Guesty is a well-known vacation rental software, but is it worth it for Airbnb hosts and property managers that are trying to reduce costs and optimize performance?
In this Guesty review, we’ll cover everything you need to know in order to decide if this is the right short term rental management platform for you and your properties. We’ll go over the main features of the software, the integrations with third-party tech tools, the pricing model and costs, the potential benefits, the pros and cons, and the available customer support.
We’ll also look into Guesty reviews by customers to check out what hosts and property managers love and don’t love about the platform. Finally, we’ll offer you a few alternatives and see how they compare with Guesty.
Core Features of Guesty: Review
We’ll start our Guesty review by exploring the tools and features that this vacation rental management software offers.
Channel Manager
The Guesty channel manager is one of the most important features provided by the platform. The Airbnb channel manager allows hosts and managers to manage listings on multiple websites like Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com from a single place.
Importantly, the feature offers channel-specific capabilities in order to improve your channel performance. After all, how to list on Airbnb is different from how to list on Vrbo for optimal exposure and bookings, which makes dedicated channel management for vacation rentals a must.
Unified Inbox
The second feature worth highlighting is the so-called unified inbox. This refers to a tool that brings all guest messages, reservation details, and internal notes into a single platform.
In this way, hosts can communicate with guests coming from different channels without the need to check multiple inboxes. This helps save both time and effort, while eliminating the threat of missing any messages.
Multi-Calendar
Next, the multi-calendar allows managers to view and manage all past, current, and future reservations in a single calendar, no matter which channel they come from.
This is an indispensable tool that helps keep things under control in terms of online booking management even when you list your vacation rental on more than one website. The tool helps avoid double bookings, disappoint potential guests, and get negative reviews.
Payment Solutions
Guesty for Hosts integrates with multiple ecommerce apps to allow hosts to accept payments in a few different ways. Hosts can also keep track of all earnings and work towards revenue optimization for Airbnb and other distribution channels.
Automation Tools
Guesty helps hosts and property managers automate a few aspects of the Airbnb property management process. Guest communication automation includes reservation confirmation emails, check-in and check-out instructions, and reviews, among others.
Tasks related to check-ins, check-outs, and in-between times can also be organized in workflows and automated.
Direct Reservations
The direct reservations feature available on Guesty comprises a website builder, customized rate strategies, personalized quotes, and manual reservations. Together, these tools help gain brand visibility, provide customized experiences, and earn more revenue.
Revenue Management
The Guesty property management system also helps hosts put their short term rental pricing strategy on autopilot. It includes flexible rate plans, dynamic pricing, direct booking coupons, and channel promotions as part of the channel management process.
Multi-Unit Management
The Airbnb management tools provided by Guesty help hosts and property managers take care of multiple units from a single platform. This is supposed to amplify transparency and enhance efficiency.
All the features listed in the Guesty review so far are included within the Guesty plans. Nevertheless, there are some features that are offered as add-ons and are charged separately. Vacation rental hosts and managers can decide whether to opt in for them based on their needs.
Guesty Add-Ons
The additional Guesty features that some investors and property managers choose to sign up for include:
- Guesty PriceOptimizer: The Guesty PriceOptimizer refers to an Airbnb pricing tool that helps hosts and property managers continuously change daily rates in line with the market. Dynamic pricing is crucially important in order to be competitive in the vacation rental market without leaving money on the table. With optimal nightly rates, you can boost occupancy and increase revenue, and that’s why it’s rather surprising that this feature is not included in the standard Guesty plans. Moreover, Guesty does not specify the sources of data for the analysis.
- Guesty Capital: Guesty Capital is a funding solution that allows hosts to get access to funds for the improvement of their Airbnb business based on the performance of their property. Repayments are flexible to meet the needs and capabilities of hosts.
- Guesty Damage Protection: The Guesty Damage Protection acts like an Airbnb insurance that protects rentals from damage during stays without creating potential friction between hosts and guests. However, coverage might be rather limited.
- Guest Communication Services (GCS): In addition to automated guest communication, hosts and managers can also get access to additional communication services. Guesty agents can take care of urgent communication with guests outside your business hours for ongoing reservation and booking management.
- Guesty Locks Manager: The Guesty Locks Managers helps automate the check-in process by sending unique codes to guests. Furthermore, it provides real-time data on the health of all smart locks within a property.
- Guesty Websites: Guesty offers a vacation rental website builder so that hosts and property managers can maximize direct bookings.
- GuestyPay: This Guesty feature provides solutions for safe payment processing focused on the needs of the hospitality industry.
- Guesty Ultimate: Guesty offers additional features, on top of the core platform, to enhance reservations and revenue. But it’s not clear what these solutions are, what exactly they do, and how efficient they are.
Guesty Integrations Review
Review of Guesty integrations
Guesty reviews show that the platform integrates with a wide range of third-party software tools to provide good property management solutions.
Guesty integrates with the following categories of tools:
- Booking channels: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Agoda, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Google, Hopper, Travelstation, HomeToGo, etc.
- Channel managers: Rentals United, Booking Pal, and SiteMinder
- Financials and accounting: AirDNA, Wheelhouse, Beyond, PriceLabs, Key Data, Lighthouse, Rented, SmartPricing, Clearing, DPGO, LoanBase, etc.
- Guest management: Welcome, YourWelcome, BagsAway, LugLess, Hostkit, Cityride, Virtual Front Desk, Yada, Xperium, HelloGuest, Hello George, Radical Storage, SecureStay, Touch Stay, Besty AI, Botel, SmartHotel, Guest Guru, StayFi, Operto, etc.
- Home automation and security: Roomonitor, KeyNest, PointCentral, Vikey, Sharebox, PowerSetter, AurMur, Nuki, Jervis Systems, KeyNinja, OK2Charge, LoopKey, SuiteOp, GateGoing, etc.
- Marketing: Beyondbooking, hostWriter, Teliportme, Online Tourism, 80 Days, Toast, Boostly, Customyze, WebAct, RezRecover, Revyoos, Boom, Simplex, Sparrow, etc.
- New arrivals: Maveriks
- Operations, cleaning, and maintenance: Turno, Breezeway, Zapier, Flexkeeping, PayEm, Puls, EZcare, HKeeper, Turnify, Tulogy, Cleanster.com, Vintory, Bongo Stays, Propertyhero, PropFit, etc.
- Payment processing: Stripe, Merchant Warrior, and Hyp
Guesty Pricing Model Review
A Guesty review shows that the company runs a subscription-based pricing model. Guesty pricing is organized into three different tiers, with the monthly/annual fee depending on the number of included features and the number of properties.
Airbnb hosts and property managers can choose from:
- Guesty Lite: This Guesty plan is tailored to the needs of the owners of 1-3 vacation rental properties and covers access to the basic features needed for the management of a small portfolio. Pricing starts at $39/month with a monthly subscription and $27/month with an annual subscription.
- Guesty Pro: This Guesty plan is ideal for hosts and managers that have a portfolio of 4-199 short term rental properties and covers everything in Lite plus some additional features. Pricing is customized.
- Guesty Enterprise: This Guesty plan is meant for professional property managers with 200+ Airbnb properties in their portfolio. It covers everything in Pro plus additional enterprise-grade automations and features. Pricing is customized.
Guesty offers both monthly and annual plans, with annual subscriptions coming at discounted rates. There is a 14-day free trial.
Potential Benefits of Using Guesty for Vacation Rental Management
There are some important advantages that come with using a vacation rental software like Guesty. Most of these benefits are typical for all short term rental management tools, not only Guesty PMS.
Operational Efficiency and Time Savings
Through the option to bring all listings under one roof and automate many manual tasks, Guesty and other Airbnb management tools make the property management process more time- and resource-efficient.
From a host’s point of view, this means that hosts can spend less time on managing their property and more time on looking for new profitable opportunities to add to their portfolio.
From a property manager’s perspective, shortening the time needed for the management of each individual property allows them to onboard more properties and boost their income.
Both hosts and managers can grow their vacation rental business in a more scalable manner with access to the right tools.
Improved Guest Satisfaction and Reviews
Another major benefit of deploying vacation rental management software is enhancing guest experiences and improving their satisfaction with your property and with you as the host. Guest communication automation, for instance, minimizes the waiting time for guests before, during, and after their stay.
The automated review process translates into more positive reviews from happy guests, which boosts the ranking of your listing in Airbnb SEO, which in turn leads to more reservations.
Revenue Growth and Optimization
The dynamic pricing functionality allows for the optimization of daily rates based on multiple factors. Combined with all the other improvements discussed above, this ultimately leads to more revenue for hosts and property managers. At the same time, costs are cut down as a lot of manual labor is reduced, so there is potential to enhance return.
The Pros and Cons of Guesty: Review
Every comprehensive Guesty review should include the main advantages and disadvantages of the platform, especially as compared to other competitors on the market.
Let’s take a look at the main pros and cons of Guesty based on our own review of the platform as well as online Guesty reviews by customers.
Pros of Guesty
The main benefits of Guesty include:
- Comprehensive platform for short term rental management
- Automation of many manual tasks
- Affordable pricing for small portfolios
- Scalability
- Numerous integrations with third-party software tools
- Mobile app
Cons of Guesty
The most important drawbacks to take into consideration are:
- Tools limited to vacation rental management only
- Unclear pricing for large portfolios
- Add-ons priced separately
- Potentially steep learning curve
Review of Guesty Customer Support
The level of customer support that hosts and property managers get from Guesty depends on their plan. Customers on all plans get access to 24/7 chat support, which is likely to be automated through the use of a chatbot. The Pro and Enterprise plans provide access to urgent phone support too.
At the same time, Enterprise-level customers get the following customization options:
- Full tech-stack customization
- Customized analytics dashboards
- Enterprise-ready onboarding
- Enterprise-grade security and compliance
Guesty Reviews
Online Guesty reviews by customers are available on a number of trustworthy third-party online websites.
Here is how customers have ranked Guesty:
Guesty reviews by hosts and property managers are relatively positive, while highlighting some potential areas for improvement as well.
Positive Guesty Reviews
Satisfied Guesty customers think that the platform is able to cover the needs of vacation rental hosts and property managers. They enjoy the features, the ease of use, and the professional customer service.
Negative Guesty Reviews
Dissatisfied customers warn potential new customers that the pricing model does not become transparent during the onboarding process, so they might end up paying more than they expect. Other customers find some key features to be not sufficiently developed and also have comments on potential improvements in the user interface to make the platform more intuitive.
Guesty Review: Top Alternatives
Review of top Guesty alteranatives
Before opting in for a vacation rental management system, it’s a good idea to consider a few different options as each one of them comes with its own pros and cons.
Next, we’ve reviewed the main Guesty alternatives for Airbnb hosts and property managers.
Mashvisor
Mashvisor is the leading vacation rental software for one particular reason. Unlike other management tools, Mashvisor helps hosts throughout the entire investment journey: from finding a good market and a profitable property for sale, through insuring the property, and then managing it on a day-to-day basis.
The main tools available on the Mashvisor platform include:
- Market Finder: This feature helps find the best areas for investing in a short term rental based on your budget, expected income, and required ROI.
- Real estate heat map: The heatmap color-codes areas within a market based on different factors such as property prices, rental income, occupancy rate, and cash on cash return.
- Property Finder: This tool helps you locate the top-performing vacation rentals currently available for sale, in your selected market and within your budget.
- Airbnb Calculator: The Mashvisor Airbnb Calculator shows you what monthly income you can expect for a certain property in a certain market, based on the performance of actual comps there.
- Airbnb Dynamic Pricing: The Mashvisor Airbnb dynamic pricing software works differently from other dynamic pricing tools. Instead of optimizing occupancy, we maximize revenue and return on investment by striking the right balance between daily rates and bookings.
- Channel Manager: The Mashvisor vacation rental channel manager allows for multi-channel distribution in the most efficient way possible. Hosts and property managers can manage all their listings on various websites from a single place, saving time and effort.
- Unified inbox: Through the Mashvisor unified inbox, hosts can perform all their guest communication under the same roof, no matter whether they list on one or 100 channels.
- Multi-unit calendar: The Mashisor multi-calendar helps you manage bookings and reservations on multiple platforms from a single place. It guarantees that you’ll never miss a booking and that you’ll never get a double booking.
- Website builder: The Mashvisor vacation rental website builder makes it possible to launch your own website to drive direct reservations.
- Airbnb insurance: Via Steadily, hosts can get the best short term rental insurance for their property, at an affordable rate.
Hostaway
Guesty reviews and Hostaway reviews show that the two platforms are largely comparable, offering more or less the same features and functionalities. In general, Hostaway is more leaning towards property managers than hosts, while Guesty serves both groups.
A main drawback of Hostaway is the lack of any pricing information on their website. Interested property managers need to get in touch to get a quote.
Hostfully
Hostfully reviews reveal that this platform is very similar to Guesty, including both features and integrations. One feature that makes them stand out is the Hostfully Guidebooks, which aim to improve the guest experience while decreasing the amount of back and forth between guests and property managers.
Hostfully pricing for a small number of properties is significantly steeper than Guesty pricing, starting at $109/month for one property. Hostfully Digital Guidebooks are priced separately.
Host Tools
Host Tools covers all the basic tools expected from a vacation rental software, but some others are missing. For example, the company website does not mention a vacation rental website builder.
The most popular Host Tools plan costs $30/month for one listing, and there is a 14-day free trial, similar to Guesty.
Lodgify
Lodgify reviews show that this is one of the most popular short term rental management platforms, used by both individual hosts and professional property managers. It works for vacation rentals as well as small hotels, serviced apartments, and resorts.
The Lodgify pricing starts at only $13/month (with an annual subscription) for one property but includes an additional 1.9% booking fee.
iGMS
Another Guesty alternative is iGMS, and iGMS reviews make it clear that the two platforms are quite identical in terms of features. The app helps with channel management, automation, communication, and others.
In terms of pricing, iGMS offers a number of different plans, and the pricing is highly customizable depending on the number of properties, the features, the integrations, and the subscription duration.
Final Thoughts: Is Guesty Right for Your Business?
Our review of Guesty features and pricing shows that this could be a good choice for existing hosts and property managers who are happy with the number of properties they already own and are not looking to expand their portfolios. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that Guesty reviews by existing customers report some issues with integrations and functionality.
Meanwhile, investors who are just getting started or who already own a property but would like to buy more can check out Mashvisor, the only all-in-one vacation rental software platform on the market.
Mashvisor can help you with everything from identifying the most profitable opportunities in a market, to managing your vacation rentals smoothly and seamlessly. You can keep taking care of your existing properties while simultaneously growing your portfolio from a single platform.
