Rental Property Investor · Tennessee Florida · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 5k+ votes
For Short Term Rental Rockstars!
I've been with igms for a while but it seems to be getting more and more glitchy.
Does anyone have experience with multiple channel managers? I'm leaning towards switching to YourPorter as per @Julie McCoy suggestion but I want to make sure it's worth the set up time.
Rental Property Investor · Nashua, NH · Member since 2014 · 587 posts · 477 votes
6y
Hey @Poteau Thomas that’s fair ask. @Luke Carl and I were chatting about the comparison spreadsheet already and while I have been reluctant to this point to put something out there that I then had to “support” by adding a bunch of other checklist items I don’t care about myself, perhaps it can serve as a starting point and help others that stumble on this little thread to compare the market options, since there does appear to be a quite a bit of confusion on what does what and for what price in order to simply decide for yourself the best fit.
So without further adieu and in the spirit that “sharing is caring” here you go!
just starting out with first property in wears valley - considering YourPorter but would love to hear any other opinions. Does yourporter have automatic messages to your cleaners?
@Luke Carl I use Yourporter and it works really well, it integrates with Pricelabs which helps me sync prices across my direct booking site, Airbnb and VRBO website. Their automated task/messaging isn't as robust as Smartbnb, but it is robust enough where you won't need to use more than one platform, unified inbox, direct booking, everything works well.
They are also always adding/improving features, and everytime I had a question their support team got back to me right away.
It's pretty inexpensive for the value it provides.
just starting out with first property in wears valley - considering YourPorter but would love to hear any other opinions. Does yourporter have automatic messages to your cleaners?
It does text my cleaners, send auto messages to guests, create income reports, easier calendar interface than Airbnb. I say go for it. I think it's like $9 a month.
Lender · Asheville NC · Member since 2016 · 469 posts · 317 votes
5y
Yeah I'd just wait and see if your cleaner already uses RC or not. But YP is plenty imo. My new cleaners use turnover BNB which I've heard good things about and am trying out since they like it, but I'm having trouble with calendars not syncing correctly. So it's nice to have your Porter as a backup.
Rental Property Investor · Nashua, NH · Member since 2014 · 587 posts · 477 votes
4y
Any other YourPorter users seeing significantly more bugs than a few months back? Having endless problems within the last couple months with availability windows not updating in the defined availability windows and YP pricing overriding the rates set in smart pricing tools, which is a huge problem as busy ski seasons are coming up.
Rental Property Investor · North Fork, NY · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 631 votes
4y
@Cliff H. I only experienced a blocked calendar with an inquiry. I unblocked it on Guesty. No pricing issues but I use PriceLabs and its integration is smooth. The one thing I found was my cleaners calendar links needed to be resent to them since the move. Their calendars were not updating. Otherwise, no issues. Like anything else, it’s needs oversight.
Currently onboarding with Hostfully now. I'm underwhelmed and frustrated with their service. Really hoping it's just a rocky intro, because I don't want to have to find another PMS. It's such a time sink!
Your Porter just directs to Gusty now - I wonder if they're still a great option. Any thoughts?
Investor · Alexandria, VA · Member since 2020 · 95 posts · 45 votes
4y
Hey guys, I'm looking for a channel manager with website builder as part of the package.
I'm a web dev by profession but I'm not looking to do anything more than a few styling tweaks.
It seems that ownerreservations.com came highly recommended 2 years ago. I was also liking the look of sample sites from lodgify.com. The data from guesty.com (aka YourPorter) appears to be split.
Do you have any recent feedback/experiences with such platforms? My wife and I have one STR
Smart BnB is great. Kudos to @Benjamin Vail for the summary. Their focus has been in beefing up their Air BnB integration. To my knowledge they can message on VRBO but their financial reports do not include VRBO numbers. They don’t leave reviews for VRBO either.
I use OwnerRez as my PMS. It integrates at the API level with Air BnB and VRBO. It has a great direct booking website. You can use what they have out of the box or put a nice front end on it to dress it up. It cost me $800 for the front end.
OwnerRez can get all the financials from Air BnB and VRBO in one place. This is extremely powerful. They also integrate with Beyond Pricing. They have a robust messaging platform so you can set up the same message flows for bookings that come in off your website. You can make mods to your listings in OwnerRez and they will push to Air BnB and VRBO. You can also do credit card processing in their platform through a 3rd party integration. You can import your Air BnB or VRBO reviews and post them on your direct booking site.
You can send emails to cleaners and also share a master calendar with ALL your bookings on it (website, Air BnB and VRBO).
I will admit I did not like it at first but once I took the time to learn it and decided to take the plunge on my own direct bookings site I realized how great it is. It’s also cheap. 8 listings costs me 102.00/month.
Their tech support is da bomb. Same day response during biz days.
Just do it. :-)
Great post, you literally just talked me into giving it a try. Thank you so much for your review!
Rental Property Investor · Nashua, NH · Member since 2014 · 587 posts · 477 votes
4y
Hey folks, not sure how many other Guesty for Hosts (formerly known as YourPorter) users are out there, but subsequent to the buyout by Guests I'm seeing increasing, basic failures in the product, worsening customer support, and a stagnation in new features (other than those that increase revenue like hawking STR damage protection policies). Example: page load errors, mobile app freezes mandating a force-quit and relaunch, and increasingly templated customer support responses about putting feature requests or basic service issues on an indefinite development timeline. Granted, the website was always secondary to their mobile-first webframe-in-an-app approach, but load issues continue to mount, compromising my ability to perform basic functions within the site/app.
As long time and loyal YourPorter / GFH user I'm going to start hunting around for alternative solutions and welcome any other folks that have been using alternative channel managers that continue to work or haven't been bought out by a company (Guesty) that's more interested in making a buck than investing in their solutions and existing customers.
Edison, NJ · Member since 2017 · 115 posts · 34 votes
4y
I was with Your Porter and still a part of the Guests for Hosts post their takeover. I agree there are a lot of glitches however when I started on a path of chosing alternatives found out the harder way that companies like Hostfully are far far worse..
I am with guests support a lot of times & they fail to replicate my issue however with the cost and other benefits , I am chosing to stick with the lesser of the evils . One thing I can tell you for sure is to totally avoid Hostfully, their reps are class apart when it comes to conniving strategies and learnt the harder way that their VRBO integration is extremely poor
Rental Property Investor · Nashua, NH · Member since 2014 · 587 posts · 477 votes
4y
Thanks @Gururaj Iyer for that insight. Looks like Guesty just got some big checks so hopefully some do that can translate into investment into Guesty for Hosts, rather than the typical tech acquisition model of trying to just milk your purchase for whatever you can on the way to up selling one’s main offering.
Thanks @Gururaj Iyer for that insight. Looks like Guesty just got some big checks so hopefully some do that can translate into investment into Guesty for Hosts, rather than the typical tech acquisition model of trying to just milk your purchase for whatever you can on the way to up selling one’s main offering.
@Cliff H. Did you end up moving on from GFH and if so, who did you choose?
I've got a couple properties and am looking for something I can grow with. Hunting around the review sites (as well as this thread) it looks like Uplisting, Hostaway and Ownerrez are getting thumbs up. No one seems to mention Uplisting or Hostaway on this thread though. Anyone out there have recent experience with them?