A property management system (PMS) runs the admin side of a holiday let from one place: your calendars, your guest messages and, on some plans, your prices and a direct booking website. This page explains what each part does and how the pricing works, so you can tell which parts you'd use before you compare plans. If you're still deciding whether you need software at all, start with Choosing software for a self-managed holiday let: what matters at your stage.
Channel management keeps every calendar in sync
A channel manager connects your listings on Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and any direct booking site, so a night booked on one is blocked on all the others. It's the feature almost every PMS includes, and the usual reason hosts start looking at one. If you only list on one platform, you don't need it yet. Channel managers for holiday lets: the problem they solve and when you don't need one yet explains the double-booking risk in more detail.
Guest messaging automation sends the same messages without you
The system sends your template messages at set points in each booking, such as confirmation, check-in details, a mid-stay check, checkout and a review request, and fills in each property's details, like the Wi-Fi password or key safe code. At five messages per booking and thirty bookings a year, that's 150 messages you no longer write or send by hand. You still need good templates to start with, and Writing holiday let guest message templates that sound like you, not a script covers that.
Dynamic pricing changes your nightly rate with demand
Dynamic pricing adjusts your nightly rates for local events, season and day of the week, instead of a fixed rate you rarely revisit. Some systems include it, some charge extra for it, and others connect to a separate tool such as PriceLabs or Beyond. If you already pay for a pricing tool, check whether a PMS would duplicate that cost or connect to what you have.
Direct booking websites and guidebooks
Some systems include a booking website of your own, so returning guests and word-of-mouth enquiries can book without going through Airbnb or Booking.com. Others include digital guidebooks for guests. Check whether these come with the base plan or cost extra, and whether you'd use a direct booking site at all yet.
What a PMS doesn't do
A PMS runs the admin, not the property. It won't clean, restock or fix a boiler, and changeover scheduling is usually a separate tool. If coordinating changeovers is your main problem, start with the Changeovers guides instead.
How PMS pricing works
Prices change often and differ by currency, billing period and number of properties, so this page doesn't list them. Check each provider's own pricing page on the day you compare. What you can compare is how each one charges:
- A flat monthly fee: the same price whatever you earn. Easy to budget, but you pay it in quiet months too.
- A fee per property: cheap for one property, rising with every property you add.
- A percentage of booking revenue: low when you're quiet, but it can become the most expensive option once you're well booked.
- A free plan with paid add-ons: some systems now offer a free tier for calendar sync and messaging, and charge for extras such as dynamic pricing.
Many providers bill in US dollars or euros, so the amount on your card statement moves with the exchange rate. Also check what you already have: if you only list on Airbnb, its own scheduled messages and pricing tools may be enough for now.
Pay for the plan that fits the properties you have now
Higher tiers add reporting, team permissions and tools built for large portfolios. Compare plans at the number of properties you run today, not the number you might have in a few years. Most systems let you move up a plan later.
Use the free trial to test the one job you need
Most systems offer a free trial. Use it on the job you're buying the software for, not every setting: connect one property, set up your most common message sequence, and check that calendar sync works with every platform you list on. If that core job doesn't work well during the trial, try another system.
Before you sign up, check what happens to your data if you leave later. Switching holiday let software without losing your bookings, guest messages or financial records covers what to export.
Notes on individual systems
The Apps & Software section describes what systems such as Hospitable, Smoobu and Lodgify are built around and who they tend to suit. Nothing there is rated or recommended.