Managing vacation rental properties in today’s booming short-term rental industry has become more accessible than ever, thanks to a plethora of software solutions designed to streamline operations.
Among the top contenders in the field, Lodgify and Hostfully stand out as two prominent platforms offering a comprehensive suite of tools for vacation rental owners and property managers.
Whether you’re a seasoned host or just embarking on your vacation rental business journey, choosing the right software is key to success. In this article, we will delve into a detailed comparison of Lodgify and Hostfully, exploring the main differences in features, functionality, pricing structures, and user experiences to help you make an informed decision and elevate your property management game.
Who is it for?
Lodgify
Lodgify is a versatile solution that caters to various vacation rental businesses, whether you manage a single property or oversee a portfolio of more than 30 rentals. It’s designed to provide hosts with an intuitive and user-friendly experience, enabling them to handle their operations effortlessly.
Hostfully
Hostfully is suited to larger property management companies with more than 20 properties due to its complicated user interface, pricing structure, and available features.
How much does it cost?
Lodgify
Lodgify provides a range of affordable pricing options designed to meet different budget needs. Pricing plans are structured in three tiers, with the most economical plan starting at a reasonable $15 per month. This plan includes all the necessary features essential for effectively managing your business, including a channel manager, a bookable website, a reservation and payment system, and a property management system.
The Professional plan offered by Lodgify is highly popular among users, as it offers access to more advanced features. Starting at a modest $43 per month, this plan provides additional features to enhance your business operations.
For businesses seeking even more extensive features, Lodgify offers the Ultimate plan. This plan is tailored to meet the requirements of businesses that need accounting, cleaning, and task management tools, among others. The Ultimate plan starts at an affordable price of $55 per month, providing a comprehensive solution for such businesses.
Hostfully
Hostfully’s property management platform’s pricing structure is determined by the number of properties you oversee, coupled with a one-time implementation fee of $600 for monthly plans and $300 for annual plans.
Hostfully offers different subscription plans; however, depending on the number of listings you have, you must choose one that fits your business size, meaning there is less flexibility when choosing your plan.
Listing one property with Hostfully starts at $119 a month plus the $600 fee.
What are the main differences?
Onboarding
Lodgify
All customers are provided with a free personalized onboarding experience. A Lodgify specialist assesses the user’s business needs and works with them to set up their account, connect their listings, and guide them through all the features.
Hostfully
Hostfully charges a whopping $600 implementation fee. Customer support is available between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. (EST), Monday to Friday only.
Additionally, for those on the Pro and Starter plans, the ability to call support expires 45 days after your initial call. You have to pay a $150 fee for additional 1:1 calls after the expiration date, regardless of whether you used your included calls or not.
Unified Inbox
Lodgify
Lodgify’s unified inbox streamlines guest communication by allowing users to easily manage inquiries and messages across all channels from one centralized platform. It seamlessly integrates with Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, etc., as well as the user’s own direct booking website. Users can create saved replies as well as use Lodgify’s automated responses for communication with guests and staff.
Hosts can even message their guests through WhatsApp from one centralized dashboard.
Hostfully
Hostfully provides a unified inbox as well. However, it can only accept messages through Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and direct booking sites.
Website builder and booking widget
Lodgify
Lodgify is renowned for its user-friendly interface and customizable templates, making it a popular choice for website building. It enables users to effortlessly create their own bookable website with their preferred domain (e.g., www.yourwebsite.com) in less than 5 minutes, regardless of technical expertise. One standout feature of Lodgify is its focus on SEO optimization, which has resulted in approximately 40% of bookings being made directly by customers.
For individuals who already have a website using platforms like WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, or any other content management system (CMS), Lodgify offers seamless integration. Through the incorporation of the Lodgify booking widget, guests can now conveniently make property reservations directly on their website, even if it lacked previous booking capabilities.
Hostfully
Users can build their own direct booking website and booking widget for their business, but customization capabilities are much more limited, and the direct booking site must be integrated with the Hostfully platform. PMs searching for a heavily customizable website would be best to create their own through a different site.
Hostfully provides useful information on creating a domain name, but users must manage all the DNS and other third-party tasks outside of Hostfully. This can be very technical and users may need to hire professional technical assistance.
Centralized calendar
Lodgify
Users can connect to and synchronize listings with all OTAs through the channel manager. Lodgify has built an API connection with Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Expedia, which drives over 80% of customer bookings and allows instant synchronization of calendars, rates, bookings, and property data.
Lodgify can also connect users to any alternative or local channels through iCal.
Hostfully
Hostfully provides a centralized calendar. However, there may be additional costs for API connections depending on your plan and the channel you’re connecting to. Additionally, open API is only available through their Premium plan.
Furthermore, all listings created for Airbnb via Hostfully will be automatically set to ‘Instant Book’ enabled. This means Airbnb will automatically confirm a guest reservation if the calendar availability on your listing matches the inquired dates.
Customer support
Lodgify
Lodgify offers round-the-clock customer support to all its subscribers and trial users, providing them with various benefits. Users can access 24/7 assistance through phone, chat, or email and receive prompt responses from the dedicated support team.
The Contact page conveniently displays telephone numbers for the Customer Success team in multiple regions, such as the U.S. & Canada, the U.K., Spain, and Italy.
Hostfully
Unlike Lodgify, Hostfully has no direct contact number for its support team, so all communication takes place through email or online chat.
Vacation rental courses
Lodgify
Lodgify provides free vacation rental courses to help and educate users on everything they need to know to start and grow a successful vacation rental business. By enrolling in the Lodgify Academy, users can learn about enhancing direct bookings, leveraging social media for marketing, capturing quality photographs to showcase their property, and more.
Hostfully
While Hostfully University is available, it currently only offers three basic 101 courses in English.
What do customers say about Lodgify?
Finding reliable and unbiased information while researching products online can pose a challenge for prospective customers. As a result, a significant majority of consumers, approximately 93%, state that online reviews have a significant impact on their purchasing choices.
When it comes to vacation rental owners and property managers, making informed decisions is crucial for the success of their business. Users can explore and compare Lodgify online, along with assessing the opinions of Lodgify customers. Here’s where to compare us:
Trustpilot
What people on Trustpilot are saying about Lodgify:
“Using Lodgify has been an awesome and easy experience from start to finish. Not only is the platform intuitive and really easy to use, they offer an onboarding service that teaches you how to make the most of the Service. Sara (our onboarding team member) could not have been more helpful, really supported us to make sense of the platform and how to get it to do most of the hardwork so we can focus on other things. Highly recommend to anyone managing short term holiday lets.” -Charlie H.
Lodgify rating: 4.6
Capterra
What people on Capterra are saying about Lodgify:
“We have no doubt that we chose well. The price is fair, service is excellent, the software is easy to use and it is a company that is always innovating and improving.” -Djamila D.
Lodgify rating: 4.5
GetApp
What people on GetApp are saying about Lodgify:
“The best feature about this product is the seamless-ness between third party software and my own website. It has all the information from everywhere in one place.” -Tara S.
Lodgify rating: 4.5
G2.com
What people on G2.com are saying about Lodgify:
“We went from being held back by AirBNB to in control of our own bookings! Occasionally, AirBNB would not authorize a booking or hold our account until an issue was resolved. Now we can offer direct bookings and VRBO booking options to our best guests. We love the ease of use of Lodgify, and how their customer support made it easy to implement both direct bookings and VRBO integration. We now only use Lodgify’s interface every day…” -Steven W.
Lodgify rating: 4.0
Which vacation rental software should I use?
Lodgify’s commitment to a user-friendly, all-in-one solution stands out. Its intuitive website builder, integrated booking system, and robust channel manager provide property owners with a comprehensive toolkit to not only manage their listings effectively but also to establish a strong online presence. This convenience is particularly appealing to those who want to streamline their operations and reduce the need for multiple, disjointed tools.
Moreover, Lodgify’s focus on direct bookings empowers owners to take control of their business and minimize third-party fees, a vital aspect in today’s competitive market.
While Hostfully is a solid option with its own set of strengths, including its guest guidebook and communication features, Lodgify’s all-encompassing approach and commitment to customer satisfaction place it firmly in the driver’s seat.
In the end, the choice between Lodgify and Hostfully depends on individual needs and preferences. However, for those looking for a versatile, user-friendly, and cost-effective solution that can help elevate their vacation rental business to new heights, Lodgify stands as the clear winner.