Hostfully vs Host Tools

Hostaway

DoorLoop

Buildium

Trusted by 20,000+ property managers worldwide, Hostaway is the industry leading, AI-powered vacation rental management platform designed for professional short-term rental operators.

DoorLoop is redefining property management software as the AI-native operating platform for innovative property management teams. 

Buildium is a comprehensive property management software that helps property managers streamline their day-to-day operations. With features like property accounting, online leasing, resident portals, and maintenance management, Buildium provides a centralized platform to control tasks, offer top-notch experiences, and uncover new revenue opportunities.

Owner 

The features are messy, email communication formatting is confusing and not clean, non-intuitive software that is lacking, customer service will consumer your entire day trying to get answers.

Marketing Director 

Brise and the other Hostfully customer service reps have provided amazing, personalized service to our team, and always go above and beyond to help us solve for any issues we encounter.

hospitality manager

I find the Hostfully customer support to be top notch as well.

Hostfully Property Management Platform is a cloud-based solution designed to help vacation rental businesses manage reservations across multiple channels. Key features include payment processing, instant messaging, team collaboration, upselling, analytics, and reporting.

Accounting

Activity Dashboard

Alerts/Notifications

Availability Management

Billing & Invoicing

Billing Rate Management

Booking Management

Built-in Accounting

Calendar Management

Catering Management

Channel Management

Communication Management

Contact Management

Credit Card Processing

Customer Database

Customizable Reports

Customizable Templates

Data Import/Export

Data Synchronization

Discount Management

Electronic Payments

Electronic Signature

Email Management

Employee Management

Extended Stay

For Vacation Rentals

Front Desk Management

GDS/OTA Integration

Guest Communications

Guest Experience Management

Housekeeping Management

Inbox Management

Inventory Management

Invoice Management

Listing Management

Loyalty Program

Maintenance Management

Marketing Automation

Mobile Access

Mobile App

Multi-Channel Management

Multi-Currency

Multi-Location

Multi-Property

Occupancy Management

Online Booking

Online Payments

Owner Portal

Owner Statements

Payment Processing

Point of Sale (POS)

Price/Margin Management

Promotions Management

Property Database

Property Management

Rate Management

Ratings/Reviews

Real-Time Notifications

Reminders

Reporting/Analytics

Reporting & Statistics

Reservations Management

Revenue Management

Reviews Management

Single Property

Spa/Activity Management

Task Management

Tenant Tracking

Third-Party Integrations

User Management

Website Management

Work Order Management

The Hostfully integrations most frequently cited by reviewers are: Stripe (a payment processing product rated 4.6 out of 5 for its integration with Hostfully), PriceLabs (a revenue management product, 4.7), and Wheelhouse (a pricing optimization product, 4.5).

Integrations

By industry, Hostfully reviewers are most commonly professionals in hospitality (54%). The most frequent use case for Hostfully cited by reviewers is vacation rental (75% of reviewers).

Hostfully

Web-based

Android

iPhone

iPad

Guesty Lite

Guesty

Lodgify

OwnerRez

GuestWisely

iGMS

Hospitable.com

Avantio

PriceLabs

Lodgix

Semper

Starter

Pro Plus

Premium

Persistent bugs and glitches

Inbox is similarly slow/buggy and only properly "loads" after a page refresh. While all of these issues have work-arounds, they seem to be rooted in slow system performance on the Hostfully side which has been consistent since we implemented the software 8 months ago. While I have submitted a number of support tickets, no progress has been made, and we just deal with the sluggishness as a team.

Owner/CEO

Also, there are some bugs that have been an issue since day 1 - such as jobs being assigned to someone, even though we don't have that selected as an option and never have.

84% of reviewers feel negative about Hostfully’s bugs and issues. Some users report frequent glitches, slow system performance, and recurring technical problems that disrupt daily operations. Reviewers indicate that bugs often affect core functions like messaging, automation triggers, and property updates, requiring constant monitoring and manual intervention. They say support responses and fixes can be slow, with some problems persisting for weeks or returning after temporary solutions. Users express frustration over unreliable features and the time lost dealing with technical setbacks, emphasizing that these ongoing issues hinder their ability to manage properties efficiently.

Responsive and supportive team

IT Director

A great experience over the nearly 4 years that we've worked together with all Hostfully team members being helpful and kind.

92% of reviewers feel positive about Hostfully’s team. Some reviewers feel the support team is quick to respond and resolve issues, often providing solutions within minutes. Users think the team is knowledgeable, approachable, and open to feedback, which helps them feel supported during onboarding and daily operations. Reviewers appreciate ongoing improvements and regular updates driven by user suggestions. They say the team’s dedication to customer service and willingness to innovate make their experience smoother and more efficient. Many users mention that the team’s proactive attitude contributes to their overall satisfaction with the platform.

Comprehensive rental management tools

Proprietor

Hostfully PMS is a really great system for a small or medium sized, vacation rental property manager.

86% of reviewers feel positive about Hostfully’s vacation rental management capabilities. Reviewers indicate the platform streamlines operations by offering a wide range of features, such as automation of repetitive tasks, centralized property management, and direct booking options. Some users say they value the integration with major listing platforms, which helps manage multiple properties efficiently. They find the user-friendly interface and responsive support particularly helpful for running short-term rental businesses. Many reviewers appreciate that the system adapts to changing needs and supports business growth, making it easier to oversee various aspects of vacation rental management.

President

What I like least about Hostfully is that some useful features still feel a bit limited or could be more flexible — for example, the stay dates still appear only in English in the variables, we have to manually change it in each message; it’s also currently impossible to assign a new booking to a returning guest without re-entering all their details; there are quite a few duplicates, and the system doesn’t consolidate similar inquiries from the same person.

Idk why I should have to clear my data every other week so that Hostfully will work, when I don’t need to do this for ABB, VRBO, Stripe, Pricelabs, QB, AWS, Google, etc. And when a guest texts me that my guidebook link is broken, I need to be able to talk to someone.

What I like most about Hostfully Property Management Software is its intuitive interface and the way it centralizes everything in one place.

Idk what the issue is, but I don’t have to “update my browser, clear my cookies or my cache” with ANY OTHER APP or SOFTWARE I use.

Owner operator

We were looking for a PMS that would be easy to implement, integrate with all of our booking platforms (AirBnB, VRBO, Booking.com) and be cost-effective.  

You’ll have to message & hope for a response within an hour to 24 hours, depending on the time of day.

staff

There isn't much i do not like about hostfully.   If I were to pick one item, it would be better flexibility on outbound emails....

Property Manager

It's inconvenient to sign onto the browser on my phone, find the tabs to navigate, then cancel a scheduled message.

Their reports need to be expanded to deal with multi-unit properties.

Tech support

I have never experience a double booking or missing task because a lack of syncronization.

The product support and integrations with industry staples has made the managing of a larger portfolio possible.

Hostfully allows both myself and the other members of the team to see a full picture of each of our properties — the calendar, booked visits, requested bookings, messages, and so much more.

You double space after the end of a sentence and it sends &nspc after each period; It doesn't have a sort system to show you outstanding balances or pending transactions so you don't know who to follow up with; and there are problems every single day trying to do basic things that the system will not do.  

listings in once place, manage pricing and bookings and push it out to direct bookings as well as the OTAs (Airbnb, VRBO, etc.) is so central to a successful Short Term Rentals business.  

It is so difficult to manage anything about the reservation - communicating with the guest (you can't get messages into the platform from VRBO; cohosts can't communicate via Airbnb); you can't modify rates or add on additional nights w/out rates changing from dates already paid for; messages don't come through; etc.  

After cancelling, I then go to messages inbox to select the template and manually send it.

Founder

It would also have been nice to have more branding/white label options with the templates and triggers.

It was not intuitive and I had to hire a web developer to direct the url property and white label the site.

Operations Manager

I found myself needing to read through multiple guides and documentation to fully understand how to configure everything.

Great team to onboard with and open office hours to answer questions between scheduled meetings with a dedicated specialist.

Principal

The communication with guests and missing very obvious features, such as quick access to see who is currently being hosted and the ability to manage easily.

Reporting is tricky & needs to be custom built.

I love Hostfully's support and knowledge hub for learning the systems.

Co-Host and Home Manager

Any issues or complaints are handled professionally and as timely as possible.

Their integrations and channel management are excellent and easy to configure.

Scaling would have been much more difficult or impossible without Hostfully.

Despite those limitations, I still think Hostfully is a great platform and an incredibly useful asset for vacation rental management.

which is a large difference from the previous property managment software I had.

We started with 2 properties and will soon have over 20.

Rentals department

The pipeline allows me to check that all coming arrivals are processed (payment, contract, etc).

Sometimes it is not clear where information is being pulled from, or there are multiple spots to enter the same information. When that information is updated, it can be hard to remember every spot that has the same information.

It’s encouraging to work with a company that listens and truly values feedback!

I like the support team, they are amazing, always answer quick and follow up with the pendings.

Business Administration Support

Ease of set up, How simple it is to manage and see bookings and keep tabs on the property remotely

Hostfully is a great PMS with many core features.  

I think I was hoping I would have more bookings than I have but we're 3 months in, so hope it improves.

Director

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.

Co-Owner 

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

Vacation Leasing Consultant

There are several things that I still need to go into airbnb and do myself as well as the fact that vrbo does not sync as smoothly as it should (which may be more of a vrbo issue).

Accountant 

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

The calendar is accurate.   And, their support team is responsive because I spend 50% of my day messaging them about bugs in the system.

Marketing and Operations Development

Hostfully is a cost-effective solution that provides everything we could ever want/need to manage our portfolio of properties.

Anytime I have a question, I know I can reach out for help and find incredibly helpful responses that will not only help me with the immediate issue but will also help me learn what to do in the future.

It's difficult to change the look and feel of those.

Great customer support and product integrations

Customer Support

Guest Management

Bugs and Issues

Payment Integration

Features

Response Time

Cancellation and Messaging

Reporting

Small Business

Freelancers

Large Enterprises

Mid-size Business

Lodgify simplifies the process of managing a vacation rental by enabling anyone to create a bookable website, sync your listings data across channels, and manage tasks in one place. 

Guesty Lite is the leading all-in-one platform for short-term rental hosts with up to three properties. It centralizes bookings, guest messaging, and operations, with seamless OTA sync and optional add-ons. Hosts switching to Guesty Lite see an average 9% revenue growth in just 12 months. 

The customer service is ridiculous, they don’t respond to anything, nor do they even offer phone support.

Host Tools is a property management system and channel manager for short-term rentals. It runs on certified Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com partner APIs for real-time calendar, rate, and message sync, with AI guest replies, smart lock automation, a public REST API, and webhooks.

Hostfully vs Host Tools Comparison (2026)

Hostfully

Host Tools

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

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