The Ultimate STR App/Service/Website thread - What are your favs?

Question

What is your favorite dynamic pricing app? Everbooked vs. BeyondPricing vs. The Others? The best electronic door lock? The best Wi-Fi Thermostat? How about a Guest communication app? Synchronized calendar? What makes your life easier and/or increases revenue?

JJ King · Answer

@Tim Schroeder @Ethan Cooke

To sync prices and availabilities as well as doing markups for certain channels you'll need a channel manager or a PMS system.

The main difference between a channel manager and a PMS system is that a channel manager will only sync calendars. A PMS will let you control your whole operation from a central location.

There are tons of choices to fit different needs and different price points. My company uses Guesty which does all of that and more, but it can be over kill if you don't manage a lot of properties. Tokeet might be a good place to start your research.

Also regarding your question about pricing automation we use Beyond Pricing and have been happy with it.

Justin M Christian · Answer

Hi @Tim Schroeder as far as electronic door locks go, I'd recommend the Kevo Quickset Lock for apartment unit doors and the Brivo lock system for building access control. I agree with @Jon Crosby on if you are unwilling to pay to install something like a nest, the Honeywell 9000 and the Ecobee 4 are great options for thermostats. He also recommended Nexia to manage all the smart devices, but I'd also look into Homebase.ai, which offers resident communication, payments, maintenance management and smart device control through their property management web platform and  ios/android resident apps for 7$ per month per unit.

Jon Crosby · Answer

I'm partial to Everbooked myself but also feel like it really is an art form to get it right.  I have found that in the end, you can really keep a simplified pricing schedule (weekday, weekend and holiday) set prices and be successful without all the headaches of being so 'dynamic'.

I'm with @John Underwood and like the Honeywell 9000 as well.  It's just as 'sexy' as my Nest but it's 1/3 the price and does everything you need except maybe the ability to sense when somebody is home or not.

I use the Schlage/Nexia bridge combo currently for my automated locks. It's rock solid once it's setup but can be a bit of a pain to get it setup correctly.  My Nexia subscription is $10/month and they have great support and an easy home automation interface to work within, especially with multiple units.

I created my own email automation hack which has worked great for me and is completely free.

You can guess what I like to use to scout and find my next vacation property as well.  ;)

Thanks for the thread @Tim Schroeder, I'm currently closing on a new condo VR in North Lake Tahoe and actually in the process of deciding a lot of these options now!

Cheers!

Richard Ibeh · Answer

@Tim Schroeder Opted out of Beyond Pricing and Wheelhouse. Dislike the percentage they take off the bookings. Pricelabs is more robust and provides more control for experienced managers.

You'll need to find a property management software to push rates over to all listing sites. The majority are integrated with dynamic pricing tools so once it's setup in the software it'll feed over to all the listing platforms it's integrated with.

Nicholas Herold · Answer

For remote thermostats, we have installed two Nests (expensive, but I got the first one for practically free and I don' t like changing platforms).

I read many reviews for smart locks and chose the Schlage Sense Smart for its reliability. I know when my guests arrive and when they leave, and I know when the cleaners have come and gone. It requires that there is an Apple TV on the premises, but I already had one so that wasn't a problem. If the internet fails, the lock operates correctly, but just doesn't allow me to see it remotely.

I'm planning to install an exterior camera, possibly a Nest (given their reliability), but that's mostly because I want to know whether the plow guy needs to come and whether he has.

I'm super interested in what others have done, particularly the ability to automatically adjust thermostats based on calendars.

Nicholas

J. Martin · Answer

I think the issue here, Ethan, is that a bunch of us are doing 30+ day rentals. The pricing is different than typical short-term pricing models, and vacancy/timing of move-in matters a lot to me also..

I think that's the big challenge.

Currently, my price syncing is a team of Filipinas :)

Sid Payne · Answer

Here is my list of of what I use that I really like:

For my Thermostats, I use Inthrma with Proliphix thermostats. The system is pretty amazing. It is not cheap, but the feature set and savings are worth it. They have just deployed a great feature, synchronization with your calendar (VRBO, a few others and ABB coming soon). It is called their Villa edition. No having to worry about setting the thermostat while the house is unoccupied will create enough ROI for me. Sam is the owner and his customer service it really good. He has spent a lot of time with me showing me how everything works. I have had these in two of my houses for years and just added it to a third.

For reservation management I use OwnerRez. Really like it for automated guest communications, digital rental agreement signing and a few other things.

For locks I use the Schlage connected to alarm.com Via z-wave. This is also how I control my security system. I setup temporary code for guests on the alarm.com website and it is all managed from there. I can also manually lock/unlock the door and arm/disarm the security system remotely.

I use Ubiquiti Access Points for my wireless directly connected to the cable modem. These things are super reliable and virtually never have to be rebooted. I do it once a year proactively. I am I.T. person in my other life and we deploy Ubiqiti APs for tons of clients because of their reliability.I have a ring camera on the exterior of one house and look at it every few months. It seems pretty unnecessary. I virtually never have issues with guests.I don't sync any calendars automatically because I am pretty much only on VRBO/HomeAway. I am looking for primarily family bookings so ABB does not seem like the right demographic for me and I do well with VRBO/HomeAway and repeat guests.Sid

Sean Walton · Answer

I do 30 day minimums so pricing depends on season and how close it is to being vacant.

I use a heavy-duty lock box on the gas meter out front since it is a condo building a smart lock on the entrance door still needs to be negotiated with neighbors.

It was surprising to me that people seem to prefer or at least not mind the lockbox since they don't have to arrive at a specific time

Andrew Wong · Answer

I use Guesty, which is a PMS. It has its rough edges, and its not the prettiest UI. But it helps me manage my 8 properties pretty well, so there's that.

Ethan Cooke · Answer

Thank you @Tim Schroeder for asking the question. I would LOVE to be able to sync pricing: adjust pricing on just one website automatically update the pricing on AirBnB, HomeAway/VRBO, TripAdvisor and any other websites where the property was posted. Is there a good way to do this?!

PLEASE PROVIDE FEEDBACK EXPERIENCED AIRBNB'ERS!

@J. Martin @Al Williamson @Andrew Wong  @Sean Walton  @Michael Swan

...and to respond to your question Tim, I like the $48 SoHoMiLL combo doorknob lock recommended by Al Williamson. If you like your old-fashioned deadbolt and want a great lock box, I use a $38 Master Lock with light-up dials.

The Ultimate STR App/Service/Website thread - What are your favs?

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