A successful property manager has a vast array of different technologies they require to do their job, which we have written about before. While there is debate on which ones to use and how many you should leverage, nothing evokes the wide range of reactions as the Property Management Software (PMS).
The PMS is the single most vital item in your tech stack. At times it’s a magical tool that does everything you need it to, while at other times it can cause unending frustration. There’s even a whole corner of the internet committed to finding the right one—Capterra, G2, Shortyz, VRMB and many others try to highlight the pros and cons of the PMSes available on the market.
The PMS you use can be your best friend or a necessary evil for your short-term rental business. We took a minute to see how stable these relationships are.
Beyond is staunchly agnostic when it comes to PMSes. We have the ability to work with whatever software best suits our customers’ businesses, which prompted us to take a look to see the number of our customers who’ve changed their PMS over time.
We found that, from late 2019 into mid-2020, there was an increase in switching PMSes as property managers and owners looked for more economical partners during the pandemic. After a slow down starting late last summer, there’s been a renewed conviction to find the right PMS partner over the last couple of months.
Where Are They Going?
From our dataset, approximately 20% of the change is coming from the sunsetting of V12. While Expedia would love to simply move those existing clients to Escapia, we found that only 60% of them were actually ending up on Escapia, with the others mostly switching to Track and then Streamline, respectively.
While there is a growing interest to switch PMS partners, no one has ever actually enjoyed the experience of implementing that change. Beyond would like to remind all those short-term rental property managers and owners who are looking at greener pastures to do your due diligence and ask every question about every feature you care about.
Specifically, make sure you get answers regarding data migration: who will do it, when they will do it, what they will bring, and if it is required, how much it will cost. At the end of the day, your data is your asset, no matter which fancy new tool you view it through.
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