Managing short-term rentals can be overwhelming, but platforms like Lodgify promise to streamline and automate time-consuming tasks for Airbnb hosts and property managers. With tools like a property management system (PMS), channel manager, website builder, and dynamic pricing features, Lodgify aims to bring efficiency to vacation rental operations. But is it really worth it for property owners and managers like you? In this Lodgify review, we'll take a deep dive into the platform's features, functionalities, and integrations.
You'll also learn about the pricing structure and the types of users best suited for Lodgify, helping you decide if it aligns with your business needs. We'll explore customer reviews from trustworthy sources to uncover the platform's strengths and weaknesses, including its usability, reliability, automation capabilities, and the value it delivers—or doesn't—to users.
Finally, we'll wrap up with top alternatives to Lodgify that might better fit the needs of various STR operators.
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What is Lodgify?
Lodgify is a vacation rental management software that serves hosts and property managers alike. The company was founded in 2012 by Dennis Klett and Marco De Gregorio and has its headquarters in Barcelona, Spain. The platform has worldwide coverage and can be used in any market, with a particularly strong presence in the U.S.
Lodgify was launched to help independent hosts and property managers simplify the management and marketing of their lodging businesses. The company mission is to provide every global host and lodging business with the opportunity to get started and grow through technology.
Lodgify achieves its mission by offering the essential tools necessary to:
- Create a bookable website
- Sync property data availability across third-party platforms
- Manage guest reservations and communication from a single interface
In this way, Lodgify helps you start, manage, and grow a short-term rental enterprise with the power of technology.
Who is Lodgify best for?
The tools and features available on Lodgify make it a potentially good fit for a few different types of users including:
- First-time and experienced short-term rental property investors who want to streamline the management of their properties
- Hosts with one or more listings on Airbnb and Vrbo who are ready to automate the operations of their rentals
- Local property managers and national Airbnb management companies that aim to put their day-to-day tasks on autopilot in order to grow their business sustainably
- Owners and managers of bed and breakfasts, small hotels, serviced apartments, cabins, cottages, villas, resorts, holiday lets, and camping and glamping accommodations who are looking for options to optimize the management process
What does Lodgify do?
As popular Airbnb management software, Lodgify supports hosts and property managers to put their business operations on autopilot in order to provide them with the time and energy to focus on more strategic aspects of their business.
To this end, Lodgify offers the following Airbnb automation tools and features.
Property management software
First and foremost, Lodgify features a property management system (PMS). This software allows you to manage bookings, guest communication, tasks, and finances from a single website or mobile app.
The Lodgify PMS encompasses the following capabilities:
- Reservation System: You can manage all reservations and bookings by updating your calendar, creating new quotes, requesting payments, and overseeing reservations.
- Unified Inbox: You can manage all guest communications in one place by receiving and responding to inquiries and messages from all OTAs including your own direct booking website. In addition, you can save responses to common guest questions and assign conversations to team members for speedy and detailed responses.
- Guest Management: Airbnb hosts and property managers can automate communication with guests through automated emails, SMSs, and WhatsApp messages. This facilitates check-ins, check-outs, and other processes and helps get more 5-star reviews.
- Task Management: Larger STR operators can add their team members to the Lodgify platform by specifying their level of access to create, assign, and oversee tasks through automation.
- Automation: Lodgify automates multiple aspects of vacation rental management including dynamic pricing, guest communication, and check-in procedures. This leads to better guest experiences, stronger online reputation, and more bookings.
- Reporting and Analytics: Lodgify brings together important Airbnb metrics such as bookings, revenue, daily rates, occupancy, fees, payments, and website traffic, allowing users to track performance over time. The app helps create and export reports based on these numbers for further analysis.
- Owner Statements: Hosts can access reports on the income, expenses, and other performance metrics to analyze their business, while property managers can generate statements for owners for increased transparency and trustworthiness.
Channel manager
The Lodgify channel manager brings together listings on multiple booking channels to automatically synchronize calendars across listing websites and avoid double bookings.
The channel manager works directly with top platforms including:
- Airbnb
- Vrbo
- Booking.com
- Expedia
- Google Vacation Rentals
Additionally, using iCal integrations, the vacation rental channel manager can work with more niche platforms including but not limited to:
- TripAdvisor
- Trivago
- Hotelbeds
- Last Minute
- HouseTrip
This Lodgify feature syncs and allows the automated management of daily rates, availability, and bookings across all channels without the need for repetitive manual tasks. This helps STR hosts and managers save time and increase productivity.
Dynamic pricing
Lodgify Dynamic Pricing is a pricing tool that conducts market trend analysis and comp analysis to recommend optimal daily rates. The Lodgify algorithm takes into consideration more than 40 listing attributes, market conditions, and local trends to provide 18 months of nightly prices that are competitive in the area.
Meanwhile, STR operators can retain control over their pricing strategy by being able to customize rates in line with their expertise and strategy. All in all, users report an average increase in revenue of 20% when switching to Lodgify's in-house dynamic pricing tool.
Website builder
Lodgify offers a vacation rental website builder that allows small and big hosts and property managers to launch their own website to generate direct bookings. While listing your property on major channels like Airbnb and Vrbo is a great way to distribute your property in front of a lot of potential guests, you should not underestimate the importance of direct bookings. Having your own website helps you gain additional exposure via Google SEO and get extra bookings without the need to pay Airbnb host fees, keeping more revenue for yourself.
Lodgify provides a range of readily available vacation rental website templates that match the needs of different types of short-term rentals. Templates are SEO-optimized and mobile-friendly, feature an integrated booking system, and accept online payments. Importantly, building a website requires no technical skills and no coding.
Booking widget
With the Lodgify vacation rental booking widget, STR operators can start accepting direct bookings and managing credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay payments from their already existing listing website. This allows you to turn your website into a booking engine through embedding the booking widget.
This Lodgify tool works with a range of website management systems such as:
- WordPress
- Squarespace
- Wix
- Webflow
- Weebly
- Drupal
- Joomla
Payment processing
The Lodgify vacation rental booking system helps get direct bookings. The reservation system can be connected with booking channels to manage listings from a single platform and prevent double bookings.
The Lodgify booking system integrates with key payment gateways for hosts and property manages to receive and process payments for direct bookings. These include:
- Visa, MasterCard, and American Express credit cards
- Bank transfers, checks, and cash payments
- Stripe
- PayPal
- Banktree
- Authorize.net
The availability of all these features makes Lodgify one of the best Airbnb management software solutions.
Lodgify pricing
Lodgify has a subscription-based pricing model as is typical of a SaaS product. The cost depends on the access to features, number of rentals, and subscription plan duration. Monthly, yearly, and biyearly options are available. All given costs are accurate at the time of writing, but they may change, so it's always best to contact Lodgify's team directly for the most up-to-date pricing information.
Lodgify offers three plans that include:
- Starter: The tools necessary to get your vacation rental business started. From $16/month + 1.9% of booking revenue for one property to $107/month + 1.9% of booking revenue for 100 properties when billed annually.
- Professional: Everything in Starter + tools to increase revenue and productivity. From $40/month for one property to $406/month for 100 properties when billed annually.
- Ultimate: Everything in Professional + advanced property management tools. From $59/month for one property to $574/month for 100 properties when billed annually.
All plans come with a seven-day free trial in addition to free one-on-one onboarding and free setup. Some Lodgify features are provided as add-ons, including Dynamic Pricing and Smart Locks (coming soon).
Interested users need to check out the different plans to choose the best fit for their needs and calculate the total cost for their portfolios.
Lodgify integrations
Airbnb automation software needs to work smoothly and seamlessly with a multitude of third-party apps to allow hosts and property managers to streamline processes. To do that, Lodgify provides integrations with dozens of other platforms that are widely used in the industry.
These are the main categories of software that Lodgify integrates with and some prominent examples of each:
- Booking channels: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, Google Vacation Rentals, Whimstay, and others
- Business tools: Breezeway, Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Clearing, and others
- Cleaning: Turno, Cleanster, Tidy, and other Airbnb cleaning services
- Dynamic pricing: PriceLabs and Beyond
- Guest experience: HostAI, Besty AI, StayFi, Charge Automation, and others
- Guest verification: Minus, Enso Connect, Safely, Chekin, and others
- Keyless access: Duve, Jervis, Vikey, and others
- Rental protection: Swikly, Superhog, and others
These integrations make Lodgify comparable to other PMSs in the vacation rental space.
Lodgify reviews: What customers say
Lodgify has an average rating of 4.4/5 stars, based on over 2,400 unique customer reviews.
Generally speaking, these Lodgify reviews result in very good overall ratings of the platform. However, individual reviews by customers provide an important opportunity to dig deeper into Lodgify and figure out the main pros and cons of the platform.
Online Lodgify reviews are available on:
- Trustpilot: 4.7/5 stars from 1,381 reviews
- Capterra: 4.5/5 stars from 991 reviews
- GetApp: 4.5/5 stars from 991 reviews
- Software Advice: 4.5/5 stars from 991 reviews
- G2: 3.9/5 stars from 38 reviews
- Secret: 4.8/5 stars from 29 reviews
- PissedConsumer: 2.1/5 stars from 12 reviews
Let's have a look at the most common Lodgify strengths and weaknesses highlighted by customers in their online reviews.
Positive reviews of Lodgify
As highlighted by Lodgify's excellent ratings on review websites, customers are generally happy with the functionalities of the software and the policies of the company. Here's what users enjoy the most.
Strong features and capabilities
Many Lodgify reviews emphasize the tools that allow STR operators to manage their business more easily and efficiently.
For instance, Steven wrote on G2:
"We went from being held back by AirBNB to in control of our own bookings!... Now we can offer direct bookings and VRBO booking options to our best guests. We love the ease of use of Lodgify, and how their customer support made it easy to implement both direct bookings and VRBO integration. We now only use Lodgify's interface every day. It allows us to integrate different booking sites and our own direct bookings into one calendar. Lodgify offers every feature that the other booking sites use and allows you to control it from one place. We are now looking to add another property since we can manage everything much easier with Lodgify."
Similarly, Katie shared on Capterra:
"Lodgify has been a great partner since we went solo without using our property developer's rental company to let our rental. It has given us more control over our business, with more satisfaction, better financial reward."
Shawna's review on GetApp reads:
"Lodgify is a great way to manage properties across platforms and they help you integrate every step of the way!"
User-friendly platform
Another feature that makes Lodgify one of the best short-term rental software options according to customers is the intuitive platform that provides smooth operations.
Taranjeet commented on Trustpilot:
"The best thing I love about Lodgify is that the user interface is super beginner friendly."
Adine also shared similar impressions on Trustpilot:
"Lodgify is super easy to use. I built a whole website with no prior experience. Just used a template and went from there. Their system is also fantastic and super quick to go live."
In his review on G2, Chris highlighted:
"The UI is very intuitive and I became comfortable with it very quickly."
Great onboarding experience
A number of Lodgify users praise the onboarding support that the app offers which allows them to get up to speed quickly.
For example, Niko left the following review on Trustpilot:
"Lodgify, because of how expansive its features are, can at first be a little confusing and difficult to wrap one's head around. But, thankfully, they have an excellent onboarding service. I met twice online with an onboarding specialist, who walked me through Lodgify's features and offerings patiently and expertly. Thank you, Sara, and thank you, Lodgify!"
Nikolaos shared his satisfaction with the getting started process on Capterra:
"The onboarding process. I needed to have two sessions in order to setup my website, connected external platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com, understand and setup the payments and nightly prices. [sensitive content hidden] is a fantastic onboarding specialist and helped me a lot to setup everything I needed without rushing things up because our meetings were usually running overtime."
Good integrations and APIs
Another standout feature of Lodgify, as highlighted in customer reviews, is its extensive range of reliable integrations with third-party tools, which enhance the platform's functionality and adaptability.
Hannah wrote the following on Software Advice:
"The interface is modern, user friendly and every system is very easy to integrate and utilize within Lodgify."
Dane shared his thoughts on Lodgify integrations on G2:
"I appreciate the quick responses from the engaged customer service team, the platform is very easy to use (my first PMS experience) and they make integration easy."
Helpful and reliable customer support
The final Lodgify pro worth highlighting according to customer experiences is the great customer support provided by the team.
Catherine praised Lodgify's customer service on Software Advice as follows:
"In addition, the onboarding and post-launch support, as well as customer support has exceeded our expectations!"
Taylor shared the following on GetApp:
"The customer support was amazing. [SENSITIVE CONTENT] was patient and pleasant. He explained everything clearly and answered all of my questions with ease."
Cozy Caye Casita expressed their satisfaction with customer support on Trustpilot:
"Lodgify has all the resources I need and more, and, their customer service is so helpful and timely."
Negative reviews of Lodgify
Despite mostly strong ratings, customers also had some weaknesses to discuss in their Lodgify reviews. It's important for interested users to take these into account before deciding if this is the right Airbnb rental management software for their needs.
Inefficient core features
While customers are generally happy with Lodgify tools and features, a number of them have reported flaws in functionalities and implementation.
For instance, Alexander wrote the following on GetApp:
"Many missing functionalities and integrations. I used their dynamic pricing tool which cost me a bunch of money as it is wildly ineffective. They weren't able to get any bookings which was higher than the minimum price I already set and had prior. Waste of money."
Similar, Jay shared his complaints on Software Advice:
"My experience with Lodgify's software has been unpleasant and unreliable. They did not take responsibility for their mistakes and refused to offer an ethical solution. During several of my connections, they mixed up two of my listings and synced the wrong pricing. Taxes were not synced and they placed the blame on me."
Mary shared her frustration with Lodgify on Trustpilot:
"This has been a disaster, I cannot update pricing or cancel the dynamic pricing since starting with Lodgify I have had zero inquiries I need to cancel asap"
Poor syncing implementation
Another con of Lodgify highlighted by several users is the lack of property synchronization between listings on different channels as well as between different tools.
LosAngelesAndrew left the following negative review of Lodgify on Reddit:
"DO NOT USE LODGIFY!!! TOTAL waste of time and your money. The sync systems do not work. The customer service is via 'email' and they just forward to different departments. DNS repeated settings errors."
Kara commented the following on G2:
"I dislike everything. The calendar does not sync correctly with AirBNB and caused us multiple double booking, the back-end is clunky and hard to navigate, the "website" is slow and not user-friendly, the customer service is terrible, and getting paid is a nightmare."
oscar's review on Trustpilot reads:
"Not synced with booking, wrong prices, bookings for the 'half of the price'."
Malfunctioning integrations with third-party tools
While Lodgify provides many third-party software tool integrations, they may not always work as expected, which leads to some complaints in reviews.
Kim wrote this review on Capterra:
"The integration with VRBO was a terrible experience. I had no clue it was going to be so difficult and change the way we charge customers."
Peter's review on Software Advice notes comparable problems:
"Poor integration between VRBO/Bookabach and other related brands has meant lost business, incorrectly stated property details etc. all resulting in a loss of trust and business immediately after. 1 in 4 VRBO bookings since VRBO and Lodgify were integrated. Inbox has never passed on VRBO or Booking.com message since inception."
Jacob expressed his dissatisfaction with Lodgify on GetApp:
"The integration with Airbnb and VRBO can be challenging."
Unfair pricing and cancellation policies
Some customers are unhappy with the way in which Lodgify handles charges and cancellations, revealing lack of compliance with the policies that the company advertises during onboarding. Thus, customers noted that they end up paying more than expected when using Lodgify.
Celeste wrote this on G2:
"Lodgify does not adhere to its published policies. For example, Lodify's policy states that it does not charge commissions for canceled reservations. However, Lodgify can not verify if reservations were canceled, so they charge commissions on ALL reservations, regardless of status. For example, an avalanche of false reservations were made on booking.com. Since booking.com is tied to my Lodgify account, I was charged hundreds of dollars in commission fees for fraudulent reservations."
Similarly, Vic shared their negative experience on Trustpilot:
"Stealing money from customers!! After canceling the subscription I was charged for almost 100 euros! Apparently for dynamic pricing!! What is the logic?? To cancel subscription, cut off from system but to use dynamic pricing??"
Duarte complained on Software Advice:
"For my surprise they started sending me invoices for bookings I was receiving directly on AirBnB platform and I then I raised several complaints and asked my account to be deleted and closed along with my data. They did not cancel my account nor deleted my details and on top of that left a connection open to my PayPal and after 4 months they ripped me off more than £700 after my account was "closed" according to the customer service person."
Inadequate customer support team
As sometimes happens in the SaaS industry, some users are more lucky with customer support than others. Inconsistent customer services are a major red flag about the overall legitimacy of a software product.
Cheryl shared her dissatisfaction with Lodgify customer services on Capterra:
"When I call customer support it takes them 10 min to answer a simple direct question. They are also not open on the weekends for customer support when most of the business for a vacation rental happens over long weekends. The send you a ridiculous number of emails asking if you need help which are clearly automated. But when you ask for help it is a nightmare to get straight answers."
Finally, a G2 user complained about the Lodgify customer support team as follows:
"Customer service is terrible. Not helpful at all. Rude."
All in all, Lodgify reviews show some mixed experiences, but the number of happy customers exceeds the number of unhappy ones.
How reliable is Lodgify?
Customer reviews of Lodgify show that the platform offers a high degree of reliability and legitimacy. Many customers have been able to improve the operations and performance of their short-term rental portfolios via the tools available on Lodgify. Features and integrations work well, and technical glitches are not common.
Yet, some customers experienced difficulties using the app, especially with regards to integrations and synchronizations. Technical problems do occur, albeit rarely.
In terms of data accuracy, Lodgify Dynamic Pricing uses more than 40 factors and analyzes millions of data points. Data is collected through partnerships with industry-leading experts. However, the company does not specify who these partners are, how exactly data is obtained and handled, and what listings it is based on.
If you decide to use Lodgify to dynamically price your vacation rentals, review their recommended rates for a few weeks to ensure that they make sense in your market. Moreover, you should periodically check on integrations and features to make sure that they are properly connected and working.
Lodgify alternatives
Lodgify is a strong option for different types of vacation rental operators looking for software to streamline and automate processes. Nonetheless, some feature limitations and some negative Lodgify reviews mean that hosts and property managers with more complex needs might need to look into alternatives.
Here are the top Lodgify competitors, designed to meet the diverse needs of Airbnb hosts and property managers.
Lodgify vs SummerOS
SummerOS centralizes your STR data and operations into one powerful platform, helping you grow faster, manage smarter, and stay ahead of the competition with proactive management tools. Instead of competing with Lodgify, SummerOS rather complements the PMS app by incorporating all available data and metrics to provide more comprehensive and actionable insights that lead to data-driven management decisions.
Designed by property managers for property managers, SummerOS empowers you to:
- Streamline the management of your entire portfolio (no matter how many listings you manage) from a single platform
- Track property and portfolio performance with real-time analytics
- Get new short-term rental property management leads and retain existing customers through enhanced performance
- Automate team tasks and alerts for proactive management ahead of operational issues and market trends
- Identify underperforming properties and optimize results with targeted strategies
- Provide superior guest experiences via proactive communication and problem solving
Smarter STR management is available with SummerOS for only $15/month per listing. Reduced pricing is available for larger portfolios, and you can sign up for a 14-day free trial to test the platform capabilities for yourself.
Lodgify vs Guesty
Guesty is one of the most popular direct competitors of Lodgify. It offers many of the same features including channel management, multi-calendar, direct reservations, dynamic pricing, unified inbox, payment solutions, automations, and analytics.
Guesty provides some additional tools such as:
- Guesty Capital for financing short-term rental businesses
- Guesty Damage Protection acting as Airbnb insurance
- Guesty Communication Services for access to in-person guest support staff
- Guesty Locks Manager for integrating Airbnb smart locks
- Guesty Accounting operating as an Airbnb accounting software
Compared to Lodgify, Guesty is a better fit for larger-scale hosts and property managers, but it might be somewhat expensive. Pricing starts at $39/month per listing with many extra features being offered as add-ons. Read more in our post on Lodgify vs Guesty.
Lodgify vs Hostaway
Hostaway is another alternative to Lodgify. Similar to Lodgify, Hostaway tools include a PMS, channel manager, reservations manager, multi-calendar, communication automation, task management, payment automation, website builder, and others.
Some unique Hostaway features are:
- Coupon management
- Contract signature
- Hostaway Capital
- Hostaway Locks Manager
A major drawback of Hostaway vs Lodgify is that the former does not provide any pricing information. Interested customers need to get in touch with the team to get a custom quote.
Is Lodgify worth it?
Our review of Lodgify shows that this is a legitimate short-term rental management software that can help Airbnb businesses get started. The platform offers a range of tools that streamline many of the important tasks required for managing vacation rental listings.
Meanwhile, professional property managers with more sophisticated needs to automate and optimize processes across the board should check out SummerOS. Paired with Lodgify or another PMS, this is your go-to platform for streamlining every aspect of Airbnb portfolio management, from onboarding new properties to maintaining long-term relationships with owner clients. We centralize your data and technology tools to help you automate tasks, track performance, and scale your business with ease. Go from reactive to proactive management with SummerOS.
