Property Management
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
Comparison
Hostaway vs iGMS
Pricing, pros and cons, and buyer-fit side-by-side. Pick the one that matches your operation — or see why neither should.
Property Management
iGMS
Automate 90% of your vacation rental hosting tasks
Best for Small Hosts
Solid automation for small portfolios, but outgrown quickly by reporting needs
From $14/listing • No free trial
✓Editorial verdict
Which should you pick: Hostaway or iGMS?
Pick iGMS if you manage 2–20 listings and want published pricing with Airbnb/Vrbo/Booking.com coverage starting at $14/listing. Pick Hostaway if you run 10–50 listings and want the only platform with preferred-partner status on all three of Airbnb, Vrbo, AND Booking.com — provided you can accept quote-based pricing (~$40/listing reported) and a 1.8% direct-booking fee.
Editorial perspective from the iGMS side; factual claims about Hostaway are drawn from its review.
Pricing side-by-side
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
iGMS
Full pricing →From $14/listing • No free trial
Lite
$14/property/mo
No stated limit
Booking fee: None stated
- Multi-channel calendar sync
- Automated guest messaging
- Cleaning management
- Direct booking tools
Flex
$1/booked night ($20/property minimum)
No stated limit
Booking fee: None stated
- Everything in Lite
- Pay-per-use pricing model
Pro
$18/property/mo
No stated limit
Booking fee: None stated
- Everything in Lite
- Advanced features
Enterprise
Custom
30+ properties
Booking fee: None stated
- Everything in Pro
- Custom pricing
What each tool does well — and where it falls short
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.
What iGMS does well
Strong automation that drives real portfolio growth
Users report iGMS helped them grow by over 50% and add new units with less effort. The platform automates guest messaging, reviews, and cleaning management.
Zero commission on direct bookings
Direct bookings through iGMS eliminate OTA fees of up to 17%, allowing property managers to keep significantly more revenue compared to listing exclusively on platforms like Airbnb or Vrbo.
Proven scale across global operations
iGMS manages almost 90,000 property listings across 49+ countries and processes more than 500,000 reservations monthly, demonstrating reliable multi-channel sync at scale.
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.
Where iGMS falls short
Financial reporting is a weak point
95% of reviews on financial reporting say the system offers limited report variations and customizations, making it difficult for operators who need detailed revenue analytics.
No accounting software integration
iGMS lacks built-in accounting features and has no QuickBooks integration, forcing property managers to maintain a completely separate accounting workflow.
Calendar sync reliability concerns
Some users report booking synchronization problems that can lead to double bookings across platforms, which is a serious operational risk for multi-channel hosts.
Which should you pick
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.
Pick iGMS if
Small to medium property managers who want to automate 90% of daily hosting tasks across multiple OTAs like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo from one unified calendar.
Skip iGMS if
Large-scale operations requiring advanced financial reporting, QuickBooks integration, or enterprise-level team management tools.
Where Hostaway and iGMS actually differ
- Hostaway is an Airbnb Preferred+, Vrbo Elite Connectivity, and Booking.com Premier Partner — the only property management platform with all three designations. iGMS does not hold equivalent partner status with any of the big three.
- iGMS publishes $14–17/listing/mo. Hostaway is quote-only; industry sources put real pricing at ~$40/listing/mo, with no published floor.
- Hostaway lists 300+ integrations and 8 direct OTA channels, plus a branded (non-white-label) iOS/Android app at every tier. iGMS has 40+ integrations, focuses on Airbnb/Vrbo/Booking.com, and offers mobile access but with a narrower integration surface.
- Hostaway charges a 1.8% booking-engine fee on all direct-website bookings. iGMS's direct booking tools do not layer an additional booking fee on top of the subscription.
- iGMS scales down to 1 listing with self-serve signup. Hostaway's target is 10+ listings with a sales process and onboarding.
Common objections
- Hostaway has triple-crown OTA partner status — doesn't that make iGMS obsolete for serious hosts?
- For 15+ listings where OTA sync reliability is existential, Hostaway's partner status is a genuine edge. For a 2–15 listing host, the standard Airbnb/Vrbo/Booking.com APIs iGMS uses work reliably enough that the partner-tier upside rarely justifies 2–3x the monthly cost.
- Hostaway's pricing is opaque — how can I even compare?
- You largely can't until you talk to sales. That's the point of the comparison: iGMS lets you model the next 12 months of spend from its website; Hostaway requires a conversation. For operators who value pricing transparency — including most 1–10 listing hosts — that alone is a reason to stay on iGMS until you hit a ceiling it can't handle.
- Hostaway's 1.8% direct booking fee seems fine — why does that matter?
- At meaningful direct-booking volume, it adds up. A host doing $200K/year in direct bookings pays Hostaway $3,600/year on top of subscription — that's a full year of iGMS Pro for a 15-listing portfolio. If you're actively pushing guests to your own website to escape OTA commissions, fee structure matters, and iGMS doesn't add this layer.
Keep digging
Hostaway
The automation layer for operators scaling past 10 listings
iGMS
Solid automation for small portfolios, but outgrown quickly by reporting needs