The vacation rental industry is growing, and it is the technology that facilitates a part of that growth. You might have heard about PropTech and its influence on the real estate sector. Although no one mentioned it several years ago, everyone is talking about it these days.
What makes PropTech that important for the real estate industry? How will customers and rental owners feel the change? Here is what you should know about this trend and ways it can affect the vacation rental market.
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What Is PropTech?
This term is an abbreviation for property technology. Although no exact definition exists, this approach relies on tech trends and innovations to implement changes in the real estate markets around the world.
As for the vacation industry, that includes leveraging technology to improve informing potential visitors about the property, but also to simplify transactions and property management. It is all about identifying ways to implement tech trends to better serve your customers.
Why Are Tech Trends Important for the Vacation Rental Businesses?
Enterprises who focus on offering business models and products innovated by technological advancements in the real estate industry are called PropTech companies. As for the vacation rental industry, it was Airbnb who revolutionized the entire market. The company utilized technology to offer an innovative solution to its customers. Airbnb understood how customer requirements and expectations have changed, and their platform now accommodates those needs.
There are now a variety of PropTech solutions that help short-term rental companies become more efficient, provide better service for guests, scale their businesses, get their properties to travelers faster, and give many choices for marketing listings.
What Types of PropTech Solutions Are There in the Vacation Rental Industry?
Property owners welcome the changes brought by these new trends. These solutions make their job easier while providing a better experience for visitors. Here are the most common types in the short-term rental industry.
Smart Home Gadgets
You can find a wide range of smart home gadgets available, including:
- Smart locks – a way to take the safety to the next level, but also simplify lock opening.
- Smart light – these lighting solutions allow you to save on energy bills while providing users the added comfort of the light switching on automatically when they enter a room.
- Noise sensors – it is a wire-free and easy to use solution to detect and monitor noise. These smart home solutions can improve the overall protection level in your property.
- Smart thermostats – these can ensure that the temperature is always optimal inside the property.
Investing in these solutions is considered an investment in real estate since they can increase property renting prices.
Data Analytics Tools
Numerous short-term rental and real estate tech tools focus on gathering and analyzing data. They say information is power, and learning about the market is a smart way to promote your business.
Here are some popular data analytics tools:
- AirDNA – a tool that leverages technology to provide valuable information about vacation rentals throughout the world.
Whether you are a real estate investor, a property manager, or a property management virtual assistant, you can benefit from the data provided by AirDNA.
- Mashvisor – it is a database that gathers over 450,000 properties and allows searching them based on various parameters.
Automation Tools
When it comes to automation tools, you can focus on a single feature. An example of this type of software is Beyond Pricing. It is a specialized tool for Airbnb and similar platforms that allow you to set up dynamic pricing plans.
You can get more value by using a complex and an all-around solution, such as iGMS. This vacation rental software allows you to manage multiple channels in a single dashboard while providing tools to automate guest communication, manage the cleaning crew, administer operational tasks, and more.
What Are the Benefits of PropTech for Vacation Rental Businesses?
Rental property managers that are ready to implement advanced tech solutions into their business could enjoy a wide range of benefits.
Those include:
- Get valuable data insights – by receiving essential data about your property, you can optimize your business to attract more customers. The information you receive can vary from financial reports to data analytics.
- Synchronize data on multiple channels – you can monitor various channels via a single platform and ensure your information is always up to date.
- Automate tasks to save time – you can save a lot of time by automating sending check-in and check-out information, welcome letters, house rules, and by providing automated answers to the most common questions asked by potential visitors. It is also possible to automate publishing reviews after the guests leave.
- Improve property security and guest safety – smart locks and cameras can take the safety of any accommodation to the next level, and smart thermostats can even help you to save money in the process.
- Provide added comfort for the visitors – intelligent smart home features ensure that the guests enjoy spending time in the property. If they feel comfortable, that increases the odds of them leaving a positive review, which can attract new visitors.
Conclusion
Whether you are a property owner or a businessperson looking to invest in PropTech, it is safe to assume that these companies will continue to shape the vacation rental industry in the future. Property owners who embrace technological innovations have the opportunity to take their business forward. From utilizing automation tools and property management software to implementing intelligent features to improve visitor comfort, know about PropTech sector can prove crucial for taking your short-term rental to the next level.
