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 Kigo
Pricing, pros and cons, and buyer-fit side-by-side. Pick the one that matches your operation — or see why neither should.
Property Management
Kigo
All-in-one vacation rental PMS with channel management, now a Guesty company
Solid Option
Comprehensive channel management hampered by per-booking commissions and reliability issues
From $59/mo • 14-day trial
✓Editorial verdict
Which should you pick: Hostaway or Kigo?
Pick Kigo if you want a $59/mo flat base and can absorb 1.25%/4% booking commission for access to 5 direct OTAs. Pick Hostaway if you need 8 direct OTA channels with preferred-partner status on Airbnb, Vrbo, AND Booking.com, a native mobile app, and 300+ integrations with Zapier — and you can tolerate quote-only pricing around ~$40/listing/mo.
Editorial perspective from the Kigo 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
Kigo
Full pricing →From $59/mo • 14-day trial
Flat monthly
$59/mo flat rate subscription. Kigo charges 1.25% on non-payment bookings (e.g., Airbnb where the OTA collects payment) and 4% on paid bookings (e.g., VRBO, Booking.com, Direct) — the 4% includes credit card processing fees (~2.8% Stripe), making the effective platform commission ~1.2%. Commission is charged even on cancelled bookings. Free trial available, no credit card required.
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 Kigo does well
Extensive channel management and synchronization
Kigo offers seamless integration to major third-party channels with synchronized availability, rates, and content across multiple listing sites, reducing risk of double bookings and opening up sales revenue opportunities.
User-friendly interface for daily operations
Users with 30+ years in vacation rentals find Kigo the quickest and easiest to learn for getting daily tasks completed, with straightforward processes for payments, refunds, and customer communication.
Comprehensive feature coverage in one platform
Kigo integrates reservation management, distribution, marketing, revenue management, eSignature, and website creation in one platform, streamlining operations for property managers.
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 Kigo falls short
High pricing burden on smaller operations
Pricing is consistently noted as high for smaller businesses, with minimum monthly fees that can be prohibitive for operators with limited vacation rental inventory.
Technical complexity and reliability issues
Users report frequent bugs and glitches affecting integrations, calendar syncing, and website functionality, with an average Ease of Use rating of 3.7 versus the 4.5 category average.
Commission charges on all bookings including direct
Unlike many competitors, Kigo charges a percentage of all bookings including direct bookings not acquired through channels, and continues charging commission even on cancelled bookings.
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 Kigo if
Mid-to-large vacation rental managers seeking comprehensive channel distribution and established integrations
Skip Kigo if
Budget-conscious small operators or those prioritizing cost efficiency over extensive channel connectivity
Where Hostaway and Kigo actually differ
- Hostaway charges ~$40/listing/mo (quote-only) with a 1.8% fee on direct website bookings. Kigo is $59/mo flat plus 1.25%/4% booking commission. At 10 listings, Hostaway runs ~$400/mo versus Kigo's $59/mo base — Kigo is meaningfully cheaper on base fees, Hostaway cheaper on commission if you're OTA-heavy.
- Hostaway holds preferred-partner status on Airbnb, Vrbo, AND Booking.com simultaneously with 8 direct OTA channels. Kigo has 5 direct channels and no documented preferred-partner status — Hostaway has priority API access Kigo doesn't match.
- Hostaway includes a native iOS and Android mobile app and 300+ integrations with Zapier. Kigo has no native mobile app and no Zapier support — Hostaway offers a dramatically more modern tooling surface.
- Kigo charges commission on direct bookings (4%) while Hostaway charges 1.8% on direct-website bookings — Hostaway's direct-booking fee is less than half Kigo's, a real advantage for direct-heavy operators.
- Kigo has a 3.7/5 ease-of-use rating with reported calendar sync bugs. Hostaway has a more modern UX that's generally better-reviewed, though both have documented onboarding complexity at scale.
Common objections
- Kigo is $59/mo versus Hostaway's ~$400/mo at 10 listings — that's a 7x gap. Why pay Hostaway?
- Because at 10 listings doing meaningful OTA volume, Kigo's 4% commission on paid bookings usually exceeds Hostaway's per-listing premium. On $200k/year in paid-channel revenue, Kigo charges $8,000/year in commission on top of the $708 base ($8,708 total). Hostaway at 10 listings runs ~$4,800/year — cheaper in total despite the higher base. Run the math on your actual booking volume before assuming Kigo wins.
- Hostaway has 8 channels, Zapier, and a mobile app — doesn't that make Kigo look underbuilt?
- For modern tooling and channel breadth, Hostaway is clearly more complete. Kigo's 5-channel limit, no mobile app, no Zapier, and no preferred-partner status are real constraints. Kigo's pitch is price at the low end: $59/mo flat beats Hostaway's ~$40/listing math at 1–2 listings regardless of feature gap. Above 3 listings, Hostaway's broader platform generally wins on total value even with the higher sticker price.
- Both tools have commission issues — Kigo on cancelled/direct bookings, Hostaway at 1.8% on direct. Isn't that a wash?
- No — the numbers matter. Hostaway's 1.8% applies only to direct-website bookings (not OTA bookings, not cancellations). Kigo's 4% applies to paid bookings including direct bookings and even cancelled bookings. On a $5,000 direct booking, Hostaway charges $90 and Kigo charges $200. On a cancelled $5,000 Vrbo booking, Hostaway charges $0 and Kigo charges $200. The fee structures aren't equivalent — Hostaway's is meaningfully more forgiving.
Keep digging
Hostaway
The automation layer for operators scaling past 10 listings
Kigo
Comprehensive channel management hampered by per-booking commissions and reliability issues