Terms and Acronyms To Know
The short-term rental industry is full of acronyms and jargon. Here are a few used throughout the article that are good to be aware of.
PMS – Property management software or property management system. Both can be used interchangeably.
OTA – Online travel agency: Booking channels such as Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, etc. which serve as the portal for guests to book reservations.
Integration – A term that means two different pieces of software communicate, data exchange, and have cooperative functionality.
API Integration -The process of connecting software systems using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). APIs are sets of rules, protocols, and tools that enable one software application to interact with another. API integration is a more standardized, flexible, and often more secure way of achieving integration between software systems.
Channel Management & The Birth of Property Management Systems
Property management systems touch almost every aspect of the short-term rental businesses and as a result, the PMS platforms of today are complex and feature-rich, but in their infancy, they were primarily designed to do one task: channel management.
In the early days of the short-term rental industry if you wanted your property listed on multiple OTAs (Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com etc.) it was very labor intensive. You had to create and manage your listings on each platform individually. If you got a booking through one OTA you had to quickly go into all the other channels you were connected to and block those dates so you didn’t get double bookings.
Any time you wanted to change aspects of your listing such as photos, descriptions, rates, rules, etc. it required the redundant effort of making the revisions in each platform. To create a high-level view of what was going on in your business across all the channels on any given day, or to track your portfolio’s occupancy, performance, and KPIs you’d have to manually pull reservation information out of each individual platform and compile it. This was a universal pain point for hosts and property managers worldwide, and it didn’t take long for software developers to spring into action and create a solution: channel managers.
Channel manager software was created to both push information to, and pull information from online travel agencies (OTAs). Some of the companies we now know as property management software companies were originally developed to serve as channel managers and have matured to include features well beyond the basic channel management feature of syncing bookings across all connected OTAs to prevent double bookings. Stand-alone channel managers still exist as well, and they are frequently used in connection with property management software to expand the number of OTA platforms you can connect to beyond those supported by the PMS.
When evaluating the channel management features of a PMS it is important to know that the strength of the connection a PMS has with an OTA can vary by degrees and affect what information is exchanged between them. As stated above, the most basic channel management connection exchanges calendar and reservation information between the PMS and OTA.
Deeper PMS to OTA connections, also called API integrations, can allow additional information such as listing descriptions, photos, pricing, house rules, security deposit transactions, and more, to be edited in the PMS and pushed out to the OTA(s). The PMS becomes the “source of truth” that the OTA platforms pull information from to populate property listing features. Knowing the value these stronger OTA connections provide, you will often see PMS companies’ websites display badging indicating their partner status to let you know they have strong API integrations with leading OTAs such as Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, etc.
It’s worth noting that even among the same PMS, the integration status can vary from one OTA to the next. It is possible for a PMS to have a strong API connection with the leading OTAs of Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com, but only have a basic channel management relationship with other niche OTA platforms. The key is to decide which OTAs matter the most to you, and focus on finding a PMS that has a strong integration with those OTAs. When doing a demo with PMS companies, it’s important to ask a few additional questions to find out what types of information are shared between the OTA and PMS.
Channel Management Features To Consider:
2-way syncing of reservation and calendar information.
2-way syncing of pricing.
2-way syncing of listing description, photos, amenities, house rules, etc.
Questions To Ask About Channel Management
- What OTAs are you connected with?
- What information syncs between your platform and the OTAs?
- Does the information synced differ from one OTA to another? If yes, ask additional questions about the OTA platforms you intend to list your property on.
Guest Messaging
Guest Messaging
Guest messaging is a core task that factors into guest satisfaction and technology has made great strides with simplifying and automating guest communications. Messaging options vary among PMS companies and can include: Email, Off-Platform SMS/Text, On-Platform messages, and WhatsApp.
It’s worth taking a small side-track to discuss some of the pros and cons of conducting your guest messaging “on-platform” or “off-platform”. Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com all have messaging systems built into their platforms and prefer all guest communications are sent and received through their platforms. Not only will hosts be encouraged to conduct all messaging on-platform, but guests will also receive messages from the OTAs warning them of the risks of communicating with their hosts off-platform.
A primary advantage of keeping your communications on-platform is that if issues arise with your guests that require intervention from the OTA support team you may have better success if all your messaging has been on-platform. The customer support reps will be able to see the complete messaging history and you’ll have written documentation instead of a “he said, she said” exchange.
A primary advantage of moving your communication off-platform is the ability to develop a relationship with your guest apart from the OTA that can segway into future direct bookings via repeat guests or referrals. The advantages of direct bookings are many and varied, but include less fees for both hosts and guests, and more flexibility for hosts and property managers to run their business how they see fit and not be bound by OTA policies.
Side-track completed; let’s look at each messaging option a bit closer.
Email is the most basic messaging option and is universally available among PMS companies.
Pros:
- Everyone has email and everyone knows how to use it. Of course there are certain to be rare exceptions, but generally, you can be confident that if you communicate with your guests via email they will get the message.
- It also common for PMS platforms to offer the ability to customize emails with your logo and colors to reflect your brand.
- Most PMS companies also have some level of message automation that sends emails automatically according to a set schedule and/or triggering events.
- It is easy to attach pdf documents to emails.
Cons of using email:
- There is a chance your guests may not see one or more of your messages; perhaps it gets buried in their inbox, or filtered to the spam or promotions folder.
- If your message does get seen there’s a chance it won’t get opened. While the average open rate of confirmation emails is 70%, the average open rate of general emails is said to range between 17-28%
Off-Platform SMS (Text) Messaging
Two-way SMS (text) messaging is becoming available through more and more PMS platforms, and is likely to become as standard as email messaging over the next few years.
Pros
- SMS messages have a dramatically higher open rate of 98%. – messages sent via SMS are almost assured to be seen.
- SMS has become the preferred communication channel for many people and is seen as more convenient than email. In fact, 85% of customers prefer receiving text messages over a phone call or email.
Cons
- It can be harder for guests to go back and find an old SMS message. Messages sent via SMS should pertain to information your guests will need at that time or in the near future.
Questions To Ask About Off-Platform SMS Messaging
- Is it available?
- Are there any additional fees associated with using it? Currently, there are many PMS companies which charge additional fees for sending SMS messages.
- What is the process with regard to getting assigned a phone number?
- If you wanted a separate number for each of your properties would that be possible, or do all messages have to be sent and received from one main number?
On-Platform Messaging
Like channel management, on-platform guest messaging through a PMS is affected by the OTA integration level. Also, the messaging ability can vary from one OTA connection to the next within the same PMS.
If the PMS you are considering using has on-platform messaging available you should be able to compose and send messages to your guests within the PMS platform, but they will be received by your guests as if they had been sent through the OTA platform. For example, you compose and send the message in Hospitable, but to the guest it looks like you sent it through Airbnb.
As mentioned above, the OTAs love to see hosts and property managers do their messaging on-platform. Additionally, keeping communication on the platform provides a fundamental level of recourse against guest harassment and extortion threats of bad reviews.
Questions to Ask About On-Platform Messaging
- Do you have on-platform messaging available for OTAs? If so, which ones?
- Does the PMS capture and maintain the message thread history like text messaging, or does it just show the most recent message?
WhatsApp Messaging
Similar to SMS messaging, WhatsApp is a popular and preferred way to communicate for many people, especially in Europe and other areas outside the United States of America. If you frequently host international guests you may find great value in choosing a PMS that includes WhatsApp messaging.
Questions to Ask About WhatsApp Messaging
- Is the cost of using WhatsApp messaging included, or is there an additional fee?
Personalized Automated Messaging
In the not-so-distant past, guest messaging was a time-consuming and tedious aspect of short-term rentals management. Now, most PMS platforms allow hosts to create message templates for every stage of the guest experience and utilize merge fields or smart codes to include personalized information such as guest name, property name, check-in and check-out dates, check-in and check-out times, etc. The guest experiences what appears to be a custom message, but it’s actually completely automated and hands-off. These messages can be scheduled to be sent at whatever intervals are desired: immediately after booking, 24 hours after booking, 7 days before check-in, the day of check-in, an hour before check-in, 24 hours after check-in, 24 hours before check-out, 24 hours after check-out, etc.
Additionally, some PMS platforms allow you to create prewritten (canned) responses to FAQs to provide even more messaging efficiency. You can create a canned message to address any FAQs you get in your business, and each one will save you time.
Questions To Ask About Personalized Automated Messaging
- Is it possible to automate guest messages?
- Is it possible to create canned replies to FAQs?
AI Guest Messaging
Finally, AI is rapidly coming to PMS platforms and changing the way we communicate with our guests. This has the potential to speed up the process of handling guest communications which cannot be automated. For example, there are many times hosts and property managers must handle difficult situations with guests and need to craft their messages carefully. AI can help create messages, or at least suggestions for messages, that strike the balance between firm and friendly.
Questions to Ask About AI Guest Messaging
- Does your PMS offer, or plan to offer AI messaging features?
- Is there, or will there be, additional fees associated with using AI for guest messaging?
Channel Specific Promotions and Rates
Each OTA charges hosts a fee. The fees vary from one platform to the next and can range from a flat annual fee to a percentage of revenue per booking fee. One way to minimize the impact of these fees is to adjust your nightly rate on that OTA in proportion to the fees the OTA charges. Many PMS platforms make this simple by having a setting that allows you to add a markup for all your listings on each OTA platform.
Question To Ask About Channel-Specific Promotions and Rates
- Is it possible to adjust a property’s nightly rate on each OTA individually to offset OTA fees?
Accounting
PMS platforms are not accounting software, and the amount of accounting that can be accomplished in PMS platforms varies greatly. Generally, the enterprise-level PMS platforms which are designed for large property management companies have the most robust accounting. Features that may be present can include:
- Creating and tracking invoices.
- Accounts payable and accounts receivable.
- Payment tracking that allows you to ensure payment is received for all reservations.
- Budgeting
- Financial reporting such as profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements.
- Tax statements which can be used when remitting the appropriate state and local taxes.
- Integration with third-party accounting solutions that can pull information out of the PMS and eliminate manual entry into double-entry accounting solutions such as Quickbooks and Xero.
Questions To Ask About Accounting
- What types of financial reports can be generated and are custom reports available? (see the reports section to follow)?
- Does the PMS integrate with accounting software such as QuickBooks?
- Can the software handle multiple payment methods (e.g. credit cards, ACH transfers)?
- Is payment processing available (also see payment processors below)?
- Can the PMS generate invoices and receipts?
- Does the software offer a customizable chart of accounts?
- Can the software track and manage security deposits and holds (see security deposits and holds below)?
- Are there budgeting and forecasting features?
- Can the software handle different currencies and exchange rates if you have international properties?
- Does the software have an audit trail that tracks changes to financial transactions?
- Does the software offer financial analytics, such as cash flow projections and financial ratios?
- How does the software handle late fees, refunds, and chargebacks?
Reporting
As a short-term rental business owner, it’s important to be able to pull reports with key performance indicators for your business such as:
- RevPAR – Revenue Per Available Night
- Occupancy
- ADR – Average Daily Rate
- Revenue
- Pacing
- Booking Window
- Booking Sources
- Maintenance reports
- Vendor reports
- Expense reports
- Marketing reports – website traffic, leads generated, and conversion rates.
- Custom reports to suit your needs, such as tracking revenue by unit type or tracking expenses by category, etc.
Many property management systems can generate reports for these metrics and more, across your entire portfolio.
Questions To Ask About Reporting
- If reporting is a big deal to you, ask to see a few sample reports out of the demo platform.
- Ask the sales agent to take you into the platform and walk you through the process of generating reports. Does the process seem intuitive?
- Feel free to get very granular and ask about specific reports.
Onboarding & Set-up
When vetting PMS companies, it is important to find out what onboarding will look like. Most robust, full-featured PMS will have a learning curve and take time to become fluid with and fully implement.
Some PMS platforms charge all new users a one-time onboarding fee to cover the cost of individual training sessions and some platforms allow users to DIY their setup for free, but offer a paid onboarding service if help is wanted. Other platforms are primarily free DIY setup, but provide a knowledge base and support services to help with any questions new users may have.
It is also possible to find independent third-party individuals who will help get you set up on PMS platforms for a fee. For example, there are many people who have a side hustle of helping users get set up in OwnerRez.
The type of setup you’d prefer will likely be dictated by your available time, budget constraints, and comfort level with technology.
Questions To Ask About Onboarding and Setup
- Is there an onboarding or setup fee?
- How long does onboarding typically take?
- Is a DIY setup option available?
- What support is available during onboarding?
Cleaning and Property Care
Whether you run a large property management company, or only have one property, your housekeeping and maintenance teams are CRUCIAL to the success of your business. Nothing can tank your ratings faster than a dirty property without proper upkeep.
Good communication is needed to ensure cleaners are kept up to date on new reservations, changes to reservation dates, cancellations, early check-ins, and late checkouts, etc. Also, communication should flow easily between cleaners who find issues at the property, the maintenance team who will resolve the issues, and the management team who keeps track of all the pending issues to ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Additionally, it is good practice to have the cleaning team capture photo documentation of the status of the home upon arrival and after the property has been cleaned.
Systems that automate and streamline this communication and project management are unbelievably important, so much so, there are stand-alone third-party solutions that are designed to handle this workflow no matter the size of your portfolio.
Questions To Ask About Cleaning and Property Care Coordination
- Is there a way within the PMS to automatically notify the cleaning and maintenance team of reservation information such as new reservations, reservation changes, or cancellations?
- Is there a way to provide cleaning and maintenance teams their own logins to the PMS so they can see the calendar?
- Are any team messaging features built into the PMS? This is typically only found in enterprise-level solutions or third-party solutions, so don’t be surprised if the answer is no.
- For large property managers who have their own staff, be sure to ask about scheduling and time tracking for cleaning and maintenance team members.
- For those who outsource or use vendors, is there a way to invoice vendors?
- What third-party cleaning and property care solutions do you integrate with?
Rental Agreements
Some hosts and property managers are ambivalent about having guests sign a rental agreement, but for many other operators it is seen as a non-negotiable. There are many problems and misunderstandings which can be avoided, by having a well-written rental agreement that elaborates on your house rules and policies. For example, you could explain in greater detail your smoking policy, pet policy, refund policy, policy for items left behind, parking policy, theft and damage policy, groups policy, good neighbor policy, rules regarding locked areas on the property, obtain a release of liability, obtain credit card authorization to avoid chargebacks, and more!
Obtaining a signed rental agreement doesn’t need to be a hassle if the PMS you are using can automate sending the agreement to the primary guest on each reservation. Additionally, there are many PMS platforms that let guests digitally sign the agreement and automatically log and archive the agreement once it has been signed.
Questions To Ask About Rental Agreements
- Is the automatic sending of digital rental agreements available?
- Is e-signature for the rental agreements available?
- Does the PMS archive signed agreements or email them to me?
Security Deposits and Holds
A security deposit charge and a hold are both ways of reserving funds as collateral in case of damages, but they work differently.
A security deposit charge is a direct charge to the guest’s payment method. The funds are immediately transferred to the host or property manager as a deposit, which can be used to cover any damages or losses that may occur during the guest’s stay. At the end of the stay, any unused portion of the deposit is refunded to the guest.
On the other hand, a hold is a temporary authorization of funds on the guest’s payment method. Instead of a direct charge, a hold places a temporary freeze on a portion of the guest’s available funds or credit limit, which can be used to cover any damages or losses that may occur during the stay. The held funds are not transferred to the host or property manager immediately and are only reserved for a specific period. Once the hold period expires, the hold is released and you can no longer initiate a charge for damages.
The rules regarding security deposits and holds vary from one OTA to the next, but if you choose to collect a security deposit, it’s essential to know if the PMS has a process to automate the collection and release of them. This is because managing security deposits manually can be time-consuming, especially if you have multiple properties listed on different OTAs. Automation simplifies the process and saves time, enabling you to focus on other important aspects of your business.
If the security deposit functionality exists in the PMS it is likely to allow you to select whether a deposit or hold is used, how long before the check-in date the security deposit or hold will be collected, and how many days after check-out the deposit or hold will be released. Many property management systems will also notify you once the information for the security deposit or hold has been collected and if there are any issues with running the card number the guest submitted.
Questions To Ask About Security Deposits and Holds
- Is automated security deposit collection available?
- Can you select between a security deposit and a hold for each property?
- Can the security deposit/hold settings be customized for each listing and each connected OTA individually, or is it one blanket setting for every property in the PMS?
- Is the release of the security deposit/ hold automated and can you customize how long it is held before it is released?
- Can reservations be flagged or canceled automatically if security deposit/hold information is not collected within a certain window of check-in?
Guest Damage Insurance
Most OTAs offer some level of assurance that they will help cover the costs if a guest damages your property or steals items, but for one reason or another, sometimes getting reimbursement from OTAs can be laborious and unreliable. While getting a security deposit or hold from your guest is one way to alleviate this issue, it can strain the guest/host relationship and potentially put you at risk of getting a bad review.
As an alternative, hosts and property managers can obtain guest damage insurance for an additional fee per reservation. Some property management systems have built-in guest damage insurance, although this is relatively uncommon. It is more likely you will find PMS companies have integrations with third-party damage insurance companies. If you choose to activate one of these integrations the coverage can be automatically added to each of your reservations and you will be billed on a per-reservation basis.
Questions To Ask About Guest Damage Insurance
- Does your platform have a built-in guest damage insurance product?
- Do you have integrations with any third-party guest damage companies?
Payment Processor Integration
Collecting payment for bookings is a core business function, and all PMS platforms connect to at least one or two payment processors. Some PMS platforms, especially those that serve businesses worldwide, will offer integration with a broad range of payment processors.
There are 2 common situations where hosts will be responsible for collecting reservation funds themselves.
- Direct booking reservations – When a guest books directly with you through your own website or by phone as opposed to through an OTA you will be responsible for handling all financial transactions related to that booking.
- OTAs that do not handle reservation payments – There are a few OTAs that do not handle financial transactions between the host and guest, so the PMS will need a payment collection system and payment processor options.
Questions To Ask About Payment Processors
- What payment processors do you connect with?
- If you have a separate bank account for each listing, it is worth asking whether funds for reservations can be directed to a different account for each listing.
Email Campaign Integration
Smart property managers and hosts will always be working on growing a list of email addresses that can be used for marketing purposes and to generate direct bookings. If your PMS integrates with email platforms such as MailChimp it can automatically push guests’ email addresses out of the PMS and into the email service provider.
Questions to Ask About Email Campaign Integrations
- Do you integrate with any email service providers?
Guest Vetting and ID Management
Most guests are wonderful, but there are a few of types of people we’d prefer to keep out of our properties.
- Guests using false identities
- Guests using stolen credit cards
- Gangs
- Human Trafficking and Prostitution rings
- Parties
- Sex Offenders and Felons
Thankfully, there are a variety of third-party solutions hosts and property managers can utilize to screen for bad guests. If these services integrate with your PMS platform they can automate the process of pulling your guests’ information from the PMS, contacting the guest to obtain any information needed, running all the screening, and sending you the vetting results.
Similarly, collecting a copy of guests’ IDs is another way hosts are protecting themselves from fraud and credit card chargebacks.
Questions to Ask About Guest Vetting and ID Management
- What guest vetting solutions do you integrate with?
- Does the PMS have a way for me to collect guest’s IDs?
Dynamic Pricing Integrations
Numerous factors can affect demand and play into strategic pricing. While an in-depth conversation about dynamic pricing tools is beyond the scope of this article, in a nut shell, dynamic pricing tools ingest and aggregate data from OTAs and PMS platforms, run it through algorithms, and then provide pricing recommendations to maximize revenue.
When linked to property management software, the prices are managed within the dynamic pricing tool, pushed to the PMS, and then pushed out to all the integrated OTAs simultaneously. Dynamic pricing software is a key piece of any short-term rental professional’s technology stack and should be utilized whether you have one property, or manage a portfolio of properties.
Questions to Ask about Dynamic Pricing
- Many PMS platforms integrate with multiple dynamic pricing tools. Once you’ve chosen which pricing tool you want to use there’s really only one thing you need to know – whether the PMS integrates with it. You can already find the integration partners for each PMS company listed on the individual PMS product page here on STR HUB.
Internal and External Websites
The advantages of having guests book directly are numerous and varied, but require a direct booking website.
Internal PMS Built Websites – Many PMS companies offer the ability to quickly create a website via templates that can be customized to fit your branding. The advantage of these websites is that they are typically free or cheap, and easy to set up. The disadvantage is that you may be limited to a handful of site templates and you cannot take your site with you if you change to a different PMS platform in the future.
External Website Integration – The alternative to using one of the internal PMS built websites, is having a website built through an external website platform such as WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, etc. With these sites, the cost can vary greatly and will typically also require a minimal ongoing hosting fee. The advantage is that you will have much greater design flexibility and can keep your site regardless of whether you switch from one PMS to another as long as both are compatible with the website platform you are using.
Questions To Ask About Internal Websites
If the PMS has a built-in website builder you can ask to be shown a few examples of websites built through the platform.
- Ask if there is a way to walk through the site as if you were making a booking.
- Ask whether the websites are able to pull reviews from the OTAs onto the site.
- What customizations are available for the website templates?
- Can you have a website for each listing if desired?
- Are there any ongoing hosting fees?
Questions To Ask About External Websites
- Does your PMS have a widget that can be used with external websites built on platforms such as WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, etc.?
Mobile App
There’s no telling where or when you may need to reply to guest messages or troubleshoot an issue at one of your properties, so having a mobile app can be extremely handy. Almost universally, PMS companies are now cloud-based. If a mobile app is not available, there is a high chance that the PMS website is mobile responsive and will have much of the same functionality on a phone that it has on a desktop computer.
If the PMS has a mobile app, you should take a moment to check it out in the app store and read the reviews to see if users are satisfied with its performance.
Questions To Ask About PMS Mobile Apps
- Does the PMS platform currently have or intend to have a mobile app?
- Is the PMS’s fully website mobile responsive?
Smart Lock and Access Management
Smart locks provide a convenient and secure way to manage access to properties without the need for physical keys. Property management software with smart lock management capabilities allows hosts and property managers to remotely control access to their properties, grant access to guests and team members, and monitor entry and exit activity. This feature not only enhances security but also saves time and reduces the risk of lost keys.
Many PMS platforms that integrate with smart lock companies have the ability to generate new door codes and automatically and send them to your guests. Whether this feature is available, and what smart lock brands are supported varies widely by PMS company.
As an alternative to offering a smart lock management feature, some PMS platforms have chosen to integrate with third-party smart lock management companies such as Lynx, Remote Lock, Operto, or Enso Connect, to name a few.
Questions To Ask about Smart Lock and Access Management
- What brands of smart locks does the PMS integrate with?
- Does the PMS integrate with any third-party smart lock management and smart home solutions?
- Are there any additional fees charged by the PMS for generating and sending door codes?
Digital Guest Guides
PMS integration with digital guest guides is a relatively new feature we’re seeing in PMS companies and is rapidly evolving. If this integration exists, it allows the digital guest guide to be personalized for each guest with their name, reservation information such as check-in and checkout times, and perhaps also pulling smart lock door codes into the digital guest guide.
Questions To Ask About Digital Guest Guides
- The only question you’re likely to need to ask during a PMS demo about digital guest guides is whether or not it integrates with the digital guest guide you’re interested in. Questions about the digital guest guide itself or what information it pulls from the PMS are better suited for a demo call with the digital guest guide company.
Large Scale Property Management Specific Features
There are a few additional features that those who run property management companies should specifically inquire about.
Bulk Editing – Bulk editing is a feature that is sought after by property managers and those who manage large portfolios. It allows aspects of listings such as minimum night stays, nightly rates, tax rates, fees, cancellation policies, check-in and checkout times, security deposits, etc. to be changed for multiple properties at once instead of needing to make the changes to one listing at a time. Hosts and co-hosts who manage smaller portfolios won’t need to be as concerned about ensuring their PMS has robust bulk editing features.
Owner Statements – An owner statement is a financial document prepared by property managers for property owners, providing an overview of the property’s income and expenses during a specific period, typically monthly. Some PMS platforms have built-in templates for owner statements that automatically pull each property’s revenue and expenses into the template and simplify generating the statement.
Team Members and Owner Login – Many PMS platforms have a portal that allows the ability for property managers to create logins for their team members and owners. Users’ privileges can be customized to determine the information which owners and team members see when they log into the portal.
Invoicing – This was already mentioned in the accounting section, but in summary, the ability for property managers to create and send invoices within the PMS platform is a very desirable feature.
Time Tracking – PMs who have multiple team members may also be interested in a way to track their employee’s hours. Some enterprise-level systems are the most likely to have this capability.
Customer Service
Customer service can make or break the relationship you have with your PMS company. When evaluating the customer service of a PMS company. Here are a few useful questions to ask in a demo:
Questions To Ask About Customer Service
- Does the company offer 24/7 support, or are there limited hours of availability?
- What channels of support are available, such as phone, email, or live chat?
- How long does it take for the company to respond to inquiries or resolve issues?
- Does the company provide a comprehensive knowledge base or user guide to help customers troubleshoot issues on their own?
- Are there training materials available to help customers learn how to use the software effectively?
Platform User Experience
Evaluating the user interface of a PMS company is the most subjective of all the considerations when choosing property management software, but there are several considerations to keep in mind.
- Does it seem intuitive and user-friendly, or does it look like it will require a steep learning curve?
- Is it easy to navigate and find the features you need?
- Is it aesthetically pleasing and well-designed, or does it look outdated or cluttered?
- Are the colors, fonts, and layout consistent and visually appealing?
- Although this is not currently common in PMS platforms, ask whether you can you customize the interface to fit your workflow and preferences?
- Are there options to adjust the layout, color scheme, or other elements to make the interface more tailored to your needs?
- How is the speed and performance of the interface?
- Is it fast and responsive, or does it lag or freeze frequently?
- Does it work well on all devices and operating systems?
Pricing Structures
The most common pricing structure you’ll see for PMS platforms is a flat monthly fee per listing. Once you start looking at enterprise-level PMS platforms it becomes more common to see the fee be shifted to a percentage of booking revenue, or perhaps even hybrid pricing with a small flat-fee and a small percentage of revenue.
While the debate can continue to rage over which pricing model is superior, here are a few considerations to keep in mind.
- When the PMS company’s revenue is tied directly to your revenue their interests are aligned with your success.
- While there is likely to be a minimum monthly fee regardless of revenue, generally revenue-based pricing models can be used to automatically trim expenses during the off-season.
- The predictable flat-fee based model is helpful when budgeting because the cost does not vary month to month.
- Although the cost per listing tends to decrease as the number of listings increases, property managers with larger portfolios may still be better served by a percentage pricing model. *This may not hold true for luxury property management companies.
Conclusion
In conclusion, selecting the right property management software for your short-term rental or Airbnb business is a critical decision that can greatly impact your operations, efficiency, and ultimately, your bottom line. By considering key factors outlined in this ultimate guide, you’ll be better equipped to make an informed choice that meets your unique STR business needs. Investing in the right software solution, can streamline your business processes, enhance guest experiences, and help you gain a competitive edge in the ever-growing short-term rental market.
Next Steps:
1. Head over to the Property Management Software comparison page and start familiarizing yourself with the available property management software companies.
2. Create a short list of 2-4 you’re most interested in.
3. Schedule a product demo call with those companies.
4. If you’re still uncertain after the demo calls, head over to the STR HUB Facebook group and talk with other STR hosts and Property managers to get their take.