Software for rental management : the ally of the conciergeries, short-term rental

We will see what are these software, what are their key features and how they optimize the management of your assets, short-term rental. Finally, we will discover how Zenivia is presented as a complementary solution to be innovative, especially for the communication to travelers 24/7, messaging, automated, and emergency management.

Why use a software rental management in concierge ?

Without a dedicated tool, manually manage all aspects of a concierge rental can quickly become a headache. For example, the juggling bookings on multiple platforms (Airbnb, Booking, Abritel, etc) greatly increases the risk of errors and overbooking

Manual synchronization of calendars between each site is not only time-consuming, but it can also lead to conflicts of booking and unhappy customers in case of duplicates. Similarly, the administrative follow-up of the rental and billing, monitoring of payments, contracts and communication with each traveller require an investment of considerable time daily

All this time spent to manage repetitive tasks is less time to devote to the essentials, delivering an excellent experience to the travelers and expand its business.

A software rental management comes specifically to help relieve these pain points by centralizing and automating a large part of the management. It allows you to gather all the information and transactions on a single platform, ensuring a clear overview and coherent. Bookings are centralized, which reduces oversights and avoids duplicates, while alerts can be notified immediately in the event of the cancellation or modification of a booking for maximum responsiveness

Administrative processes, such as billing or delivery of contracts, are fully automated, freeing up time for more strategic tasks, especially, these tools help to standardize the process and to maintain consistent service quality, regardless of the volume of work or the season

In other words, a good software program becomes a true digital assistant (which never sleeps) to assist you in the daily management of your short-term rentals.

Of the key features to simplify the daily management

A software rental management dedicated to rentals seasonal groups generally have several features that are essential for facilitating the work of conciergeries. The goal is to cover the entire workflow, from reservations to communication, passing through the schedules of household and financial tracking. Here are the major tools and services that one is entitled to expect from such a professional solution :

Centralization of reservations and scheduling unified. The first function of a software concierge is to centralize all your bookings in a single schedule, regardless of the origin platform (Airbnb, Booking.com, Abritel, Expedia, etc). At a glance, you can see the occupancy of each unit, and can automatically synchronize the availability on all channels. Thus, there is no risk of double booking or dates badly blocked, the system channel manager built-in support to keep your ads up to date in real-time. The coordination of reservations is greatly simplified, which will ensure a more fluid and avoids errors

Automate tasks and operations 

Saving time is a major challenge for any a concierge, and automation is your best ally. A good software will take care of the repetitive or predictable in an automatic way. For example, the sending of messages type (booking confirmation, check-in instructions, acknowledgement of departure) may be programmed to trigger at the right time, without manual intervention. Similarly, the schedule of household chores and interventions (end of stay cleaning, inspection, maintenance) can be generated automatically when a new booking is recorded. Your team or your contractors cleaning receive their mission orders and reminders through the tool without the need for you to coordinate everything by hand. This automation reduces the risk of forgetting (or benefits made late), and it saves you from micro-management to be constant. By automating repetitive tasks such as e-mail client, updating calendars, or even the processing of payments, you can save several hours each week, a precious time that can be reinvested in the development of your business, or improving the customer experience on the ground.

Optimized management of the communication with the travelers 

The customer relationship is the heart of the business concierge, and a well-designed software will substantially improve. On the one hand, most of the solutions offer a unified inbox where all messages of travellers converge, regardless of the platform where they came from. Monitor instead of several applications or websites, you respond to everyone from a single dashboard, which provides a reactivity much better. On the other hand, messaging capabilities and automated to send answers pre-written or useful information at the right times, for example, a welcome message sent to you automatically just after the reservation is made, a reminder of the instructions for check-in the day before the arrival, then a message on the day of departure to explain the instructions and seek advice. This reactivity almost immediate and proactive makes all the difference for the modern traveller, accustomed to the immediacy. They get quick answers to their frequently asked questions (Wi-Fi, access, parking, etc) and receive spontaneously with the information they need without even having to ask. The result ? Best client reviews and, ultimately, a reservation rate increased with an experience fluidifiée. In France, it was found that the use of automated messages and well thought out, especially coupled with tools like the locks connected to the arrivals autonomous, can reduce 40 % solicitations to direct passengers during the stay. By automating the management of the current trade, you can reduce not only your workload, but you also offer a service more responsive, and professional, without a missed opportunity.

Financial tracking, analytics and revenue optimization 

A sometimes overlooked aspect of the rental management is the financial follow-up and the optimization of the performance of the property. Fortunately, modern software often include modules for billing and accounting adapted to the conciergeries. They can automatically generate invoices for your owners, track payments received (deposit, balance of the booking) and the disaggregation of revenue by platform or by housing. Detailed financial reports are usually available to help you track your performance and facilitate your strategic decisions. For example, you can at a glance know the monthly income for housing, your occupancy rates, or to compare the performance of different channels of the lease. These figures help you to identify improvement opportunities and to adjust your pricing or marketing accordingly. Moreover, a lot of software for vacation rentals offer or integrate with the tools of dynamic pricing. This system automatically adjusts your prices to night depending on the demand, seasonality or local events, with the aim of increasing the occupancy rate and the revenue generated. Many managers found an improvement in their incomes after the adoption of such software, because these smart tools to maximize bookings and profitability by optimizing the pricing and the visibility of ads.

Service quality and customer satisfaction increased by centralizing the information and automating the process, a software-rental management ensures more reliable and homogeneous of your services. It helps to standardize procedures (communications, check-in/check-out, cleaning), which ensures travellers a consistent experience and quality, regardless of the housing or the person who does it. The human error, message, forgot, household non-plan, double-booking are reduced to a minimum thanks to reminders and coordination automated. Your concierge is gaining professionalism and serenity, you no longer need to ‘take the temperature’ at all times to ensure that everything works. Ultimately, using a dedicated software allows you to save time, improve customer satisfaction and increase revenue of your business.

. It is an investment that quickly pays for itself, all the more precious when your portfolio of rentals is growing or you are looking to provide a high quality service, without multiplying the number of hires.

Zenivia, messaging, automated 24/7 and emergency management for your concierge

Among the innovative solutions that accompany the conciergeries new generation, Zenivia occupies a special place. It is a specialized solution, complementary to the industry-standard management software, focused on the communication travelers and automation of trade. Specifically, Zenivia leverages Artificial Intelligence to take charge of your messages to customers on all of your platforms, instantly and at any time. Your concierge can offer a responsive service, 24h/24 and 7d/7, without having to monitor the mailbox, at night or on the weekend. The AI of Zenivia is able to treat up to 90 % of the messages travelers in real-time, including outside of office hours, while scrupulously adhering to the tone and style of communication. In other words, your travelers receive an immediate answer, and custom, as if you had written it yourself, and in over 20 different languages if needed.

Zenivia presents itself as an e-mail multi-channel centralized, all the exchanges from Airbnb, Booking.com, Abritel, WhatsApp and other are grouped together in a single dashboard. You no longer have to juggle between apps, which meets the objective of centralization mentioned above. The huge advantage lies in the intelligent automation of responses, Zenivia has a knowledge base, fueled on your housing units (description, equipment, instructions for check-in/check-out, welcome guide, local recommendations, etc) in order to provide accurate answers and contextualized to the common questions travelers. Whether it’s to communicate the code to Wi-Fi, explain how to operate the thermostat, to recommend a good restaurant nearby or recall the time of departure, the AI can handle these queries instantly. You program also automated messages key (before the arrival, during the stay, before the start) in a customized way for each passenger feel accompanied from the beginning to the end of his stay.

Especially, Zenivia has been thought to relieve the mental workload of managers. The AI filter and processed in the autonomy the most solicitations, and you are alerted that for complex or urgent need of human intervention. Thanks to these smart notifications, no false alarms or traps for questions benign you keep your peace of mind, knowing that if an exceptional situation arises (a request that was not planned a technical problem unexpected, etc), you will be immediately informed to make the relay. Zenivia thus combines the best of both worlds, a presence reactive continuously to the passengers, and the guarantee that you will not miss any emergency. In addition, the solution remains under your control, you can choose to manually verify the responses of the IA at the beginning, or enable/disable the auto-send in one click according to your preferences. The integration of Zenivia is simple and fast, built to adapt to your existing organization. The tool connects to your Property Management System (PMS) or channel manager in a few clicks, in order to automatically synchronize the data of your bookings and timetables. No complete overhaul of your process is not necessary, Zenivia is in addition to your current software to add a layer of artificial intelligence.

Designed in France, specifically for the conciergeries short-term rental, the solution Zenivia is designed for both small structures managing a few accommodation agencies which are established with hundreds of property. In all cases, the objective is to take back control of your time by eliminating the hours spent in front of the repetitive messages, and be able to develop your business without compromising the quality of customer service. You administer 5 units or 200, Zenivia helps you to centralize your communications, to ensure 24/7 availability to travellers, and to provide a seamless experience, all without increasing your headcount or sacrificing human contact. Many conciergeries have already adopted it to maintain a high quality service, while freeing them from the constant stress of the exchanges to manage.

In sum, the development of software and automation tools mark a major evolution for the holiday rental sector. The conciergeries that teams can not only improve their operational efficiency, but also increase the satisfaction of their passengers and the cost-effectiveness of their property. Zenivia fits perfectly in this dynamic by offering a specialized solution for the communication and the availability instant. Please do not hesitate to discover for yourself the benefits of such technology.