The vacation rental industry is expected to become increasingly saturated over the next few years. With new players entering the market every year and countless listings being created daily, it is no surprise that many vacation rental businesses have recently experienced a drop in their occupancy rates.
Two of the most popular vacation rental listing websites, which show the fierce competition in this industry sector, are Airbnb and VRBO. Together, they share over 8 million listings in hundreds of countries worldwide. Additionally, Booking.com has almost 28 million reported listings, including over 6 million short-term vacation rentals.
Although competing in a saturated market isn’t easy, your rental business can still be profitable. The secret is to find a complete and intuitive lodging management software solution that allows you to manage all the aspects of your business, offering a guest experience similar to what your competitors provide. Because having the right lodging management software is an integral part of any rental business strategy, this article presents a few aspects you should consider when selecting a property management solution for your business.
Focus On Immediate Needs of Your Vacation Rental Business
Some lodging management software platforms only allow you to manage essential operations, such as availability, listings, bookings, and payment processing. Others do all these things but also provide functions that enable you to streamline additional operations, including content management, housekeeping, revenue management, accounting, and reporting. If you’re looking for the best lodging management software for your business, select an all-in-one solution that can improve your operational efficiency while also allowing you to identify new opportunities to help you grow your bottom line. After all, the right lodging management software solution should help you work smarter, not harder.
Scalability For Your Vacation Rental Business
While 24/7/365 support is critical when selecting a lodging management platform, you’ll also want a “flexible” system to meet future needs as your business evolves. You need to look for scalability as a feature, which is particularly important if you plan to expand your business.
Only a scalable solution can help your business address two essential challenges: improving customer satisfaction and earning more revenue. Furthermore, opting for a reliable lodging management software solution that can be easily configured according to your business needs is critical to managing different vacation rental properties and handling a wide range of operations without any constraints.
Security
A lodging management platform will store sensitive information about your properties and guests. Therefore, the software that you intend to choose must be able to keep this data safe from cybersecurity threats. Why is this important? In short, securing your data is one of the most essential aspects of maintaining credibility. Because a security breach may negatively impact your guests and your business, selecting lodging management software that goes above and beyond when securing sensitive information is the only way to keep everyone’s data safe.
Integration Capabilities for Your Vacation Rental Business
Guests rate their overall experience collectively. This means they desire to receive the same level of service from booking to check-out. To meet such expectations, it’s essential to use a software solution that seamlessly integrates different tools and features, which have been specifically developed to work together. This is the only way for a lodging management software solution to operate as one system that includes all the areas of property management. To make things easier, the solution you are considering should also provide an enhanced yet user-friendly interface that connects different parts of your business and offers quick access to information for maximum efficiency and guest satisfaction.
Demo Of Software
While you might be tempted to skip a demo, reviewing the software in depth is worthwhile. That’s because they show you the interface and features in action so you can better understand how the system works and whether it addresses your pain points or not. Allow to familiarize yourself with the software and provide most of the details you need, a demo can really help you make a well-informed decision. The option to view or request a free demo is highly encouraged. Not only will this help you eliminate the software solutions that won’t work for your business, but it will also allow you to review before your paid subscription starts.
Because selecting the right property management system will impact your business daily, consider the above points when shopping for lodging management software. As mentioned earlier, it will help you narrow down your selection criteria and decision-making process. Or even better, contact our professionals to book a free personal demo today and find out why so many vacation rental property owners and managers have already chosen URBooked lodging management software as their PMS.
