Property Management
OwnerRez
Vacation rental software for serious hosts
Best Overall
Most reliable channel manager in its price tier
From $40/listing • 14-day trial
Comparison
OwnerRez 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
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: OwnerRez or Hostaway?
Pick OwnerRez if you want published pricing, zero booking fees, and a proven channel manager without a sales call. Pick Hostaway if you run 10+ listings across multiple OTAs and need a native mobile app, an owner portal, and preferred-partner status on Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com simultaneously. Under 10 listings, Hostaway's opaque pricing and setup fees rarely make sense over OwnerRez.
Editorial perspective from the OwnerRez side; factual claims about Hostaway are drawn from its review.
Pricing side-by-side
OwnerRez
Full pricing →From $40/listing • 14-day trial
1 property
~$40/mo
1 listing
Booking fee: Zero on all bookings
- Channel manager (Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Google)
- Hosted booking website + widgets
- WordPress plugin
- CRM + guest profiles
- E-signed rental agreements
- Custom triggers + automation
- QuickBooks Online integration
- 14-day free trial
5 properties
$88/mo
Up to 5 listings
Booking fee: Zero on all bookings
- Everything in 1-property tier
- Owner statements + reporting
10+ properties
Sliding scale, decreases per-unit cost as portfolio grows
10+ listings
Booking fee: Zero on all bookings
- Everything in 5-property tier
- Volume pricing
- 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 OwnerRez does well
Zero booking fees on all channels — including direct
OwnerRez charges only the flat per-property rate — no percentage cut, no per-booking commissions, no surprises. Predictable costs as volume grows.
Best-in-class direct-API channel management, included free
OwnerRez builds its own direct API connections to Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Google Vacation Rentals rather than routing through a third-party aggregator. Faster sync, fewer failure points, and no extra fee for channel connectivity.
Support quality is the platform's defining differentiator
Across Capterra, G2, and Trustpilot, support quality is the single most cited reason operators choose and stay with OwnerRez. Personalised guidance and custom screen-capture videos — uncommon at this price point.
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 OwnerRez falls short
No native iOS or Android app — mobile management runs through a PWA with real limitations
Users report missing push notifications for SMS and channel messages, navigation issues, and difficult photo reordering on mobile. Staff have confirmed no app is planned.
Steep initial learning curve — the depth is real and so is the ramp
OwnerRez is designed for depth over ease of setup. Independent reviews consistently agree the platform rewards patience but demands it. Users expecting plug-and-play describe feeling overwhelmed initially.
Email-only support — no phone line for urgent issues during live bookings
For most users the depth of email responses compensates, but for time-sensitive situations (guest locked out at check-in, channel sync failure mid-booking), the inability to call is a meaningful gap.
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 OwnerRez if
Tech-comfortable hosts and property managers with 2-100+ listings who want deep channel automation, granular accounting, and a direct booking website — and are willing to invest setup time.
Skip OwnerRez if
You need a native iOS/Android app for on-the-go management, want plug-and-play onboarding with minimal configuration, or primarily operate outside the US market.
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 OwnerRez and Hostaway actually differ
- OwnerRez: published sliding-scale pricing starting at $40/mo, zero booking fees, no setup fee. Hostaway: quote-only (~$40/listing/mo reported), 1.8% fee on all direct bookings, $100–$500 setup fee.
- OwnerRez: 4 direct channels (Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Google Vacation Rentals). Hostaway: 8 direct channels adding Expedia, TripAdvisor, Agoda, and HomeToGo.
- OwnerRez: no native mobile app (PWA only with limited push notifications). Hostaway: full iOS and Android mobile app.
- OwnerRez: 15 properties costs ~$133/mo with zero booking fees. Hostaway: 15 properties estimated at ~$400–$600/mo plus 1.8% on direct bookings.
Common objections
- Hostaway has preferred-partner status with all three major OTAs — doesn't that make it more reliable?
- Hostaway is the only property management platform with preferred status on Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com simultaneously, which is a real advantage for priority API access and faster feature rollouts. OwnerRez builds its own direct-API connections to the same four channels and has an excellent reliability track record, but it doesn't carry the official partner badges.
- I need a mobile app — doesn't that rule out OwnerRez?
- If on-the-go management through a native app is a hard requirement, yes — OwnerRez only offers a PWA that lacks push notifications. Hostaway's iOS and Android app is well-regarded. That said, you'll pay significantly more for it: OwnerRez at 10 properties runs ~$112/mo versus Hostaway at an estimated ~$400/mo plus the 1.8% direct booking fee.
- Isn't OwnerRez too small-scale compared to Hostaway?
- OwnerRez's pricing scales to 200+ properties and the platform serves operators well into the mid-size range. But Hostaway offers a broader feature set at scale — owner portal, 300+ integrations, 8 direct channels, and a dedicated account manager on Enterprise. If you're past 20 listings and need those capabilities, Hostaway earns its higher price.
Keep digging
Hostaway
The automation layer for operators scaling past 10 listings