Last Updated on June 19, 2023 by Rental Recon
It seems like there has been an absolute explosion of short-term rental channel managers recently. Tons of startup companies make huge promises on what they’ll deliver, how they’ll make you lots of money, increase your bookings tenfold… and so on. But who can you trust?
Today we’ll be pitting two popular services, iGMS Vs Lodgify, head to head to find out which one works for your needs. We’ll go in-depth to find out who offers what (and for what price they offer it) to help you make the best choice for your short-term rental.
iGMS Vs. Lodgify: Here’s How They Match Up
The rest of the article will break down the services that iGMS and Lodgify offer to help you figure out which company is right for your short-term rental needs. Keep reading to see more!
iGMS and Lodgify Alternatives / Competitors
iGMS Vs. Lodgify Review
iGMS Automation: Does it Really Make Your Life Easier?
iGMS Pricing
In terms of raw numbers, iGMS has a pricing advantage over Lodgify by a significant amount. Their Lite plan charges $14 per property per month. The more robust option is the Pro package which is $18 per property per month. If you’d prefer to pay on a daily basis, you can pay $1/ night but there is a minimum of $20 per month. Check out specifics on their plans here.
iGMS Management Options
A great rental management software, iGMS has integrated tools specifically designed to help hosts manage their teams. This is great for smaller hosts as well as larger property managers, both of which will eventually have to coordinate staff members and keep everyone on track.
iGMS Checklists, Roles and Tasks
Through their software, users can schedule cleanings and daily tasks with ease. You can also assign individual members to specific roles or properties. It even has a handy notification feature to ensure the job gets done on time.
For more detail-oriented people, you can create checklists and sub-tasks for each team member’s assignment. While setting all this up might be a lot of work upfront, it is all part of building an entirely automated system to keep your rental running smoothly for the long run.
iGMS Channel Manager Overview
iGMS Multi-Calendar
iGMS has a large and visually appealing master calendar that allows you to see all your bookings, cleanings, tasks, and more in one consolidated location. You can sync properties between multiple websites including Airbnb, VRBO, and HomeAway. Your Booking.com and TripAdvisor calendar data can be integrated as well.
If you have multiple accounts across these platforms, no problem! iGMS can handle them as well in its multi-calendar dashboard.
iGMS Branded Website and Payment Processing
iGMS has recently updated its offerings to include a branded website. In addition, they now have integrated payment processing functionality via Stripe. This is a huge improvement to the iGMS platform and makes iGMS even more competitive in its market.
iGMS Automated Reviews and Messaging
Native smart messaging is a key feature of iGMS, which they advertise can save hosts “up to 70%” of their time. What is smart messaging? It’s a single inbox where you can see all of your messages from guests across platforms.
Through this portal, you can automate responses to common questions and create ready-made templates to save you from typing the same response over and over again. How many times have you had to explain check-in procedures to someone at 6 am? Now, you won’t have to!
Curious about similar services? Be sure you don’t miss my iGMS vs Guesty review!
Is Lodgify Worth It? The Cost Analysis Breakdown
Lodgify Pricing
Lodgify costs more than iGMS, but offers a bit more in return. Their “Starter” plan includes everything you’ll need to, well, start. Next up, their “Professional” plan includes all the benefits of the Starter plan plus manual payments and damage preauthorization. The priciest “Ultimate” plan also includes tons of advanced features like task management, expense reports, accounting help, and even a specialized guest app!
For the purposes of this review, we’ll be focusing on the Starter plan.
Unlike the other plans, the Starter plan has a booking fee of 1.9% on all bookings made. This is in addition to the monthly fee, making it significantly more expensive than iGMS. If you opt for the more expensive monthly plans, you’ll pay no booking fee.
Unsure of whether or not you’re pricing your rental to maximize your profits? My BEST smart pricing tools will help you find out!
Lodgify Integrations/ APIs
Channel managers are pretty much mandatory in this day and age if you run any kind of vacation rental. Even renting out a simple spare bedroom in your home can get complicated quickly, especially if you’re cross-listing on multiple booking platforms (which you should be!).
Lodgify gives users the usual integration between Airbnb, VRBO, and similar websites. It also offers iCal integration for websites that don’t support software integration via API such as TripAdvisor, Hotels.com, and many more. Your Lodgify account will give you a multi-calendar consolidated view to make your life so much easier.
Just click the link to apply your discount…>>
Check Out Our Other Articles on Rental Recon:
- [**VERIFIED** Smartbnb Promo Code]/ Hospitable Discount Code (2023) & Review
- *50% Off* [Lodgify Promo Code 2023] / Lodgify Discount Code / Lodgify Coupon Codes
- iGMS Affiliate Program (2023): Earn Money from Your Referrals
Integrated Business Tools
See your Google analytics and much, much more with Lodgify’s business tool integration. Higher brand visibility (and thus higher bookings and profits) is so much easier to attain once you know where you stand in relation to your competition. Lodgify breaks it down in an easy-to-understand way so you can grow your vacation rental business effortlessly.
Lodgify Websites: Branded Page and Included Domain
Where Lodgify really stands out to me is that they offer a branded website and free domain to all users. As mentioned above, a branded website in combination with payment processing is what you’ll need to start truly running your own independent business.
Airbnb and other websites are great for visibility, but once you’ve gained an audience, you’ll eventually want to be free of their fees, rules and restrictions. A website of your own will give you this freedom!
Direct Payment Options
Lodgify offers direct payment, unlike iGMS, which is great when you have your own branded website (which they also offer with any of their plans). Hosts can have much more autonomy with direct payment options since they don’t have to be completely reliant on other companies to do business.
Get your Lodgify Promo Code here…>>
Rental Recon Tip: Just because you only have one Airbnb to list, doesn’t mean you should only have one listing! Multiple rooms inside of the same house qualify as different listings, and you should definitely be maximizing your rental potential by cross-listing your property on every available website. For even more tips on how to Airbnb multiple listings, check out this article!
Check out our other comparison article of iGMS Vs. Guesty here….>>
Related Questions:
What are Alternatives to iGMS and Lodgify?
With home-sharing becoming an ever more popular source of income for millions of people, channel managers are popping up all over the place. If iGMS and Lodgify don’t quite suit your needs, there are dozens of other quality options out there to check out as well.
I would highly recommend Smartbnb or Uplisting. Both of these services are tailored to Airbnb hosts and have their own unique pros and cons. If you want to get serious about managing your short-term vacation rental, you can’t go wrong with either of these great services!
