Managing vacation rentals and Airbnb properties can be quite lucrative, but as you probably know it can also be time very consuming. Thankfully, living in the age of internet and mobile devices, there are a plethora of services and apps designed to automate tasks and make life easier. From security systems to property management software, there's an app to help you with every aspect being an Airbnb host.

Using technology can help Airbnb managers become more efficient and make their businesses more successful. Here are some of the best property management, finance tracking, advertising, smart pricing, and utility management apps curated by our team of specialists:

Finance Tracking Tools

Life as an Airbnb manager can get quite tricky during tax season, so you might find a finance tracking software quite useful. Boomeringo is an Australian finance management software that you can use to control your budgets, cash flow, saving goals, upcoming payments, account balances, and net worth.

Additionally, this platform allows you to connect an unlimited number of bank accounts, loans, and credit cards as they support the majority of Australian banks. The finance tracking tool can make budgeting so much easier as they offer a wide range of graphics, progress bars, set up alerts, and numerous other features.

Advertising Tools

The most popular advertising platform for holiday rentals and Airbnb listings is Space Agent. You can use Space Agent to run Facebook ads for your managed properties. The advertisements offered by this platform will target Facebook users who show interest towards vacations, upcoming events, and other attractions in your area.

The best thing about it is that it offers weekly reports and it continuously improves ad campaigns to make their targeting more efficient and to ensure that you're not spending more money than necessary.

Property Management Tools

Managing a large number of vacation rentals/Airbnb properties can be a difficult job to do. This problem has been noticed by many professional companies who are now offering a wide range of maintenance services like check-in and check-out, cleaning, and client support.

But working with local companies, you may need to hire several of them to manage each of your properties. Alternatively, you could use a property management platform that will allow you to manage a large number of Airbnb properties without having to be there 24/7.

For instance, a cloud-based property management platform like Bricks + Agent, allows you to communicate with your guests, receive notifications from them, solve maintenance issues, and have a database of all your discussions. Managing properties with an app is extremely convenient and it will save you a lot of time, money, and effort.

Smart Pricing Tools

When managing Airbnbs or any other type of short-term rentals, it's important to focus on maximising profits, without charging your guests extra or ripping them off. There are different options out there to solve issues, and one we recommend is automated surge pricing.

BeyondPricing is a very helpful app as it can update the costs of your Airbnb listings automatically based on location, demand, season, and other aspects and it will only cost you around 1% of your profits per month.

Another useful app is Everbooked, a vacation rental pricing software, that offers automated pricing but it will also take the current market and your competitors into account. The app offers auto pricing, but also takes your competition and the current market into account.

If you are looking for an app that is less mysterious about the way in which it determines the pricing, then consider using an app that offers up data like Airdna. With this smart pricing tool, you can formulate a good instant booking strategy, and compare the income of your rentals with your competitors'.

Utility Management Tools

If you’ve worked in the vacation rental industry for a long time, you probably know that the utilities can be quite expensive. Even something that might seem harmless to your guests, like leaving lights on while they are away can add up. Luckily, there is a wide range of apps that can help you control and monitor all the utilities including water usage, heat, and electricity.

The most Popular utility management tool is Nest, which is a smart thermostat created by Google that allows you to control the climate of your Airbnb from any mobile device including smartphones, and tablets. What made this tool so popular is that it’s very easy to use and to install.

A good option for managing the lighting is Plum, a tool that allows you to control all the lights in your Airbnb units and switch them on and off automatically from your mobile devices. To control the water usage, you can use apps like RainMachine with which you will be able to adjust the sprinklers in accordance to the weather forecast.

Managing short-term rentals can be a time consuming job, but there are many ways to make your life, as an Airbnb host easier. Today, you can find an automation tool for almost any type of task, and you can use apps to do almost anything from controlling the water usage to making sure that you are not ripping your guests off.

Start using our short term rental property management software today to manage your property more efficiently and to have more time to invest in growing your business.

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