Picking your software is a super important decision. A mistake here leads to heartache and misery! Please spend some time to get this decision right.
There is no way to engage all of the online booking engines unless you are using some software to synchronize your listings. So if you want to be listed on airbnb, tripadvisor, etc then you will need some software.
If you know what you are looking for in software then great…Otherwise check out the some of the articles that are linked below. Some software will just inexpensively get you listed on the booking engines while other software will build your website and do your accounting as well.
You need to narrow your focus on the right software
I created this Google Doc for you Click Here If you want the Word file I will send it to you if you contact me. There are key advantages to do filling out this form.
- You will be using your same information on many many sites. Every time you make a new listing you need this info.
- You want to have keyword-rich descriptions. This helps you get found in searches. It is a lot easier to think about this once and get it right.
- Consistency is important. If you list different addresses and other info on different websites then you will be harder to find.
- Your pictures and videos tell the story of what you do. Take a second to tell your best story. You do that by getting your content organized first.
The second document you need is something that makes it easy for you to revisit your listings. You need to organize your marketing links and create some notes for yourself. This is how you can figure out what is working and what is not working!
I cross referenced all the info and narrowed the search down to 10
To qualify all 10 pieces of software met these criteria
Here are 10 pieces of software that meet this criterion.
- The software had to be reasonably priced. Not a solution for a giant company or a Hotel.
- The software had to have a good body of great reviews.
- The software had to have a good body of great reviews.
- The software had to be able to integrate with the Online Booking Agents.
Let’s look at the software that includes a website builder:
- Smoobu – Comes with a website builderGerman based company. Costs € 19 / Month for first property, each Additional Property € 5. I have never used this one but I would try it out.
- www.tokeet.com – I almost left this one off because it had some negative reviews, but I really like software that has a user community.
- Lodgify – I have used this one and it deserves some attention. You pay based on the number of properties. With one property it is $29 per month.
- Stays – The price depends on how many properties you have.
- Owner Rez – This one is optimized for property managers. The price is variable based on options and properties. They have a nice pricing caldulator.
- Eviivo – this one has some customizations that work well for BB’s Vacation Rental, property managers, campgrounds, etc. Cost is 39 british lbs per month + .5 british lbs per booking.
- checkfront – Interesting because this works for tour companies too. This one is interesting because it integrates with a bunch of 3rd party websites. This is the modern way the Internet works. Cost is $42 for 1200 bookings per year or $84 for 3000 bookings. Using the website builder will cost an addional $29 per month.
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Does not have website builder:
- Bookerville – This software has some variants depending if you are a Bed and Breakfast or vacation rental or small hotel.
- ReservationKey – Starts at $29 per month.
- Uplisting – this one is expensive starting at $100 for 1-5 properties then every additional property is $20 per month each
- Hostaway – looked promising, but you cannot figure out the price
- BookingLayer – cost is a minimum of 100 euro per month or 2% of bookings PLUS you will have to pay a one time fee of 200 euro. This software also handles activities which i a big plus for many Vacation Rental Businesses.
- OneRooftop is now called cloudbeds – cost is 149 per month….cost is hard to calculate because of options and addons and all of that.
