Must-Have Airbnb Tools & Apps

The vacation rental industry is booming with as many as 600,000 people in America alone using online platforms, such as Airbnb, to rent out their homes, condos, apartments, and/or rooms to short-term guests. With more and more competition entering the scene every day property owners and managers alike must keep working on staying ahead of their game. Perhaps that is why around 70% of property managers believe that using more technology-based tools will be beneficial to their business. In this article, we have compiled a list of some key hosting tools that can be used by hosts to up their game.

The Best Airbnb Tools That Every Host Should Use Across Categories.

Almost every facet of the vacation rental business can be automated or regulated. Here is a list of Airbnb tools and apps to make running your vacation rental business a breeze.

Channel manager:

A channel manager is ideal when managing listings that have been listed across multiple online travel agencies. Channel managers can be used to update nightly rates, availability, and bookings across multiple channels by updating in a single platform.

Hostaway

Hostaway is the leading all-in-one vacation rental software for property managers all over the world. Hostaway vacation rental software helps you grow your vacation rental property management business by automating and streamlining every aspect of your business across preferred partners such as Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Expedia, and other OTAs.

Top features of Hostaway include:

• Hostaway is the highest-rated property management system for vacation rental property managers such as property management systems, reservation managers, performance dashboards, and CRM and lead management.
• Hostaway's proprietary channel manager is the core of the platform, praised by channels and property managers alike. Some key features are distribution channels, multi calendars, multi-unit support, and cross-listing.
• All the communication tools a vacation rental property manager needs, including an industry-leading unified inbox, automated messages, owner portals, guest portals, and native support for SMS and WhatsApp
• Analytics & Reporting tools that give property managers valuable insights into their vacation rental business such as occupancy reports, dynamic pricing, owner statements, financial reporting, and expense tracking
• Helps with automating every single repetitive task in the world of vacation rentals with tools such as automated messages and reviews, automating tasks such as cleaning and maintenance, and automated payments (making sure guests pay)
• Help manage every aspect of daily operations with detail and automation including payment processing, contract signatures, guest invoicing, automated payments, and task management.
• Other noteworthy services include revenue management, a mobile app, notifications, and an open API that allows you to integrate any software or build your own one with Hostaway.

Accounting:

In any business, it is always important to keep a tab and stay ahead of your numbers. Accounting can be tedious and often trying especially if it is not done routinely. Hence, it makes sense to employ readily available services to stay ahead of it.

Booking trust

Booking trust is an online trust accounting system that is specially designed for vacation rentals. BookingTrust ensures transactional transparency and accuracy across all areas of the business, from deposits and cancellations to all the extra charges in between.

Quickbooks

Intuit QuickBooks is a small business financial software supporting small business startups to track, organize, and manage their finances. It is focused on bringing small business owners together, in one place, to learn from one another.

Ximplify

A boutique accounting firm with Big 4 experience, Ximplifi offers accounting software consulting and implementation, along with premium full-suite outsourced accounting services and CFO advisory.

Data Analytics & Business Intelligence:

It is important to stay updated on industry trends and research to grow your vacation rental business. With technology in the industry rapidly evolving there are now tools and apps dedicated to keeping hosts informed of the ups and downs of the holiday rental industry and staying ahead of the competition.

Keydata

Key Data Dashboard is a provider of data and analytic tools for the vacation rental space. Its Dashboard product is designed to save vacation rental companies hours of pulling various data sources together, seamlessly providing one trusted place for instant visualization of core KPIs, as well as anonymized comparative views of the local, regional, and industry competitive data sets. Hosts can now spend less time pulling reports, and more time making informed revenue decisions.

Transparent

Transparent is the global leader in providing data intelligence for the vacation rental industry. Empowering property managers, investors, and hotels to make smarter revenue, distribution, and investment decisions. Apart from market insights Transparent also has various learning courses for hosts to elevate their business

AllTheRooms

AllTheRooms provides valuable business insights and analytics in the vacation rental industry. Some of its key services provided are:

• Market intelligence
• Property scores
• Competitive intelligence

AirDNA

AirDNA provides research and analytics software to understand exactly how the short-term rental industry is evolving. One of its key features includes the Enterprise Data Solutions tool to dig deeper into the rental market. From property-level to trend reports and future-looking forecasts, hosts have access to granular insights behind the industry and their business.

Dynamic pricing:

Using a dynamic pricing app allows you to maximize the revenue potential of your listing. All you have to do is set a base minimum rate and the app will take care of setting a nightly rate that changes in real-time, based on influential market fluctuations such as changes in demand and supply and season, or be based on events happening in the locality of your Airbnb property such as festivals and trade fairs. Listed below are a few Airbnb apps and tools that enable dynamic pricing.

Beyond

Beyond, formerly known as Beyond Pricing, is a complete revenue management solution that enables vacation rental owners and managers to get the maximum possible revenue from their listings. Beyond's easy-to-use platform includes a dynamic, demand-driven pricing tool with extensive market data that pairs with OTA distribution and a best-in-class booking engine.

PriceLabs

PriceLabs is a powerful web-based revenue management & dynamic pricing software for vacation and short-term rentals that integrates with various Property Management Systems. A data-driven approach, automation rules, and customizations to manage, price and stay restrictions help property owners and managers increase revenues and save them hours in the process. Top features include portfolio analytics to help analyze your booking patterns and market dashboards with actionable insights

Wheelhouse

Wheelhouse is a business intelligence platform that helps property owners and managers increase their rental revenue by up to 40% through smart price management and data-driven pricing. Apart from proven revenue increments it also offers vacation rental data and reports and competitive intel to back its pricing decisions.

DPGO

DPGO is an AI-driven tool that utilizes machine learning, yield management, and deep learning to back its decision-making to get the best possible price at any given time. It is designed specifically for Airbnb hosts, managers, and owners. DPGO sets the right prices daily for your Airbnb properties based on competitor analysis, market demand, and more than 200 other factors. Furthermore, it has the ability to forecast prices up to 52 weeks in advance.

Guest Screening

Guest screening tools are essential to help mitigate the risk of loss and damage to your Airbnb. While Airbnb allows hosts to review their guests and it can be really helpful for hosts when making the decision of whether to allow them into your property or not it could take a while to do it for every guest.

Autohost

Autohost is a guest-screening and automation platform for fast-growing hospitality companies. Using machine learning and behavioral checks, Autohost creates a scalable process to review all of your guests and keep your properties safe. Autohost automates ID verifications, credit and background checks, security deposits, and more.

SUPERHOG

SUPERHOG independently verifies Guests across all booking channels (through advanced screening technology) seamlessly integrating with your pre/post-booking Guest journey. It manages contactless check-ins, automates ID verifications, improves guest experience, provides global accreditation, and protects property managers and their properties through its Host Guarantee and virtual damage deposit. Key features include:

• Globally accessible
• ID verification
• Biometric checks
• Virtual damage deposit
• $5,000,000 Host Guarantee

Authenticating.com

Authenticating.com provides identity verification and fraud prevention technology for trust and safety of vacation rentals. With facial recognition and anti-spoofing liveness detection, Authenticating.com ensures the person providing the document is indeed the owner of that document. This no-code solution can be added to any guest check-in or direct booking experience. Registered sex offender checks and more extensive criminal background checks are available too.

In conclusion:

Running a short-term rental is hectic and most tasks that come with it like market research and accounting are not everyone’s cup of tea. Investing in apps and tools will not only keep your business running smoothly it will also give you much-needed time to focus on other areas of your business such as growth. If you need help finding the right mix of tools for your vacation rental business check out Hostaway and request a free demo.