Guesty vs Hospitable vs Hostaway
Investor · Greenville, SC · Member since 2022 · 69 posts · 38 votes
Guesty vs Hospitable vs Hostaway
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Member since 2026 · 47 posts · 21 votes
2moJust to be honest with you. They all fine. Guesty, Hospitable, Hostaway, they all do the same core job. The host who master one PMS will outperform the host who keep switching to the next one every six months because somebody in a Facebook group said it was better.
You already got Guesty set up. You already built your direct booking site through it. That's a head start most hosts don't have. The clunky feeling is not a Guesty problem, that's a learning curve problem. Every PMS feels clunky until you know it cold. And if you switch to Hospitable tomorrow, you going to hit a new set of clunky things and start the learning curve all over again.
Pick the one you on, learn it all the way. Watch every tutorial, click every setting, figure out every automation it offers. That's where the ROI is. Not in the software itself, but in how deep you go with it.
And once you got your PMS locked in, make sure you publishing your listing on every platform it connects to. Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, your direct booking site, all of it. That's free marketing!! most hosts list on one or two platforms and leave money on the table everywhere else. Your PMS literally exists to manage multiple channels so use it for that.
14 Replies
- 3moJohn UnderwoodPro MemberInvestor · Greer, SC · Member since 2014 · 13k+ posts · 17k+ votes
I know this question comes up frequently, but following to see what the latest consensus is.
- 3moMike GrudzienPro MemberLender · Eugene, OR · Member since 2019 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votesAgreed, this is a constant, but evolving topic.
Quote from @Shane Bishop:
Hello BP community!! For a small, but growing portfolio, do you recommend Guesty, Hospitable, Hostaway, or another PMS to centralize everything across multiple OTAs? We recently launched an STR and are listed on various OTAs, so we set up an account with Guesty for our PMS to centralize everything. Honest opinion, it seems to have its ups and downs. The direct booking website creation was very simple and for the most part we've had success, but it's very clunky and not super user-friendly so we are spinning our wheels a bit with it. We've heard good things about Hospitable and Hostaway, but I was hoping others that maybe have tried multiple PMS's could provide some insight into which software they found best.
Thanks!!
- Investor · Greenville, SC · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes3mo
I used Your Porter which became Guesty for Hosts which became Guesty Lite. When it worked it worked great, when it didn't work - you got double bookings and you couldn't call anyone and their support was overseas only on their time, so you had to wait at least 24 hours to get an answer to your problem which usually wasn't an answer, but a dumb question. I know horrible run on long sentence. Like their support was.
I did a ton of research and did demos on probably the top 10 PMSs at the time - end of 2024. I learned a few things. #1 You want to be API connected to VRBO.
For a few reasons - you don't get double bookings that way - guaranteed.
And you process the payments and pay your taxes instead of VRBO doing it.
I initially thought this was a negative as I didn't want extra work. I soon learned it to be a positive because VRBO can't force me to refund someone if they so desire. I control the payment processing.
I also learned there are PMSs out there that tell you they are API connected - at the time Hospitable - however after talking at length to them I learned that VRBO is still processing your payments and doing your taxes when you are connected to them. Well that is not how the VRBO API works and when you push them on it - at least at the time they will concur - it is not the true VRBO API. That may have changed by now though - I don't know. At the time in the FB groups people were complaining about a lot of VRBO drops with them and having to restart the service or something. I'm sure that has been resolved by now but that also impacted my choice.
I ended up going to Hostaway Jan 2025. They were about the most expensive and they are not perfect just like any PMS. Their customer support is much better than what I had in the past though. But it did streamline some of my processes, I no longer needed two other services I was using - 1) Zapier 2) SignNow. I also gained the ability to collect info up front such as email - think AirBnb - and Photo ID and selfie. Once I got this drilled down I have been pretty happy with things. There are of course caveats as I said they are not perfect.
The other thing I learned is switching a PMS is a real PITA. Especially when you are doing multiple properties, multiple platforms, and direct bookings. There is going to be a really compelling reason to get me to change PMS at this time - it was not fun.
I know in some of the big STR groups the consensus has been OwnerRez. I spent an hour on the phone with them as well and further time researching them.My understanding is that it can do about anything you want, however, it is way more complicated to get things down. I didn't want to deal with that.
So that is where I am at in a nutshell. - Rental Property Investor · North Fork, NY · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 631 votes3mo
We have used Guesty and no others. It has hiccups but I've never had a double booking. We just paid for a year of Guesty Lite and are transitioning as we speak. I haven't used the others bc we're leaving well enough alone.
- Member since 2022 · 527 posts · 413 votes3mo
I use OwnerRez and like it. I've been using them for almost two years and did this search back then. They are definitely more complicated but once I got over the learning curve and set things up, it's fairly straightforward to maintain. They are fully API integrated with many OTAs and also have a marketplace integrating them with other software and services (think locks, cleaning services, guest communications), almost two many as they are always releasing new partnerships. I like how easy it is to create your own website also. No SEO or anything but a good website for direct bookings. I ended up saving money buy getting rid of several of the other services I was using including Wix which was becoming complicated for me to keep up to date.
- 3moAndrew SteffensBusiness MemberTampa, FL · Member since 2022 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
This is tough because not too many have experience with 1, and less with 2, and few to none have experience with all 3. I only have experience with Guesty and that was pre-2021. I really liked it EXCEPT their accounting was terrible, so we went to Streamline.
I am entering into a merger with 2 of my local competitors and they both use Guesty, so it looks like I will be back with Guesty shortly.
Vacation Rentals of Florida53 Reviews - Member since 2026 · 18 posts · 6 votes3moIts a really interesting question, because at face value they all do the same thing, but the complexities of the industry make it a challenging product to design. Im not sure any one of them is perfect for various reasons be it support, interface, integrations, guest management, how customizable they are, reporting options etc.
As part of my business I have built API integrations with Guesty, Hostaway, Resly, Ownerrez and Lodgify, plus Pricelabs and Wheelhouse, and they are all quite different. I wont provide a specific recommendation here as my business is a cross tool intelligence interface, and not a pure property management angle. I have heard good things about most of them and also flaws about all of them.
I will be interested to heat what others say on this also. - Rental Property Investor · Stewartsville, NJ · Member since 2016 · 418 posts · 280 votes3mo
We use Hospitable for our 3 properties, and are generally happy with it. The two big issues with it would be customer support is sometimes slow, and VRBO integration issues over the past year. From what I understand they have a new integration setup, so hopefully those issues will be fixed.
They have an MCP server, so you can integrate Claude with it which is great. Between Claude and Zapier, I'm able to do automations that don't come with Hoespitable.
Hope that helps.
Mike
- Virtual Assistant · Member since 2026 · 11 posts · 4 votes2mo
We've worked across a couple of PMS setups while managing multiple STR listings, and honestly each one tends to perform differently depending on your portfolio size and how "hands-on" you want to stay.
Guesty is powerful, but I agree with your experience; it can feel a bit heavy/clunky for smaller portfolios. It’s built more like an enterprise system, so you get a lot of features, but not always the most intuitive workflow for day-to-day management.
Hospitable is usually the easiest transition for small to mid-sized operators. It’s very strong on automation (guest messaging, tasking, cleaner workflows), and the UI is much more lightweight. It’s great if you want efficiency without too much complexity.
Hostaway sits more in the middle; more robust than Hospitable, but generally more user-friendly than Guesty. It’s often the “scaling sweet spot” for growing portfolios where you want reporting, integrations, and more control without full enterprise overhead.
From an operator perspective, the biggest difference usually isn’t just features... it’s:
- how quickly your team can actually use it daily
- how clean the automation rules feel in real situations
- and how well it handles exceptions (late checkouts, cancellations, maintenance issues, etc.)
If you’re already feeling Guesty is clunky, it may be a signal that you’re in that “growth but not enterprise” stage where Hospitable or Hostaway tends to feel smoother operationally.
Let me know if you’re open to more thoughts; I can share how I’d structure the decision based on portfolio size + revenue goals.
- Member since 2026 · 47 posts · 21 votes2mo
Just to be honest with you. They all fine. Guesty, Hospitable, Hostaway, they all do the same core job. The host who master one PMS will outperform the host who keep switching to the next one every six months because somebody in a Facebook group said it was better.
You already got Guesty set up. You already built your direct booking site through it. That's a head start most hosts don't have. The clunky feeling is not a Guesty problem, that's a learning curve problem. Every PMS feels clunky until you know it cold. And if you switch to Hospitable tomorrow, you going to hit a new set of clunky things and start the learning curve all over again.
Pick the one you on, learn it all the way. Watch every tutorial, click every setting, figure out every automation it offers. That's where the ROI is. Not in the software itself, but in how deep you go with it.
And once you got your PMS locked in, make sure you publishing your listing on every platform it connects to. Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, your direct booking site, all of it. That's free marketing!! most hosts list on one or two platforms and leave money on the table everywhere else. Your PMS literally exists to manage multiple channels so use it for that.
- 2moJohn UnderwoodPro MemberInvestor · Greer, SC · Member since 2014 · 13k+ posts · 17k+ votes
Different perspective.
Let's say you have 3 or less STR properties and just want one of these to be a direct booking site that you send family and friends to. Which one is best for that?
Be good to sync calendars and be able to take a payment but thats not critical.
- Investor · Greenville, SC · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes2moSo they all will do that - but this is where it gets into the nitty gritty.
Quote from @John Underwood:
Different perspective.
Let's say you have 3 or less STR properties and just want one of these to be a direct booking site that you send family and friends to. Which one is best for that?
Be good to sync calendars and be able to take a payment but thats not critical.
For example Hospitable had two different plans for direct booking when I looked at it about a year ago, and the good plan, they basically take a sizable cut - but they will be a lot cheaper overall than Guesty for Pros and Hostaway. I wouldn't even consider Guesty Lite give my past history with Guesty. Hostaway on the other hand takes 1.8% for processing your direct booking.
Now having said that, there is another fine point to think about too. Once you go to a PMS, if they truly connect to VRBO with the VRBO API, then you VRBO will no longer process your payments or do your taxes. So then Hostaway, takes another 1% of all the VRBO bookings in order to pass on the payment processing to your payment processor. Not sure what the other 2 do.
But things will change drastically from what you are used to with VRBO processing everything vs going to an API connected PMS where you are the payment processor for VRBO.
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