Did you know 22% of current Airbnb listings are new vacation rentals that have entered the market this year? That’s right, with short-term rental demand climbing, many property managers are growing their businesses with additional properties.
Maybe you’re one of them.
Scaling a property rental business requires a new level of systems to stay competitive. Managing a few properties is one thing, but once you’ve expanded above ten rentals, it’s going to be tough to manually keep on top of everything. That’s a recipe for lost time and money. Plus, you risk attracting bad reviews due to mistakes like double bookings, or potentially losing money due to inaccurate pricing. To compete and thrive in the short-term rental business world, you need to future-proof your business by choosing a property management system that will grow with you.
The saying goes, “what got you here won’t get you there”. If you intend to scale your property management business, you’ll need a different perspective from what you’ve been doing. For example, automating repetitive tasks, or keeping a checklist. Property rental management software removes the risk of human error and ensures your business runs professionally.
There are certain things you do for every rental. For example, when guests book a property, you must confirm and verify their identity. Then comes scheduling housekeeping, blocking the dates on multiple listings, and processing payments.
These individual tasks are necessary for a short-term rental property management business, but they quickly add up in time spent and leave your business prone to human error. The more properties you have, the greater the risk of double booking or a mixup with housekeeping. Such repetitive tasks are perfect for automation. Technology such as a property management system with integrated tools for employee communication, housekeeping notifications, and more, enables you to reduce errors and create more time to focus on income-producing activities such as finding more properties.
Today’s travelers have tech-specific expectations. From high-speed internet at short-term rental properties to the ability to book, pay online, and check in with contactless entry.
Successful property managers rely on property management software with built-in integrations. For example, a Stripe integration allows you to swipe a physical credit card for payment. At the same time, a tool like PriceLabs lets you take advantage of dynamic pricing without needing to make changes manually. Other software integrations include smart locks for easy check-in and out and noise monitors, so you’re alerted if your guests have unauthorized parties at the property.
Today’s short-term rental businesses are more efficient and profitable with the right technology. For example, your one-stop vacation rental channel manager syncs all your listings across every distribution site, so you can see at a glance what’s booked and by whom. It also unifies your inbox, so all your messages are in one location, and handles all your guest communication, including verification and payments.
While Airbnb allows for a 24-hour response time, it’s no secret that the quicker you can respond to guests, the more confident they’ll feel. Short-term rental software allows you to communicate seamlessly and provide the high-quality service guests expect.
With the operational side of things on autopilot, ensuring guests arrive at a clean and inspected rental, you can focus on enhancing the guest experience even further. For example, providing a digital welcome book full of nearby recommendations or offering extensions to their stay when availability arises. Such personal attention translates into repeat stays and glowing reviews.
Short-term rental property management companies rely on housekeeping, maintenance teams, and operations to run smoothly. When you have the right people in place, property management is a much easier business to manage. They take pride in their work, can troubleshoot when needed, and do not need to contact you to ask basic questions.
In fact, not having the right people is so essential it’s cited as a top reason for startup failure. Focus on hiring quality teams, and you’ll build a strong network that works together to improve your business.
A vacation rental channel manager syncs bookings across OTAs with secure API integrations, so you eliminate the risk of costly double bookings. Short-term rental software also lets you integrate dynamic pricing tools to optimize your revenue based on demand.
For example, AirDNA reports short-term rental demand was up in July in nearly every market except for luxury. Dynamic pricing tools can assess at-the-moment market conditions and adjust the pricing accordingly.
The key to good scaling is efficient operations. A property management system can save you thousands in staffing costs with less risk of human error because you automate repetitive tasks and increase productivity. Rather than manually updating and managing multi-channel listings, you can reinvest your savings into upgrading your guest’s experience.
Guest demand is high, making now the perfect time to scale a short-term rental business. When armed with the right staffing teams and purpose-built tech tools, you’ll be able to leave behind operational inefficiencies and vulnerabilities to errors, so you can build your business sustainably.
Uplisting is a short-term rental property and channel management software built specifically for helping managers scale their businesses. Designed with you in mind, our all-in-one system helps you grow your short-term rental revenue and streamline your business.
We’ve built an all-in-one property, channel management and automation tool to help property managers scale seamlessly.
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