Choosing the best short term vacation rental software today depends on multiple things. Factors like the number of listings you manage, external platform integrations, website needs, and regional payment options all play a role. To help you narrow down your choice and compare the best solutions, we’ve created a detailed comparison table, crafted descriptive reviews, and researched customer testimonials. So, Guesty vs Lodgify vs HostAway – versus other top popular software, all reviewed and compared.
Short on time? Review our comparison table featuring the best vacation rental booking software for small business solutions below.
| Features | Lodgify | Guesty | BNBForms | HostAway | Beds24 | Cloudbeds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visit Website | Go to Lodgify | Go to Guesty | Go to BNBForms | Go to HostAway | Go to Beds24 | Go to Cloudbeds |
| Availability Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rate Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CSV Data Import/Export | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| iCal Data Import/Export | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Online Payment Processors | Stripe, Braintree, PayPal, Authorize.net, | GuestyPay – internal Stripe, Merchant Warrior, or Hyp – external | PayPal, 2Checkout, Stripe, Braintree, Beanstream/Bambora | Stripe, Braintree, Authorize.net. | Stripe, PayPal, AsiaPay, Bitcoin & more | Cloudbeds Payments – internal Authorize.net, Elavon Converge, Fiserv, MaxiPago!, PayPal Payflow Pro, Windcave, PayU LATAM, Stripe – external |
| Guest Communications | Email, SMS via Zapier | SMS, email, channel manager | SMS, email, Whatsapp | Yes | Yes | |
| Third Party Integrations | Multiple | Multiple | Google Calendar, Apple Calendar | Multiple | Multiple | 600+ for CRM, check-in kiosks, digital concierges, POS providers, and more. |
| Guest Experience Management | Via integrations | Via integrations | No | View integrations | Via integrations | Via integrations |
| Reservations Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Admin Calendar | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Discount Coupons | Yes | Yes | Percentage/flat value Early bird, last minute | Percentage/flat value Early bird, last minute | Yes | Yes |
| Housekeeping Management | Via integrations | Built-in | No | View integrations | Via integrations | via Cloudbeds PMS |
| Multi-Channel Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Online Booking Channel Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Property Analytics Dashboard & Owner Statements | Yes | Built-in | Yes | Yes | Yes | Cloudbeds Insights |
| Task Management | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Invoice Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Website Templates | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Data Synchronization | Yes | Yes | iCal | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Access | Yes | Yes | In development | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Financial Reporting | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Alerts/Notifications | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Email Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Inbox Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Taxes & Extra Fees | Yeas | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-Currency | Yes | Yes | In development | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-Property | Yes | Yes | Yes (by one owner) | Yes Price per property | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-unit Property (Hotel) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Property Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ratings/Reviews | Yes | Yes | In development | Yes | Yes | No |
| Automated Notifications & Messages | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reminders | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Search/Filter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Website Builder | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Not direct | Website built by Cloudbeds team |
Let’s now discover more details, customer reviews and other interesting information about the best vacation rental software reviews in 2024!
1. Guesty
Powerful Multi-channel Manager & Property Booking Solution
| Founded | Cost | Free trial |
| 2013 | Starting at $49/mo/one property | 14 days Get started |
Customer review we liked:
“The automatic payments, messaging and responses are all really great functions and work flawlessly. The ease of linking other booking sites and intergrating the booking setup into our own website was fantastic. The functionality and connectivity is extremely well done, and the features continue to improve.”
Guesty reviews
With a powerful multi-channel manager, Guesty makes it easy to add your properties to top OTAs like Airbnb, Booking.com, and VRBO, plus hundreds more from niche markets.
Released just recently, they offer a specialist GuestyPay solution (only available in the US at the moment), an internal payment processor, the main benefits of which are flagged fraudulent payments checked by the Guesty team, in-house payment reporting and analytics, and end-to-end credit card verification.
Just like any other respectable property management software, Guesty comes with an impressive list of integrations, including PriceLabs for predictive analytics, Autohost for guest screening, Duve for guest management and more. The built-in tools, like Guesty Analytics, is also worth boasting about.
If you have employees or teammates that need to do the property cleaning, Guesty comes with the built-in feature: Guesty For Hosts Cleaning Management. It allows you to schedule, assign, and automate cleanings (plus other tasks!), with reminders, shared calendars, and direct cleaner feedback with photos and updates.
One more awesome advantage of the Guesty website building feature is that you can even connect your existing website to give it a new look and switch to managing online bookings with Guesty.
With their offered webinars and other resources, you can build your knowledge and find the best way to drive direct bookings with Guesty and outside it.
2. Lodgify
Online Vacation Rental Software with the Best Website Builder
| Founded | Cost | Free trial |
| 2012 | Starting at $17/mo/one property | 7 days Get started |
Customer review we liked:
“User friendly. It looks great and, when it’s working, the site is intuitive and easy for new site visitors to figure out. Searching the calendar is simple so guests can see overall availability. Having a full photo gallery is great- you are not limited with images.”
Lodgify reviews
Lodgify is another popular software for short term rentals with a strong understanding of the hospitality industry and the specific needs that come with it.
Lodgify’s website builder and the range of vacation rental website templates are the most attractive among solutions provided by compared vacation rental property management software in this list. So if you are looking to start your hotel or holiday home website from scratch, this is a great all-in-one solution, with website building opportunities and a booking engine integrated.
Learning Lodgify features, you’ll be sure to discover that it comes with one of the smartest team and task management systems. It will assist you in organizing every team member, including check-in agents, cleaning staff, rental managers, and administrators.
The built-in feature for Lodgify analytics and reporting is a powerful business analysis tool at your fingertips, which helps you quickly compare your booking over time, account all your revenue and payments and generate reports – every homeowner can do that individually.
A modern mobile app by Lodgify will help you have all your bookings at a glance on the go, as well as manage them, create new ones, send requests, respond to messages, and overall have full control over your short-term vacation rental business from the comfort of your phone.
3. HostAway
One-size-fits-all STR Vacation Rental Software
| Founded | Cost | Free trial |
| 2015 | Tiered per property | No |
Customer review we liked:
“Hostaway has made countless hours of financial reporting and owner statements each month turn into a matter of minutes. The customability of the software is unmatched compared to my previous PMS.”
HostAway reviews
HostAway is a scalable short term vacation rental solution for property managers made for growth, hence the pricing and dozens and dozens of great features. It has all you need from automated owner statements to the website builder and mobile app.
HostAway provides you with one of the most impressive lists of options for integration with dedicated services: are you using the Turno service for vacation rental housekeeping or probably Orana Stay for guest management? HostAway has got your back – you will discover tons of connections with helpful services to make the integration process as smooth as possible.
With their HostAway website builder, you can create something similar to the Airbnb listing but on your own website, without a need to search for an extra vacation rental website builder. Just as in any normal website builder, you will be able to create the home page, about us, contact us, etc., and even polish your travel SEO.
At the end of 2023, HostAway secured $175 million to enhance its vacation rental management platform, promising the addition of new features and increased investment in security and data protection. This also might imply higher fees overtime, although it was not explicitly stated.
4. BNBForms
Most Affordable & Best Vacation Rental Software for Small Business
| Founded | Cost | Free trial |
| 2021 | $16/mo/all properties | One month Get started |
Customer review we liked:
“BNBForms replaced my previous booking engine from MyVr as MyVr was aquired by Guesty and no longer offers this widget for indepent websites. I can say that I am very satisfied with the solution that BNBForms provided for me.”
BNBForms reviews
BNBForms is the best online vacation rental software for small business owners who want to get direct bookings on their independent website.
Understanding the pricing of most short term vacation rental software sometimes feels like fumbling in the dark – consider tiers, hidden fees, and ever-shifting rates. This is quite the opposite with BNBForms, and this is probably one of the most attractive features of it worth starting with: for a flat $16/mo, you unlock the entire toolbox, regardless of your number of properties, bookings, or revenue.
BNBForms is the best solution if you are looking to place a beautifully designed, mobile-friendly booking form to your new or existing website, regardless of how many holiday homes or hotel rooms you operate.
It might not have all those bells and whistles, such as the integration with housekeeping services in your area, but as you can see from the comparison table, it has all the essentials. That is: can you send automated messages tailored to every short-term rental? Yes. Can your guests securely pay online? Yes, and a list of seamlessly integrated payment gateways is bigger than some of those provided by others, including wire transfers and payment on arrival! Can it sync bookings with Airbnb or other OTA? Yes. The possibilities are numerous. The only limitation is that it can’t be used on the website with multiple properties from different owners, making it the best and most affordable solution for small business operating their own (unlimited) properties.
📊 Compare: Lodgify vs BNBForms
5. Beds24
Short Term Vacation Rental Software for Enterprise-grade Businesses
| Founded | Cost | Free trial |
| 2005 | Starting at €15.90/month/property | Yes View demo |
Customer review we liked:
“Beds24, unlike a lot of PMS platforms, does what it says it will, reliably, every time. This is crucial in our industry where guest expectations are high and failure is unacceptable. The level of API connectivity to OTA channels is way above the majority of the competitors and if you look on Booking.com you will see the reliability is in some case 15-20% above that of some of the big name platforms.”
Beds24 Reviews
Beds24 is a multifaceted vacation rental management software that lets you set up dynamic prices, synchronize calendars, and add multiple users with full access for limited roles, making it a great solution for a business of any size.
Thanks to its powerful toolkit for multi-property managers, Beds24 allows different homeowners to control their own bookings and listings. The flexibility of this short term vacation rental software goes as offering the ability to sell rooms in different layouts or constallations, with shared inventory.
A list of hundreds of integrations will surely satisfy your needs to connect any external software or service: from Operto teams for housekeeping to WhatsApp for sending direct automated messages to your guests.
Moreover, Beds24 is a premier channel manager partner of Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Expedia, and a connectivity Partner with Marriot, Google for Vacation Rental and Google Hotel Ads.
6. CloudBeds
Powerful Channel Manager & Booking Engine for Any Type of Property
| Founded | Cost | Free trial |
| 2012 | Tiered | Demo Request demo |
Customer review we liked:
“It took me less than 5 minutes to teach my employee everything they need to be efficient in the program. It is extremely easy to switch languages depending on who the user is. It is organized in a thoughtful way. Creating reservations form, for example, can be accessed from various screens.”
Cloudbeds reviews
It connects to highest revenue-generating OTAs, such as Booking.com, Airbnb, or China’s Trip.com, via user-friendly interfaces, allowing you to be on top of all your booking channels. As you can see from our comparison table at the beginning, CloudBeds is also leading in the number of payment gateways, integrations and property management scale.
If you need to develop a custom integration for your particular vacation rental website on Cloudbeds, rest assured their API allows experienced developers to connect to other service providers to deliver guest experiences you are looking for.
Moreover, this vacation rental booking software software can boost a great list of marketing-focused tools to boost your business on all levels. For example, with CloudBeds Amplify, you can boost your online visibility, draw travelers back to your website, improve your results in OTA listings and benefit from other digital marketing tools.
To get started with the software, you can take their on-demand training program, including unlimited access to courses and training videos to ensure plain sailing for your business.
💻 Build: How to Accept Bookings with PromoteMyPlace
📗 Free resources: How to Create an Airbnb Welcome Book [+Free Template]
Let’s answer your questions about choosing the best short term & vacation rental software for small business
What is the best vacation rental software to use in 2024? We can’t give you the answer without breaking it into smaller questions and answers. Instead of summing up, let’s try to give brief answers to your most on-demand questions.
What is the most affordable vacation rental software for small business and why?
The best vacation rental software in terms of value for money is BNBForms. It has a flat fee of $16 that is not influenced by the number of accommodations or bookings. There are also no other tiered fees.
Which one comes with the best channel manager?
Lodgify and HostAway provide sleek and handy channel manager interfaces to sync to all your external OTAs in button clicks.
How much does Cloudbeds cost?
Cloudbeds offers flexible pricing tiers for lodging businesses of all sizes, from B&Bs to hotel groups. Choose the plan that matches your needs and budget.
Which booking channels are integrated with the Guesty platform?
It supports major booking platforms including Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, HomeAway, TripAdvisor, Agoda and many more.
Can you use Lodgify if you already have a website with an external provider?
Yes, you can embed the booking engine directly on your existing website. Seamless integration with most providers like WordPress, Squarespace, etc. For some, light coding might be needed. This works rather the same with BNBForms and some other short term vacation rental software.
Are there examples of BNBForms websites?
Yes, you can view examples of booking forms in the client showcase.
Can I customize colors in the BNBForms booking form?
Sure, you can edit colors for every piece of the booking form created with BNBForms.
Is there a free vacation rental software?
We don’t know any completely free vacation rental software. There might be a free trial, through. Pricing is normally based on how many properties you set up.
How to streamline vacation rental software?
There are multiple ways: discover the API opportunities, learn integrations, and probably get a training from the software provider.
