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UK: Vacation rental property management software provider 365Villas has launched ‘Long-Stay Logic’, giving vacation rental managers the opportunity to switch seamlessly between short and extended stays for the first time.
This also means that vacation rental property managers can begin to build inventory in the serviced apartment sector, simultaneously opening up the vacation rental market to aparthotel operators.
Many hospitality operators outside vacation rentals have already responded to the rising demand for extended stays – classified as anything over a month.
However, the vacation rental industry has traditionally struggled to capitalise on this trend because the functionality of property management software has not facilitated the periodic billing needed when guests stay over the medium- and long-term.
Until now, vacation rental managers have had to override their short-term rental software or manually input bookings if they wanted to offer longer stays, a workaround that is not only time-consuming but skews the usual automated reporting, accounting and rental agreement processing.
365Villas’ Long-Stay Logic is designed to solve this problem and reliably handle the complexities around payment differences for both long- and short-stay guests.
Easily switching between upfront, online payments via an online travel agency [OTA] and weekly or monthly payments for longer stays, Long-Stay Logic sets out to offer financial flexibility that brings vacation rentals in line with serviced-apartments in one PMS.
Dave Payette, founder and CEO of 365Villas, said: “It’s time for property management software to move away from asset-specific solutions to more holistic platforms that can cater to all types of rentals. Managers overseeing short and long-term rentals have historically had to manage the portfolios as two completely separate entities, slowing down their operations and over complicating admin tasks with too much manual processing.
“Long-Stay Logic gives managers the tools they need to cater for short, long, and extended stays. It not only streamlines their workload but opens up a whole new addressable market. Managers can also develop their booking strategy, altering it in response to demand to serve both the vacation and long-stay rental sectors. For example, properties can be used as vacation rentals in high-season and perform the role of student accommodation in the winter months.
“Developing this functionality meant we had to expand our payment processes but we now have the most robust and dynamic payment capabilities in the industry,” he added.
