The private accommodation
space continues to grow around the world, with revenue estimated to reach more
than $87 billion by the end of this year and continuing to grow by nearly 4%
annually, according
to Statista.
In tandem with that growth in
booking volume and in the numbers of properties is the increased development of
technologies to support this industry.
According to a new report
from Rentals United, a channel manager for the short-term rental industry: “As the vacation and short-term rental industry continues to
mature and competition heightens, property managers are becoming increasingly
driven to improve their use of technology and are adopting more and more
software solutions to help them stay ahead of the game.
"It’s now commonplace
for professional property managers to automate certain operations,
distribution, marketing, revenue management, guest communication and other
tasks.”
Rentals
United surveyed nearly 1,000 people: About one-third are property managers of
varying sizes, with more than half located in Europe, one-quarter in North America
and the rest around the world. The remainder of respondents are property
owners, consultants, technology providers, investors and representatives of
travel agencies, online travel agencies and metasearch companies.
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The survey
found property management systems are the most widely-adopted software solution
in this sector, with 81% of respondents using a PMS to manage day-to-day operations.
Most of those (66%) are using a third-party PMS, while 15% have built the tech
in-house.
The
rate of adoption varies greatly depending on the number of properties managed: 77%
of companies with less than 100 properties use a PMS, while for those with from 100
to 499 properties, that jumps to 93%, and with more than 500, there is 100% adoption.
Fifty-seven percent of property managers use an external
channel manager in conjunction with their PMS. The highest adoption, again, is
for larger property managers: 74% of those with more than 100 units use an external
channel manager.
Beyond these two
systems, the majority of property managers (76%) also use additional tech
solutions. The most popular are payment
providers (51%), accounting tools (40%) and keyless entry solutions (33%).
Less
popular are emerging solutions such as 3D tours (17%), chatbots (13%), home
automation solutions (12%) noise control devices (9%) and voice concierge services
(3%).
“The demand for tech innovation in the short-term rental
industry continues,” says James Burrows, CEO of Rentals United.
“This
report does underline our understanding that the winning models of the future
technology providers will work similarly to SaaS platforms by providing
enterprise-level, open-source platforms allowing developers to contribute to
the code which will in turn increase the investment and the growth of the
industry.”