14+ Best Revenue Management Tools & Systems for the Hospitality Industry

January 15, 2021 | wheelhouse

Whether you’re managing a vacation rental or working in the hospitality industry and managing a large hotel chain – the end goal is the same.

To make as much rental income from your properties and rooms as possible.

This means listing your properties or available rooms at the optimal nightly rate to secure bookings and keep occupancy high.

I’m sure you’ll agree; it’s finding or knowing what that optimal price is that is the hard part.

Unless that is, you use a revenue management tool and implement systems to calculate nightly prices for you and automate your booking prices.

If you’re not yet using a revenue management tool, I hate to say it, but you’re leaving money on the table. The rental space technology boom is upon us and if you don’t prepare to adopt these powerful tools, you may be left in the dust.

In this article, we’re looking at what revenue management tools are, how they work, and most importantly, how they can help you optimize your pricing strategy and make more money:

What Are Revenue Management Tools?

Revenue management tools or revenue management software (RMS), as they’re also called, are tools and software that fully automate rental properties’ pricing.

They actually do a lot more than help with pricing strategies, but this is certainly the core of what these tools do.

RMS is able to do this by collecting real-time market data. Then, by using AI and powerful algorithms, these tools use this data to generate the optimal price for you to let your rooms and properties out for.

The important takeaway is that these tools are capable of doing what you’re not physically able to; collecting and analyzing billions of market data points.

No matter how effective you think, your spreadsheets or current systems are. If you’re not using a revenue management tool, your business is not fully optimized.

Things to Consider When Implementing Revenue Management Tools and Systems

There is no shortage of revenue management tools on the market, making it hard to choose the right tool for your business.

To help you narrow your search, here are the key things you should look for when choosing an RMS:

Integrations

If you’re already using a PMS or a booking system, you want an RMS to integrate with your current systems to simplify onboarding.

Most of the top tools integrate with a long list of tools, so check the compatibility before testing a tool. If you don’t see your current systems listed, it’s also a good idea to reach out to their team to see if they can help.

Local Market Coverage

Different tools pull their data from different sources, and some have better coverage than others.

A tool is only going to be as effective as the data it has to work with. It’s crucial you check any tools you’re interested in has accurate data for where your business is based.

Detailed Analytics and Reporting

Being able to work with data in the form of analytics and reports is the backbone of optimizing a revenue strategy.

You need to be able to see how your properties are performing clearly. As well as being able to look at historical data, compare your properties against competitors, and pull other information important to you.

Taking all of this into account, here’s a look at 14+ of the best revenue management tools and systems for use in the hospitality industry:

14+ Best Revenue Management Tools & Systems for the Hospitality Industry

1. Wheelhouse

Wheelhouse is a dynamic pricing engine for Airbnb hosts and property rental managers that helps increase revenue by 10-40%.

This software scrapes billions of market data points to provide one of the most comprehensive data sets of all the revenue management tools.

Wheelhouse then uses this data to suggest nightly prices for all of your properties up to a year in advance. You can make your own pricing tweaks and set certain limits, then let the software do all the hard work for you.
Wheelhouse crawls all of the major booking platforms to pull accurate information on your competitors and your local market.

This software then aggregates all the data and uses it to suggest the best possible price you should rent your properties out for.

This is presented via a simple, easy-to-use dashboard and central calendar. Enabling you to easily optimize your rental listings while saving a considerable amount of time.
  • Huge volume of market data provides detailed market insights.
  • Daily recalculations mean you’re working on up-to-date information.
  • Automate your rental pricing strategy up to a year in advance.
  • Further, fine-tune your strategy over time as Wheelhouse gathers more data.
  • Wheelhouse is especially great for property managers with large portfolios, but it’s also wonderful for hosts renting out a room or a single property to know they are pricing their property correctly.

    The software scales as your portfolio does—both in terms of enabling you to manage more properties seamlessly and your pricing options.
    Wheelhouse has a Freemium plan. This means you can use limited tooling and gain insights into your market for free.

    You then have the option of either paying 0.75% per booking and $2.99/listing. You can also pay a flat rate per listing per month based on the number of properties you have. This is called their “Pro” plan and starts at $19.99/mo per property.

    2. PriceLabs

    PriceLabs is a revenue management software designed to help property managers optimize their properties. It does this by analyzing several market factors, then generating recommendations for pricing decisions.

    This software connects with all major booking platforms, PMS, and channel managers. The powerful AI then calculates all the information you need to work with as a property manager.

    Read our complete Pricelabs review.
    PriceLabs integrates with booking platforms, property management systems, and channel managers. The software then starts generating dynamic prices based on your individual properties.

    You have the ability to fine-tune its recommendations, set dynamic minimum stays, and work with the data however you want.

    The result is going to be an improvement in occupancy and an improvement in revue. You can also use market data to make better investment decisions with future properties.
  • Customizable data-driven pricing.
  • Ability to make bulk adjustments based on your portfolio’s health.
  • Dynamic min-stay rules help increase occupancy.
  • Central booking calendar and dashboard.
  • PriceLabs is aimed at vacation property owners and hospitality hosts looking to improve their business by using big data.

    There is no question that the volume of data PriceLabs tracks and analyzes will help anyone managing properties better understand their market.

    With their pricing scaling from 1 property upward, it gives all vacation rental owners the tools to optimize their business no matter how many properties they own.
    PriceLabs pricing is structured on where your properties are based on how many listings you’re tracking.

    For example, one U.S-based listing costs $19.99. This scales down to $14.99 each if you have 2 to 5 listings, and so on. You get a discounted rate if your listings are outside of the USA, Canada, and European countries.

    3. AirDNA

    AirDNA is a vacation rental revenue management and pricing tool that uses data to help property managers increase their revenue.

    Their pricing tool is called MarketMinder. What MarketMinder does is analyze millions of vacation rentals, collect data on local markets, study market trends over time, and turn all of this data into actionable insights for property managers.

    Read out complete AirDNA review.
    MarketMinder scrapes a vast amount of market data from property listings, partner data, and other sources. This data is then aggregated, sorted, and presented in a ready-to-use format.

    MarketMinder tracks more than 25 key performance metrics important to property managers. Such as occupancy rate, rental revenue, daily booking rates, and so on.

    All you’re left to do is make any adjustments you want, then go with the prices that are being generated. AirDNA integrates and syncs with your other booking platforms and PMS so that you can do everything through the AirDNA interface.
  • Data-driven dynamic pricing and real-time insights.
  • Sets of customized competitor data.
  • Forward-looking Airbnb data help spot future trends.
  • Intuitive dashboard and centralized booking calendar.
  • AirDNA’s tagline is, “Analyze Easier. Invest Wiser. Price Smarter.

    Succeed Faster.” This software is designed to help short-term rental and vacation property managers improve their pricing strategies through those steps by providing data to analyze, improving investment opportunities, optimizing pricing, and improving ROIs.

    Sounds simple enough, right? It is, MarketMinder does all the hard work for you. All you have to do is connect your listings and work with the data.
    You can gain general insights into 80,000 markets worldwide for free if you want to try out MarketMinder.

    For more detailed insights, you’ll need to sign up for a paid plan. AirDNA currently has three pricing tiers as follows:

  • Less than 100 listings – $19.95/mo.
  • 100-1,000 listings – $39.95/mo.
  • More than 1,000 listings – $99.95/mo.

  • With each of these plans, you get real-time pricing insights, historical market performance trends, occupancy rates, and Airbnb property benchmarking.

    4. Mashvisor

    Mashvisor is a real estate investment and revenue management tool. This software helps property managers create more profitable pricing strategies, as well as helping property investors make better investment decisions.

    It does this by collecting a large amount of market data, then using analytics to help you find the best pricing strategy for your rental properties.

    Mashvisor estimates you can turn 3 months of research into 15 minutes using their software, which sounds about right. If you want real-time data that you can use to optimize your properties, Mashvisor is a smart choice.

    Read our complete Mashvisor review.
    Mashvisor collects data on more than 450,000 rental properties across the country. Moreover, you can use their interactive map to look at the areas you have properties in or want to invest in and analyze the competition.

    Alternatively, you can simply input your property address, and Mashvisor will recommend dynamic pricing for your property.
  • The interactive map is quick and easy to use for analyzing local market data.
  • Wide range of third-party integrations and mobile app support.
  • Extensive range of data and property metrics.
  • Both traditional and Airbnb data analysis.
  • Mashvisor is for both property managers and property investors. Most dynamic pricing tools are limited to providing pricing data. Mashvisor goes a step further and has a separate set of metrics to help property investors understand markets nationwide.

    If you’re planning on increasing your portfolio in the future, Mashvisor is going to be a good investment.
    Mashvisor has three pricing plans starting at $19.99/mo. Their Lite plan is restricted to analyzing individual properties, though.

    To expand your search across entire neighborhoods, you’ll need their standard plan at costing $49.99/mo. Or, you can upgrade to their professional plan costing $74.99/mo to unlock Mashvisor’s full suite of features.

    5. Transparent

    Transparent is a data intelligence and revenue management tool that provides the type of detailed insights property managers can use to improve their pricing strategies.

    This software provides insights into important market metrics, such as competition data, distribution, supply and demand, and detailed local market metrics.

    To gather data, Transparent analyzes more than 35 million Vrbo, Booking.com, and Airbnb vacation rental listings worldwide. That’s a huge amount of data powering the backend of the analytics you can use to optimize your listings.

    Read our review of Transparent vs Airdna vs Mashvisor vs Keydata
    Transparent collects and aggregates market data so you can make better decisions for your vacation rentals.

    The core area this software helps with is tracking market rates and occupancy, analyzing market demand, monitoring competitors, and even analyzing ratings and reviews being left by competitors’ guests.

    Transparent’s interface, dashboard, and reporting features are all easy to use and very visual in nature. Making it easy to interpret data at a glance and compare market metrics side-by-side.
  • Easily track market rates and occupancy.
  • Analyze demand and competitor supply in your area.
  • Powerful analytics and reporting features.
  • Optimize your pricing strategy and save time.
  • Transparent is used by both large hospitality brands and individual vacation rental owners. It doesn’t matter how many properties you manage. In addition, you’re going to save time and improve your ROIs using Transparent’s data.

    This tool has one of the simplest dashboards and central calendars of all the tools we’ve reviewed. It’s a great tool if you want a lightweight app that’s easy to pick up and use.
    Transparent has a Freemium offering if you want to test their software without committing to a paid plan. Paid plans start at around $300/mo to unlock their advanced market analysis and pricing strategy tools.

    6. Key Data

    Key Data say they are “The #1 trusted vacation rental data source for Airbnb hosts and revenue management”.

    This software provides property managers with trusted data and analytics gathered from the short-term and rental industry.

    You can analyze how your properties are performing, compare key metrics against competitors, and use real-time data to improve your pricing strategy, so you make more from every booking.
    Key Data integrates with your PMS and booking platform and integrates real-time market data to give you detailed insights into how your properties perform.

    At its core, this software is a powerful business intelligence and data tool. On the front end, users get a powerful suite of analytics and reporting features to simplify the large data volume.

    The end result is that you are able to use the accurate market data Key Data provides to improve your pricing strategy.
  • Real-time data from the short-term rental and property market.
  • Wide range of integrations with PMS and booking platforms.
  • Intuitive platform with detailed analytics and reporting features.
  • Historical and competitor data helps you to continually improve your pricing strategies over time.
  • Key Data is for data-driven property managers, which really applies to anyone managing rental properties.

    It’s an easy web app to pick up and use. Making it ideal for anyone with little to no experience using revenue management tools.

    If you’re currently using spreadsheets or any other form of manual systems to manage your properties, Key Data is going to be a game-changer for you.
    Key Data does not provide any details on their pricing structure. If you’re interested in trying out this software, you’ll need to book a demo and discuss pricing with their sales team.

    7. Beyond Pricing

    Key Data say they are “The #1 trusted vacation rental data source for Airbnb hosts and revenue management”.

    This software provides property managers with trusted data and analytics gathered from the short-term and rental industry.

    You can analyze how your properties are performing, compare key metrics against competitors, and use real-time data to improve your pricing strategy, so you make more from every booking.
    Beyond Pricing analyzes market data to calculate the most optimal price to rent out properties for.

    This means you can list your properties for the highest possible price while still meeting demand to ensure a high occupancy rate.

    Their data also provides detailed insights into how markets are performing around the world. You can track your listings vs. competitors and much more.
  • Calculates dynamic daily pricing.
  • Provides insights into how your portfolio is performing compared to your competitors.
  • A central dashboard and calendar help you manage all your properties in one place.
  • Booking engine and website builder enables property managers to create their own booking platform.
  • Beyond Pricing is ideal for hospitality workers and property managers with any number of properties in their portfolio. The software scales as you add more properties and continues to enable you to manage all your properties and businesses through one dashboard.
    Beyond Pricing offers a 30-day free trial. So, you can test this tool without committing to a paid plan.

    Their paid plans are based on a percentage of your bookings. You can pay either 1% of bookings made during a month-long period if you commit to a year or 1.25% if you pay on a month-to-month basis.

    See how Beyond Pricing compares to Wheelhouse & Pricelabs.

    8. Perfect Price

    Perfect Price is a revenue management and dynamic pricing tool designed to help short-term rental managers earn more from their properties.

    This software’s core offerings are; dynamic pricing, data-driven market insights, PMS integration, and competition analysis.

    Using Perfect Price, you have all the market data and insights you need to improve your property income at your fingertips. This software gives you improved transparency and control over your rental business, saving you time and earning you more money.
    Perfect Price integrates with booking platforms and PMS to bring all of your data into one place. From there, you get a clear overview of how your properties are performing compared to the overall market.

    You can make use of their dynamic pricing suggestions, take a deeper dive into your competitors, and ultimately make better, data-driven decisions.
  • AI-driven dynamic pricing.
  • Gain deep insights into how your properties are performing vs. your competitors.
  • Take full control over how you’re pricing your properties.
  • Sync and manage any number of properties through a central calendar.
  • Perfect Price is marketed towards short-term rental owners. This doesn’t mean long-term rental owners and hospitality workers will not get value from this software, though.

    Short-term rentals adjust their prices more, so there is more opportunity to increase revenue. However, no matter how many properties you manage or however long your typical rental time frame is, Perfect Price will help you optimize your pricing strategy.
    Perfect Price offers a 30-day free trial. After that, their Perfect plan starts at $10/mo per property. You can upgrade to their Professional plan for $15/mo to unlock more features and users.

    9. Octorate

    Octorate is an all-in-one solution for hosts, rental managers, and hospitality businesses. Trusted by some of the world’s largest hospitality chains, Octorate brings together a booking engine, payment manager, PMS, channel manager, and some other tools.

    Using Octorate, you can track your guests from the point of booking through to an automatic check-in and then the day they leave your property.

    This software is not just for large hospitality chains. Octorate also offers a solution for hosts and vacation rental managers.
    Octorate is a true all-in-one software solution for property managers. You have access to a number of tools that help you provide a better experience for your guests, from booking through to leaving.

    You can set up faster check-ins and check-outs, arrange your property management teams, integrate your PMS and booking platforms, manage all of your bookings, and optimize your prices using OctoRMS.
  • Channel manager enables you to manage more than 130 channels.
  • PMS and booking platform integrations.
  • Tools to create your own website and integrate booking facilities.
  • Revenue management system for optimized pricing.
  • Octorate is one of the more comprehensive revenues management tools on the market. There’s no doubt that larger hospitality chains will see revenue improvements when using the full suite of tools.

    Don’t let that put you off if you’re a smaller property manager. It’s worth taking a free trial and deciding for yourself.
    Octorate offers a free trial and demo of their software. Paid plans then start at around $13 per property per month

    10. Rategenie

    Rategenie is a dynamic pricing and revenue management tool for short-term rentals. They claim that users will see an increase by up to 30% after integrating their software.

    Through collaborations with data partners, Rategenie analyzes local markets to calculate the best possible price for listings.

    This software provides some powerful metrics and insights in your properties and your market. Giving you real data to work with when optimizing your listings and making investment decisions.
    Rategenie lays out a simple 4-step process to make the most of their software. these steps are;
  • Start a free trial or a paid plan
  • Connect your listings to Rategenie
  • Fine-tune your pricing strategy
  • Set your pricing to automate and calculate on a daily basis
  • The software does all the heavy lifting for you. You can be as involved or as distanced from the final pricing for your properties as you want.
  • Dynamic pricing tool calculates daily rates for your properties.
  • Ability to use real-time data to fine-tune your strategy.
  • Management and automated software bookings add-ons available.
  • Manage all of your properties through a central calendar.
  • Rategenie is marketed towards anyone in the hospitality industry looking to better optimize their pricing strategies.

    However many properties you’re managing, by streamlining your processes through their central calendar and utilizing their dynamic pricing tool, you’re going to save time and earn more.
    You can get started with a 15-day free trial. After that, pricing starts at $9.99 per rental per month.

    11. Quibble

    Quibble is a revenue management tool for short-term vacation rentals. The Quibble team say they created this tool to “address the gap between science and revenue maximization.”

    QuibbleRM connects and integrates with your existing tools, provides revenue management details for your properties, and enables you to optimize your pricing strategy.

    If you want to spend less time worrying about pricing, you can outsource your revenue management to Quibble and their team of experts.
    Quibble combines software with their team of revenue managers and data scientists to help you optimize your rental property pricing strategy.

    When using this software, you’ll have access to dynamic pricing, science-based forecasting, advanced analytics and reporting, and some other key market metrics.

    Essentially, Quibble provides all the data you need to make better pricing decisions. The result is higher occupancy rates and more revenue.
  • Dynamic pricing optimization.
  • Science-based forecasting.
  • Advanced analytics and reporting.
  • Ability to track competitors and set event tracking.
  • Quibble is designed for property managers. They outline their vision as “to provide the vacation rental owner with the technology to make personalized data-driven offers to each of its potential guests.”

    If you want to employ a science-backed approach to maximizing your rental revenue, it’s worth taking the 3-day free trial and seeing what Quibble can do for your business.
    Quibble offers a $99/mo per unit plan if you want to pay month-to-month. Alternatively, you can pay $69/mo per unit if you commit to a six-month plan. They also offer an Enterprise plan for property managers with 50+ properties in their portfolio.

    12. SmartPricing

    Smartpricing is a revenue management system that utilizes tailored business intelligence to help property managers stay up-to-date and on top of how their properties are performing.

    The company was founded by three individuals with an extensive background in the rental market and hotel sector. They created Smartpricing to help hoteliers and small business owners grow their businesses and improve ROIs.

    The owners wanted to make the kind of tech typically reserved for multinational hotel chains available to anyone, no matter how many properties they manage.
    Smartpricing is a complete revenue management system. This software suggests prices for your properties, details how your properties are performing, identifies areas where you can improve your ROIs, and more.

    In short, Smartpricing uses real-time market data to help you optimize your pricing strategy based on how your local market is performing.

    They also start by having one of their professional revenue management consultants analyze your properties. This is a nice, personable touch not offered by all revenue management tool providers.
  • The revenue management system calculates nightly prices.
  • Reporting features are easy to use and utilize clear visuals.
  • Real-time data enables property managers to react quickly to changes in the market.
  • Dedicated consultants available if you run into any problems or have questions.
  • Smartpricing is for anyone currently renting out properties. From vacation rentals to hotel chains, Smartpricing will help you improve your revenue based on factual market data.

    Smartpricing does not provide any set monthly plans or pricing upfront. If you’re interested in trying out their software, you need to book a demo with their sales team members.

    Conclusion

    As you can see from the above revenue management tools, there are many great tools that will help you optimize your pricing strategy and improve your ROIs.

    The hard part isn’t finding a revenue management tool and increasing your revenue. It’s finding a tool that’s the right fit for your business.

    For this reason, we always recommend taking a free trial or having a sales team member give you a live demo of any tools you’re interested in.

    Check you can smoothly integrate the tool into your team’s workflow, produce reports around metrics that are important to you, and of course, generate dynamic pricing.
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