Whether you’re strictly managing vacation rentals or a mix of short-term and long-term rentals…

There’s one thing you need to both maximize your time efficiency and get the most from your rental properties:

Rental management software.

That can come in the form of dedicated vacation or short-term rental software.

Or, it can come in the form of a more all-in-one property management software that allows you to handle every kind of property from a single dashboard.

No matter which sounds like it better fits your portfolio, below we’ve put together a list of some of the best tools available for managing your rental properties.

The goal is that you’ll find something that fits your rental property needs and your budget.

Let’s get started.

Before we begin, let's discuss a bit about DoorLoop.

‍DoorLoop is an all-in-one property management software that allows you to manage your entire portfolio with ease from anywhere.

Vacation rentals, short-term rentals, multifamily, you name it, DoorLoop has the features you need to streamline, automate, and simplify your property management needs.

Schedule a free demo today and see what DoorLoop can do for your business.

7 Best Short-term rental software tools [2023 Edition]

Each of the tools below was chosen because it offers a variety of property management features.

Specifically, features that make it easier to manage vacation or other short-term rental properties.

For each tool, we’ve broken down each option’s:

• Feature set
• Pros and cons
• And pricing

In no particular order:

1. Hostaway

Hostaway is a dedicated vacation rental management software with a variety of useful features for short-term rentals.

They offer good reporting features and payment automation as well as some unique features such as cross-listing optimization. They also have a strong list of integrations you can tap into.

However, where it falls short is mainly in pricing, coming in at roughly twice the monthly price of some comparable solutions.

Hostaway features include:

• Good reporting features
• Automated payments
• Basic accounting features
• Owner portal
• Automated messaging

Hostaway pricing

Hostaway’s plans start at $100 per month, though they don’t offer details on their pricing page without requesting contact information.

2. Lodgify

Lodgify is a vacation rental software that offers a clean user interface and a solid base of features.

It offers the ability to input reservations as well as a scheduling calendar for multiple units and has a great website builder. It also makes it easy to get started with a good number of getting started guides and resources.

With that said, you’ll be mostly restricted to what Lodgify can do as they don’t offer many integrations. Plus, users report that their automated messaging system doesn’t work especially well.

Pricing: After a 7-day free trial, Lodgify’s annual subscriptions for one property start at $12 per month with a 1.9% booking fee, or you can opt for the Professional version ($32 per month) which has no booking fee. For 25 properties, the Professional version costs $220 per month. Monthly subscriptions without an annual commitment cost slightly more.

Lodgify features include:

• Reservations
• Scheduling calendar
• Automated messaging
• Task management

Lodgify pricing

Lodgify offers a 7-day free trial, though their pricing plans are a bit complex. They offer a $0 Lite plan with a 3.9% booking fee, though it includes ad-based branding that your tenants and guests can see and doesn’t include basic things like email support.

For $67 per month up to 20 rentals (+ a 1.9% booking fee), you can get their higher Starter tier that removes the ad branding.

3. Guesty

Guesty is a property management software with several strong features that make it a great choice for those looking for a short-term rental solution.

But what helps it stand apart from the options thus far is its great customer service, including a premium 24/7 support line for higher-level customers. It also offers a good list of integrations

However, Guesty is on the pricey side and doesn’t have a transparent pricing structure in general, so those looking for an affordable solution might find this a no-go.

Guesty features include:

• Online payments
• Work order management
• Owner portal

Guesty pricing

Guesty uses an enterprise pricing model, so they don’t list their current pricing publicly. You’ll need to contact them directly to find out more about their pricing plan.

4. LiveRez

LiveRez is a dedicated vacation rental management software with one of the largest collections of features on this list.

Users report that their accounting features in particular are strong and offer tools that most competitors lack.

The trade-off of that is that users report having bad customer service experiences with them, with either slow response times or even on some occasions rude CS reps.

LiveRez features include:

• Work order management
• Good accounting features
• Messaging features
• Vendor management

LiveRez pricing

LiveRez’s pricing plans start at $350 monthly. However, they don’t list their pricing anywhere online, so you’ll need to contact their sales team to find out specifics about their pricing plans.

5. RMS Cloud

RMS Cloud has one of the most extensive feature sets of any software on this list, offering everything from work order management to a full CRM.

However, they don’t offer vendor management, a feature most of their competitors do.

With that said, they’re a good option for anyone most concerned with features and capability and less on pricing.

RMS Cloud features include:

• Online payments
• Work order management
• Robust reporting
• Real-time reservations

RMS Cloud pricing

Like several on this list, RMS uses an enterprise pricing model. So you’ll need to contact their sales team to find out more about their pricing model.

6. Escapia

Escapia is another great option, this one with solid lead management tools and booking tools.

The software is also relatively intuitive and easy to use, with a convenient smartphone app version you can use on the go.

Unfortunately, while it has a strong set of features, users often report that the software itself can be unreliable and riddled with glitches that make daily use of it a bit difficult.

Escapia features include:

• Owner portal
• Reporting
• Reservation calendar
• Basic accounting features

Escapia pricing

Escapia doesn’t offer its pricing online, so you’ll need to contact their sales team to find out more.

7. DoorLoop

DoorLoop is an all-in-one property management suite designed to make managing your entire portfolio easier.

It’s perfect for anyone looking for a solution that allows them to manage multiple different types of properties simultaneously, from vacation rentals to multi-family rental properties and anything else.

And if you’re looking for above-and-beyond, DoorLoop’s affordable pricing, great customer service, and ease-of-use make it an all-around choice for getting the most out of your rental properties.

DoorLoop features include:

• Make rent collection easier: With automatic payments, payment reminds, and more.
• Robust accounting features: Looking for a replacement for QuickBooks? You’ve got everything you need. Rather continue using QB and use DoorLoop as your dedicated property tool? You can do that too with a convenient QuickBooks Online integration.
• Maintenance management tools: Manage all your maintenance requests, assign to vendors, payout vendors, and more straight from the app.
• eLeasing: Accept applications online and even screen those applicants to ensure you’re bringing in quality tenants you can count on.
• Tenant portal and communications tools: Give tenants one central place to see all their responsibilities and you a convenient place to centralize communications with your tenants.
• And much, much more

DoorLoop pricing

DoorLoop offers to get you started for as little as $59 per month when paid annually and get access to the lion’s share of DoorLoop’s deep feature set.

Schedule a free demo and try DoorLoop today.

Supercharge your business with rental management software

Managing rental properties with Excel spreadsheets is a thing of the past.

Now, sophisticated property management software allows you to not only streamline complicated systems, but even automate many cumbersome processes.

Use the best rental management software to give your portfolio an advantage, and save yourself both time and hassle in the process.