As an Airbnb host or property manager, you know the value of a reliable property management system (PMS) to streamline operations, automate processes, and free up time for growing your business. But when it comes to Lodgify vs Guesty, two of the most popular platforms in the industry, how do they stack up? And which one is the better fit for your needs, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced short-term rental operator?
In this review, we’ll break down Lodgify vs Guesty by comparing their features, integrations, pricing, ideal customers, and customer reviews. By the end, you’ll have a clearer picture of which platform works best for your business goals. Plus, we’ll share some top alternatives and complementary tools to help you find the perfect setup.
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Lodgify vs Guesty: Overview
To begin with, let's take a quick look at the most important characteristics of vacation rental management software and see how Guesty and Lodgify compare.
While the two products offer the same core features that help property owners and managers put a lot of day-to-day tasks on autopilot to save time and energy, Guesty has significantly more tools than Lodgify. Moreover, it integrates with more third-party tools. This makes Guesty the potentially better alternative for larger-scale property managers and Airbnb management companies that need a more powerful platform to expand their portfolios.
Lodgify vs Guesty: Ideal customers
As some of the best PMS platforms available on the market, Guesty and Lodgify are designed to help similar customers, including both individual Airbnb hosts and professional property managers. Still, there are some differences in their target users.
Guesty customers
The tools and features available on the Guesty Airbnb management software typically make it a good fit for:
- New and seasoned hosts listing on Airbnb and other vacation rental websites
- Local and national property managers with portfolios varying from few to hundreds of listings
- Short-term rental property management companies
- Owners and managers of vacation rentals, urban rentals, serviced apartments, B&Bs, guesthouses, aparthotels, and outdoor stays
Lodgify customers
The Lodgify platform can serve the needs of:
- Small and large DIY STR investors and hosts
- Professional Airbnb managers
- Vacation rental management companies
- Owners and managers of bed and breakfasts, cabins, cottages, villas, serviced apartments, small hotels, holiday lets, resorts, and camping and glamping accommodations
While the target audiences of Guesty and Lodgify generally overlap, the former stands out as a better fit for short-term rental professionals with a larger number of rentals as it can help automate more tasks.
Lodgify vs Guesty: Customer reviews
When choosing the best software to support your Airbnb business, it's a good idea to check what customers think about them. That's why the next step in our comparison of Lodgify vs Guesty is looking at customer reviews on trustworthy websites.
Guesty reviews
Guesty has an average rating of 4.2/5 stars, based on over 970 unique customer reviews online. Guesty reviews are available on:
- Trustpilot: 4.1/5 stars from 587 reviews
- Capterra: 4.3/5 stars based on 298 reviews
- GetApp: 4.4/5 stars from 298 reviews
- Software Advice: 4.3/5 stars from 298 reviews
- Software Finder: 3.9/5 stars from 43 reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 stars from 42 reviews
Positive reviews of Guesty focus on the strong automation tools, intuitive platform, excellent dynamic pricing feature, useful real-time analytics, timely software updates, great third-party software integrations, and their helpful customer support team. Meanwhile, negative reviews mention some overly simple functions and capabilities, booking channel integrations not working properly, technical glitches, and some customer support issues.
Lodgify reviews
Lodgify has an average rating of 4.4/5 stars, based on over 2,400 unique customer reviews online. Lodgify reviews are available on:
- Trustpilot: 4.7/5 stars from 1,416 reviews
- Capterra: 4.5/5 stars from 992 reviews
- GetApp: 4.5/5 stars from 992 reviews
- Software Advice: 4.5/5 stars from 992 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
Happy Lodgify customers discuss the comprehensive solution, wonderful tools, user-friendly interface, strong integrations, efficient onboarding process, and the supportive customer services team. At the same time, less happy customers complain about some important features missing from the platform, syncing not working well, poorly performing integrations (especially with Vrbo), and confusing pricing structure that led to higher-than-expected fees.
Lodgify vs Guesty: Features
You get a property management system for the features and tools that it offers. Let's take a look at a side-by-side comparison of the features available on Lodgify and Guesty so you know what to expect with each platform.
The Airbnb host tools that Guesty and Lodgify provide help property owners and managers:
- Automate the most tedious and time-consuming tasks associated with managing a portfolio of short-term rentals
- Launch their own vacation rental website for generating direct reservations that don't need to pay fees to booking platforms
- Implement a dynamic Airbnb pricing strategy that maximizes revenue by balancing between nightly prices and occupancy rates
- Unify booking calendars from different channels for a single view
- Bring together listings and reservations from various channels to optimize listings and avoid double booking, using an Airbnb channel manager
- Communicate with guests more efficiently to generate more 5-star reviews
- Improve team management and task management by automatically assigning tasks and tracking progress on them
- Receive guest payments in an easy and secure manner
- Track and analyze the main Airbnb metrics that reflect the performance of vacation rentals
- Produce analytical reports to share with property owners to gain their trust and retain them in the long run
Having mentioned the commonalities in the features offered by two of the best short-term rental software platforms, it's time to look at the differences.
Unique features of Guesty
Guesty has a number of tools that Lodgify doesn't have, including the following.
Revenue management
Both Guesty and Lodgify have their own dynamic pricing tools, but Guesty offers more comprehensive revenue management capabilities to hosts and property managers. With Guesty, users can combine dynamic pricing based on seasonality and competitor performance with rules-based pricing that reflects days of the week, seasons, holidays, vacancy gaps, length stays, and other factors.
In addition, you can create and offer direct booking coupons to motivate new guests to book with you and previous guests to come back. An interesting feature of Guesty revenue management is the rate plan templates that allow you to build your pricing strategy based on the successful experiences of other hosts.
Manual reservations
The Guesty manual booking system allows you to add manual reservations that get automatically synced with reservations from booking channels to avoid double bookings. This helps you boost your occupancy rate and enjoy more flexibility. Manual reservations outside traditional channels are facilitated via personalized quotes and customized promotions.
Multi-unit management
Guesty multi-unit management allows hosts and property managers to create and connect complexes. This is done by grouping single units and multi-units into a hotel complex. Once you've done that, you can easily update the listing details and settings of an individual sub-unit or across all sub-units.
Guest Communication Services (GCS)
While both Lodgify and Guesty unify guest communication in a single inbox and automate most of it, Guesty also offers Guest Communication Services (GCS) to handle communication that requires human intervention when you and your team are off. The communication tools prioritize guest messages and assign the most urgent ones to Guesty agents to take care of them when your team is not available.
This helps speed up guest communication, which is one of the most important factors for ranking high on Airbnb and other platforms, gaining the Airbnb Superhost status, and getting positive reviews.
Guesty CRM
Another unique feature on the Guesty Airbnb management software is the CRM which is built specifically for the needs of the hospitality industry. The tool provides the data and analysis that you need to better understand guests, devise strategies to turn them into repeat customers, and improve guest experiences as part of it. Building customer loyalty is an important way to get more bookings without spending more time and money on marketing.
Guesty Smart Locks
Guesty Smart Locks is an add-on that allows you to manage your smart locks remotely for easy check-ins and check-outs that don't require your physical presence. Guesty works with most of the best Airbnb smart locks to automatically generate new access codes and send them to guests before arrival, show real-time lock information in a single dashboard, and track the health and functions of the locks.
It's important to note that Lodgify integrates with keyless access apps to provide some of these functions as it doesn't have its own smart locks manager.
Guesty Damage Protection
Guesty Damage Protection is yet another additional feature that works as an Airbnb insurance. It helps protect your property against guest damage without the need to collect security deposits and involve guests in claims. In this way, your short-term rental is protected against costly damages, while customer satisfaction is increased. Moreover, guests are more likely to book a listing that doesn't require a security deposit, so you can enjoy more bookings.
Accounting software
Guesty has developed its own Airbnb accounting software to streamline the financial management process. The tool helps automate many accounting tasks while providing end-to-end oversight, from guest payments to owner payouts. In this way, you gain a better understanding of revenue and expenses, while your owner clients enjoy the enhanced transparency.
Guesty Capital
The final unique aspect of Guesty is Guesty Capital, which is a short-term rental financing solution. Airbnb hosts and managers can access funds to grow their business via property renovations, new amenities, expanding their team, building their brand, or getting new properties into their portfolio. Approvals and fund receipts happen within a few business days. Repayments are determined based on the monthly performance of the listing for affordability.
Unique features of Lodgify
The main unique feature of Lodgify that's worth highlighting is on the marketing side.
Website builder with templates
Lodgify has a short-term rental website builder that helps both hosts and property managers market their properties to a wider audience. While listing your property on the top booking channels is a must, direct reservations are also great as you don't have to pay platform fees on them.
Lodgify offers a wide range of vacation rental website templates that are designed for different property types and businesses. Moreover, they are customizable to reflect the unique characteristics of your rental and make it stand out from the competition. Templates are mobile responsive and SEO-optimized so that guests can easily find your property on Google and other search engines. Furthermore, Lodgify provides a free personalized custom domain with annual subscription plans to the platform. The best part is that launching your own website does not require any coding skills and experience.
In addition, the Lodgify booking widget can turn your already existing website into a booking engine. By installing the widget, you can start accepting reservations and guest payments.
In sum, Guesty has more unique features that make it a potentially more valuable PMS for the needs of professional STR operators.
Lodgify vs Guesty: Third-party integrations
Despite their many built-in features, the best Airbnb management software apps need to work seamlessly with other tools that are widely used in the industry. So, let's have a look at the third-party integrations that Guesty and Lodgify offer.
Guesty integrations
Unlike any other PMS, Guesty integrates with over 220 hospitality tools for smooth operations.
The best Guesty integrations sorted by category include:
- Booking channels: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, Google Vacation Rentals, Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy, Hopper, HomeToGo, Plum Guide, Travelstation, Holidu, Smiling House, Villa Tracker, VacayHome, bnbfinder, Rentalz, and others
- Channel managers: Rentals United, BookingPal, and SiteMinder
- Financials and accounting: Beyond, Wheelhouse, PriceLabs, Key Data, Perfect Price, Proper Insurance, Hostkit, Pikl, InsuraGuest, RoomPriceGenie, Pricepoint, Homesure, Rented, LoanBase, MovingLake, SmartPricing, SecureStay, Clearing, Keystone Bookkeepers, Hire Sofia, VRPlatform, Duve, Accountable, Lighthouse, and others
- Guest management: YourWelcome, LuggageHero, BagsAway, Bridgify, Travello App, Travelade, Yada, UpsellGuru, TourDesk, Hello George, Bnsellit, KeyNinja, Folio, SecureStay, Besty AI, Touch Stay, GuestLabs, Guest Guru, Hostbuddy AI, Botel, Dack, Maveriks, SmartHotel, Host.AI, PrimeHost, Hostvana, Charge Automation, StayFi, Chekin, LG Electronics, Operto, Enso Connect, and others
- Home automation and security: Smart Door Systems, KeyNest, Roomonitor, Vikey, PointCentral, Sharebox, Nuki, Jervis Systems, Badbugs, Lowkey, SuiteOp, Go Zero Charge, Minut, Keycafe, Lynx, RemoteLock, and others
- Marketing: Beyongbooking, hostWriter, Online Tourism, Toast, Customyze, RezRecover, Repuso, Olive Street Design, Reva, Revyoos, StayWatch, hostFront, AutoRank, RealTech Webmasters, Scurto Marketing, Rentamira, and others
- New arrivals: BNBCalc, Keystone Bookkeepers, MYND Adventures, Accountable, Triparound, and others
- Operations, cleaning, and maintenance: Turno, Breezeway, Tidy, Cleanster, Fülhaus, EZcare, Flexkeeping, Puls, Theodora, HKeeper, ResortCleaning, houstr, Keepers, Sweeply, Clyn, Doinn, Properly, Sparrow, and others
- Payment processing: Stripe, Merchant Warrior, and Hyp
Lodgify integrations
Lodgify connects directly with more than 40 third-party software tools that both hosts and property managers use.
The main Lodgify integrations by category are:
- Booking channels: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Google Vacation Rentals, Expedia, GlampingHub, and Whimstay
- Business tools: Zapier, Mailchimp, Clearing, Google Analytics, WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow, Wix, and others
- Cleaning apps: Turno, Tidy, Cleanster, Breezeway, ResortCleaning, and others
- Dynamic pricing tools: Beyond and PriceLabs
- Guest experience apps: Besty AI, HostAI, Touch Stay, Stasher, Revyoos, and others
- Guest verification software: Minut, Superhog, Chekin, and others
- Keyless access tools: Duve, Vikey, Jervis, Homeit, ChargeAutomation, and others
- Rental protection apps: Swikly, Safely, and others
Guesty integrates with many more tools than Lodgify, in addition to offering more of its own features. This makes Guesty the more powerful platform for professionals.
Lodgify vs Guesty: Cost
To ensure that you're getting the best value for money, you should look not only at the features that you're getting but also at how much you're paying for them. All given costs are accurate at the time of writing, but they may change, so it's always best to contact their teams directly for the most up-to-date pricing information.
Guesty pricing
Guesty offers three subscription plans with different access to features and number of listings. Customers can choose between monthly and annual plans, with annual subscriptions coming at discounted rates.
Guesty subscription options include:
- Lite: For 1-3 listings. Starting at $27/month for one property when billed annually.
- Pro: For 4-199 listings. Custom pricing.
- Professional: For 200+ listings. Custom pricing.
The above-listed plans offer access to the core Guesty features, while additional tools are sold as add-ons. Their pricing is not disclosed.
Here are the features that can be purchased as add-ons:
- Guesty PriceOptimizer
- Guesty Damage Protection
- GuestyPay
- Guesty Websites
- Guesty Locks Manager
- Guest Communication Services (GCS)
- Guesty Capital
Guesty offers a 14-day free trial of the Lite plan so that you can test the platform before committing to a payment. Meanwhile, there is no plan that can be used free of charge forever.
Lodgify pricing
Similarly, Lodgify also has three subscription plans with different tools. The total price depends on the plan, the number of listings, and the subscription duration: monthly, annual, or biannual.
Lodgify subscription plans include:
- Starter: To get a vacation rental business rolling. Starting at $16/month + 1.9% of booking revenue for one property when billed annually.
- Professional: To increase revenue and productivity. Starting at $40/month for one property when billed annually.
- Ultimate: To scale a short-term rental business with advanced needs. Starting at $59/month for one property when billed annually.
Like Guesty, Lodgify offers a couple of add-ons with unknown pricing including:
- Lodgify Dynamic Pricing
- Lodgify Smart Locks (coming soon)
Users can test Lodgify for free for seven days before having to switch to a paid subscription as the platform does not have a free forever plan.
Both Guesty and Lodgify run subscription-based pricing models, as do most PMS platforms. The costs are comparable, but you have to check how much exactly each one would cost you for your specific situation as the total cost varies by access to tools, number of properties, and plan duration.
Lodgify vs Guesty: Terms
Before getting started with any particular software platform, it's important to understand what both launching and canceling look like.
- Sign-up: You can get started with both products by creating a free online account without the need to go through a demo or talk to the sales team.
- Free access: Guesty has a 14-day free trial, while Lodgify has a 7-day free trial. After the end of the free trial, you have to go for a paid subscription if you want to continue using any of the two platforms.
- Subscription duration: Guesty has monthly and yearly subscriptions, while Lodgify has monthly, yearly, and biyearly subscriptions. This means that both can be used without a long-term commitment though monthly plans are more expensive (per month) than longer subscriptions.
- Payment methods: Both products accept major credit cards.
- Cancellation policy: Subscriptions to both apps can be canceled online, at any time.
- Refund policy: Neither Lodgify nor Guesty offers refunds on bills that have already been paid.
Lodgify and Guesty have similar terms of use, which correspond to standard practices in the SaaS business. It's a good idea to go through the free trials of the two platforms to test the tools yourself to see which better fit your specific business needs and preferred style. Once you've selected the right choice for you, you can continue with a monthly plan to confirm that this is indeed the right choice before switching to an annual plan to save on costs.
Best alternatives to Lodgify and Guesty
Our comparison of Guesty vs Lodgify shows that both platforms are able to help different types of hosts and property managers. However, some negative reviews by customers and some missing tools highlighted in these customer reviews mean that operators might need to look into alternatives to find the right fit for their businesses.
Here are the top three competitors of Lodgify and Guesty for hosts and managers.
1. SummerOS
SummerOS is the leading, all-in-one platform for managing Airbnb portfolios. Instead of competing with Lodgify and Guesty, SummerOS integrates with them and any other PMS to centralizel your data and operations and help you take full control over your business. Whether you manage a few properties or a large portfolio, your daily tasks become effortless, automated processes that allow you to scale your business with ease and conference.
The benefits that SummerOS offers include:
- Interface designed by property managers for property managers
- Unified data and operations under a single roof
- Intuitive analytics of the most important performance metrics for each individual property as well as your entire portfolio
- Readily available insights into boosting the performance of underperforming properties to achieve their full potential
- Building your custom Airbnb comp sets for detailed comparison and benchmarking
- Getting new qualified property management leads and easily onboarding new properties
- Personalizing reports to share with owners to retain them in the long haul
- Offering the best guest services and experiences for unmatched 5-star reviews
- Proactive management via advanced automated tasks and team management features
You can streamline your entire short-term rental business for $15/month per listing for unlimited access to all tools, with reduced pricing for larger portfolios. Furthermore, you can start with a 14-day free trial to test-drive all the tools and features rather than taking our word for granted.
Turn insights into growth with SummerOS.
2. Hostaway
Unlike SummerOS, Hostaway is a direct competitor of Lodgify and Guesty rather than a complementary tool. As a leading PMS in the vacation rental industry, it offers similar tools and capabilities as the two platforms that we're reviewing.
The main features of Hostaway include a channel manager, dynamic pricing, reservations manager, direct bookings, multi-calendar, multi-unit support, unified inbox, guest communication automation, payment processing, task management, smart locks management, financing, and analytics and reporting. Some unique tools of Hostaway comprise cross-listings, contract signature, and review automation. In addition, Hostaway integrates with 180+ third-party tools.
Hostaway is more similar to Guesty than to Lodgify as it has more tools and functionalities. It could work for large Airbnb managers with multiple properties.
The main drawback is that Hostaway does not provide a pricing range. Interested hosts and property managers need to get in touch with the sales team to get a quote. Moreover, there is no way to get started on your own without booking a demo. Hostaway does not have a free trial either.
3. Hospitable
Hospitable is another close alternative to Guesty and Lodgify. The PMS platform helps STR operators automate processes to free up time.
The core Hospitable features are channel management, direct bookings, pricing sync, AI-backed guest communication automation, task management, team management, smart lock integrations, and analytics and reporting. An important feature that Lodgify and Guesty don't offer but Hospitable does is review management. Meanwhile, Hospitable doesn't have its own dynamic pricing tool but works with top tools, such as PriceLabs, Wheelhouse, and Beyond, to provide this functionality. In terms of integrations, Hospitable works directly with 40+ third-party software apps.
All this means that Hospitable is closer to Lodgify than to Guesty and is generally a better fit for those with smaller portfolios and more simple needs.
Hospitable pricing starts at $29/month for one property. Customers can choose one of three plans, with the total cost being determined by the access to tools and the number of properties. This price is comparable to Lodgify and Guesty.
FAQs
What do Lodgify and Guesty do?
Lodgify and Guesty help Airbnb hosts and property managers streamline and automate daily tasks in order to simultaneously save time and improve performance. Some of the most important activities supported by the two platforms include direct reservations, channel management, dynamic pricing, guest management and communication automation, team collaboration, task management, and others.
What are the benefits of Lodgify and Guesty?
The benefits of Lodgify and Guesty include saving time and effort when managing one or many listings, enhancing guest satisfaction, providing better owner client services, and growing your business. This is achieved via a number of tools that help automate the most crucial, yet time-consuming aspects of the Airbnb management process.
Do Lodgify and Guetsy work with Airbnb?
Yes, both Lodgify and Guesty work with Airbnb as well as other booking channels. They integrate directly with the listing platform to manage listings, sync with other channels, and implement dynamic pricing.
Are Guesty and Lodgify only for Airbnb?
No, Guesty and Lodgify are not used only for Airbnb listings. Each of them works with a wide range of more and less popular channels to manage listings and bookings across different platforms from a single interface.
Do Lodgify and Guesty work with Vrbo?
Yes, both Lodgify and Guesty work with Vrbo listings. This is achieved via direct integrations with the platform.
Do Lodgify and Guesty charge a fee?
Yes, Lodgify and Guesty charge fees for the features that they provide. While they offer a limited free trial, customers have to opt for a paid subscription to continue using each app after the end of the free trial. You can choose the right plan depending on your needs, portfolio size, and preferred subscription duration.
Lodgify vs Guesty: What's the best option?
Lodgify and Guesty are legitimate, trustworthy property management systems, as demonstrated by the generally positive experiences shared by customers. While there is a lot of overlap in the features of the two platforms, Lodgify is a better fit for the needs of smaller operators, and Guesty is more targeted towards bigger operators. When selecting the best app for your business, look into the available features, direct integrations, and the total cost for each.
Whether you're using Lodgify, Guesty, or another alternative, streamline operations and put your business on autopilot with SummerOS, a game-changer in the short-term rental industry. From centralized data to automated tasks, SummerOS takes the complexity out of managing your Airbnb properties and turns it into an effortless growth. SummerOS empowers you to manage smarter, grow faster, and maximize revenue like never before.
Go from reactive to proactive management with SummerOS. Start your 14-day free trial now.
