Free concierge training
Take the trainingAutomating your short-term rental management: the 10 essential tools
Automation is what separates an artisanal management company running 10 units from a structured one running 50+ units. A conciergerie (a short-term rental management company) that lacks the right tools spends proportionally more time on every unit it takes on. With the right tools, the time per unit goes down as the portfolio grows.
This guide covers the 10 categories of tools essential to automating your management company, ranked by rollout priority. For each category: what the tool does, the leading solutions, the pricing and why it is indispensable.
PMS / Channel Manager
The backbone of your management company
The PMS (property management system) centralises all your bookings, syncs calendars across platforms (Airbnb, Booking, Abritel), automates guest communication and generates your financial reports. It is tool number 1: without a PMS, you cannot scale.
Top picks
Hostaway, Lodgify, Beds24
Price
20 to 30 euros/unit/month
ROI
3-5h saved/unit/month
Dynamic pricing
Maximise the revenue of every night
Dynamic pricing tools automatically adjust the rates of your listings based on demand, seasonality, local events and the competition. Average impact: +15 to 30 % in rental revenue. It is the best return on investment of your entire stack.
Top picks
PriceLabs, Beyond Pricing
Price
1 to 2 % of turnover or 15-20 euros/unit/month
ROI
+15-30 % in rental turnover
Automated messaging
Reply without being in front of the screen
Guest communication accounts for 30 to 40 % of a management company's operational time. Automated messaging tools send pre-written messages at every key stage: confirmation, arrival instructions, check-in, mid-stay, check-out, review request. Some PMS platforms build this feature in natively.
Top picks
Hospitable, GuestReady, Guesty
Price
5 to 15 euros/unit/month
ROI
2-3h saved/unit/month
Smart locks
Eliminate physical key handovers
Smart locks generate a unique code for each guest, sent automatically with the arrival instructions. No more travelling to hand over keys: it is the most dramatic time saving for a management company. Integration with the PMS lets you automate the whole thing end to end.
Top picks
Nuki, Igloohome, Keynest
Price
150-300 euros (purchase) + 0-5 euros/month
ROI
30-45 min saved/check-in
Cleaning management
Coordinate your teams effortlessly
Cleaning is the operational battleground. Cleaning management tools automatically sync turnovers with your PMS, notify the teams, enable photo reporting and handle invoicing. No more endless WhatsApp threads or missed turnovers.
Top picks
Turno (formerly TurnoverBnB), Properly
Price
3 to 8 euros/unit/month
ROI
1-2h saved/unit/month
Accounting
Automate data entry and tax filings
Online accounting tools automate expense categorisation, invoice generation, bank reconciliation and the handoff to your accountant. Some connect directly to your PMS to import rental revenue automatically.
Top picks
Pennylane, Indy, Tiime
Price
20 to 60 euros/month (flat fee)
ROI
5-10h saved/month
Digital welcome book
The tool that lifts your ratings
The digital welcome book replaces the paper binder with a web app accessible via QR code. It holds all the property's practical information (wifi, amenities, house rules), local recommendations and arrival instructions. The result: fewer repetitive questions, better reviews and a professional image with owners.
Top pick
LivretAccueil
Price
Free to 10 euros/unit/month
ROI
-60 % in guest questions
Noise monitoring
Prevent nuisances before the complaints
Noise sensors detect abnormal sound levels and alert you in real time. Without recording any conversations (GDPR compliant), they only measure the volume in decibels. It is a powerful sales argument with owners worried about nuisances and with homeowners' associations hostile to short-term rentals.
Top picks
Minut, NoiseAware
Price
100-200 euros (purchase) + 5-10 euros/month
ROI
Incident prevention, owner retention
CRM / Email marketing
Manage your leads and retain your owners
A CRM lets you track your owner leads, automate follow-ups and retain your existing portfolio with newsletters showing how their units are performing. It is the growth tool par excellence: without structured prospecting, growth relies solely on word of mouth.
Top picks
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), Mailchimp
Price
Free to 30 euros/month
ROI
+2-5 new owners/month
Project management
Structure your processes and your team
From 20 units onwards, you need a tool to structure your internal processes: onboarding new units, maintenance checklists, works tracking, procedure documentation. A project management tool stops the knowledge from living only in the founder's head and makes delegation easier.
Top picks
Notion, Trello, Asana
Price
Free to 10 euros/user/month
ROI
Onboarding 2x faster
How these tools connect together
The PMS is the central hub around which the whole ecosystem revolves. Here is how the tools talk to each other:
Total monthly cost by portfolio size
The tools budget grows with the size of the portfolio, but the cost per unit falls thanks to economies of scale and tiered pricing. Here is a realistic estimate of the monthly budget.
| Tool | 5 units | 20 units | 50 units |
|---|---|---|---|
| PMS / Channel Manager | 100 euros | 400 euros | 900 euros |
| Dynamic pricing | 50 euros | 150 euros | 350 euros |
| Automated messaging | Included in PMS | Included in PMS | Included in PMS |
| Smart locks | 15 euros | 60 euros | 150 euros |
| Cleaning management (Turno) | 25 euros | 80 euros | 200 euros |
| Accounting | 30 euros | 40 euros | 60 euros |
| Welcome book | 0 euros | 20 euros | 50 euros |
| Noise monitoring | 25 euros | 100 euros | 250 euros |
| CRM / Email | 0 euros | 20 euros | 30 euros |
| Project management | 0 euros | 10 euros | 30 euros |
| Monthly total | ~245 euros | ~880 euros | ~2,020 euros |
| Cost per unit / month | ~49 euros | ~44 euros | ~40 euros |
ROI calculation: time saved vs cost
Without automation (20 units)
- Time per unit: ~8h/month
- Total time: 160h/month
- Equivalent: 4 full-time roles
- Payroll cost: ~8,000 euros/month
- Tools cost: 0 euros
- Total cost: ~8,000 euros/month
With automation (20 units)
- Time per unit: ~3h/month
- Total time: 60h/month
- Equivalent: 1.5 full-time roles
- Payroll cost: ~3,000 euros/month
- Tools cost: ~880 euros/month
- Total cost: ~3,880 euros/month
Savings: ~4,120 euros/month, i.e. ~49,440 euros/year
Not counting the revenue uplift (+15-30 %) from dynamic pricing
Rollout order for a new management company
There is no need to deploy everything at once. Here is the recommended order to roll these tools out gradually, depending on your stage of development.
Day 1: PMS + Dynamic pricing
The two foundations. You cannot manage more than 3 units without a PMS.
Month 1: Smart locks + Welcome book
Eliminate key handovers and professionalise the guest welcome.
Month 2: Cleaning management + Accounting
Structure your operations and your financial tracking before scaling.
Months 3-6: Noise monitoring + CRM
Secure the existing units and launch structured prospecting.
Month 6+: Project management
Once you pass 15-20 units and start delegating, document your processes.
Chapter 7
Digitise and automate
Go deeper on automation in our free training.
Chapter 12
Grow and scale with AI
Discover how AI is transforming rental management.
Frequently asked questions
The PMS (property management system) is unquestionably tool number 1. It is the central hub that syncs your calendars across platforms and to which every other tool connects. Without a PMS, you cannot efficiently manage more than 3 units. Hostaway, Lodgify and Beds24 are the most popular solutions.
The budget varies with the size of the portfolio. Expect roughly 245 euros/month for 5 units, 880 euros/month for 20 units and 2,020 euros/month for 50 units. The cost per unit drops with scale: from ~49 euros/unit/month at 5 units down to ~40 euros at 50 units. This cost is more than offset by the time saved and the revenue uplift.
Yes, it is the tool with the best ROI. Tools like PriceLabs or Beyond Pricing raise rental revenue by 15 to 30 % on average. For a cost of 1 to 2 % of turnover, it is an investment that pays for itself in the very first month. Automatically adjusting prices based on demand, seasonality and local events is impossible to replicate by hand.
Yes, but it is a major brake on growth. Each physical key handover takes 30 to 45 minutes (travel included). With 20 units and 4 turnovers a month, that adds up to 40 to 60 hours/month just for keys. Key boxes such as Keynest are an intermediate alternative if the owner refuses a smart lock.
The key criteria are: the number of supported channels (Airbnb, Booking, Abritel at a minimum), built-in automated messaging, integrations with your other tools (pricing, cleaning, locks), the price per unit, and the quality of support. Hostaway is the most complete but the most expensive. Beds24 is the best value for money. Lodgify is ideal if you also want a direct booking website.
No. Roll the tools out gradually, starting with the PMS and dynamic pricing (day 1), then smart locks and the welcome book (month 1), cleaning management and accounting (month 2), and finally noise monitoring and the CRM (months 3-6). Deploying everything at once is counterproductive: you risk misconfiguring the tools and losing more time than you save.
Start with your digital welcome book
Create your welcome book for free with LivretAccueil. Cut guest questions by 60 %, improve your ratings and professionalise your management company from day one.
Get our free tips
Tips for your welcome book, straight to your inbox.
No spam. Unsubscribe in one click.
