The vacation rental management industry is changing just as quickly as any other, requiring diligent hosts like yourself to stay on top of the latest trends and tools. One, in particular, can make or break your business—a channel manager for vacation rentals.
Channel managers specifically for vacation rental businesses are designed to simplify the complex task of managing multiple listings across various platforms. By ensuring real-time synchronization of bookings, availability, and pricing, channel managers eliminate the risk of double bookings and enhance operational efficiency.
Basically, if your goal this year is to maximize your visibility and streamline your operations, investing in a reliable channel manager is essential for staying competitive.
What to look for in a vacation rental channel manager
Whether you’re looking for a channel manager for your solo bed and breakfast or manage a full portfolio of condos across the country, there are a few essential features to look for when selecting a channel manager for your vacation rental properties.
Supported channel integrations
Choosing the right channel manager for your vacation rental is all about channel integration—making sure it integrates with all the major channels like Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com, and also special ones specific to niche industries or types of rentals.
Any great channel manager for vacation rentals should also easily integrate with your direct booking platform (aka, your short-term rental website).
As you can see, ensuring your chosen tool works well with booking platforms is a must, and this often comes down to whether it uses iCal or an API, which brings us to our next point…
Calendar synchronization
Choose a channel manager with robust API integrations with major booking platforms. These not only sync your availability but can also update prices, property details, and more.
API integrations, as opposed to simply syncing bookings via iCal, ensure a faster and more reliable connection.
This ultimately offers peace of mind, knowing that your bookings are synced nearly immediately without issue (because the last thing you want as a host is to experience the stress that comes with double booking).
Automation and optimization features
Depending on your vacation rental business—like how many properties you manage, what your day-to-day responsibilities look like, etc.—you might also benefit from specific automation and optimization features.
Often, great channel managers for vacation rentals are part of larger property management systems, which include features like direct guest communication, a unified inbox, data analytics, and more, in addition to channel management.
Flexible pricing models
It’s usually best to opt for a channel manager or vacation rental software that offers a transparent pricing model. Some software companies hide their pricing, making it difficult to plan costs and understand how the price fits into your business’s growth.
Also, look for software that offers discounts based on volume. This strategy allows you to scale your business in a cost-effective manner, meaning that the software grows with you instead of against you.
Onboarding and assistance
Whether you’ve never used a channel manager for vacation rentals before or you’re switching from another software, it’s likely that you’ll need extra support at some stage during the process. So, ask what kind of onboarding or setup assistance is included.
Specifically, ask about how long the onboarding process usually takes, the level of personalized help available (not just standard demos they send to every new customer), and whether that support is included in the price of your subscription or not.
Onboarding should be free, but that’s not always the case.
Partnerships
When choosing the best channel manager for vacation rentals, consider the strength of its partnerships and relationships with booking platforms.
A channel manager that boasts badges such as Airbnb Preferred+ Partner status or Vrbo Elite status signifies a higher level of trust and integration with these platforms.
These accolades often mean better visibility, optimized connectivity, and enhanced support, contributing to more seamless operations and potentially increased bookings.
User reviews and experiences
Finally, reviews and opinions from other users are invaluable when selecting a channel manager.
Look for feedback from others with similar vacation rental businesses (e.g., reviews from property managers if you’re a property manager with a large portfolio) who have firsthand experience with the software’s performance, reliability, and customer service.
User reviews can provide insights into how the channel manager handles real-world challenges. Pay attention to comments about ease of use, technical support, and any direct benefits users have noted, such as increased bookings or time savings.
What’s the best vacation rental channel manager?
Really, the answer to that question boils down to the features you need and your budget for managing and growing your vacation rental business. Here are a few of the top contenders to help you start comparing your options.
1. Lodgify
Lodgify offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to streamline the management of vacation rentals, providing an integrated solution for overseeing bookings, operational tasks, financials, and interactions with guests via a single, unified online platform.
Its channel manager feature ensures seamless synchronization of your property listings across leading online travel agencies, maintaining up-to-date calendar information across multiple channels to avoid costly overlapping bookings.
Connections
Lodgify ensures seamless connectivity with premier vacation rental platforms through its open API, facilitating real-time updates to reservations, availability, pricing, visual and textual content, communications, and property listings.
Lodgify integrations include:
- Airbnb
- Vrbo
- Booking.com
- Google Vacation Rentals
- Expedia
- Abritel
- FeWo-direkt
Furthermore, Lodgify is a preferred software partner for leading OTAs, having received awards that include being a 2024 Airbnb Preferred+ partner, 2024 Vrbo Elite partner, Booking.com Premier Connectivity Partner, and more.
Other integrations are available via iCal integration, including TripAdvisor, Trivago, Agoda, PlumGuide, LastMinute.com, and several more.
Other features
Aside from being one of the best channel managers for vacation rentals, Lodgify offers other helpful features that make managing a short-term rental business easy, including website templates, an integrated booking system, Lodgify Dynamic Pricing, and advanced property manager solutions.
For vacation rental managers on the move, Lodgify’s mobile application offers the flexibility to manage reservations, calendars, personnel, and guest communications from virtually anywhere, ensuring continuous operational control.
- Pricing: Lodgify has several subscription plans tailored to your needs (Starter, Professional, Ultimate) billed monthly, annually, and for two years—the Starter Plan is the most affordable, starting as low as $15/month
- Free Trial: 7-day free trial (no credit card details required)
- Setup Fee: There is no set-up fee when joining Lodgify, and they offer a free, personalized onboarding service to guide you through account setup
2. Guesty
Guesty is another channel manager solution tailored for professionals in the short-term and holiday rental market. Its channel manager helps organize listings, while other features like a unified inbox and multi-calendar view make managing those listings easier.
Like Lodgify, Guesty’s multi-calendar view feature provides property managers with the ability to oversee and tweak the pricing and availability of their entire portfolio of properties through a single dashboard interface.
However, Guesty’s dashboard view requires manual setup, which could be challenging for property managers overseeing multiple properties.
Connections
Guesty’s channel manager connections are similar to Lodgify’s in that you can connect to various booking platforms, including:
- Airbnb
- Booking.com
- Vrbo
- Expedia
Guesty also connects directly with smaller platforms like Hopper, Agoda, Home & Villas by Marriott, and more.
Other features
As a vacation rental software, Guesty offers similar features as other key players in the market, including Lodgify, Hostfully, and more.
This includes automation tools that help manage guest communication, reporting and analytics tools, and a bookable website builder (however, their vacation rental website builder is only available for Pro and Enterprise plans and comes with an additional cost).
- Pricing: Guesty has three subscription plans (Lite, Pro, Enterprise )—the Lite Plan starts from $16 per month
- Free Trial: Guesty provides a 14-day free trial of its Lite package
- Setup Fee: You can access 1:1 guided onboarding, but only if you’ve subscribed to the Pro or Enterprise plans
3. Hospitable
Like most other channel managers for vacation rentals, Hospitable allows you to synchronize with leading platforms such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, and others.
Although its other features may be more basic than larger competitors like Lodgify, it could be an efficient solution for those looking for basic vacation rental management capabilities. This makes it a better channel manager for independent property owners and small agencies overseeing short-term rentals.
Connections
Hospitable’s channel manager syncs with the industry’s leading OTAs, including:
- Airbnb
- Vrbo
- Booking.com
- Google Vacation Rentals
Additionally, it syncs with smaller, niche platforms like Homelidays and Stayz. However, it’s unclear whether it offers direct API integration or iCal syncing.
Other features
Hospitable, like Lodgify and Guesty (and others on this list), offers AI-driven smart messaging for automated responses and a unified inbox for OTA message synchronization.
It also offers a direct booking widget if you pay for the direct booking add-on fee but lacks premium payment options for hosts outside the U.S., Australia, or the U.K.
- Pricing: Hospitable charges a set monthly rate depending on the number of properties you have—monthly pricing starts at €29 for one property
- Free Trial: You can try Hospitable for free for 14 days
- Setup Fee: Hospitable doesn’t list free onboarding on its pricing page
4. Hostfully
Hostfully’s channel manager offers API integrations with leading OTAs and listing platforms, including Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com, among others.
Similar to other channel managers for vacation rentals, this seamless connection simplifies the management of your listings by enabling efficient synchronization of details such as property descriptions, rates, and availability across various channels, all from a single interface.
Connections
Hostfully has direct two-way API connections with:
- Airbnb
- Booking.com
- Vrbo
- TripAdvisor
Like Hospitable, it also integrates with smaller, niche platforms like HomeToGo, Holidu, Misterb&b, and Tripvillas.
While Hostfully ranks higher than a few other options on this list, its reviews regarding its channel manager are somewhat inconsistent.
For example, one customer noted issues with cross-platform functionalities, stating that, “It is so difficult to manage anything about the reservation—communicating with the guest (you can’t get messages into the platform from VRBO; cohosts can’t communicate via Airbnb); you can’t modify rates or add on additional nights…”
Other features
Aside from standard integrations and features for services such as dynamic pricing, payments, cleaning, and automation, Hostfully stands out for its guidebooks.
Digital guidebooks can help boost guest satisfaction with easy access to property details and recommendations via a URL, manageable across both digital and print formats, without users having to download any special app.
- Pricing: Hospitable offers three subscription plans (Starter, Pro/Pro Plus, and Premium)—the Starter Plan is the most affordable at $119 per month for one property
- Free Trial: No free trial
- Setup Fee: All plans include at least two 1:1 onboarding calls
5. Your.Rentals
Designed as a cloud-based service, Your.Rentals offers users the convenience of managing their properties remotely via its mobile application (something that’s becoming somewhat standard across the industry but still not entirely mainstream).
As a smaller platform, it’s better suited to smaller vacation rental owners or independent entrepreneurs looking for a basic channel manager without the frills of a larger vacation rental PMS.
Connections
Your.Rentals connects with rental platforms such as:
- Airbnb
- Vrbo
- Booking.com
- Expedia
- Google Vacation Rentals
While reviews for this channel manager are somewhat positive, a few customers have noted worrying issues. One, for example, said, “It tends to block other calendars using the bugged and inflexible iCal calendar software which has already created too many double bookings.” Another said, “They have connectivity issues with channels like Booking.com.”
Other features
As a simple yet easy-to-use platform, Your.Rentals offers helpful features to complement its channel manager for vacation rentals, including email and SMS notifications for instant bookings, sales channel commissions, and multilingual support.
- Pricing: For hosts with between 1 to 5 properties, you can establish your desired payout amount, and with each guest booking, Your.Rentals subtracts its service charges and any additional fees
- Free Trial: Start for free and pay-as-you-go
- Setup Fee: No set-up fee
6. Hosthub
Hosthub offers 24/7 customer support and integrates with several channels (most via iCal, though—not direct API connections).
Like Your.Rentals, it’s a decent option if you’re looking for an easy-to-use system that simplifies channel management without the need for extensive training. It guarantees real-time updates of rates and availability across all channels within two minutes.
Connections
You can sync your properties on 200+ channels, including:
- Airbnb
- Vrbo
- Booking.com
- Agoda
- Google Vacation Rentals
It’s unclear whether the other channels are integrated via an open API or iCal integration. As mentioned at the start, synchronization with iCal means its channel manager functionality stops at calendar management, lacking options for price adjustments, guest communication, and more.
Other features
Similar to Hostfully, Lodgify, and others, Hosthub allows you to create accounts for numerous users, helps you generate comprehensive analytics, and is compatible with mobile devices.
The service includes multiple calendar options, both public and private, with dormant months incurring no cost. Reviews from existing and previous customers note that the system is user-friendly but that it doesn’t always work as they promote (one user mentioned an integration was “faulty” and resulted in the “loss of 3x bookings worth $600 dollars”).
- Pricing: Starts at $20 per month per property for the annual plan—$25 for the monthly plan
- Free Trial: 14-day free trial
- Setup Fee: No set-up fees
7. Cloudbeds
According to Cloudbeds, its channel management technology guarantees immediate synchronization of availability and pricing across platforms, automatically updating listings when a booking occurs.
However, several users have left reviews stating that the channel manager can be buggy. One said, “Cloudbeds software is buggy especially when it comes to your property availability. Sometimes we’ll notice days on your calendar that are blocked off for no reason.”
Connections
Cloudbeds enables you to showcase your property across several global online reservation platforms, featuring leading vacation rental sites such as:
- Airbnb
- VRBO
- TripAdvisor
- Booking.com
Other features
Like Lodgify, Guesty, and other all-in-one solutions, Cloudbeds is marketed as a comprehensive vacation rental software offering everything from a property management system to housekeeping features, a booking engine, and other tools.
- Pricing: Cloudbeds doesn’t publish its pricing online—you have to request a quote
- Free Trial: You can try Cloudbeds for free for 14 days
- Setup Fee: No set-up fees
8. Rentals United
Rentals United offers a highly-rated channel manager designed to streamline the distribution of your listings across multiple platforms.
The biggest drawback, however, is that it doesn’t include a property management system (PMS), requiring manual uploads or the use of a connected PMS. However, each of their integrations, established through direct API connections, undergoes certification processes.
That said, customers have noted issues with connectivity and the reliability of data. One user said they didn’t like that you have to set up each channel separately, while another user said, “The OTAs I connected with through Rentals United don’t seem to screen guests reservations…I lost money due to blocked dates by bogus guests.”
Connections
The Rentals United channel manager for vacation rentals connects to several OTAs, travel meta-search engines, and wholesalers, including popular platforms like:
- Airbnb
- Booking.com
- Vrbo
- Expedia
Other unique platforms include Agoda, Trip.com, Hostelworld, and KAYAK. As mentioned above in one user review (which others have echoed), you do have to set up each channel separately, and they all come with their own fees, so it pays to do your research beforehand.
Other features
While Rentals United may not provide a comprehensive property management system, making it less ideal for those seeking an all-in-one solution, it offers several features that can help you manage your business, including a centralized inbox and multi-calendar booking view.
A somewhat unique feature is the platform’s quality checker, which automatically evaluates your listing to pinpoint any missing elements, ensuring your rentals meet high standards.
- Pricing: If you manage up to nine properties, you can choose between a fixed monthly fee or a commission-based model; the fixed monthly subscription starts at €119 per month (you need to request pricing if you manage more than 10 properties)
- Free Trial: If you manage nine or fewer properties, you can try Rentals United free for 14 days
- Setup Fee: No set-up fees
Increase bookings with a vacation rental channel manager
A good channel manager simplifies managing listings, prices, and availability, connecting you with millions of potential guests worldwide.
If you’re looking to boost your bookings and visibility across major OTAs and booking platforms this year (and beyond), choosing the right channel manager for your vacation rental is key. If that’s your goal, Lodgify offers a powerful solution.
With a user-friendly interface and comprehensive tools tailored for vacation rental success, Lodgify streamlines the management process and ensures you’re always seamlessly synced.
Discover how Lodgify can transform your business by trying our channel manager for vacation rentals for free for 7 days.