting availability, and sending messages to guests. This can save you a lot of time and effort.
- Getting insights: Provide valuable insights into your vacation rental business, such as occupancy rates, revenue, and expenses. This can help you make better decisions about your vacation rental business.
- Managing operations: Manage all aspects of your vacation rental business, from listing your vacation rental to processing payments and managing guest communications. This can help you run your vacation rental business more smoothly.
- Direct bookings: Increase direct bookings by creating a website for your vacation rental and processing online payments.
How to choose the best vacation rental channel manager?
There are several factors to consider when choosing the best vacation rental channel manager for your vacation rental business. These include:
- Supported channel integrations: The vacation rental channel manager should support the booking platforms you use.
- Additional features: The vacation rental channel manager should have additional features that can benefit your vacation rental business, such as a website builder, payment processing, and team management.
- Trial period: The vacation rental channel manager should offer a free trial so you can try it before you commit to a paid plan.
- Pricing: The price of the vacation rental channel manager will vary depending on the number of listings you have and the features you need.
- Mobile app: The vacation rental channel manager should have a mobile app so you can manage your vacation rental on the go.
The vacation rental channel manager you choose should depend on your specific needs and vacation rental business. The vacation rental channel managers listed above are some of the best on the market and offer a variety of features to help you manage your vacation rental. Choose the vacation rental channel manager that best meets your needs and try it out with a free trial. You can always switch to another vacation rental channel manager if it doesn’t meet your needs.
Summary
Vacation rental channel managers offer a variety of benefits to short-term rental businesses, such as the ability to list vacation rentals on multiple booking platforms, automate tasks, and get insights into your vacation rental business.
Before choosing the best piece of property management software, you need to carefully consider what you hope to achieve with it and which features would align the best with your business needs.
For example, if you’re a vacation rental business that’s looking for a channel manager to primarily increase your bookings, you should consider a vacation rental channel manager with an integrated website builder and payment processing.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a vacation rental channel manager to help with the day-to-day operations of your business, you should look for one with team management features.
Keep all these factors in mind when trying to make the right decision for your business. The tools mentioned in this list all come with a free trial, so you can test out their features before making your final decision.
