Hotel booking and reservation methods have changed significantly and most guests like to book their hotel rooms before arriving. So unless your hotel has an online booking option you may end up missing out on a major chunk of your hotel bookings. Lodgify is a tool designed to help hotels build a dedicated website with all the reservation functionalities included.
You can customize the websites built using Lodgify and even have the option to manage all your hotel bookings through its interface. However, Lodgify isn’t a completely free tool which means you have to make sure it is the right option for you before investing in it. We have created this detailed Lodgify review to cover each and every aspect of this property management software. So by the end of this review, you will be able to tell whether Lodgify is the right option for you or not.
What is Lodgify and how does it work?
First things first you have to know the software’s basics to understand what it can do for your business. As mentioned earlier Lodgify is a software designed to make property management simple. This tool’s functionalities are best suited for vacation rental businesses that have a reservations-based business model.
Apart from providing users with the ability to book and manage reservations via a dedicated website Lodgify also synchronizes property details with listings on third-party vacation rental platforms. You can use Lodgify to integrate with listings on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Google Vacation Rentals, and Expedia. So hotel owners can update their property listings across all these platforms right from the Lodgify interface.
Lodgify also offers automation options for repetitive reservation tasks and guest communication. So hotel owners and managers can free themselves of redundant administrative tasks and focus on improving their service. In short, Lodgify is an all-in-one solution for short-term rental property businesses.
How can you set up Lodgify to manage your properties?
Here is how you can get started with Lodgify and start managing your properties efficiently:
Creating your first rental
Before you can start getting bookings you need to create your first rental and you can do that by logging into Lodgify and completing the steps to create your first rental.
You will have to provide the address, description, photos, and other details about your rental property to complete this step.
Build your website
Now that you have created your very first listing you can go to the website builder in the Lodgify dashboard choose a template, select a color pallet, and upload a photo of your rental property. Then you have to provide the basics about your rental property and your website will be ready.
Setup channel manager
Once you have your website set up for direct bookings you can connect your property listings on other channels and platforms to Lodgify. You can go to the dashboard and select the Channel Manager option to select the channel that contains your listings. Click on Connect under the channel of your choice and complete the steps to set up the channel manager.
Now you will be able to update your availability, rates, and property details across all channels via Lodgify.
And that is it you are ready to start getting reservations for your rental property. You can also create more rentals by going to the website builder selecting rentals and clicking on Add Rental.
Features of Lodgify
Now that you know how Lodgify works and how you can set it up it is time to take a closer look at its features. We have introduced some of the features of Lodgify in the previous section. It is time to dive deeper and learn more about these features of this rental property management system:
Channel Manager
We have already introduced the Lodgify channel manager above as it is one of the core features of this software. The ability to sync all your property booking calendars across all major listing websites prevents double booking. This feature also ensures that you don’t have to manually change your listing information on each platform individually. You can do that through the channel manager within the Lodgify dashboard.
Channel manager contains the option to connect to the following channels:
- Airbnb
- Vrbo
- Booking.com
- Expedia
But what is great about this feature is that you can connect the channel manager to other platforms apart from the ones mentioned above. You can use an iCal integration to connect any channel to the Lodify channel manager that supports iCal.
Website Builder
Website Builder is a pretty self-explanatory feature and one of the main reasons why hotel owners use Lodify. It simplifies building a simple website that will bring in more online reservations for the rental property. This feature not only saves time but also eliminates the cost of hiring a professional web developer to set up a simple website for your rental business.
The websites built using Lodify website builder include all the key functionalities including:
- Online bookings
- Add custom pages
- Optimized for Mobile Devices
- Custom Domain Included
- Accept credit card payments
- Support for over 30 languages
Booking System
The Lodgify Booking System feature ties the direct channel which is your website and the listings from indirect booking websites. The booking system is fully integrated with the top paying processing providers including Stripe, PayPal, and Braintree. On top of that, the booking system also supports direct bank transfers and cash payments. The booking system also calculates the booking prices and generates quotes for your guests based on the provided information.
On top of all that you can also connect your existing website hosted on any external CMS such as WordPress or Wix by embedding the Lodgify vacation rental booking widget.
Dynamic Pricing
If you want to ensure that your rental rates are competitive and up to date you can use the Dynamic Pricing option to automatically update your listing rates. This feature analyses the real-time pricing trends for property listings that match yours to keep your rates up to date. As a result, you wouldn’t lose a booking opportunity just because your rates weren’t updated based on demand or other factors.
Mobile App
Lodgify offers a mobile app for hotel owners so they can manage their hotel bookings on the go. This app comes with all the basic details of your booking business as well as the communication options to interact with potential guests.
Things you can do from the Lodgify mobile app may be limited but it is a great feature to have to keep an eye on your rental business while you are away from the desk. Business owners can download the Lodgify app for both iOS and Android platforms.
Free Onboarding
Lodgify is known for its excellent customer support and its free onboarding feature is an extension of its commitment to facilitating the users. You can book a free onboarding session and get a complete overview of the platform, its features, and how you can make the most of this tool.
Lodgify Pricing
Lodgify has a wide range of pricing options to choose from. Their subscription prices vary based on the number of rentals you want to manage via their platform.
Here are all the pricing plans you can get if you want to buy a Lodgify subscription for a single rental:
Monthly
| Plan Name | Pricing |
|---|---|
| Starter | $20/month |
| Professional | $58/month |
| Ultimate | $73/month |
Yearly
| Plan Name | Pricing |
|---|---|
| Starter | $16/month |
| Professional | $46/month |
| Ultimate | $59/month |
Two Years
| Plan Name | Pricing |
|---|---|
| Starter | $15/month |
| Professional | $43/month |
| Ultimate | $55/month |
Each pricing plan offers users a different level of features and there is also a free trial option available with Lodgify that gives you a 7-day period to test the software out. It is important to mention that Lodgify has a discount offer for their yearly and two-year plans. And if you want to get the best value for your money you are better off buying a yearly or two-year subscription.
Lodgify also offers an option to help you figure out what the best plan would be for your usage scenario. You can go to the Lodgify pricing page and scroll down to the “Help me pick a plan” button to get help with choosing the ideal pricing plan for you.
Pros and cons of Lodgify
Lodgify may seem like the perfect solution for hotel management and short-term rental management needs but it has its set of issues that you must know about. So without further ado here are the key pros and cons of Lodgify:
Pros
- Lodgify comes with advanced customization options for the direct booking channel on the user’s website. This allows you to match the booking engine with your brand’s theme.
- Comes with automation options that make customer communication easier as it takes over the task of providing vital information to the guests in a natural way.
- Prevents double booking of your rentals through the multi-channel integration feature. This feature also makes cross-platform listing management easier.
- It is designed to be an all-in-one solution for hotels and vacation rental property businesses.
- Easy-to-follow interface makes Lodgify easy to navigate even for those with little technical knowledge.
Cons
- The number of templates you get for building a website for your property rental business may seem limited to some users.
- Lodgify’s pricing plans are based on the number of rentals you want to manage and as you add more rentals to the platform the subscription price can get fairly high. So if you are a small property owner you may want to consider this con of Logdify.
- You get limited reporting capabilities with Logdify which means you may not get the full picture of how your rental business is doing if you choose this platform.
Who should use the Lodgify Vacation Rental Software?
Now that you know about the key features, pricing plans, and the strengths and weaknesses of Lodgify you should be able to tell if it is the right tool for you or not. However, there are some situations where Lodgify performs better than other similar software.
As per our analysis, Lodgify is ideal for companies or individuals that manage a large portfolio of properties or rental units. Some examples of properties that would be ideal for managing using Lodgify include high rental yield properties such as beachfront villas, city apartments, and countryside retreats.
Such properties have a lot of growth potential and they fall within the realm of properties that should be managed using Lodgify.
On the other hand, if you own a single property and want to manage it using a dedicated rental property management software then Lodgify isn’t the right option for you. This software performs the best when it is used for managing multiple properties as it is designed for this very purpose.
Not to mention the pricing plans of Lodgify are designed for scalability and single properties with no plan of expansion aren’t the best fit for this model. At the same time, this tool is not a good fit for larger enterprises either, and instead, the ideal audience of this tool would be small to medium-sized businesses who manage multiple vacation rentals.
Conclusion
Lodgify has been gaining popularity in the hotel and vacation rental industry due to its all-in-one management solutions. You can manage all your listings including booking from the direct channel through this single centralized platform.
Not to mention it makes it possible for hotel owners and managers to set up a website with little to no coding knowledge. This review should help you figure out if Lodgify ticks the boxes for what you were looking for in vacation rental management software. You can always visit the official website of the tool to get more up-to-date information on their pricing as well as newly launched features.