It doesn’t matter if you operate a single short term vacation rental or have a portfolio full of them; remaining on top of everything isn’t a simple job. You will have to be concerned about managing listings on various platforms, setting prices, coordinating with guests, handling bookkeeping, ensuring your property remains secure and much more.
All of these tasks can take an enormous amount of energy and time. Fortunately, there are a plethora of best vacation rental apps to help you with this task. These best apps can help you save hours every week, giving you more time to spend on other things.
It doesn’t matter if you are just starting out or are a veteran; with so many solutions, the entire process can become overpowering. There are various categories, with each app doing something different. This can make it difficult to ascertain which one is best for you.
Fortunately, this article will help you highlight the best vacation rental apps and how they can benefit your portfolio management. Let’s begin!!
REI Hub
Keeping records of your vacation rental financial performance is an important success metric. This is especially true if you utilize tax strategies like the vacation rental loophole, which requires you to document every transaction.
Various property management software tools tend to have some type of add-on feature, but you will often discover that these tools are not as sophisticated as custom bookkeeping and accounting platforms. The best thing to go with is a bespoke solution.
REI Hub is one of the best vacation rental apps as it is custom-built for the needs of rental property owners. REI Hub might lack a few of the powerful features that other accounting solutions have, but it still offers an array of features created to serve the needs of real estate investors.
As a vacation rental operator, you can use REI Hub to track metrics such as Net Operating Income and Cash on Cash return. You can also view reports for every property in your portfolio. This is a great fit for investors searching for intuitive accounting tools with a decent learning curve.
Key Features
- Scheduling
- Fixed asset tracking
- Financial reporting
- Document and receipt management
- Lease tracking
- Automated mortgage accounting
- Recurring payments
- Bank account tracking
Touch Stay
One of the most effective methods to create a successful vacation rental operation is to invest resources in enhancing your guest experience. If you can seamlessly hack the guest experience, you will get more return customers, which creates stable and continuous income that is always great for business.
Furthermore, personal touches tend to go the extra mile in developing these relationships; however, you can use the best vacation rental apps to ensure you provide the best experience for all guests.
To this end, Touch Stay is a digitalized welcome book that provides guests with an all-inclusive introduction to your vacation rental properties. This helps to get a much-improved guest experience while also making your life easier. You can add answers to frequently asked questions in the welcome book to reduce the amount of time you have to give to responding to questions.
You can also add a variety of helpful tips, from local activities and restaurant recommendations to how to use the hot tub. Touch Stay also allows you to digitally send your welcome book to guests before they check in, getting ahead of many popular questions.
Key Features
- Multi-language support
- Automated SMS and email
- Streamlined guest instructions
- Google Place integration
- Website link integration
- Print and PDF options
- Offline/online guidebook
Ring
Security is an important aspect that every guest expects when they stay in a vacation rental. The most effective way to match this expectation is to invest in additional security solutions that help you remotely monitor your property’s security. Regarding security, there are a variety of solutions for vacation real estate owners ranging from Wi-Fi-enabled security camera systems to smart door locks.
Ring’s video doorbells are extremely popular; however, the company provides a wider array of security tools, such as smart lighting and cameras. While these products are created specifically for short term rentals, there is no harm in using the Ring to monitor and secure your vacation rental properties.
Numerous vacation rental operators utilize Ring solutions to ensure their properties are not used for any activity that goes against your rules. You can install cameras in the driveway and other public areas to remotely monitor your property.
Key Features
- Video recording
- Secure alerts
- Outdoor and indoor security kits
- Smart lock integration
- Smart lighting
- Property security systems
- Security cameras
- Video doorbells
Guesty
Managing short-term rentals tends to be heavily time intensive. You will need to monitor various platforms, communicate with guests, keep track of bookings, and manage finances. Having more than one property makes all of this feel like a full-time job.
Thankfully, you can use a PMS platform that makes it easier for you to automate most of the time-consuming components involved. These tools can help streamline the many operational tasks typically involved in managing a vacation rental property. Guesty also comes with features that can help you create a brand and forge relationships with customers.
Guesty is an end-to-end rental app with features you can use to manage and market your vacation rental properties to a larger audience. You get the choice of Host, which lets you register a maximum of 3 properties, and Pros, where you can register 4 or more properties. Regardless, you always have features that can be customized to your individual needs.
Compared to other real estate management software solutions, Guesty has received various positive reviews and is recognized as one of the best vacation rental apps to use.
Key Features
- Reporting
- Payment processing
- Extended stay management
- Branded booking webpages
- Guest communication
- Mobile app
- Accounting
- Multi-unit calendar
- Unified inbox
Rankbreeze
Purchasing and pricing a vacation rental property is just a single variable in the route to success. One of the most important variables is attracting business by way of guests to the property. Doing this successfully means your listing needs to be continuously improved and refined.
Pricing is just a component of boosting your listing; however, the picture, title, description, and list of amenities are just as important. Choosing a data-fueled approach to refining these elements can help enhance occupancy rates, creating a higher investment return.
With that in mind, one of the best vacation rental apps to help with this is Rankbreeze. Rankbreeze enables you to increase your search rankings by optimizing photos, descriptions, and listing titles.
You also get a wealth of price comparison solutions coupled with features that enable you to decide the best amenities to add to your listings to spur maximum profitability.
Key Features
- Daily and weekly report
- Local rental data
- A/B testing
- Pricing comparison tools
- Analytics to optimize listings
MarketMaker by VRBO
The key to having a successful vacation rental is to price it at market prices. When you price too low, you leave money on the table; however, pricing too high could lower demand for your property. The aim is to strike a balance, which can be difficult as your pricing strategy will likely change over the year due to seasonal trends.
The most effective way to understand the right pricing strategy for your rentals is to adopt a pricing tool. With a solution like MarketMaker, you can use powerful analytics to get the optimal price for your property, ensuring it is always competitively priced.
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To this end, MarketMaker is a tool that leverages the VRBO platform to help you make informed pricing decisions. The insights the data provides ensure that you can improve the performance of your listing while driving incremental revenue.
This tool utilizes real-time data on nearby properties, users’ search behavior, and your property to create insights that ensure your rates remain competitive all year round.
Key Features
- Listing analytics
- Revenue management
- Dynamic pricing
- Competitor insights
- Real-time market data
STR Insights
Finding the perfect vacation rental property to purchase can be quite difficult. With in-demand vacation destinations come competitive markets, all of which means you need to efficiently identify and purchase properties that sufficiently match your investment strategy.
With that in mind, STR Insights is one of the best vacation rental apps to have. It provides you with insights that help streamline your property acquisitions. The platform gives users a wealth of research and data that can be used to recognize and buy high-potential properties.
When you use STR Insights, you have the opportunity to hone in on the best property or market type that suits your budget. This app has relevant property value and revenue data from more than 12,000 markets available on the platform to help you make decisions with higher confidence, irrespective of where the properties are.
Key Features
- Research tools for various property types
- Market comparison tool
- Selective ROI data
- Automated revenue data collection
