Property Management Software
Cloudbeds
All-in-one hospitality management platform for independent properties
Best for Scale
Enterprise-grade hospitality platform with broad channel coverage
Contact sales • No free trial
Comparison
Cloudbeds vs Hostaway
Pricing, pros and cons, and buyer-fit side-by-side. Pick the one that matches your operation — or see why neither should.
Property Management Software
Hostaway
All-in-one vacation rental software for professional hosts
Best for Scale
The automation layer for operators scaling past 10 listings
Contact sales • No free trial
✓Editorial verdict
Which Should You Pick: Cloudbeds or Hostaway?
Pick Cloudbeds if you operate a hotel, hostel, or mixed-inventory hospitality business and need 300+ OTA connections with hotel-specific modules like front-desk and revenue management. Pick Hostaway if you run a vacation rental portfolio of 10–100 listings and want a platform purpose-built for STR with preferred-partner status on Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com simultaneously.
Editorial perspective from the Cloudbeds side; factual claims about Hostaway are drawn from its review.
Pricing Side-by-Side
Cloudbeds
Full pricing →Contact sales • No free trial
Flex
Custom quote
Small independent properties
- Core PMS functionality
- Channel manager for major OTAs
- Built-in booking engine
One
Custom quote
Growing independent hotels
- Everything in Flex
- Expanded reporting and analytics
- Enhanced channel distribution
Experience
Custom quote
Multi-property operators
- Everything in One
- Multi-property management tools
- Revenue management features
- Advanced integrations
Enterprise
Custom quote
Large portfolios and hotel groups
- Everything in Experience
- Dedicated account management
- Custom integrations and API access
- Priority support
Hostaway
Full pricing →Contact sales • No free trial
Standard (quote)
Quote only — ~$40/listing/mo reported
10+ listings typical
Booking fee: Percentage on direct bookings (rate depends on negotiated quote)
- Channel manager for 26+ OTAs
- Unified guest inbox
- Automation engine
- Direct booking site
- Owner portal
- Open API + marketplace access
Enterprise (quote)
Custom
50+ listings, management companies
Booking fee: Negotiated
- Everything in Standard
- Dedicated account manager
- Priority support
- Custom integrations
What each tool does well — and where it falls short
What Cloudbeds does well
Operational efficiency through deep integration
Users praise the all-in-one platform that centralizes reservation management, reduces errors, and streamlines processes. OTA integrations across 300+ channels simplify multi-channel distribution.
Intuitive interface and ease of use
Users consistently highlight the ease of use and intuitive design, appreciating how it streamlines hotel management tasks in one platform despite the system's breadth.
Strong customer support
Multiple users note excellent support quality through chat and dedicated account managers, helping offset the platform's complexity.
Commission-free direct bookings
Built-in booking engine charges zero commission on direct reservations, making it attractive for operators building a direct-booking strategy.
What Hostaway does well
Best-in-class multi-channel reliability — eliminates double bookings
Real-time API sync across Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and dozens more. Operators consistently report it as the most reliable sync in the market, which directly prevents costly double-booking incidents.
Preferred-partner status with Airbnb, Vrbo, AND Booking.com — the 'triple crown'
Hostaway is the only property management platform with preferred/premier partner status across all three major OTAs. Priority API access and faster feature rollouts mean fewer sync errors and access to channel-exclusive tools before competitors.
Owner portal with professional reporting — real value for co-host and management companies
Owners get their own login to view revenue, occupancy, and payout statements in real time, with customizable visibility controls. For co-hosting businesses, this transparency tool is a genuine client-retention feature.
Where Cloudbeds falls short
Reporting system limitations
Users note significant flaws in the reporting system, with some reports being completely unreadable by accountants due to accuracy issues — a dealbreaker for operators who need clean financials.
Hidden fees and aggressive upselling
Users report constant upselling of features expected to be included at the advertised price. ITQlick notes users report unexpected charges for add-on features.
Technical reliability issues
Users experience connectivity problems, system bugs, and availability matrix glitches that can block inventory and prevent guest bookings during critical periods.
Opaque pricing makes cost comparison difficult
Cloudbeds publishes no prices — all four plans require custom quotes. Third-party sources give conflicting figures ($99–$180 starting points), making budgeting impossible before engaging sales.
Where Hostaway falls short
1.8% booking engine fee on all direct bookings, introduced November 2024
Hostaway added a 1.8% guest service fee to every reservation through operators' own direct-booking websites. This undercuts one of the main advantages of direct bookings (avoiding OTA commissions) and was rolled out via a terms update that many users missed.
Steep learning curve and significant setup investment — not plug-and-play
Setup requires mapping channels, configuring automation rules, setting up owner statements, and training staff. Reviewers consistently note it takes weeks to become fully operational — a real barrier for small operators or teams without technical staff.
Opaque pricing and contract lock-in reported by users — cancellation is difficult
Hostaway requires a sales call to see numbers. Multiple HotelMinder reviews describe being signed into annual contracts they thought were monthly, and difficulty canceling mid-term. Read the contract carefully.
Which Should You Pick
Pick Cloudbeds if
Multi-property operators seeking all-in-one hospitality management with strong OTA integrations and commission-free direct bookings.
Skip Cloudbeds if
Small operators on tight budgets concerned about hidden fees, upselling tactics, or needing robust reporting capabilities.
Pick Hostaway if
Multi-property managers running 10-100+ listings across Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com who need reliable multi-channel sync, team task management, and owner reporting in one platform.
Skip Hostaway if
You have fewer than 5 listings, you're budget-sensitive, or you rely heavily on direct booking revenue and can't absorb a 1.8% booking engine fee on every guest transaction.
Where Cloudbeds and Hostaway actually differ
- Cloudbeds is a hotel/hostel/vacation-rental hybrid with front-desk, housekeeping, and revenue management modules; Hostaway is vacation-rental-specific with no hotel features and 8 direct OTA channels optimized for STR operators.
- Both use quote-only pricing with no published rates — Cloudbeds prices by property size, unit count, and plan tier (four plans from Flex to Enterprise); Hostaway is reported at ~$40/listing/mo (HotelMinder 2025) with $100–$500 setup fees and per-unit cost that decreases at scale.
- Hostaway holds preferred-partner status with Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com — described as the only PMS with all three; Cloudbeds' distribution advantage is breadth (300+ OTA channels) rather than partnership depth.
- Cloudbeds offers commission-free direct bookings via its built-in booking engine; Hostaway provides a white-labeled direct booking site but its slim view does not confirm commission-free terms.
- Cloudbeds has 400+ marketplace integrations and an open API; Hostaway has 300+ integrations, an open API, and Zapier support — giving Hostaway an edge for no-code automation workflows.
Common objections
- Cloudbeds connects to 300+ OTAs versus Hostaway's 8 direct channels — how is Hostaway competitive on distribution?
- Most of Cloudbeds' 300+ channels include hotel metasearch, regional hotel OTAs, and GDS systems that STR operators rarely use. Hostaway's 8 direct channels — Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, Google Vacation Rentals, TripAdvisor, Agoda, and HomeToGo — cover the platforms where the vast majority of vacation rental bookings originate, and its triple preferred-partner status means priority integration on the three biggest.
- Cloudbeds serves 22,000+ properties in 157 countries — doesn't that scale advantage matter?
- Scale matters for network effects and OTA negotiating power, but Cloudbeds' footprint is heavily hotel and hostel-weighted. If you're a vacation rental operator, Hostaway's feature set and integrations (PriceLabs, Breezeway, Beyond Pricing) are purpose-built for your workflows. Cloudbeds' breadth is an advantage only if you actually operate hotel-style inventory.
- Both have opaque, quote-only pricing — how do I compare costs?
- Request quotes from both with your exact unit count. Cloudbeds prices by property size and plan tier with no published figures; Hostaway is reported around $40/listing/mo with setup fees. For a 20-unit STR portfolio, Hostaway's per-listing model is at least estimable; Cloudbeds requires a sales conversation to get any number at all.
Keep Digging
Cloudbeds
Enterprise-grade hospitality platform with broad channel coverage
Hostaway
The automation layer for operators scaling past 10 listings