What you can do to automate your vacation rental management

In this comprehensive guide, we will show you what solutions you can use to automate the management of a vacation rental, whether through rental management software and integrated service providers via API connections, connected locks, automated cleaning or simplified management of your listing price with dynamic pricing tools.

When should you automate a vacation rental?

There are many reasons to automate the day-to-day management and administration tasks of managers and owners. Here are just a few.

A secondary activity

You may maintain a vacation rental as a side hustle, in other words a side business to your main activity or profession. As a result, you may not have as much time to devote to it and by automating certain tasks, you could increase your occupancy and efficiency throughout the year.

Lack of time

You know better than anyone that managing a vacation rental, especially during high season, requires effort, time and repetitive tasks.

In the case of real estate investment

It can also happen that the vacation rental is a real estate investment and that you have neither the time nor the desire to ensure the complete or even partial management of your vacation rental.

Distance

It is possible that the accommodation is not close to where you live, which makes daily management difficult and can only be done remotely.

Get a higher yield

Managing your own short-term rentals can be a burden, requires constant attention and errors can occur, such as double bookings and the like. By leveraging the technology and services available, you can grow your business, increase revenue and ensure a full booking calendar.

What solutions are available to improve your vacation rental management?

There are many solutions and possibilities on the market to simplify administrative work, communication with guests and other secondary tasks.

Use an agency

To assist you fully or partially with specific tasks, such as welcoming travelers, managing schedules, etc., you can use the services of an agency specialized in vacation rentals. This will allow you to delegate all or part of the management of the tourist accommodation, help you develop your business and increase your turnover.

Use a channel manager

A channel manager is a very popular tool in the vacation rental sector, as it allows you to synchronize in real time and automatically the booking calendars of Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and even those of your own website. It is also an indispensable tool to avoid double bookings and the constant stress of manually synchronizing calendars from booking platforms after receiving a request.

What are the advantages and benefits of a rental management software like Smoobu?

There are many advantages, but you can find a selection below:

• Automatic synchronization and real-time updating of booking calendars.
• No more double bookings thanks to API or iCal connections with more than 100 rental platforms such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and HomeToGo.
• Centralized management of bookings from a single page. You no longer have to connect to each booking platform or edit each listing. With a channel manager you will get a centralized view, which will allow you to manage any vacation rental efficiently and smoothly.
• Setting and synchronization of the rates on different portals and listings.
• Increased business expansion and revenue by being able to publish listings on multiple channels.
• Create your own direct booking website to avoid booking portal commissions.
• Automate and centralize communication with guests. You will be able to create message templates with customizable fields.
• Online check-in.

Connect to service providers automatically

Electronic locks

If you are thinking of equipping your rental with smart home technology, such as a smart lock, it is necessary to check that the software offers such integration with a supplier. This way, it is possible to automatically generate unique codes for each individual reservation. This code can be integrated into your automated communication with the traveler to enable autonomous arrival.

Housekeeping staff

To offer better housekeeping services and an unforgettable vacation experience to visitors, it is important that communication with your housekeeping service is efficient and fast. In such cases, one solution is to create an assistant account for your team members, so that they can be informed in real time of changes that need to be made.

Dynamic pricing tool

If you rely on a dynamic pricing tool, you will gain competitiveness and will not have to manually change prices per stay on various portals. Pricelabs, Wheelhouse and Beyond are the main players in the market, and all three are part of our select group of integrations.

Towards modern, integrated and efficient management

The development of new technological solutions, services and products allows hosts and managers of a holiday rentals to facilitate the daily management and development of the business, regardless of its size.

A vacation rental management software like Smoobu will allow you to simplify processes, automate tasks and improve the overall operation of your vacation rental, resulting in an unforgettable travel experience for any guest.

Take advantage of our 14-day free trial to see and experience Smoobu first hand.

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