Renting out your property on Airbnb and similar platforms can be a source of good income, but it also involves a lot of responsibilities. So you can quickly get overwhelmed with everyday tasks such as communicating with guests, check-ins, and check-outs, cleaning, and managing your listing.
And as your business grows, you’ll eventually find yourself looking for ways to streamline your operations and save time to focus on more important aspects of hosting. Or you may even start thinking about hiring a property management company. But there is a better option – investing in Airbnb business automation software that can help you run your STR business with ease.
Not sure whether rental management software is the right solution for you? Keep reading to learn about the pros and cons of Airbnb automation to make an informed decision.
Key Advantages of Vacation Rental Management Software
There is a multitude of benefits to automating your Airbnb business. Let’s look at 5 of them one by one.
Communication With Guests Perfectly
Using Airbnb management software helps you optimize communication with guests.
The success of your short-term rental business on Airbnb depends on multiple factors, and effective communication with guests is one of the most important ones. You must proactively communicate with travelers throughout the customer journey and build strong relationships with them.
Then travelers will feel happy with their experience on the Airbnb platform and will be more likely to give you 5-start reviews that are critical for establishing your reputation as a host. But guest messaging is a time-consuming responsibility that can take up to 75% of your time.
Airbnb business automation software can save you a lot of time by automating conversations wfith your guests using message templates and sending them on preset dates and times. You’ll be able to customize the templates using shortcodes and other smart elements like conditions and triggers.
Some rental management apps based on Artificial intelligence can even detect guest questions on common topics in their messages and instantly send personalized responses. Your guests will appreciate it if they get clear answers to all their questions fast and will never know that they are communicating with a machine.
Accept Direct Bookings
When choosing Airbnb business automation software, you should ensure it comes with a user-friendly website builder. Then you’ll be able to build a fully functional website for your STR business without any tech knowledge and accept direct bookings.
As a result, you’ll be less dependent on online travel agencies (i.e., Airbnb, Vrbo, etc.) and have an opportunity to consistently market your property online, build your brand, and stand out among competitors. And remember that direct bookings can boost your Airbnb occupancy rate and give you more profit.
Automation software will ensure your calendars stay synced with OTAs and your guests get the best experience. The software will also ensure automated communication with guests who made reservations on your direct booking website.
Manage Bookings from All Channels in One Place
If you have listings on several OTA platforms to get maximum exposure, manually keeping your calendars, availability, and prices in sync can be tricky. Soon it can become messy, and you could end up with double-bookings and unanswered guest inquiries that can seriously damage your reputation.
Good rental management software with an Airbnb channel manager feature allows hosts to connect multiple accounts on different channels to manage them and update pricing from a single dashboard. And with instant calendar sync across platforms, you can be sure you’re protected from double bookings and will never lose any reservations.
Grow the Number of Positive Guest Reviews
Positive guest reviews help you rank higher on Airbnb and attract more travelers to your listing. But guests might feel reluctant to write you a review unless something happens during their stay, so you need to encourage them to do so. And you, as a busy host, may often neglect this step because you probably don’t have enough time to leave reviews for all your guests.
Airbnb business automation tools with review management feature can help you solve this problem. They allow hosts to request guest reviews and publish theirs automatically. You only have to set your review templates. And some tools can even help you manage bad reviews from guests.
Assign Tasks to Your Team Automatically
No matter what type of accommodation you offer, you need to keep your rental property guest-ready to ensure a perfect guest experience during each stay. That means you’ll need to gather a team to help you take care of cleaning and maintenance. And it’s your responsibility to regularly notify your team members about new tasks.
Vacation rental software with team collaboration and task management features can help you automate these routine operations and optimize how you interact with your teammates. You’ll be able to set rules for assigning new tasks to your team automatically, and the system will notify them about new jobs coming up via text messages or email. You won’t have to spend your precious time arranging cleanings and can be absolutely sure that they will be performed on time even if it’s the same day turnover.
Disadvantages of Using Airbnb Business Automation Tools
Unfortunately, even the best rental management solutions that help your business run smoothly, save you tons of time, and maximize Airbnb revenue may have some disadvantages.
Cost
Good software with a comprehensive set of features comes at a cost. You’ll need to pay for your subscription; the cost usually depends on the number of connected properties. But nevertheless, it is much cheaper than hiring a property manager. Besides, automation will make your business more efficient and help you scale, so this investment is worth it in the long term.
Training
Not all vacation rental management software is easy to use if you aren’t tech-savvy, so you’ll need to spend some time learning how to use it properly and take advantage of all its features. That means you should look for a software provider that offers helpful resources online to provide you with easy instructions and help you find answers to your questions.
And many providers offer outstanding customer support via live chat 24/7, give users access to free trials or demos, and organize training sessions to help you onboard your new software.
Put Your Business on Autopilot with Airbnb Automation
The benefits of using vacation rental management software to automate your Airbnb business by far outweigh the costs. Modern software tools can automate almost every rental management function, including guest messaging, calendar synchronization, creating tasks for your team, and getting direct bookings. If you find the right software solution for your needs to optimize your processes, you’re sure to take your Airbnb business to the next level.
This guest post has been contributed by our friends at Hospitable.com.