Short Term Rental Management Software for Property Managers
Navigating the landscape of short term rental management software options can be challenging. With property managers seeking ongoing improvements in efficiency to effectively maximise revenue for property owners, there are a vast number of considerations to take into account when assessing short term rental management software solutions. Typical considerations a STRA property manager may face include the assessing benefits of streamlining guest and property management, optimising pricing and availability, participation with OTAs such as Booking.com and Airbnb, task management, and marketing via centralised systems. Read on as we explore the finer details of each of these topics below.
What is Short Term Rental Accommodation (STRA)?
Short-term rentals (STR) are generally fully furnished self-contained houses or apartments that are rented for short periods of time, often seen as an alternative to hotels. Popular uses include holiday accommodation or relocation for employment, given that short term rentals often prove more affordable for longer stays than hotels whilst also offering additional amenities such as kitchens and laundry facilities.
Short Term Rental Owners
Short term rental accommodation owners are faced with a variety of options when it comes to the listing and guest management of each of their properties. For those owners with ample time and/or a small number of properties, listing directly on marketplaces such as AirBNB,VRBO and Booking.com is often the first avenue to gaining exposure and bookings.
Over time, owners often develop an appetite for increased sophistication within their holiday accommodation rental business to maximise revenue and increase their booking volumes whilst minimising the amount of administration. Depending on the scale of the owner’s property portfolio, a short term rental management software solution such Homhero may be a viable means of improving their rental performance.
Short Term Rental Property Managers
In many instances, particularly when time is running thin or an owner’s property portfolio continues to grow, property managers are engaged by owners to manage all of the operational aspects of running a short-term rental. This can include listing and pricing properties, marketing, managing bookings, maintenance and cleaning. This is where STR software solutions such Homhero become imperative, allowing for management at scale of a short-term property portfolio.
Short Term Rental Platforms
Below is a list of the leading short term rental accommodation platforms used in Australia which we’d highly recommend that owners consider listing their short term rentals on, to gain maximum exposure for their property to each of the unique audiences these platforms attract.
Your marketing strategy, business plan and commercial agreements will determine whether you choose to list on a selection rather than all of these platforms. Depending on the number of platforms and properties you have, a Channel Manager can assist greatly in centralising and distributing your property listings from one convenient console.
Short Term Rental Software Categories
There are a wide variety of short term rental accommodation software applications available on the market, each developed to aid in specific areas of a short term rental business. The main categories of STR software are:
Property Management Systems (PMS)
Manages the operations and automation of many common tasks including bookings, check-in and payments.
Channel Managers
Connects your property to online travel agents (OTAs) such as Airbnb and Booking.com and ensures synchronicity of the property listing, availability and pricing information across all platforms.
Task Management
Manage cleaning, tasks and maintenance from a centralised point.
Pricing Management
Provides sophisticated dynamic pricing to maximise booking revenue according to current market conditions.
Direct Website Management
Manage the content and functionality of a property’s direct booking channel, that is, their own website.
Marketing Platforms
Facilitate email marketing, SMS, social media and more to past guests and prospects.
One-Stop Short Term Rental Management Software Solution – Homhero
It’s hard to fathom how all of these individual short-term rental applications could possibly seamlessly integrate into one convenient solution for managing your accommodation business.
Well thankfully, there’s a solution. Homhero has been developed, tried and tested in Australia to suit the specific needs of medium to large short term rental accommodation property managers across the nation.
Homhero is the leading independent developer of property management systems and channel managers for holiday accommodation rentals in Australia, while also seamlessly integrating with virtually all of the major software providers and platforms within the category.
Ask us how we can assist in boosting efficiency and profitability for your short term rental portfolio today!
