The sophistication of the players in the short-term rental market is getting deeper and more complex. It doesn’t cut it anymore to just list your properties online and let it ride on cruise control. In order to maximize the performance of your vacation rental portfolio without having to do all of it manually, you need to have several distinct and specialized pieces of software working together.
Let’s talk about the five crucial components of your “Tech Stack.”
Channel Management
Diversification is a fundamental aspect of any investment strategy, and it certainly applies to how you get leads and, ultimately, guests for your vacation rentals. Being able to list on multiple platforms, as well as your own direct booking site, gets more eyeballs on your listings. There is, however, a catch. What happens if your listing gets booked on Airbnb, but it’s still listed as available for those dates on Vrbo?
That can potentially lead to disastrous double-booking, where it can have a negative impact on your account on that particular platform that you have to cancel, as well as a less than ideal guest experience.You must have an effective channel manager that can maintain good quality control of your portfolio across all the channels you’re on. Beyond’s Relay, for example, can seamlessly sync your listings across Airbnb, Vrbo, or Booking.com in real-time.
Customer Relationship Manager (CRM)
Having a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) tool is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a need-to-have. Now more than ever, it’s critical to invest in a CRM platform to streamline your process of customer experience and retention, saving you time, money, and headaches.
Many leading vacation property managers invest in one like Hostaway or Track. Having a well stood up CRM is the backbone of a good marketing and sales strategy, while also allowing you to maintain notes on repeat guests so you can wow them every time they come.
Booking Engine
Due to advances in cloud technology over the last decade, most travelers now expect a top-tier direct booking engine for vacation rental properties. And let's face it—the quality of your website and booking engine will be a direct reflection of your business, whether that's fair or not.
Thankfully, booking engine and website functionality have been able to rapidly catch up with the much bigger OTAs like Airbnb and Vrbo in terms of quality and performance. With the right partner, the booking engine on your website can now include sought-after functionality like flexible date search, support of nightly dynamic pricing, and 360-degree view floor plans.
Signal is Beyond’s direct booking engine and website builder. It’s highly flexible, mobile-friendly, and designed with guests in mind. Having a direct booking option to complement business generated from listing on Online Travel Agencies like Airbnb or Vrbo is a vital component of an effective revenue management strategy.
Some sites that have been built with Signal are The Lake Stay and Savannah Getaways.
Dynamic Pricing
It’s no secret that we love and recommend dynamic pricing for your short-term rentals. Dynamic pricing is great because it automatically adjusts your rates using real-time market data, taking advantage of a surge in demand to make more money and getting ahead of a drop in demand to increase occupancy rates.
The sophistication of our algorithm is at the same level as what major airlines and hotel chains have been using for years. If you aren’t using dynamic pricing for your vacation rental, come see for yourself what all the hype is about.
Property Care and Services Platform
Alright, you got your listings synced up across multiple platforms, you’re on top of all the information of your customers in your CRM, your website looks fabulous and you’re getting the best rates via dynamic pricing. But, when your guests show up, the place is dirty, doorknobs are broken, and something really stinks in the fridge. That negative review is really gonna leave a mark!
The last, but most certainly not least, component of your tech stack that needs to be performing effectively is your property care and services platform. Managing a list of contractors to make sure your properties are in top shape can be mind-numbing and time-draining. Thankfully, there are several excellent solutions out there that can take care of this for you. Properly and Breezeway, for example, are two at the top of the market.
And there you have it! The five key components to a high-quality Tech Stack that will undoubtedly keep your short-term rental portfolio humming at peak efficiency.
Curious to see what Beyond can do for you? Request a free demo today.
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