Lay My Hat

We have 2 properties both listed on HomeAway and AirBnb. We mainly try and take direct bookings though, and so these websites are mainly our window (though some people insist on booking through them).

However, it's becoming difficult managing them all and making sure payments arrive on time (with the direct bookings), also emailing out directions etc, which should just be templates. I'm doing a lot of office hours managing things - sending details to cleaners etc.

I was looking at a PMS system - Guesty is very expensive (3%! per booking!?), 'Prowner' looks like it doesn't integrate with AirBnb, HA etc. I'm looking for a website/app that means I can enter rates into it - and it will change the rates in HA and AirBnB.

What does everyone recommend?

PIMS is great - simple to set up and use. We've used it for 8 years and it's foolproof (must be if I can use it)

Another vote for PIMS. The calendar can be imported into other sites but I'm not sure about the rates. Check it out here:

https://www.holidayrentalmanagement.com

Let me know if you decide to go with PIMS - I have a referral code that will give you an extra 90 days on your first year subscription.

In September 2019 I went with Eviivo but in hindsight I'm not sure that was a wise move. Having operated the Eviivo PMS system for a few months now, IMO it's suited to people running hotels than people running individual, or groups of, holiday lets. Also, the way Eviivo set up some some things just don't make any sense to me - for instance Eviivo have the agreement with HomeAway in respect of my property's listing on HomeAway, not me, so I'm powerless to effect my listing on HomeAway even though it's just plain wrong. I understand the principle of a channel manager being the one place where you list stuff which then filters down to the listings on the varous channels, but what's filtering down to HomeAway just isn't correct. I've raised this with Eviivo but they just say I should set up my property on their system better - I've tried to do this but it doesn't improve matters.
So what to do? At times I feel I need to jump ship but (a) the season's just about to kick off, so what will happen to my bookings ahead which have been obtained through and are on the Eviivo PMS system? And (b) who would I jump ship to and be sure that their system will be better than Eviivo and do what I want? I THINK what I want (although I'm not totally sure) is a bare bones system - just the diary that is common to all the channels I'm listed on and nothing else. Then I would have my own agreements with the each of the channels I want to be listed on and I'd control each such listing individually. That would undoubtedly mean more work for me, but I'd be far more comfortable with it. Does that sound like any system anyone out there is using?

Pengman - it sounds like PIMS might suit you. You get the option of sharing calendars with the listing sites via ical and you're in control of everything else. If you set up a Stripe account then you can take card payments through the PIMS booking forms. Have a look https://www.holidayrentalmanagement.com

Do you have a wordpress website? If so you just need to get a calendar plugin that has iCal compatibility (e.g. WP Simple Booking Calendar) and use that as your main calendar. Any other websites you list with should be able to synch with it to keep their calendar up to date (like the PIMS Calendar does).

You can also synch back from other websites to your own if you take a booking on them, although I disabled this on one website as I’d blocked out months further ahead than 3 months on it to give my own website a good chance to get the weeks booked first, and then found the months were blocked on my own website too after synching

I have to say that Richard at HolidayRentalManagement is very helpful. I have heard nothing but praise about him and his product, PIMS.

I have just had a lovely telephone conversation with him because I have been meaning to sign up to PIMS for a long while.

My holiday house was closed for a while because of a family illness but I am re-opening and I am going to give PIMS a go. So thank you to the contributors on this thread for giving it a thumbs up.

Can anyone here share the costs of PIMS and how it is billed.
Do you pay annually or per reservation etc. etc.

I am considering shifting from my excel worksheet to a rez system as we are going from 2 to 4 units and offering occupancy as soon as this COVID19 crisis has subsided.

Thank you
Kathleen

PIMS is an annual subscription. There are 4 different levels depending on how many properties you're managing plus extra features like sending text messages and so on.

I have a referral code which will get you an extra 3 months free on top of your first year - 1379595