Corporate housing is a growing segment of the rental market, offering housing solutions for traveling professionals, relocating employees and other tenants.
Previously occupying its own niche in the overall real estate rental market, over the years it has blended in with other sectors like short-term rentals, vacation rentals and mid-term rentals. Together with its robust growth trajectory — it’s expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.5% from 2024 to 2029 — it presents lucrative opportunities for property managers, landlords and homeowners.
Managing corporate housing effectively however requires tailored tools to handle everything from listings and bookings to payments, tenant communications, property maintenance, and more. This is where corporate housing software becomes indispensable. The right property management software provides a one-system solution, equipping managers with property management, booking process management, robust reporting, analytics tools and other features for comprehensive corporate management and for property managers to gain insight into their business and make informed decisions.
In this article, we’ll explore the best corporate housing software solutions and how they can transform your operations.
Corporate housing refers to fully furnished accommodations rented out, quite often, to professionals traveling for business-related purposes.
Unlike traditional rentals, corporate housing generally focuses on convenience, offering amenities and services that cater to the professional lifestyle. These properties are often leased for weeks and come with utilities, internet access, a workspace and sometimes even housekeeping included.
Corporate housing providers tailor these offerings to professionals seeking the security of a reliable, all-inclusive service for extended stays.
Over the years, the corporate housing market has expanded beyond the business traveler and now serves a wide range of tenant types. These include:
Professionals on temporary assignments, consultants who travel frequently from one location to another and traveling nurses and other medical professionals want a home-like environment that also provides them the necessary conveniences to ensure they can get their work done and well. More often than not, they look to corporate housing providers to fulfil this need.
According to the Corporate Housing Providers Association (CHPA), relocating employees represent the largest segment of corporate stay tenants in the U.S.
Individuals or families who have sold their home or are having their home renovated often opt for corporate housing as a temporary stay until they move in to their new home or back into their old one.
College students may also opt for corporate housing as a mid-term accommodation option, valuing its reliability and conducive atmosphere for studying.
People evacuating due to a state of emergency or those whose homes were damaged by a natural disaster may also opt for corporate housing, particularly as they scramble to find suitable accommodations in a saturated market.
Understanding these guest types helps property managers tailor their offerings and improve occupancy rates.
Corporate housing software is a purpose-built technology solution designed to simplify the management of corporate rentals. Like vacation rental software, short-term rental software or Airbnb management software, it is ideally an all-in-one solution that integrates property management features including managing maintenance issues, reservation systems, tenant and team communication, pricing, financial tracking and payments, automation and more into one unified platform.
Whether you are a property manager, landlord or homeowner, you need a one-platform software solution with many features to manage your corporate housing properties. Here’s why:
By assigning tasks, streamlining your operations and automating repetitive tasks such as manual data entry, billing and invoice creation, you can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your corporate housing management business significantly.
The right corporate housing software can handle diverse portfolios, from a single property to hundreds of units across multiple locations, enabling you to grow and scale your corporate housing business.
Enhance tenant satisfaction through streamlined processes, communication and support, delivering a professional service at every step.
Streamlining processes and scheduling and automating repetitive tasks saves time and money that can be better spent on strategic decision-making.
Centralizing all the data and activities from your property management operations in a single platform provides not just a big-picture view but makes it easier and more efficient to manage. Robust reporting features will also provide insight into revenue, payments and potential issues facing your company.
Simplifying and professionalizing processes like booking, payments and communication for tenants enhances their experience.
By minimizing operational inefficiencies and errors and automating manual work, property managers reduce risk and save time on costs like additional hires.
Facilitating business expansion without overloading administrative capacity enables you to scale faster and better.
Hostaway is the leading all-in-one property management software and is designed to simplify, streamline and automate corporate housing operations. With tools to manage every stage of the tenant journey, its many property management features are tailored to the demands of corporate housing operations. With a 97% customer satisfaction rating, Hostaway ensures reliability and efficiency as well as a great guest experience.
Hostaway also offers seamless integrations with major booking platforms like Airbnb and niche channels such as Furnished Finder. Its unified inbox, automated guest communication (including ChatGPT integration) and team scheduling, and robust owner and tenant portals make communication and operations smoother, enhancing both tenant satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Hostaway’s comprehensive features, automation capabilities and marketplace of over 200 apps for additional services allow you to optimize revenue and reduce manual workloads. Whether you’re only managing corporate housing or a range of different rentals, Hostaway’s features make it a standout in the industry.
Only available in the U.S., Hemlane offers a hybrid approach, combining technology with access to local agents for on-the-ground support. Its software features include rental listing, tenant screening, leasing management, online rent collection and repair tracking. It also offers additional services such as tenant placement, repair coordination and a rental assistant.
SimplifyEm offers a simplified solution that focuses on lease management, expense tracking, report generation, tenant screening and trust accounting for property managers.
Its interface is easy to use and is better suited as a starting point for those who are only looking for simple features.
Part of the realtor.com network, Avail is a simple software that caters to independent landlords and property managers. It allows for easy listing on 20 syndication and social platforms, tenant communication and screening, online rent collection and maintenance task tracking. It also provides state-specific leases and amendment templates reviewed by lawyers.
Zillow Rental Manager allows property managers to leverage Zillow’s vast audience. Its features include listing creation on Zillow and its affiliated platforms, applicant screening, lease management and online rent collection. It also provide basic maintenance tracking features.
When evaluating corporate housing software, consider the following factors and your own specific needs as a property manager, landlord or owner.
Ensure the platform you choose can scale as your own team, portfolio and business grows.
The cheapest solution is hardly ever the best and will leave you at risk of a loss in the long run. Look for a solution that offers a good return on investment (ROI) instead.
Opt for software that’s easy to set up and intuitive to use. Check if the provider offers onboarding to new customers.
Make sure 24/7 customer support is offered. Read reviews to assess the quality of the service offered.
A good platform will offer a free demo so you can determine its suitability.
Investing in corporate housing software is a game-changer for property managers, landlords and owners. Whether you’re managing a single unit or an international portfolio, selecting the right platform is key to enhancing productivity, operations efficiency and profitability.
With Hostaway, the leading all-in-one solution, property managers can avail themselves of a comprehensive solution to manager all aspects of corporate housing property management. Schedule a free demo and explore how Hostaway can help you level up your business.