Channel Manager - Wish List Possible?

[Tom Scott]

I've scoured the channel manager posts on here and have visited all of their websites but regardless, I apologize for making another post about channel managers as it's been over discussed.  Right now, I only have one STR but want to build in the systems and software to continue to scale, which includes setting up a solid channel manager today versus later.  All of the channel managers seem to have solid messaging systems, housekeeper notifications and full integration with Airbnb, VRBO and Booking.com but some are missing some features I'm looking for.  Easy enough to buy other subscriptions and services but I'm looking for one that can do the basics plus the following:

1. smartlock integration directly with a Schlage Encode
2. guest guidebooks/welcome book
3. e-sign rental agreements
4. allow hosts with only one property and charge a market-rate for one property
5. some type of real customer service

Let me use an example: I'm currently on a trial with Guesty but the Guesty for Hosts platform only gives numbers 1 and 4 of the above list.  I can easily add Docusign and and Touchstay but I sent a message to customer service and it took three business days for a response and it seemed like it was a canned response as it didn't answer the question at all so I don't know if there's a fix for 5.  Anyone have any ideas?

[Ken Boone]

@Tom Scott I use Guesty for Hosts for PMS, Hostfully for guidebooks, SignNow for digital rental agreements and Zapier to tie it all together and automate everything.  Guesty for Hosts works great when it is working, when it's not, it sucks bad and the customer support is awful.  We had a period of about 2 months, where it stopped sending us the notification of a booking (this notification is what triggers the start of my automation flow).  It also stopped sending out automated messages if the end user was using gmail.  At that point, I went back through and did demos with about 8-10 other PMS packages.  The ones that had integrated signed rental agreements to me were not what I wanted.  They were just too simplified with only a signature.  i.e. I have guests sign each page of the RA as well as sign the specific clauses about the indoor pool, as well as collect the names of all guests on the property. (Helps me in the cases where they bring way too many guests).

The other thing is the dashboard is huge deal for me.  Guesty for Hosts provides everything I want to see on the dashboard.  Other dashboards did not include pricing, or guests names or various stuff like that and it would take a few more clicks to find out that info rather than looking at the dashboard.  

The biggest problem for Guesty for Hosts is that they have terrible customer service.  During that two month period I told them what the problem was (I am an IT guy) early on once I figured out what was happening.  Basically they were getting blocked on a lot of their outbound emails using gmail.  Then you might get a response in a couple of days.  Finally after about 6 weeks they acknowledged the problem and that they are having it with other customers as well, and then finally it got fixed. But that is why I spent my time researching other platforms was during that problem period.  Customer support is just awful and I don't think they really care.  I just couldn't find anything I liked better, that would make it worth my time to switch my automation routines over and couldn't find one PMS that did everything I wanted.

As far as rental lock management, I had a great solution, that was using smartthings and the RBOYS RLA software.   It was all automated and didn't cost anything extra, once you purchased the software for your hub.   I say had because smartthings recently changed the underlying framework their software runs on, and that broke the 3rd party app that RBOYs provided.  They are still working on fixing that but no ETA.

You just have to do what you are doing and demo a ton of them until you find the right fit for you man.