Hostaway

Hostaway is a vacation rental management system and channel manager for property managers. It distributes listings across booking channels including Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Google, while bringing calendar, guest communication, operational, reporting, and accounting tools together. Its multi-calendar, task management, payments, and unified inbox support day-to-day work. The inbox combines messages from Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, email, SMS, and WhatsApp, with templates, automated messaging, and AI Replies that can draft or send answers to common guest questions. Other listed features include dynamic pricing, a direct booking engine, guest and owner portals, and automated reviews. Hostaway says it offers more than 300 integrations and an Open API for custom connections. Its web, iOS, Android, and API availability includes mobile apps for calendars, inboxes, reservations, and tasks. The company describes the service as suited to growing managers, from a few units to thousands. Pricing is available on request; the public pricing page offers listing-count selections without showing prices. Hostaway advertises 24/7 phone support and a Help Center.

Hostaway brings listing distribution and a broad set of management tools together, with mobile apps and custom connectivity options. Ask for pricing and check mobile device requirements against your setup.

Hostaway is aimed at growing vacation rental property managers, including operators with portfolios from a few units to thousands. It may suit teams that want listing distribution, guest communication, and operations tools in one platform.

Overview

Hostaway is a vacation-rental management system and channel manager for operators coordinating bookings and property operations. It is best suited to growing managers who want distribution, guest communication, and day-to-day workflows in one platform. Its breadth and customization options make it a strong consolidation candidate, but custom pricing calls for a cost check before choosing it.

Key features

Hostaway distributes listings across Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Google, with a multi-calendar to coordinate reservations across channels. Its unified inbox gathers conversations from booking sites, email, SMS, and WhatsApp, while templates and automated messaging help handle routine exchanges. AI Replies can draft answers to common questions and send them automatically on a user's behalf. That can reduce repetitive work for busy teams, though operators should decide where automated guest replies fit their communication needs.

The broader toolkit covers dynamic pricing, a direct booking engine, guest and owner portals, reporting, task management, payments, automated reviews, maintenance management, and property accounting. Bringing these functions together can reduce the number of systems an operator must coordinate. Hostaway also offers a Booking Website at no cost to users, with Standard and Pro options.

Hostaway says it has more than 300 integrations and an Open API for custom connections. That flexibility can suit managers connecting rental operations to other systems. It identifies itself as an Airbnb Preferred Partner, Vrbo Elite Partner, and Booking.com Premier Partner.

Pricing

Hostaway uses paid, custom pricing. Its pricing flow groups operators by 2–14, 15–49, and 50+ listings, so the relevant quote depends on portfolio size; there is no published price to compare before contacting the company. That makes budgeting less straightforward for smaller operators evaluating several tools. The Booking Website is available at no cost to Hostaway users, but it is not a free plan for the management platform.

Hostaway’s intended range runs from a few units to portfolios of thousands, making it worth a quote for teams expecting to grow. Operators who need a firm monthly cost before evaluating a system may prefer a competitor with a published plan price.

Platforms

Hostaway runs on web, iOS, and Android, and offers an API. Its mobile apps cover calendars, inboxes, reservations, and tasks, making them useful for managers handling routine coordination away from a desk. Current iOS app updates require iOS 16.4 or later, and Huawei devices are not fully supported; access through a mobile browser is an option for Huawei users. Hostaway requires SMS two-factor authentication, with login steps varying between the dashboard and mobile app.

Hostaway advertises 24/7 phone support and a Help Center. Its privacy policy says it processes personal data under the EU GDPR and will not sell personal data to third parties.

Who it's for

Hostaway is a good fit for growing vacation-rental managers who need channel distribution alongside communications, maintenance, accounting, payments, and reporting. Its integration count and Open API are particularly relevant to operators with existing systems to connect. A smaller host with a simple portfolio may find the range of tools excessive, especially without a published price to establish whether consolidation pays off.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Distribution across major booking channels, a multi-calendar, and a cross-channel inbox bring booking coordination into one place.
• Pros: The combination of maintenance, accounting, payments, tasks, and reporting reaches beyond reservations and messaging.
• Pros: More than 300 integrations and an Open API give teams options for custom connectivity.
• Cons: Custom pricing makes costs harder to assess before requesting a quote.
• Cons: Current iOS updates require iOS 16.4 or later, and Huawei devices are not fully supported.
• Cons: AI Replies can send messages automatically, so teams need to decide which guest questions are appropriate to automate.

Alternatives

Hospitable is worth considering for hosts who want a free plan with unlimited active properties; its Host plan is $29 a month with one active property included. Rental Network Software is another paid option with reservations, trust accounting, owner statements, portals, a unified inbox, work orders, and housekeeping; its core platform uses custom pricing per property.

Tokeet offers a free plan and a $14.99 a month AdvanceCM plan with channel connections, automated messaging, dynamic rates, invoicing, and payments. Futurestay is a paid alternative with a free trial and an Amplify plan at $20 a year, billed per year, with a stated total of $239 per year.

Guesty may suit operators with 1–3 listings who want a published entry price: Lite starts at $9 a month per listing, while Pro covers 4–199 listings at a price available by quote. Hostfully offers a Growth plan at $15 per property per month plus a platform fee for 1–50 listings.

i-Rent is a paid alternative with a Rental Manager plan at €72 a month for 5–24 properties. iGMS is another paid option with a FLEX plan priced at $1 a month per booked night and a 20 USD per property monthly minimum.

For readers comparing by category, see Vacation Rental Website Builders, Property Management Website Builder Software, Short-Term Rental Management Software, and Property Management Software.

Verdict

Choose Hostaway if you manage a growing vacation-rental portfolio and want booking distribution, guest communication, and property operations connected in one platform, with an API and broad integration support for customization. Its main drawback is the lack of a public platform price, which makes cost comparison difficult before a sales conversation. Smaller operators seeking a clear entry price or a free management plan should look elsewhere.