Which automated message services except smartbnb do you use?

[erincerinc]

Since you are asking for an automation tool for a reasonable price, I can suggest you to take a look at Your Porter App. It is a powerful automation tool with iOS, Android and web apps.

For the features you are interested in, the price is around €5-7 and you can have some corporate discounts if you have 20+ listings.

You can update your calendars to boost your search rankings, automate all kind of guest communication and enjoy our mobile apps to manage your business on the go.

I’m one of the creators of this app and would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

[Ivan_Joorevic]

I really appreciate those effort and patience you use to promote your product. I personally dont see any point of doing airbnb if you dont have any reservations during the month. So me like host with many cheap listings rather looking for a fixed rate for my profile not depending on bookings and number of listings.
For example if it is 45 listings and 7.5 euro per listing it will make it 340 euro per month, which makes it actually considering:

1. Hiring a person to reply messages
2. Using a property management software similar to smartbnb - you can order one for one year cheaper than 340*12 euro
3. Keep doing it myself as it is like 20% of what i make a month

[HomeBotty]

@Ivan_Joorevic - if you’re still looking for a software, I’m looking for beta testers and will provide this service free for a while.

It does messaging automation, calendar syncs, staff and task integrations, and smart home management (if you have smart locks it will automatically set pins and message your guests, etc).

It also integrates with HomeAway if you’re using that platform as well.

Let me know and I can provide you information privately.

[carsonheim]

Hi there HomeBotty! If you are still looking for beta testers, I would be glad to give it a go.

I have one vacation rental property that is listed on both airbnb and VRBO. I also do have a smart lock that I’m currently configuring with the Vera controller. It would be great to see if your service would be of interest.

I am looking to scale my STR business over the next few years, and have been quite keen on finding a good automation solution.

Cheers!
Connor

[HomeBotty]

@carsonheim - that’s perfect, Vera is one of the controllers we’re compatible with. It’s about 2 months out for beta, but please sync with me and I’ll hook you up!

[carsonheim]

Awesome, Mike. Will do!

[iGMS]

Hi everyone,

For those looking for Airbnb messaging system, you might as well want to try AirGMS.
Apart from message automation, templates, the software offers auto reviews, cleaning management, financial reporting, multi-calendar and more. By the way, we have just extended our Free plan up to 4 listings! For those who have 5+ Airbnb listings, we still offer the Free trial.
We’d be happy to answer any of your questions here or on our website.

[uplisting]

I can’t edit the original post (I don’t think) so am leaving a note here to say that we have since updated our prices and have a minimum of €45 (or $50/£40) for up to 5 listings. Once you hit 10 listings, each additional listing is still €4.50 (or $5/£4) as I mentioned.

[LaurenK]

Not sure why you wouldn’t want to put the info about your platform right here. You are sort of marketing it by putting this message, but not making it easy on consumers to find you. I understand your beta testing. but still

[LaurenK]

So far I have used SmartBnB and Your Porter; explored Uplisting, SuperHostTools, AirGMS, and HostAway. I have 1 listing/property.

My first criteria was that it has to work with more than just AirBnB, so that eliminated SuperHostTools and AirGMS.

Your Porter Favorite
It was a very tough decision between SmartBnB and Your Porter. But Your Porter is very affordable and I like it more for having one simple function: it can send out emails with attachments to guests. None of the other platforms that I was able to explore do this. Native messaging is great. But I believe an email ahead of arrival with my Arrival Guide (.pdf) attached offers guests a superior experience. I would really like an HTML email (with my arrival pictures and maps formatted nicely in-line on the email), but a close second is a plain text email with my Arrival Guide attached.
Pros: has an App, automated messaging (native and email), works with multiple platforms (AirBnB, HomeAway, and Booking).
Cons: User interface is not good. Doesn’t have robust metrics (gets monthly revenue wrong) .

SmartBnB Strong Platform
SmartBnB has a very nice interface and a lot of robust graphs and metrics. I love all the data they provide and will analyze many performance metrics for you regarding your ranking, bookings, profit, etc. It definitely helps you run a “business.” I also love how the website is laid out. But they only do native messaging, which is a significant drawback to me since automatically sending an email to my guest is my primary motivator
Pros: Robust performance metrics and business analysis tools, reasonable price, well designed user interface, compatible with HomeAway and AirBnB
Cons: No app, Won’t send emails to Guest, Not compatible with Booking(.)com or TripAdvisor yet.

Uplisting
It might be better suited to hosts with a high volume of rentals. But for 1 listing it is $50/month which is VERY expensive and also does not send guest emails (only native messaging).

HostAway
Very expensive and not compatible with HomeAway. Again it is probably better suited for someone with dozens of listing as for 1 listing they wanted a start up fee of about $250 plus a monthly fee of $75–which is absolutely absurd. On top of that they arent integrated with the booking websites.

[smartbnb.io]

Thanks for this great feedback @LaurenK, and happy you have found a solution that works for you, even if this is not Smartbnb!

The reason why we are not too excited by emails is about reliability. When a message is not received, guests are lost in a street, and that exposes you to losing $$$.

Sending emails is trivial nowadays. The challenge is ensuring that emails are delivered at scale, especially as the information delivered is critical. We are sending thousands of emails to customers each day, and we can assure that emails that are not being received or delivered still is probably the cause of 10% of our customer service inquiries (and that is with a paranoid implementation, and for our own domain name)

There are many moving parts to emails, and limited assurance that the emails will be read. Even if we do a great job, it may end up in another area of your guest’s inbox that they just won’t check

We have decided to put the priority on native messaging, because ultimately it’s the best option for you by a mile. Guests will receive notifications on their mobile app, on their mobile phone, via email, from Airbnb or HomeAway. We (Smartbnb) can check our message was delivered with 100% reliability, and have options when we know it was not delivered or sent.

Native messaging also protects you against the risk of blowback when the guest calls Airbnb to request a cancellation because they have not received check-in instructions… and you would have little to defend yourself against such a claim.

Lastly, you can add links to Dropbox or Google Docs to share a PDF on native messages, and enable you to track if the user has accessed it. We also support picture attachments; so if the document is visual enough, you can include it as a screenshot to your check-in instructions rule.

[Klatchers]

I am using ownerreservations.com. There are a lot of people on different STR type forums using and recommending it. It does a huge amount of functionality well.

Very active duo who also own and understand VRs.

I looked at a lot of PMSes. It seemed to have everything I wanted.

But be warned. ALL of these PMSes with rich functionality involve a lot of setup, learning and customization.

Capterra.com offers good reviews on a lot of software, such as VRs

[clifhirtle]

Great thread. Thanks for starting this conversation @Ivan_Joorevic. Been testing a few of the solutions here as well and with only one listing, a self-hosted WordPress listing myself, and native calendar sync between AirBnB and HomeAway available out of the box, it’s hard to justify the cost of many solutions that appear to be merely duplicating the built-in capabilities of each of the major STR sites.

Additionally, as a traveler on the these sites who’s dealt with automated reviews and messaging (from the other side of the equation) I’m actually less likely to provide a positive review in response since it’s pretty clear that I’m dealing with an automated system rather than a real person on the other end of the line.

In one particular case, the owner had setup automated responses that never went to the owner and left me locked out after midnight with an automated review the next day for a rental I could never even access!

While I love the idea of smart automation and templating, it’s been hard to match the pricing models of dedicated solutions like BeyondPricing for multi-site pricing, a self-hosted WordPress site for extensible booking, and Properly or TurnoverBnB for automated turnovers.

On the topic of turnovers, does anyone know if any of the all-in-one solutions above offer templated, auditable cleaner checklists? I see ones that simply email or SMS a text-based list, but not actually allow me to know when the cleaner has completed each item on the list or submit before/after photos so we have proof of the state guests left the place (which would be a a great way to provide a platform for cleaners themselves rating guests, which then template into that automated guest review) versus sending a random 5 star review without regard for rental state.

[sylvainbg]

One other is bed24 it was quite good offer.

[HeatherMewhort]

Hi Ivan, I would like to suggest that you try the Airlocking System. It was developed by a software engineer who is also an Airbnb host.

Here is a summary of this system:

THE AIRLOCKING SYSTEM:

INSTALL LOCK AND HUB:
AirLocking ships you a Smart lock system. You just need to connect the system to the internet and follow the straightforward instructions to install the lock.

GUESTS RECEIVE DOOR CODE:
AirLocking automatically emails your guests’ door codes in advance of their trips along with other check-in information you wish to pass along. You are copied on these emails for your tracking.

LINK WITH AIRBNB CALENDAR:
AirLocking seamlessly links with your Airbnb calendar to track reservations. The AirLocking portal provides status information and allows you to control guest notifications.

LOCK UPDATED WITH CODES:
AirLocking enables the door code in the lock at check-in time and disables it after checkout time. AirLocking also allows you to have codes for your own use which are separate from the guest codes.

CHECK-OUT BUTTON: (Patent Pending)
Airlocking has added a new feature–a CHECK-OUT BUTTON. When guests leave, they are asked to push this button. Instantly, the Host is alerted to their departure and can proceed with Cleaning Services or Repairs.

Good luck!

Heather

[CeeBee]

My first criteria was that it has to work with more than just AirBnB, so that eliminated SuperHostTools and AirGMS.

What platform do you list on besides Airbnb? I’m asking because we used Airbnb and HomeAway, and AirGMS works with both of those, quite well.

[Marie1]

HI Ivan
I have multiple listings and the price is not 15euro per listing I can assure that otherwise, i would not have subscribed. I found the price to be good/fair.

The automated message i have set are

• Info after booking confirmed i am on IB ( i really love that option)
• 1-night message after guest arrival
• Check-in info 6 days prior to arrival and self-check-in info for last min booking and i really love the most as I travel a lot with diff time zone those help me to generate extra income all the time when i am not reachable for few hours.
  and last I have also set check out info sent 1 day prior to guest departure, avoid all mistake on where to place keys and bin.

But i have done those slowly i took my time and only start with 1st welcoming message and more i was getting comfortable with the system more i was adding other feature

For the check in u could also add 1 picture I add for some listings map and other building door entrance, but it will be nice if u could upload more than 1 pictures 3 will be my ideal nbre.

My listings are on ABB and Vrbo linking calendar is very simple and up to now no double booking or any kind of mistake which is the biggest fear.

And last i cross fingers for them to add Booking.com and Tripadvisors and that will be a cherry on the cake for me.

[freespiritstays1]

I am using Beds24 ince April, it is good, have so many options and it is highly customizable, the cons are it does not have a Centralized Inbox and customer support just usually reply to you days later with more questions even after you have already explained everything in detail which leads to a endless back and forward without any resolution in most cases.

[stream26]

I’ve been using superhosttools for over a year and love it. This tools work really well for sending out my message templates to newly booked guests. I can also send a message the day after check-in asking if everything is OK, and another the day before the guest checks out reminding them of the check-out time, etc.

[RossLee]

Are you still looking for testers?