Hostfully Guidebooks vs Hostfully Property Management Platform Comparison

When I first came across Hostfully Guidebooks I didn't even know I needed it (about four years ago in fall 2017). I used a cumbersome word document to send to my earliest vacation rental clients checking into my condo. It was a very manual process. Now, I own and operate four individual units and integrate my Hostfully Property Management System with Hostfully Guidebooks and we're basically hands-free from running this labour-intensive side of the biz. In short, I'd highly, highly recommend Hostfully from my perspective as a boutique property manager.

Integration was a breeze. No cons that I can think of.

Hello Tod, Thank you for your glowing review! We're thrilled to hear how Hostfully Guidebooks transformed your process from a cumbersome word document to an integrated, hands-free solution with our Property Management System. It's fantastic to know that our platform has significantly eased the labor-intensive side of your business, allowing you to manage four individual units seamlessly. We're glad to hear that the integration was smooth and that you have no cons to mention. Thank you for highly recommending Hostfully from your perspective as a boutique property manager!

We use Hostfully for our Guidebooks when customers rent our country house. We love how they work, the ability to have bilingual contents and how they help our property shine. Simply a great tool I recommend. If you want to build a welcome guide for your rental property, try Hostfully.

Nothing. It delivers exactly how we expect it to.

Hello Paul, Thank you for your review! We're thrilled to hear that you love using Hostfully for your Guidebooks when customers rent your country house. It's great to know that the bilingual content and the way our tool helps your property shine have been beneficial for you. We appreciate your recommendation for others looking to build a welcome guide for their rental properties. Thank you for your positive feedback and for choosing Hostfully!

If you have only one property, Hostfully allows you to create one guidebook for free. The process was really straightforward, and my guests were impressed with the result.

Nothing really what I did not like about Hostfully Guidebooks.

Thank you for your positive review of Hostfully Guidebooks! We appreciate your feedback. We're glad to hear that you found the process of creating a guidebook for your property straightforward and that your guests were impressed with the result. We're also happy to hear that you didn't have any dislikes or concerns about our product. Thank you for choosing us, and we hope to continue providing you with excellent service.

The program is tremendously flexible for taking once written binders of information into accessible information whether links, text and/or video. Use of Google Places helps to ensure recommendations are good looking and have all the relevant information such as an image, link, map and whatever information a host would like to write in recommending an attraction, bar or restaurant. Guidebooks created...

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Hostfully allows you to manage multiple guidebooks. As an administrator of several guidebooks, how to manage one entry to many guidebooks can be a little confusing until you gain experience with the program. However, the fact that Hostfully has such a capability places it in a unique position so I'd call this also a Pro.

Hello Tim, Thank you for your review! We're delighted that Hostfully has helped transform your traditional binders into accessible digital content with Google Places integration, making recommendations look great. It's fantastic to know our guidebooks work well on any device and simplify managing multiple documents and updating house information, rules, and guest recommendations in one place. We understand that managing multiple guidebooks can be confusing at first, but we're glad you see the value in this feature. Your feedback on the platform's flexibility and ease of use is greatly appreciated. Thank you for choosing Hostfully and sharing your positive experience

We do own more properties and it is great to have this tool. There is no need to rewrite a manual as you can easy select which items you would like to use for the different properties.It is pretty easy to use and the helpdesk is there in case you need them.

Don't know. Maybe it is possible to have some functions of the guidebook available om my website so people can see some recommendations before the book a stay?

Thank you for your wonderful feedback and recommendation, Hugo! We're thrilled to hear that Hostfully Guidebooks has been a fantastic tool for managing multiple properties. Your suggestion about having guidebook functions available on your website for guest recommendations is a great idea and something we'll consider. We appreciate your support and are here to assist you whenever you need. Thank you for Choosing Us!

It's better than the old paper guidebook, more modern.

There is nothing that I liked least about hostfully guidebooks.

Thank you so much for your positive feedback on Hostfully Guidebooks, Kevin! We're thrilled to hear that you found our product more modern and preferable than traditional paper guidebooks. We appreciate your kind words and are glad that you had a great overall experience.

Allows to provide everything about your vacation rental from addresses to house manual and local recommendations.

There is nothing from hostfully that is lacking currently.

Hello Alyssa, Thank you for your review! We're thrilled to hear that our guidebooks allow you to provide comprehensive information about your vacation rental, from addresses to the house manual and local recommendations. We're glad to know that you find nothing lacking with Hostfully at the moment. Thank you for choosing Hostfully!

Often people use to reach out about my favorite local restaurants and bars but now I can send them a complete guide book digitally before they arrive so they can plan out their vacation accordingly.

I've had no issues since I have started using Hostfully.

Hello Jeremiah, Thank you for your review! We're thrilled to hear that Hostfully has been the best solution for you, allowing you to provide guests with a complete digital guidebook before they arrive. It's great to know this has helped them plan their vacations and added a unique service that few others offer. We're glad you've had no issues since starting with Hostfully and that it's been a big help so far. Thank you for choosing Hostfully over tablets, as our web-based solution eliminates hardware issues.

Hostfully's online Guidebook gives me a great platform to create, manage, update and distribute my Guidebook to my guests prior to their arrival. The software is easy to use. The end result is a satisfying product that my guests can easily access and use leading up to and during their stay at our accommodations. As for cost, I have one property and Hostfully gives me free access and usage of the Guidebook program.

No real cons. The software is fairly easy to use and produces a great product for my guests.

Hello Dan, Thank you for your review! We're delighted to hear that Hostfully's online Guidebook has been effective in helping you create, manage, update, and distribute information to your guests. It's great to know that the software is easy to use and that your guests find the guidebook accessible and helpful both before and during their stay. We appreciate your feedback and are glad there are no real cons to mention. It's wonderful to hear that the Guidebooks platform allows you to provide comprehensive information to your guests in advance, enhancing their experience at Casa de Paz. Thank you for choosing Hostfully!

Hostfully is a brillant addition to our small 5 bed guest house in England. It was very easy to write the content. The links to recommended restaurants and attractions etc. work seamlessly and it works wonderfully for our guests. It's also very easy to update. We send each guest a link to the guide book a week before they arrive and we also have a link to the guidebook as the home page for the internet on our in-room smart TV's. Our guests love it. On the few occasions that I have needed help I have found the customer service (Phung usually answers my queries) to be excellent. I just can't fault this product and would wholeheartedly endorse it.

Can't think of any. It does what it is supposed to do.

Hello Malcolm, Thank you for your fantastic review! We're thrilled to hear that Hostfully has been a brilliant addition to your 5-bed guest house in England. It's great to know that writing content was easy, and that the links to recommended restaurants and attractions work seamlessly for your guests. We're delighted that our guidebook has been well-received by your guests, both through the pre-arrival link and the in-room smart TV home page. It's wonderful to hear that you find it easy to update and that our customer service, especially Phung, has been excellent. We're glad Hostfully has provided a 100% no-contact solution, which was particularly beneficial during Covid. Thank you for your wholehearted endorsement and for choosing Hostfully!

You’re able to provide a low cost professional guidebook with recommendations, how to videos and lots more.

I can’t think of anything I dislike about hostfully guidebooks. Perhaps there could be more icons available.

Hello Mark, Thank you for your superb review! We're thrilled to hear that you find Hostfully guidebooks to be a low-cost, professional solution that allows you to provide recommendations, how-to videos, and more. It's great to know that you enjoy building the guidebooks and regularly receive positive comments from guests. We appreciate your suggestion for more icons and will consider this for future updates. Thank you for choosing Hostfully for its polished finish and online capabilities!

Hostfully Guidebooks allows me to present relevant information to my guests in a professional-looking, easy-to-use format.

I have Guidebooks for multiple properties. Hostfully does not allow me to create an easy, recognizable name for each Guidebook. Instead, Hostfully names each Guidebook with a series of cryptic letters that make it hard to distinguish one Guidebook from another.

Hello Erin, Thank you for your review! We're glad to hear that Hostfully Guidebooks helps you present relevant information to your guests in a professional and easy-to-use format. We appreciate your feedback regarding the naming convention for multiple guidebooks and understand the need for easily recognizable names. We'll take this into consideration for future improvements. Thank you for choosing Hostfully for its ease of use for both you and your guests!

Easy to setup, easy to use, allows you to collect email addresses from guests.

Hostfully is a great tool overall with no real downsides that I can think of.

Hello James, Thank you for your fantastic review! We're thrilled to hear that you find Hostfully easy to set up and use, and that it's been effective in collecting email addresses from guests. It's great to know you consider it a valuable tool with no real downsides. Thank you for choosing Hostfully and for sharing your positive experience!

It is easy to setup. I can customize each book book to a specific property. Best part is I can make changes on the fly and the renters see the change in real time.

I wish we could use the client manager side of Hostfully. Unfortunately in our situation we cannot. This is not a fault of Hostfully but more of the rules when third part booking sites like VRBO interact with them.

Hello Thomas, Thank you for your review! We're thrilled to hear that Hostfully makes your job easier, allowing you to set up and customize each guidebook for specific properties with ease. It's great to know that you can make real-time changes that renters can see immediately. We appreciate your understanding regarding the client manager side of Hostfully and the limitations imposed by third-party booking sites like VRBO. Thank you for your positive feedback, and we're glad that renters find it easy to use.

With multiple listings Hostfully is truly a life saver! Being able to put all the information about your Short Term Rental in a Hostfully guide book has been a huge time saver. I get very few questions from guest about things inside our listing, or where to go to eat, activities, etc.

Not much negative that I can speak of really.

Hello Chris, Thank you for your wonderful review! We're thrilled to hear that Hostfully has been an invaluable resource for you, especially with multiple listings. It's fantastic to know that our guidebooks have saved you time and reduced the number of questions from guests about your listings and local activities. We appreciate your positive feedback and are glad to hear you don't have much negative to speak of. Thank you for choosing Hostfully!

It's no easy feat to manage over 100 vacation homes/rentals. An even bigger challenge is when they're all full of guests! This is where Hostfully guidebooks came in and saved the day. I've been using Hostfully's guidebooks for over 3 years and our guests love them. They find the information and recommendations we provide extremely helpful and because of it, we believe, they enjoy their stay more. Importantly,...

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None comes to mind, honestly. I provided feedback for improvements when I first started working with Hostfully and the team was always so receptive and appreciated our feedback. They implemented so many improvements since then... so, what I saw as "cons" in the early days have been more or less ironed out.

Hello Paul, Thank you for your detailed and enthusiastic review! We're thrilled to hear that Hostfully guidebooks have been a game-changer for managing over 100 vacation homes and enhancing your guests' experiences. It's wonderful to know that our guidebooks are intuitive for first-time users and easy for guests to access with a QR code. We're glad that the management side is user-friendly and that you found the "card" system efficient for creating and updating guidebooks. Your ability to create almost 100 guidebooks in just three days is impressive! We appreciate your feedback and are pleased that we've been able to implement improvements based on your suggestions. Thank you for choosing Hostfully and for your glowing recommendation!

In 2017, I implemented the Hostfully Hospitality Guide into my four, vacation-rental properties here in the mountain resort community of Kimberley, British Columbia. It's such a friendly way to share the key information, partially-required for my guests to have a 5-Star experience. Once set-up, the ease of use and integration into my Property Mangement System leads really helps me come across as knowing what the heck my business is doing:)

Like any SAAS, it takes a bit of learning and with all the awesome updates, I still need to take the time to process and integrate all the improvements.

Hello Tod, Thank you for your "RAD" review! We're thrilled to hear that Hostfully Guidebooks have been a friendly and effective way to share key information with your guests in Kimberley, BC, enhancing their 5-star experience. It's great to know that the ease of use and integration with your Property Management System helps you present a professional image. We appreciate your understanding that, like any SAAS, it takes some learning to fully integrate all the updates and improvements. As a tourism professional, we're glad Hostfully makes your life easier while also improving your guests' experiences. Your satisfaction means a lot to us. Thank you for choosing Hostfully!

It is easy to manage and I was able to create my unique URL. The information I can add here is great for my guests!

The only thing I wish worked easier is the categorization of cards when I find them. A lot of them come up as Other when they are obviously Places To Eat or Attractions. This is a minimal gripe and can be adjusted easily though.

Thank you for your kind review, Eric! We're thrilled to hear that it has been easy to manage and that you were able to create a unique URL. It's great to know that the information you can add is valuable for your guests. We apologize for any inconvenience you've experienced with the categorization of cards. We truly appreciate your positive feedback and support. :)

It's super easy to implement and even easier to deploy.

Sometimes it's hard to find the pages one is looking for due to naming conventions. Also not sure how the themes work.

Thank you for loving Hostfully Guidebooks, Amin! We appreciate you enjoyed the ease of implementation and deployment. We apologize for any difficulties you've had in understanding the themes. Our goal is to provide a user-friendly experience. We're glad that Hostfully has helped solve important business problems by providing information and enabling future marketing. Thank you for choosing us!

We loved the concept, first and foremost, but what really sold us was how user-friendly it was for the host AND the guest. We wanted the guest experience to be easy for them so our guests felt empowered to answer their own questions and troubleshoot without having to sit on the phone with a guest relations specialist while on their vacation. We put answers in their fingertips and helped set an appropriate expectation pre-arrival.

There were initially some limitations to the way we wanted to display content to our guests, but since we discussed it with our rep, they have adjusted the software to give us more freedom. I can't think of a negative that is still relevant.

Hello Stefani, Thank you for your comprehensive review! We're delighted to hear that you love the concept of Hostfully and find it user-friendly for both hosts and guests. Empowering guests to find answers and troubleshoot on their own is a key goal, and we're glad it's working well for you. We appreciate your feedback on initial content display limitations and are pleased that our team was able...

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How easy it is to customize all the templates to meet your needs, Hostfully gives you the perfect structure and space to tailor the message to your guests in the way you see it fits.

I would like the market place area to be more thought out so that you can offer your own services. This can be done, but in terms of quality and product placemente, it is noticeable that the options that Hostfully brings for its commercial agreements are more careful and have more options to be more attractive to the guest.

Thank you for your kind review of Hostfully Guidebooks, Ismael ! We are thrilled to hear that you find our platform easy to use and customize to meet your needs. We appreciate your feedback regarding the marketplace area, We are glad to hear that you have had a positive overall experience with Hostfully Guidebooks, and that our platform has helped to digitize your apartment guidebook and make it more accessible to your guests. Thank you for choosing Hostfully Guidebooks, and we look forward to continuing working with you! :)

Ability to keep information organized as "cards" and then use the cards multiple ways, and update them individually when necessary, it great.Integration with Google Maps and Google search content for pulling in photos and business information about recommendations is really useful.

We do use the printed version functionality for our condo -- not everyone wants to have to use a phone or tablet to read the house manual content. The printing capabilities have shifted over time and become less user friendly and useful. Would be great to see a bit of development occur around printed versions.More options for look and feel from a design perspective would be nice.

Hello Mark, Thank you for your review! We're pleased to hear that you find Hostfully's ability to keep information organized as "cards" and the integration with Google Maps and Google search content very useful. It's great to know that our platform has been beneficial for both your online and printed guidebooks. We appreciate your feedback regarding the printing functionality and the desire for more design options. We'll take this into consideration for future development to enhance the user experience. Thank you for choosing Hostfully and for being a loyal user for the past five years!

I find that the Hostfully Guidebook is a very useful tool to use, and also that there is a segmented map for the guests to filter what they want to find. It is so easy to update the guide

I have no negatives to report. My website designer did all the connection work for me

Hello, Thank you for your review! We're thrilled to hear that you find the Hostfully Guidebook a very useful tool, particularly with its segmented map for guests to filter what they want to find. It's great to know that updating the guide is easy for you. We appreciate your positive feedback and are glad to hear you have no negatives to report, thanks to the help of your website designer. We're also pleased that the guidebook has been effective in answering many guest questions, reducing the need for them to call for information. Thank you for choosing Hostfully based on Boostly's recommendation!

I create a Hostfully Guidebook for each of my short-term and mid-term rentals. It serves as a house manual, as well as a guidebook for our recommendations for the area. Easy to set up and guests love it!

Creating a guidebook is very straightforward, but could be less clunky and more streamlined.

Hello Melissa, Thank you for your review! We're delighted to hear that you create a Hostfully Guidebook for each of your short-term and mid-term rentals, serving both as a house manual and a local guide. It's great to know that it's easy to set up and that your guests love it. We appreciate your feedback on making the guidebook creation process less clunky and more streamlined. We're always looking for ways to improve. Thank you for choosing Hostfully!

Easy to update from my end and easy to access for guests at our property. Logical layout, and it combines property-specific information with general area information, while leaving you in control.

Made a few mistakes en route to learning how to use it but that's all.

Thank you for sharing your experience with our Guidebooks, Mark! We're glad to hear that you found it easy to update and that it provided convenient access for your guests. It's great to know that the logical layout and the combination of property-specific and general area information met your needs while giving you control. Thank you for choosing us!

Great design and easy user interface, simple but complex at the same time. Everyone also always loves the guidebooks of course. I find the Hostfully customer support to be top notch as well.

There are not many qualms I have. I appreciate the photo arranging gallery has become a lot more efficient and easy to use from a recent update!

Thank you for your review, Joanne! It's great to know that you find the PMS and the Guidebook easy to use. We strive to provide superior customer service and are thrilled to hear that you love our team Thank you for believing us, we are honored you had chosen us again!

The integration capability and the Guidebooks. The Hostfully platform is comprehensive and offers everything we need to run our rental business. We have not used the channel manager for airbnb and others yet, but that will be a key driver for growth.

The new calendar experience and job creation. Like seeing the big picture for reservations, and a linear calendar does not allow that. The job creation software only allows a few jobs to be created at a time.Lastly, adding new features and the voting system is less than ideal.

Hi Brian, Thank you for taking the time to leave such an amazing review and sharing your positive experience with our platform integration capabilities and Guidebooks. We truly appreciate your feedback regarding the calendar experience, job creation software, and voting system, and we will keep them in mind as we continue to improve our platform. We are glad to hear that you find our customer service team fantastic, and that you consider that our platform offers everything you need to run your rental business! Thank you for choosing Hostfully

ability to manipulate listings in each channel centrally.

expensive and does not include guidebooks which is a major disappointment given the price.

Thank you for your feedback, Jaren. We appreciate your positive comments regarding the functionality and polish of our system. We understand your concern about the cost, we strive to offer competitive pricing and will take your comments into consideration for future improvements. Thank you for considering our product :)

Hostfully does have some good features..

Hostfully is missing a KEY FEATURE that is pivotal to operating a short-term rental business in an efficient manner! The missing feature is their integration with VRBO. While Hostfully allows you to set up "automated messages" to guests who book through Airbnb, they lack the integration to do the same on VRBO. This is something that they won't tell you during the training sessions, so please take...

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Hi Bailey, Thank you for trying Hostfully. First, I want to apologize for the miscommunication on how our automated messaging works since it works for all channels including Vrbo. I believe the limitation you are referring to is the lack of a Vrbo messaging API. This prevents you from receiving messages in Hostfully sent from the Vrbo guest portal. You can still automate emails to your Vrbo guests...

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I like hostfully because its practical and multi language

Its too slow to get the calendar of the properties.

Hostfully has been able to streamline my property onboarding and makes it much easier to have your properties on multiple channels without getting double bookings. The Hostfully customer service team is amazing and very helpful. Always there for me when I have questions.

Hostfully needs an APP!! Why do VRBO Inquirys not got through Hostfully? Admittedly, most of these are spam or fake inquiries, but just wondering why.

Thank you so much for your kind review, Erin! We're happy to know the PMP makes your life easier We strive to provide superior customer service and it's great to hear we hit the mark for you. Hostfully app is coming very soon, we hope you would enjoy it! We look forward to growing our partnership with you.

Help with on boarding was import for me and much appreciated.

Calendar is easy to see all properties and pricing functions with ease.

Thank you for your positive review of Hostfully, Janice. We're glad you found our onboarding support helpful and It's great that you find our calendar and pricing functions easy to use for property management. Thank you for choosing Hostfully.

As an accountant, I do like the different reports that I have access.

I would like it if the deposit and revenue reports would state where the payments came from (Airbnb, Vrbo, Hostfully, etc.)

Thanks for your review, Chrissi! We're delighted you find Hostfully easy to navigate. Your feedback on deposit and revenue reports is noted, we Appreciate your insights! Thank you for choosing us!

Hostfully has changed our lives. I really love the pipeline feature - all the information I require for my daily operations are there! Hostfully just has a fresh look and is mainly friendly for users. Whenever we have questions, we work with their amazing customer service team - [sensitive content hidden], we love you! Overall, Hostfully has a great team and makes our lives easier.

There are some features that need to be worked on - for example, being able to edit imported leads (Booking.com). Being able to message VRBO guests through Hostfully inbox. Being able to apply discounts to certain periods of time, not for it to be applied to the whole year.

We have loved our onboarding experience with Hostfully. The support team is wonderful. We really appreciate the response time and attention to the details. Support is always helpful and encouraging. We love the way that the platform looks. We also really appreciate the built-in booking website. Super helpful and keeps things streamlined. We also appreciate how we receive updates regarding new or improved features.

We know that the team is working on updating the calendar features. We would like to see more flexibility with the calendar so that we can add color-coding, and notes, etc. but otherwise we are very satisfied with the stremline processes.

Thank you for your wonderful review of Hostfully, Shannon. We are thrilled to be described as a breath of fresh air in the world of Property Management Systems (PMS). Your feedback means a lot to us, and we're glad that our platform has made a positive impact on your business. It's fantastic to hear that you have loved your onboarding experience with Hostfully and that our support team has been wonderful....

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Everything so far has been so easy. After Using Villas 365, we were very worried about the onboarding stage but it was such a breeze and we wish we did the move sooner.

Booking.com is not that great on Hostfully, unfortunately Hostfully doesnt have all features/amenities that pulls through to the Booking.com profile which affects our page score. They are working on this however.

Hostfully is a great property management solution for short-term stays. We are not in a high end market. Hostfully is a cost-effective solution that provides everything we could ever want/need to manage our portfolio of properties.

Hostfully can be difficult to learn, set-up, and deploy. However the customer service team is too notch.

The fact that it accommodates the CoHosting model, where the Airbnb and VRBO listings belong to individual owners

That the inbox does not integrate completely between Airbnb and Hostfully

Thank you for your review, Anca! We're thrilled to hear that you find our platform a great way to acommodates CoHosting Model. Your feedback about the inbox integration is valuable to us, and we'll continue working to enhance your experience. Thank you for choosing us!