Streamline operations, reduce costs, and beat your competition.
Centralise tools and get more direct bookings, without any hassle!
Run operations on the go and grow your property management business.
The vacation rental industry has become increasingly competitive, with more properties being listed online every day. If they want to stay ahead of the game property managers need a channel manager helping them to streamline their operations and increase bookings.
In this article we’ll review the best channel managers for the vacation rental business and provide an in-depth analysis of their features and benefits. After reading you’ll know:
- What a channel manager is
- Why a channel manager is useful for holiday homeowners
- The 5 best channel managers for vacation rentals
- The internet’s most frequently asked questions about channel managers
Alternatively, if you are looking for the best channel manager for a hotel you’d do a lot worse than giving this article a read!
What is a Channel Manager for Vacation Rentals?
To understand the concept of a channel manager for vacation rental requires an initial understanding of what a channel manager actually is.
Accordingly, a channel manager for vacation rental is a distribution software to help you manage your properties.
This channel manager displays your property on the best vacation rental OTAs, portals, online travel agencies, and web platforms.
For example, if you are a hotel owner and you want to increase your bookings by listing your property on multiple websites. You can do this by yourself. Every time a booking comes up, you have to log into each account and update the calendar. There’s lots of rushing and room for human error. The chances of double booking drastically increases when you work in this way.
What if you have 10+ properties for rent? This process is going to be so time-consuming and you will lose half your day to admin and your business will inevitably suffer.
With a channel manager made for vacation rental properties, you have the capability to view and control reservations made across multiple channels from a single dashboard. Any updates to your listings will be instantly applied to platforms such as Airbnb, Booking, VRBO, Google Vacation Rentals, and wherever else your Channel Manager is hooked up to.
Providers will share your property listing with multiple partnered websites. In all online portals, the one-channel manager software updates property bookings & related information in real time with a zero double booking guarantee.
Why do you need a channel manager for a vacation rental?
A channel manager for vacation rentals is an essential tool for any property manager or owner who lists their properties on multiple vacation rental websites, such as Airbnb, Booking.com, HomeAway, and others.
In order to grow your business, you need to use multiple booking channels such as OTAs, marketplaces, and niche sites. Managing vacation rentals is difficult without a channel manager, so here are some reasons why you need a vacation rental channel manager:
1- Optimize distribution
By using the best channel manager for vacation rental, you can expand your visibility across multiple channels without adding to your workload. This allows you to advertise your property on a variety of local and global OTAs in order to increase your brand visibility.
Additionally, if you do not have a PMS, a channel manager for vacation rental can integrate with your direct booking website. When a reservation is made on one platform, the channel manager will automatically block off the corresponding dates on other platforms. This will help you pay fewer OTA fees while still reaching a broad audience.
2- Avoid overbookings
Property owners can avoid overbooking with the help of a vacation rental property manager by using a channel manager feature, as it follows a simple process every time an individual booking is made. It immediately blocks the calendars on all platforms available to you so there won’t be double bookings. No more extra work, no more stress, and no chance of a negative review.
3- Increased revenue and booking
With a channel manager for vacaction rental, you can put your property on multiple channels and thus increase your chances of receiving bookings. Also, don’t forget that one of the best channels you can manage should be your property’s website. If you follow all the best practices and useful tips for websites I provide in this article, you will turn your website into a direct booking machine.
What is the best channel manager for serviced accommodation/ vacation Rentals?
The 5 best examples and features of the best channel manager for holiday rentals
Below are some of the top 5 channel manager systems for vacation rental available for property managers and vacation rental management.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these platforms, including a summary of their features, advantages and disadvantages, and whether they are suitable for your business
1. Amenitiz
Amenitiz is trusted by over 7000 hoteliers worldwide who simply can’t imagine running their business without it.
Amenitiz is an all-in-one application for channel management as it offers a single management system that can do everything, eliminating the need for multiple systems. Amenitiz is a software that simplifies every aspect of a hotelier’s daily operations, from start to finish. It offers a wide range of features, including direct booking capabilities, payment processing, and the centralization of administrative tasks within a user-friendly PMS.
Amenitiz connects all your distribution channels, monitors prices and availability, and increases revenues. Distribute your inventory among 120+ OTAs and attract a wide range of potential users.
Amenitiz will help you to maximize your occupancy rate and increase profits by selling all your inventory.
Amenitiz is a reliable partner for any hotelier seeking to save time and money and gain peace of mind. This is because they can focus on their customers’ needs. They also have AmenitizPay to manage how and when you receive payments and protect you and your clients from fraud.
In addition, the amenitiz comes with a website builder that enables users to create an attractive and user-friendly website for their target audience.
Features
- Connection with a single platform including PMS, website with integrated booking engine, etc;
- Real-time updating;
- Customer support;
- Access to booking details, including payments;
- XML connection with more than 120 price comparison and online sales platforms;
- No additional cost for adding each platform (OTA);
- No commission on bookings coming from connected platforms (OTAs);
- Simple interface.
2. Lodgify
Lodgify is a tool designed for people who manage small to mid-size vacation rentals. It has everything you need in one place, including tools to help you build an excellent website for booking directly.
It also connects easily with popular travel websites like Airbnb, HomeAway/Vrbo, Booking.com, and Expedia and has useful features for both hosts and property managers.
Lodgify comes with an advanced website builder, direct integration with top travel websites through APIs, and a continually expanding collection of helpful features for both hosts and property managers.
Features
- Channel Manager
- Property Management System
- Reservation Management
- Payment System
- Guest Messaging
- Advanced Owner Management
- Task management
- Accounting and Reporting
- Three subscription plans to suit your needs
- Customer support
3. Hostaway
Hostway comes with a deep integration and support team. It offers property managers advanced features while still being user-friendly and easy to navigate.
Designed for teams, Hostway allows them to engage in business training. In addition to its channel integrations and support, Hostaway also offers a booking engine, a WordPress website, and a variety of marketing and sales tools to help manage direct bookings. The software makes it easy to manage payments, owner statements, accounting, and even smart locks.
The platform also has a marketplace with over 100 integrations with other tools. Keep in mind, you’ll need to request a demo to get customized pricing and onboarding since Hostaway doesn’t provide a free trial.
Features
- Channel manager & Auto task manager
- Activity Dashboard
- Direct bookings website
- Owner and guest portals
- Powerful analytics, reporting, and accounting
- Revenue management
- Online room booking
- Invoice management
- Integrations with dynamic pricing
- Two-way API connection & mobile app
- Centralized inbox and automated messaging
- 24×7 customer support
4. Guesty
Guesty is designed for large property management businesses, providing comprehensive end-to-end services. Nevertheless, their pricing model, which is based on a percentage of revenue, may not be affordable for all users. Moreover, some reviews suggest that they may have limitations in certain areas of expertise.
Guesty property manager offers a calendar, inbox, mobile application, and 24/7 guest communication services that will help you to get more bookings
Guesty will help you to assist in reducing the time spent on repetitive tasks and increasing your revenue, regardless of whether you are a small business seeking to expand or an established business seeking to optimize your occupancy and operations.
Features
- Two-way API connections to OTAs.
- Integration with Rentals United and Siteminder
- Synchronize availability, reservations, content, rate plans, promotions, and messaging-create reservations, adjust pricing, and set date-specific rules.
- Dashboard for current reservations, payments, check-ins, etc.
- Dedicated 24/7 guest communications agent and a unified inbox
- Automation and triggers
- Direct booking from the website or widget
- Integrations with dynamic pricing tools, payment processing, etc.
- Mobile app
5. Hosthub
Hosthub channel manager, formerly known as SyncBnb, was created with a specific focus on ensuring all your calendars remain perfectly synchronized.
In this area, Hosthub beats its competitors, by providing over 200 native channel integrations and a No Double-Booking Guarantee. This means you can sync as many channels as you require and rest assured that you will never have to handle a double booking situation.
Established in 2017, this vacation rental channel manager already manages thousands of properties in 92 countries and is rapidly expanding. They offer a unique and affordable approach to channel management that is user-friendly and requires minimal training.
Onboarding is quick and easy, with the initial setup taking less than 15 minutes and new properties being added almost instantly.
Features
- Expense management
- Automated messaging
- Team management
- Multi-user accounts
- Detailed reports
- Stats and charts
- Mobile-friendly web app
- Multi-calendar
- Public calendars and private icalls
- Months with no activity are FREE
- Easy setup – Easy to use & 24/7 support
- Prevent double bookings
- Multiple configurations are supported.
FAQ: See more about the best channel manager for short-term rentals
Do you need a channel manager for Airbnb?
Yes! It’s a good idea to use a reliable channel manager for Airbnb because it can help you keep track of your listings, bookings, and schedule across different websites at the same time. This can save you time and lower the chances of making mistakes like double bookings.
A channel manager can also help you automatically update your prices and availability, which can make your business more efficient and profitable.
Is Airbnb considered a channel manager?
No, Airbnb is not a channel manager. A channel manager is a software platform used by hospitality businesses to manage their online distribution channels, including online travel agencies (OTAs), global distribution systems (GDS), and direct bookings from their own website.
Airbnb is an online marketplace that allows individuals to rent out their homes or apartments to travellers. So, if you have rentals on Airbnb and other OTAs, you will need a channel manager to manage your clients’ bookings.
What is the best channel manager for hotels?
The answer needs a bigger space. As you can see in this article, the features that you have to take into consideration are a lot. I wrote an article about the Best channel manager for a hotel, considering all the characteristics you may need and making a list.