Vacation rental owners who decide to manage their property themselves need the right tools in order to automate processes and improve performance. Guesty is one of the many short term rental property management software platforms that help hosts and professional property managers manage, automate, and streamline their business from a single place. But is Guesty worth it?
This Guesty review covers everything that owners and property managers need to know about the platform to decide if this is the best tool for their needs.
Guesty Property Management System Overview
Guesty is a technology-based property management system (PMS) that is specifically designed for the needs of the hospitality industry and those who work in it. The platform provides a set of different tools that aim to optimize hospitality operations and maximize revenues for those managing Airbnb’s and other short term rental properties. In brief, the software aims to make listing on multiple websites easier, facilitate the management of multiple units, and bring all processes under one roof. This makes Guesty one of the best Airbnb management software solutions available on the market. Key tools provided by Guesty include a channel manager, a multi-calendar, and a unified inbox.
Guesty was founded in 2013 by brothers Amiad and Koby Soto, with headquarters in Covina, CA, under the name SuperHost. A year later, the company was rebranded to Guesty.
Guesty Airbnb Property Management System Pricing
Guesty runs a subscription-based pricing model. The cost depends on the number of properties, the included services, and the subscription duration. Both monthly and annual subscriptions are available, so owners can test if the platform is able to meet their needs before committing in the long term. Annual subscriptions benefit from discounted rates.
Guesty offers three plans to meet the needs of different vacation rental operators:
- Guesty Lite: This plan is ideal for the owners of 1-3 listings, offers access to the basic must-have tools, and helps list properties on Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com. Pricing starts at $27/month per listing when billed annually and at $39/month per listing when billed monthly.
- Guesty Pro: This plan is designed for property managers with 4-199 listings and provides access to most standard tools. Pricing is customized.
- Guesty Enterprise: This plan is appropriate for large-scale managers with 200+ listings and offers access to the same tools as Pro. Pricing is once again customized.
Add-on tools that are paid separately include:
- Guesty PriceOptimizer
- Damage Protection
- GuestyPay
- Guesty Websites
- Guesty Locks Manager
- Guest Communication Services (GCS)
- Guesty Capital
Some of these add-on tools are available in bundles, such as:
- Guesty Lite Bundle: This combines the essential hosting tools available in Guesty Lite with Guesty PriceOptimizer. Pricing starts at $9/month.
- Guesty Pro Bundle: This brings together the core features included in Guesty Pro and major add-ons. Pricing is customizable.
Because of the multiple customization options, hosts and property managers need to get in touch with the Guesty team, discuss their needs, decide on the right plan and the required add-ons, and get a custom quote. It is not possible to estimate the total cost beforehand.
Who Guesty Airbnb Property Management System Serves Best
Guesty can be used by beginner and experienced Airbnb property owners who have a single rental, a few listings, or a number of investment properties. It can also serve the needs of small-scale to large-scale vacation rental property managers and hotel managers. Users can put a lot of work on autopilot through the available integrations, but they still need to be involved in the management of their properties and the coordination of their teams.
Guesty is not a good fit for short term rental property owners who expect passive income. Instead, they should hire one of the best Airbnb management companies in their market.
In terms of property types, Guesty can help with the management of:
- Vacation rentals
- Urban rentals
- Aparthotels
- Guesthouses and B&Bs
- Serviced apartments
- Outdoor stays
- Hotels
How Guesty Vacation Property Management System Works
Guesty offers a range of different tools that help with various parts of the short term rental management process.
Guesty short term rental property management features include:
- Channel Manager: The Guesty channel manager is the most famous and the most widely used feature of the platform. It facilitates the publication, optimization, and management of listings across multiple booking channels to boost visibility, reservations, and revenue.
- Multi-Calendar: This Guesty feature allows hosts and property managers to view and manage all past, present, and future bookings from a single calendar. This helps gain visibility and avoid double bookings.
- Direct Reservations: Guesty offers a set of tools for direct reservations to increase visibility, optimize pricing, and ensure a smooth booking process.
- Manual Reservations: Guesty provides a one-stop solution for managing manual reservations for less dependency on third parties and increased flexibility.
- Unified Inbox: This feature brings communication from all booking channels into a single inbox, including emails, SMSs, Whatsapp messages, and OTA messages.
- Payment Solutions: Guesty features a set of hospitality-focused payment solutions that help process payments, automate related tasks, and minimize risks.
- Task Management: Property owners and managers can create, assign, and monitor tasks based on triggers for an organized workflow and improved team collaboration.
- Reporting Tools: Guesty allows hosts to summarize, organize, and monitor 65 different data points for informed Airbnb business decisions.
- Guesty CRM: The Guesty CRM helps owners get a good understanding of guests, deliver excellent services, and attract repeat customers.
- Automation Tools: Guesty helps automate different tasks, such as guest communication and vacation rental pricing, in order to save time and increase efficiency.
- Multi-Unit Management: Hosts and property managers can streamline management and automate tasks for groups of similar listings to scale up operations in an efficient manner.
- Analytics: Guesty provides Airbnb data analytics and insights on reservations, revenue, communication, task performance, and competitors to enhance revenue and improve operational productivity.
- Guesty Accounting: Guesty offers an Airbnb accounting solution for end-to-end cash management.
- Owners Portal: Property managers can keep owners informed about the performance of their rental via the owners portal.
- Mobile Management App: The Guesty platform is available as a mobile app for managing short term rentals on the go.
- Open API: Owners and property managers can integrate their own solutions or tools from Guesty’s partners for further customization and automation.
Guesty also offers the following add-ons:
- Guest Communication Services: Guesty has a 24/7 team that can be used outside business hours to address guest questions quickly.
- Damage Protection: Guesty’s damage protection features different plans and allows hosts to manage damage claims from their dashboard without the involvement of guests.
- Guesty Capital: Guesty lends money to owners and property managers to renovate and upgrade their properties, grow their team, build their brand, and expand their portfolio, with repayments based on revenue.
- Guesty Locks Manager: Smart locks for Airbnb properties can be managed remotely with automatic code generation and real-time lock information.
- Guesty PriceOptimizer: Guesty helps implement a dynamic pricing strategy based on seasonality, days of the week, and holidays to boost the Airbnb occupancy rate and maximize revenue.
- Guesty Websites: Guesty offers a vacation rental website builder for increased exposure, direct bookings, and direct payments with no Airbnb fees.
- GuestyPay: Guesty provides a payment processing solution that is designed for the needs of the hospitality industry for secure transactions.
Guesty Short Term Property Management System Integrations
In order to offer an all-in-one short term rental property management platform, Guesty integrates with more than 150 third-party tools from various categories.
Following are the currently available Guesty integrations:
- Booking channels: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Google, Agoda, Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy, Hopper, HomeToGo, Plum Guide, Travelstation, GlampingHub, Whimstay, Holidu, Blueground, Smiling House, and Misterb&b
- Channel managers: Rentals Unites, BookingPal, and SiteMinder
- Financials and accounting: AirDNA, PriceLabs, Wheelhouse, Beyond, Key Data, Proper Insurance, Generali Global Assistance, Perfect Price, Swikly, Hostkit, Pikl, D Consulting, InsuraGuest, RoomPriceGenie, Justt, Pricepoint, HomSure, Rented, LoanBase, SmartSurj, DPGO, Chargeback Gurus, MovingLake, Quibble, SecureStay, RevPARTY, SmartPricing, Speicher Revenue Consulting, Richer Logic, Sequence, Clearing, HiRUM, Thuro Accounting, Extenteam, Edgewater Firm, VRPlatform, Duve, and Ximplifi
- Guest management: GuestView Guide, Welcome, YourWelcome, LuggageHero, BagsAway, LugLess, BabyQuip, Hostkip, Travelade, Bridgify, Travello App, Cityride, Virtual Front Desk, ibindo, Check-in Scan, Yada, HotelAppz, TourDesk, Upsell Guru, For-Sight, Xperium, HelloGuest, Calirom, Viggo, Bnsellit, RueBaRue, Hello George, Radical Storage, KeyNinja, BeHome247, BRISA, SecureStay, Folio, Besty AI, VayKLife, Touch Stay, GuestLabs, Mount, Orana Stay, Botel, SuiteOp, Akia, Xplorie, SmartHotel, Host.AI, Guest Guru, TMRW Apartments, PrimeHost, Charge Automation, StayFi, Checkin, Into, Aloware, Operto, Dack, Duve, Enso Connect, and Autohost
- Home automation and security: Smart Door Systems, Brivo, PointCentral, Roomonitor, KeyNest, Sharebox, Vikey, SCLAK, PowerSetter, AurMur, Nuki, Valnes, Calirom, Akiles, Jervis Systems, Aura Air, Tedee, OK2Charge, Aidos Offset, LoopKey, GateGoing, 4WiFi, Alertify, Badbugs, TigerTMS, Lowkey, Go Zero Charge, Keycafe, Minut, Dack, Enso Connect, Lynx, and RemoteLock
- Marketing: hostWriter, Beyondbooking, Teliportme, 80 Days, Online Tourism, Gold Shark, ICND, Toast, Signal by Beyond, Customyze, Olive Street Design, WebAct, Spotzer Agency, Repuso, Camel and Straw Media, RezRecover, Triangle Luxury Real Estate, Revyoos, Reva, hostAI, Direct Booking Tools, Hudson Creative Studio, Magnetic Strategy, hostFront, Simplex, Shine, Sparrow, RealTech Webmasters, and Scurto Marketing
- New arrivals: Maveriks
- Operations, cleaning, and maintenance: Turno, Breezeway, Doinn, Fülhaus, JAK, Zapier, Flexkeeping, Theodora, Puls, EZcare, PayEm, HKeeper, TallOrder POS, Simpra, Turnify, ResortCleaning, Tulogy, Styled Interior Design, TIDY, Cleanster.com, sojo, Vintory, Public Goods, TopTipper, Puls Home Services, Bongo Stays, Propertyhero, PropFit, houstr, Synchronest, HostGPO, Sweeply, Properly, and API Nation
- Payment processing: Stripe, Hyp, and Merchant Warrior
Guesty Airbnb Property Management System Pros and Cons
Our Guesty review shows that the platform comes with many important advantages and disadvantages.
The main benefits of Guesty are:
- Comprehensive solution for both property owners and property managers
- Integrations with key vacation rental management tools
- Ability to list on all major booking channels
- Scalability
- Affordable cost for small portfolios
- Customization options for more expensive plans
- 24/7 customer support
The most significant drawbacks of Guesty are:
- Unclear pricing, especially for larger portfolios
- Multiple tools available as add-ons only, inflating price
- Potentially overwhelming capabilities for beginners in the hospitality industry
- Still a lot of work left for owners and managers
- Functional problems reported by customers
Guesty Vacation Property Management System Reviews
Online Guesty reviews are available on:
- Trustpilot: 4.5/5 stars from 535 reviews
- Capterra: 4.4/5 stars based on 275 reviews
- GetApp: 4.4/5 stars from 275 reviews
- Software Advice: 4.4/5 stars from 275 reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 stars from 42 reviews
Overall, Guesty has a strong online reputation with more than 1,000 reviews by hosts and property managers. Average ratings are good. Nevertheless, some complaints raise important questions about the capacities and the smooth operations of the platform.
Positive Guesty reviews highlight the ease of use, the powerful automation features, the pricing capabilities, the useful real-time information, the regular software updates, the robust integrations with third-party solutions, and the continuous customer support.
Problems that customers mention include false promises by sales representatives, very basic functionalities, poor integrations with booking channels, technical glitches, missing features, breach of contracts, and inadequate support.
Guesty Short Term Rental Property Management Alternatives
While Guesty might be able to meet the needs of many Airbnb hosts and property managers, there might be some that find the platform too complicated or the features not enough. That’s why we’ve gathered the top Guesty alternatives for owners and managers with different portfolios and expectations.
Lodgify vs Guesty
Lodgify is a short term rental PMS that offers features that are very similar to what Guesty offers. The main tools include a channel manager, dynamic pricing, booking system, reservation system, guest management, unified inbox, task management, website builder, automation, accounting, reporting, and analytics.
Lodgify is used by both individual hosts and property managers with portfolios of vacation rentals. It works with various types of properties that are similar to the Guesty coverage.
Lodgify has a clearer pricing system than Guesty. There are three different plans, with monthly, annual, and biannual subscriptions. The Starter plan starts at $16/month plus 1.9% of booking fees for one property, when paid annually. The Professional and Ultimate plans do not charge a percentage of the booking fee. Importantly, Lodgify has a 7-day free trial, unlike Guesty, so interested owners can get a feel of the platform before paying for a subscription.
Hostaway vs Guesty
Hostaway is an all-in-one vacation rental software system that helps hosts and professionals manage Airbnb properties more efficiently. Key Hostaway features include a channel manager, dynamic pricing, multi-calendar, multi-unit support, unified inbox, communication automation, review automation, task management, website builder, coupon management, financial reporting, analytics, and others.
Hostaway has more solid marketing capabilities than Guesty but does not offer damage protection which is important in the vacation rental industry.
While Hostaway can be used by individual investors, the platform is generally geared towards property managers with multiple short term rentals in their portfolios.
Hostaway does not provide information about pricing which is entirely customizable. There is no free trial as onboarding takes 6-8 hours.
Hospitable vs Guesty
Hospitable is an Airbnb management software that helps hosts and managers put their vacation rentals on autopilot, similar to Guesty. The main features include a channel manager, manual reservations, direct bookings website, pricing synchronization, unified inbox, guest communication, task management, team collaboration, review management, reporting, and analytics.
Hospitable integrates with fewer tools than Guesty, but it does cover the basic requirements of the hospitality industry. Both property owners and property managers can find value in Hospitable.
Pricing starts at $29/month for one property for the Host plan and $59/month for one property for the Professional plan. This is comparable to the Guesty pricing. However, Hospitable offers a 14-day free trial.
Bottom Line
A detailed Guesty review reveals that the PMS offers numerous important tools and features which can help property owners and property managers significantly decrease the time and effort that they need to put into managing their rentals. However, many key features are available as add-ons.
Overall, the Guesty cost is likely to be high for managing multiple properties and for gaining access to all must-have tools. Moreover, Guesty is not a good fit for short term rental property investors looking for passive income. They would need to hire a full-service vacation rental manager instead.
