As a short-term rental business owner, finding the right software to help you manage your vacation rental business is key to unlocking efficiency, growth, and unparalleled guest experiences.
And while Lodgify continues to stand out as a leading option for vacation rental software in 2024, we understand the importance of making informed decisions based on thorough comparisons.
That’s why we’ve created this guide—to offer you a transparent, side-by-side look at how Lodgify measures up against other vacation rental software on the market.
Whether managing a single property or overseeing a larger portfolio, understanding the nuances between each option will empower you to choose the software that best fits your unique needs.
Who is Lodgify for?
Lodgify is an all-in-one vacation rental software crafted to support the dynamic needs of any kind of vacation rental business.
From ambitious single property owners embarking on their journey into vacation rentals to seasoned property managers orchestrating the operations of dozens of properties, Lodgify offers a versatile platform that adapts to various needs.
For the individual hosts: If you’re starting with just one property, Lodgify simplifies the complex web of rental management into an intuitive and user-friendly experience. Comprehensive channel management, robust automation capabilities, and a powerful yet easy-to-use vacation rental website builder help you streamline operations and enhance your guests’ experiences.
For property managers: Managing 10, 20, or up to 100+ properties comes with its own set of challenges. Lodgify works to meet those demands by offering advanced features designed to scale. Automate and manage cleaning and task management chores while accessing advanced analytics and reporting tools with Lodgify’s property management modules.
Lodgify plans and pricing
Lodgify’s two-year plans kick off at a competitive rate of $15 per month for a single property, including a 1.9% booking fee. This positions it as a cost-effective alternative to Smoobu and similar software.
There is no booking fee for Professional and Ultimate plans, which are popular among property managers for their advanced features, such as property management modules and advanced owner management. These plans start at $43 and $55 per month for those subscribing for two years.
The pricing structure of Lodgify is designed to scale with your business, adjusting according to the number of rentals you manage. Before committing to a subscription, you can also access a 7-day free trial to experience Lodgify’s comprehensive features.
Lodgify key features
- All-in-one property management system: Lodgify stands out as a comprehensive solution for vacation rental management, offering transparent and inclusive pricing. This approach ensures that users can access all necessary functionalities without the hassle of additional costs for core features.
- Seamless channel integration: With Lodgify, you can effortlessly synchronize your property listings across major platforms like Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Google Vacation Rentals. This feature guarantees up-to-the-minute synchronization to avoid overbookings, enables automated rate adjustments, and facilitates the creation of customized quotes.
- Efficiency-boosting automation tools: Elevate your operational efficiency with Lodgify’s suite of automation tools designed to streamline guest interactions and consolidate communications into a single, manageable inbox.
- User-friendly website builder: Build a professional-looking, mobile-responsive website for your vacation rental with Lodgify. All plans have a free, customizable website domain and an embedded booking system that supports direct bookings and credit card transactions.
- Direct bookings: Enhance your existing website, whether it’s hosted on WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, or another platform, by integrating Lodgify’s direct booking widget. This allows guests to seamlessly book properties directly through your site.
- Free, personalized onboarding: Start your Lodgify journey with free, personalized onboarding assistance. Lodgify onboarding specialists are dedicated to helping you seamlessly integrate your listings and navigate the platform’s extensive features.
- Property management tools: With Lodgify’s property management features, automate essential tasks related to cleaning and maintenance and delve into in-depth analytics and reporting to optimize your operations.
- Convenient mobile app: Keep your vacation rental business at your fingertips with the Lodgify mobile app. Manage reservations, tasks, and guest communications on the go, and stay connected with guests through WhatsApp or your consolidated inbox.
- 24/7 multilingual support: Rely on Lodgify’s customer support team, available 24/7 in five languages, ready to assist via email, phone, or chat, ensuring you always have the help you need whenever you need it.
- AI embedded functionalities: Access AI functionalities, like an advanced AI Assistant tailored for efficient messaging or dynamic pricing tools driven by decades of data and smart algorithms.
Top 5 Lodgify alternatives
Want to compare your options and alternatives to Lodgify? We understand.
To help you get a handle on the various vacation rental software features, plans, and alternatives available, we’ve compiled a list of the top five Lodgify alternatives, including helpful information about their features, pricing, and more.
1. Guesty
Guesty is an advanced software solution, but its complexity, particularly regarding the UX, means it might not be the best solution for those looking for an easy-to-use solution to manage their properties.
Its entry-level plan also lacks certain basic features that other competitors offer. For example, they don’t offer perks like a free domain, a direct booking website, and extra marketplace apps (unless you spring for the Guesty Pro tier for more integrations).
If you’re new to vacation rental management, you might want to consider another alternative, as Guesty doesn’t offer free onboarding support for its starter plan and charges premium subscribers for this (typically standard) feature in vacation rental software offerings.
Guesty key features
- Channel management: Guesty’s main dashboard allows you to oversee bookings, adjust prices, and set rules specific to dates. That said, it doesn’t come pre-configured, which might be an issue for managers juggling several properties.
- Integrated communication: Similar to the capabilities of platforms like Lodgify and Smoobu, Guesty streamlines guest interactions across multiple channels, including emails, ensuring seamless communication.
- Multi-unit categorization: For those who don’t mind paying to access higher-tier plans, Guesty enables the grouping of similar properties.
- Direct booking: Like Lodgify, you can integrate your own vacation rental site with Guesty’s booking system. They also offer a website builder tailored for vacation rentals, though this tool is reserved for Pro and Enterprise subscribers and comes with extra fees.
- Revenue optimization: Access tools for revenue enhancement, including the ability to set dynamic pricing strategies, similar to Lodgify’s Dynamic Pricing or the Smart Pricing feature from Airbnb.
- Integrations: Guesty offers integrations for various aspects of managing a vacation rental business, including everything from OTA channel managers to payment systems. However, you can only access its full suite of marketplace integrations if you pay for a pricier subscription plan.
Guesty pricing
Guesty Lite is the software’s most affordable plan at $27 per month for US hosts with one to three listings. However, pricing varies according to geographical region, so you could pay something slightly different depending on where your properties are located.
Pricing for Pro and Enterprise plans isn’t public. Current and previous customers have commented that Guesty requires a one-time onboarding fee and charges between 2% and 5% on all bookings.
2. Smoobu
Smoobu offers vacation rental software with channel management, a reservation dashboard, integrations, and a unified inbox for streamlined operations.
However, its advanced features are locked behind the Team plan. While it provides free bookable websites, customization is minimal, and integration with Google Vacation Rentals is lacking.
Because it primarily serves the European market, Smoobu may not fully meet the needs of US-based hosts seeking tailored support and services.
Smoobu key features
- Channel synchronization: Like other leading Lodgify alternatives (and like Lodgify, too!), you can use Smoobu to sync reservations across linked booking platforms, including Airbnb, Booking.com, and other popular OTAs.
- Booking management: The platform’s booking dashboard provides a detailed calendar look where you can view and manage reservations, guest information, and any specific requests.
- Direct booking integration: Smoobu facilitates direct reservations via its booking engine, which can be embedded into third-party websites. Full customization options are, unfortunately, only available if you upgrade to their Team plan, though.
- Unified messaging: View your guest messages in one place.
- Integration capabilities: Like Lodgify, Guesty, and other alternatives, you can integrate Smoobu with other short-term rental tools, including Chekin, Charge Automation, and RemoteLock.
Smoobu pricing
Smoobu offers a free plan with a basic reservation system and website, but it does not have a channel manager.
The Professional plan costs $28.16 per month when billed annually and includes key features like a channel manager and booking system. For those requiring advanced features such as system customization and domain configuration, the Teams plan is available at $193.24 monthly for one property.
Note that prices are in Euros, which may affect US customers due to conversion rates. Smoobu also provides a 14-day trial but lacks a demo account feature.
3. Little Hotelier
Little Hotelier, a property management solution developed by SiteMinder, targets small-scale lodging businesses, including boutique hotels, B&Bs, inns, motels, guesthouses, cabins, and camping sites.
Tailored for establishments with a hotel-oriented business model, Little Hotelier offers features such as Google Hotel Ads for metasearch bookings and detailed housekeeping reports.
It’s specifically designed to meet the intricate demands of hotel operations, offering a distinctive approach to booking and reservation management compared to other alternatives.
Little Hotelier key features
- Front Desk: At the core of Little Hotelier’s offerings is the “Front Desk,” a reservation system equipped with a user-friendly drag-and-drop calendar, customizable guest emails, and comprehensive housekeeping reports, among other features.
- Customer support: Little Hotelier has great reviews as far as customer service is concerned. Like Lodgify, they provide extensive support and educational resources, albeit for an extra fee.
- Google Hotel Ads integration: As part of the monthly subscription (though additional fees may apply), Little Hotelier facilitates direct bookings through Google Hotel Ads, enhancing visibility in Google searches for potential guests.
- Channel management: Little Hotelier offers connectivity with numerous booking platforms and allows for seamless updates of room availability and rates, making it an ideal solution for those overseeing individual rooms or smaller accommodations.
Little Hotelier pricing
Little Hotelier’s pricing structure is based on your number of properties. For hosts with one to five properties, the cost of a plan is currently €109, while those with six to ten properties pay €119.
The pricing page states that there also “may be setup fees” but doesn’t clarify what those are.
4. Hostfully
Hostfully is another Smoobu alternative, bringing to the table features similar to what you’d find with Guesty. What sets it apart, though, are the extras like guest guidebooks, which you won’t see with Guesty or other competitors.
On the flip side, if you’re only managing a few properties, you might find Hostfully a bit pricier compared to Guesty and Smoobu. However, its special integrations could be just the ticket for those running niche vacation rental businesses or handling property management in unique markets.
Hostfully key features
- Hostfully Open API: Hostfully promotes “full API sync with all channels,” which is a helpful feature. However, it’s unfortunately only available if you subscribe to a Premium plan, which requires you to have over 20 listings.
- Booking pipeline: Access a comprehensive booking pipeline that offers users a quick overview of confirmed bookings along with tools for automating guest workflow. Keep in mind, though, that all listings created for Airbnb are automatically set to “Instant Book,” which may make management difficult if you also manage direct bookings.
- Task management: Do you offer catering or activities? Hostfully’s unique task management features make it a great alternative to Smoobu for hosts with properties that get rented for large events or who offer unique add-ons such as biking or hiking.
- Unified inbox: Like other alternatives, you get a unified inbox and automated guest messaging system to streamline communication. Note that the platform doesn’t currently integrate with WhatsApp, though.
- Direct bookings: Connect a direct booking and/or an inventory widget with your website. However, managing a direct booking site through Hostfully can be challenging for non-technical users, and customization options are limited.
Hostfully pricing
Hostfully’s pricing is based on the number of properties you manage.
If you have between 1 to 4 properties, the Starter plan is the most affordable choice at $109 per month. However, there is also a one-time implementation fee of $600 (a fee that applies to all other plans).
Generally, Hostfully pricing is somewhat limited by the number of listings you have. For example, if you only have three properties, you’re unable to choose the Pro, Pro Plus, or Premium plans. This makes the platform less flexible compared to other alternatives.
5. Host Tools
Host Tools is another vacation rental management software offering basic property management features. Using the software, you can automate guest communications, synchronize bookings from various channels, and set dynamic pricing.
While Host Tools provides an easy-to-use platform for those looking to consolidate their rental management tasks, it may cater better to smaller-scale operators or those just beginning in the vacation rental industry.
For more robust features, including a comprehensive website builder, property management modules, and advanced marketing tools, it’s better to explore more comprehensive solutions like Lodgify or similar alternatives.
Host Tools key features
- Automated messaging: Host Tools offers users access to templates to automate communication for various guest scenarios, including check-in, check-out, and review requests.
- Calendar synchronization: Like Lodgify and other alternatives, you can synchronize listings and calendars across multiple rental platforms, ensuring seamless booking management.
- Smart pricing: Implement dynamic pricing adjustments across all channels based on predefined rules or integrated pricing software, aiming to optimize revenue.
- Unified pricing management: Copying your pricing strategies from one channel to the other for consistent pricing across platforms.
- Cleaner management and other integrations: The specifics regarding cleaner management and other integrations are quite vague on their website. They simply talk about “ongoing enhancements” and the introduction of new features to simplify property management tasks.
Host Tools pricing
When billed annually, Host Tool’s Messaging plan costs $28 per month. However, as the name suggests, that plan only includes messaging capabilities via that software’s unified inbox.
For actual property management features, you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro plan, which costs $30 for one listing when billed annually (it’s $40 for two properties, $48 for three properties, etc.).
Switching to Lodgify from another software?
Are you already using one of the Lodgify alternatives mentioned above (or any other not mentioned here)? You can still make the switch and do so seamlessly.
Switching to Lodgify from another vacation rental management software is easy and stress-free with a complimentary, personalized onboarding process.
A dedicated specialist will guide you through every step of the setup, ensuring your business experiences minimal disruption and you’re quickly up and running on the platform.
By switching to Lodgify, you’ll access advanced tools and features explicitly designed to enhance your property’s visibility, amplify your occupancy rates, and significantly boost your revenue.
Try Lodgify for free
Lodgify is crafted to meet your current needs and support and drive your business’s future growth.
Experience Lodgify for yourself by signing up for a free trial or registering for a personalized product demonstration.