In the market for vacation rental software? The first thing you’ll notice is that there are numerous options available, and finding the right one will involve more than quick price comparisons.
But if you’ve done your research, you’ll have seen that Hospitable and Guesty are among the most well-known platforms available. Both of these solutions offer a range of impressive features—but there are some important differences to take into account before making your choice.
Who is it for?
Hospitable
Up until recently, Hospitable’s offerings catered primarily to smaller businesses—specifically independent landlords and smaller agencies. As such, their features were on the simpler end of the spectrum.However, Hospitable recently released a new “Mogul” plan, which includes some more advanced features. These features are still relatively new to the market, so time will tell whether they prove to be useful for larger businesses and property managers.
Guesty
Guesty’s goal is to have something for everyone, which it does by offering three different plans for users with between one and 200+ properties.
That being said, keep in mind that the features offered in Guesty’s Lite plan (intended for 1-3 listings) differ greatly from those in its more advanced Pro and Enterprise plans. So, you’ll want to closely compare plans—just because a plan is marketed as ideal for your number of listings doesn’t mean it will have the features you need.
Looking for Hospitable vs. Guesty for Hosts? Guesty used to target hosts with three or fewer properties with “Guesty for Hosts.” However, it has since launched its Guesty Lite plan to cover this audience.
Alternative: Lodgify
Not sure Hospitable or Guesty have what you’re looking for? Lodgify is a popular alternative.
Lodgify caters to a broad range of vacation rental businesses, from owners of a single vacation rental property to those with a portfolio of 30+ rentals. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, Lodgify’s intuitive and user-friendly features will empower you to effortlessly manage all your operations from one convenient app.
How much does it cost?
Hospitable
The Hospitable Host plan starts at €29/month for a single property. However, those with more than two properties will have to subscribe to the Professional plan, which starts at €59/month for two properties. Hospitable also recently launched its new Mogul plan, which starts at €99/month for three properties.
Regardless of their plan, Hospitable customers must pay for additional active properties (meaning properties that have had check-ins within the past 30 days). Additional active properties cost:
- €10 each on the Host plan
- €15 each on the Professional plan
- €30 each on the Mogul plan
Guesty
While Guesty pricing varies by region, U.S. customers can get its Lite plan starting at $16/month for an annual subscription (and $23/month for monthly subscriptions). Those with more than three properties will need to request a quote for either the Pro or Enterprise plan. Guesty offers no further public information regarding pricing.
Alternative: Lodgify
Lodgify offers cost-effective pricing plans to meet all business needs and budgets. Lodgify’s most budget-friendly plan starts at just $16/month for an annual subscription and includes all the essential features you need to run your business, including a channel manager, a customizable and bookable website, a reservation and payment system, and a property management system.
However, Lodgify’s most popular offering is its Professional plan, which includes more advanced features at just $40/month. Finally, Lodgify’s Ultimate plan ($59/month) is designed for businesses requiring even more advanced capabilities, such as reporting and cleaning and task management.
Lodgify’s subscription plans can be charged in U.S. Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), or British Pounds (GBP).
Guesty vs. Hospitable: What are the main differences?
Let’s take a look at the most important factors to consider in your Guesty vs. Hospitable comparison.
Onboarding
Hospitable
Hospitable provides free onboarding in all of its plans, but doesn’t specify what’s included in its onboarding.
Guesty
Onboarding isn’t included in Guesty’s Lite plan. However, guided onboarding is included in the Guesty Pro and Enterprise plans, and Enterprise plan subscribers receive additional “enterprise-ready” onboarding.
Alternative: Lodgify
Each and every Lodgify customer receives free, customized onboarding, regardless of their plan. A Lodgify expert will assess your unique needs and work with you to review the available features, set up your account, and import your listings.
Want to see Lodgify at work? Start a free seven-day trial today!
Website builder
Hospitable
One of the features Hospitable offers in its Professional and Mogul plans (not its Host plan) is the ability to create your own direct booking site. Keep in mind that there is an additional fee associated with this feature. Users have three plans to choose between:
- Direct Light costs $5 per month for your first property and $1/month per additional property. This plan is designed for customers whose properties are located in regions where Stripe isn’t available.
- Direct Basic costs $8/month per property for 1-9 properties, with a 1% host fee. This option offers minimal support, making it suitable only for self-reliant hosts who are accustomed to handling direct bookings. There are no integrated solutions for guest vetting or damage protection, and users are responsible for connecting their own Stripe account, covering payment processing fees, chargebacks, and lodging tax rates for all their properties. Stripe will deduct payment processing fees from your payout. (This plan is only available where Stripe is available.)
- Direct Premium costs $5/month per property for 1-9 properties, on top of a guest service fee of 4%, a host fee of 3%, and $10 per booking. (You can also opt for a 7% host-only fee option.) While this option offers more support to Premium users, customization and integration options are still limited.
Guesty
All Guesty customers have access to Guesty’s booking engine, and Pro and Enterprise plan subscribers also have access to a booking website and an open booking engine API (not included in the Lite plan). Keep in mind that the basic website comes with minimal opportunities for customization.
Alternative: Lodgify
Lodgify is known for its vacation rental website builder, a user-friendly tool that comes with customizable templates. Users can build their own direct booking site with a custom domain name (www.yourwebsite.com) in under five minutes—no technical expertise necessary!
What’s more, Lodgify-created sites are optimized for SEO, resulting in an average of 40% of bookings being made directly by customers. Ample personalization options mean that you can add widgets, create as many pages as you want, and brand your site to best represent your business.
If you already have an existing website you want to keep, you can also take advantage of Lodgify’s booking engine to start accepting direct bookings on your site.
Channel manager
Hospitable
Hospitable offers a channel manager that enables users to synchronize their listings and manage their reservations from one centralized calendar. However, users can only connect to Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Google Vacation Rentals.
Guesty
Guesty, too, offers a channel manager, with unlimited channel distribution included in its Pro and Enterprise plans. However, Guesty’s Lite plan only offers distribution to Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo.
Alternative: Lodgify
Lodgify’s channel manager offers a two-way API connection with all the top platforms, including Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Expedia. This enables seamless real-time synchronization of calendars, bookings, rates, property data, and more. Connecting with local or alternative distribution channels is also available via iCal integration.
Unified inbox
Hospitable
Hospitable offers a unified inbox that pulls messages directly from your direct booking site, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Airbnb, enabling you to manage all communications from one place. Automation and AI-powered guest communications also help save you time.
Unfortunately, Hospitable’s unified inbox does not allow you to communicate with guests via WhatsApp.
Guesty
Guesty’s unified inbox centralizes all guest communications, including inquiries, emails, and SMS messages. Business account holders also have the option to message directly through WhatsApp.
User messages from the Guesty inbox via WhatsApp and SMS are sent to the guest’s phone number from Guesty’s business account phone number. These messages can be viewed only on the guest’s phone. They will not appear in the relevant booking channel’s inbox.
Alternative: Lodgify
Lodgify’s unified inbox enables users to effortlessly manage messages and inquiries across all channels from a single platform, streamlining guest communications. It integrates with Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com as well as users’ direct booking sites.
Users can message guests through WhatsApp directly from the Lodgify dashboard, and save time by saving replies and using automated responses.
Google Vacation Rentals integration
Hospitable
Hospitable integrates with Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) to help increase direct bookings for its users. This integration is available to Hospitable’s Direct Basic and Direct Premium users with qualifying properties.
Guesty
Guesty also integrates with Google Vacation Rentals. However, Guesty Lite users do not have access, and those who do not have a Guesty Advanced Website must pay $4 USD per listing to take advantage of the integration.
Alternative: Lodgify
In keeping with its goal to increase direct bookings for its users, Lodgify, too, integrates with Google Vacation Rentals. Lodgify Professional and Ultimate plan users can list their Lodgify website through Google Vacation Rentals for free.
Travelers will see these listings above the organic results in Google. Once they click on a listing, they’ll be sent directly to the vacation rental business’s website (not a Lodgify-branded page).
Mobile app
Hospitable
Hospitable offers a mobile app with similar functionality to their desktop app. The Hospitable mobile app is rated 3.9 stars on Google Play and 3.0 stars on the App Store.
Average rating: 3.45 stars
Guesty
Guesty, too, offers a mobile app—also with many of the same features you can find on its desktop version. Guesty’s mobile app is rated 2.5 stars on Google Play and 3.4 stars on the App Store.
Average rating: 2.95 stars
Alternative: Lodgify
Lodgify’s mobile app is rated 4.8 stars on Google Play and 3.6 stars in the App Store. Lodgify’s Ultimate plan users also have access to the Lodgify PM app to connect with cleaners, check-in agents, and rental managers. Additionally, guests can download the Lodgify Guest app to easily access host resources, such as guidebooks, Wi-Fi passwords, check-in details, and more.
Average rating: 4.2 stars
Customer support
Hospitable
Hospitable does not list a direct contact number for its support team, so all communication takes place through email or online chat.
Guesty
Guesty does not offer a sales line for inquiries. Pro and Enterprise users can access “urgent phone support,” but it’s unclear what the parameters of that support are.
However, Guesty does offer 24/7 email support as well as support through their dashboard, mobile app, and a form. Lite users can only access Guesty’s chatbot through the dashboard, whereas Pro users have access to a form to submit requests.
Alternative: Lodgify
Known for its industry-leading customer support, Lodgify offers free 24/7 customer support via phone, chat, and email to all its customers and trial users. The Contact page provides telephone numbers for Sales support in the U.S. & Canada, the U.K., Australia, Spain, and Italy.
Preferred partner awards
Hospitable
Hospitable hasn’t been recognized as a connectivity partner for either Airbnb or Vrbo.
Guesty
Guesty is a Preferred+ Software Partner with Airbnb and an Elite Partner with Vrbo.
Alternative: Lodgify
Lodgify is proud to have been recognized as one of the top channel managers on the market. Our outstanding reputation is reinforced by numerous badges, awards, and the esteemed status of being a Preferred+ Software Partner with Airbnb and an Elite Partner with Vrbo.
Want to see Lodgify at work? Start a free seven-day trial today!
Can I try them before I buy?
Hospitable
Hospitable offers a free 14-day trial, but no option for a personalized call or a demo account. However, their Contact page does offer an online form to get in touch with their sales team.
Guesty
While Guesty offers a free 14-day trial for its Lite plan, there is no option for a free trial of their other plans. There is an option to request a demo, though.
Alternative: Lodgify
Lodgify offers ample options to try its software before you commit, starting with a free seven-day trial. Need more time? No problem—simply request to extend your trial.
You can also schedule a personalized demo call with one of Lodgify’s knowledgeable product experts to get a comprehensive overview of the available features and a personalized plan recommendation. Finally, for those looking to try out Lodgify immediately without inputting any rental or user data, the company offers a preconfigured test demo account.
Hospitable vs. Guesty ratings
The numbers speak for themselves. See how Hospitable, Guesty, and Lodgify compare by checking out their ratings on Trustpilot below:
- Hospitable rating: 491 reviews | 4.3 stars
- Guesty rating: 556 reviews | 4.1 stars
- Lodgify rating: 1,163 reviews | 4.7 stars
Guesty vs. Hospitable: Which should I choose?
Guesty and Hospitable both offer powerful features to streamline vacation rental operations. Of course, which is best comes down to your specific needs and goals.
For example, both Hospitable and Guesty offer solutions for larger property managers now thanks to Hospitable’s new Mogul plan. However, property managers may be wary of signing on to this new plan until its new features have been put to the test for a bit longer. Similarly, smaller hosts may prefer Hospitable, as many of Guesty’s more attractive features (including free onboarding) are not included in its Lite plan.
And for those who are open to another alternative, Lodgify stands out with its overall value for money, next-level features, user-friendly website builder, and numerous integration options. What’s more, Lodgify’s scalability makes it an ideal fit for everyone from single property managers to those handling a portfolio of 30+ rentals.
Whichever of these PMS options seems like the best fit for you, we always recommend trying before you buy to make an informed decision. To try Lodgify, you can start a free seven-day trial here.