iGMS vs Elina
This article examines iGMS vs Elina by concentrating on the main features that a hospitality management software should offer. The data has been collected from iGMS’s and Elina’s websites and help articles. We also checked their reviews at Capterra to find the aspects that the actual users are emphasising.
Guest Review
In Capterra, iGMS has a rating of 4.6, with the highest score for Value for Money and Customer Service.
Trustpilot introduces iGMS as a Great tool with a 4.2 TrustScore.
In Capterra, Elina has a rating of 4.5, with the highest score for Customer Service and Value for Money.
iGMS’s booking processing is effortless and straightforward. Every booking that hits your properties from OTAs has a reservation card in which the guest’s contact information is listed.
iGMS automates your payment processing, and you can also make refunds quickly. You can use the pre-set email templates for each property or create new ones manually and easily use them for communication. Your check-in instructions will also be sent out in one of the emails.
You can also alter the bookings and change the number of guests, dates, or extended stays.
iGMS lets you generate and send rental agreements to guests. Additionally, for rentals exceeding 28 days, you can establish a unique long-term agreement that will be automatically implemented for all such reservations.
With iGMS, you can manage the collection and return of security deposits for direct reservations. To do this, you need to set up a connection with Stripe in your iGMS account.
Elina offers an Online Check-in feature which makes the booking process easier. With this feature:
- Guests can check or change their personal information and details needed for their stay.
- You can gather particulars about the guest, such as the flight number, or even personal info, including diet preferences, room temperature, or sorts of pillows.
- You can ask for an e-signature for your terms and conditions.
- You can ask for the upload of ID documentation.
- You can request and collect a photo of the lead guests.
Elina also allows you to upsell extras/add-ons on your bookings.
iGMS offers native integrations with Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com, and it offers iCal support for various OTAs.
Getting connected to Airbnb, HomeAway, and Vrbo, you can sync your availability, occupancy, pricing, and messaging with your iGMS account and manage them from your multi-calendar within the system. Regarding the rest of the channels, you can only import/export your tasks and availability using the iCal connection, which requires your supervision as it takes some time for it to get updated each time a change is made.
Elina offers a 2-way XML connection for rates, availability, restrictions, and reservations.
So, you can integrate with major OTAs, including Booking.com, Airbnb, HomeAway, Expedia, Agoda, HRS, Ctrip, Silverdoor, Mr and Mrs Smith, and Tripadvisor.
Elina’s channel manager updates the max length of stay automatically to remove split bookings. It also lets you control price mark-up by adjusting prices for OTAs and managing your availability per channel, using withholding rules and rolling booking windows.
iGMS generates mid-stay housekeeping and check-out housekeeping tasks automatically from the system upon every entry/check-out. Your iGMS multi-calendar will provide you with three types of functions differentiated with three different colours:
- Red tasks — assigned cleaning visits are indicated by a © in the multi-calendar, and unassigned ones have a silhouette of a person. Cleaning visits are automatically created upon check-out of each reservation. It is not possible to have more than one cleaning visit per day.
- Purple tasks — short visits, inspections or handyman appointments. The number of tasks per day is not limited.
- Green tasks with a check mark — completed cleaning visits and tasks.
An iGMS account holder can set up Access and Permissions in each team member’s account in the Team & Members section.
Elina’s Task management includes:
- Daily housekeeping to-do list.
- Accessing future housekeeping tasks by days.
- Viewing order delivery list.
- Creating and managing maintenance requests.
iGMS sends check-in instructions to guests via a set of ready-made email templates for each property. You can also create new templates for each booking, message them from the unified inbox, welcome them, and provide them with the necessary information for each check-in.
With the integration of iGMS and EveryDoor, users can connect their smart locks and buzzer systems for automatic, secure, and keyless entry.
Elina offers an Online Check-in feature that allows guests to have an easy verification process using their reservations ID and email.
Elina integrates with some door access and room control providers, such as My Booking Portal, Dissolving, and Livion Key to provide a convenient check-in and check-out experience for the guests.
- iGMS allows you to create and manage a free direct booking website, regardless of your subscription plan.
- The iGMS website is customisable, enabling you to adjust the layout, colour schemes, fonts, and more.
- Your website will automatically sync with the iGMS Multi-Calendar.
- You can collect payments through integration with Stripe.
Instant Website Builder
With the iGMS Website Builder, you can set up your website with no coding knowledge. All it takes is a simple click on the “Create a website” button to transform your Airbnb listing into a fully functional website. All your information, including property descriptions, photos, amenities, and pricing will be automatically pulled from Airbnb.
- Elina offers the Easypro Websites for an extra fee.
- Elina sets up your secure SSL with a top-tier provider.
- You can unlock these websites to continue editing the design and coding.
- EasyPro automatically syncs all your content from Elina into your website.
- Their website is mobile-friendly.
- Ther website is PCI-compliant with secure payments.
- Elina’s built-in booking engine comes with extra fees.
- Elina integrates with Google Analytics, enabling you to track website performance.
- Elina provides three different account logins for the guest, the company/manager, and the rental owner.
Elina also offers a web design service for hotels, serviced apartments, and vacation rentals. The Elina website team build your direct booking website using the Umbraco content management system. They can also code, maintain, and host your website.
iGMS offers a tool for times when a guest wants to stay longer in your properties, which is editing the booking without going to your Airbnb account to make changes to the booking details.
The property, the price, the number of guests, the dates, and the number of nights can be altered from inside the reservation card.
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- iGMS’s hosts and their teams can view structured information about the booking in reservation cards, such as the property, dates, guests, and the reservation cost.
- You can set up how the check-in will take place. A concierge can be assigned or you can also select self check-in for the task.
- Hosts can also add instructions and assign tasks to the team member related to cleaning or check-out.
- There are specific pre-set email templates for check-in instructions for each property, which are sent out automatically to your guests from Airbnb, HomeAway, and Vrbo.
- Elina’s booking engine includes a guest lounge. Guests obtain access to this lounge via a link in account activation.
- Elina PMS enables you to have as many automated emails as you want, including booking confirmation, guest login, travel directions, check-in info, terms and conditions, and pre- and post-arrival emails.
- Elina allows you to store marketing preferences.
- Elina also gives you access to pre- and post-stay contact info to build solid relationships with guests.
iGMS allows you to view the guest profile on the platform. The guest profile contains information about the guest, such as reservation code, contact details, their profile on Airbnb, government ID, work email, social accounts, selfies and more.
You can easily navigate to the reviews and recommendations that the guest has received. If you click on the guest’s photo, you will have the guest’s Airbnb verification information displayed. This allows Airbnb hosts to screen guests instantly via the software.
From the reservation card, hosts can message the guests or open the itinerary.
Elina’s Online Check-in enables you to gather details about the guest, such as the flight number, or even personal info, including the guests’ photo, diet preferences, room temperature, sorts of pillows, etc.
This PMS allows you to:
- Access detailed guest info.
- Track guest preferences.
- View reservation history and the number of times a guest has stayed or booked.
- Allows recording maintenance issues.
- Enables you to create a task for your fixer from the platform with the address, date, description of the issue, and approximate duration. You can also add notes for your staff about each task.
- Allows the fixers and the cleaners to turn the task’s status to complete when done and track them in real time.
- Sends the fixers notifications on their mobile phones via text messaging when the task is created automatically from the system or manually by another user of iGMS. They will also receive another message as a reminder the evening before.
- Creates a daily schedule for each staff of yours for the following day in order to avoid missing things.
Elina provides connections with Breezway and Room Checking for maintenance management and housekeeping.
iGMS has a mobile app and an iPod/iPad app that allows you to manage your properties fully from the app, just like when you are using the web version.
You can use their mobile app for the following tasks:
- Check your business performance via the iGMS Dashboard.
- Manage rates and availability with the Multi-calendar and Single Property Calendar.
- Manage communications through the unified inbox.
- Access the cleaning management system for better control over housekeeping tasks.
- You can handle multiple Airbnb accounts from a single dashboard.
Elina is a web-based platform and has not developed a mobile app yet.
iGMS enables you to manage different Airbnb accounts from one central system.
Elina can work with properties all over the world. Each place can be set up differently, allowing you to have properties in any format you need.
These are managed by categories known as “areas” and “types.” Typically, an area would be a city or district, and then within those areas, a type would stand for either a single property or a group of similar properties.
iGMS can automate your communications with the guests, your housekeepers, and maintenance staff fully.
- Communication: Pre-set email templates to be sent out to your Airbnb, Vrbo, HomeAway and Expedia guests automatically.
- Housekeeping: iGMS automatically generates check-out housekeeping tasks after each check-out. The software provides your housekeepers with a daily schedule to be followed using the staff portal.
- Maintenance: iGMS allows you to create profiles and tasks for the maintenance staff.
Elina’s centralised management system keeps you in control of reservations, operations, and finance via single or multi-locations.
Operation tasks, such as invoicing, updating OTAs, guest communication, room pricing, and payments are automated by Elina.
Notes are allowed on Elina, so you can:
- Create and manage notes on reservations and internally assign to persons, and label key info.
- See notes history on the booking calendar.
- Attach notes to reservations, guests, companies, and properties.
iGMS allows you to define different roles in your management system.
Each property can have only one property owner.
Notifications about new bookings, alterations, and cancellations are sent to property owners by default.
The owner has direct and immediate access to their multi-calendar. If additional permissions have been granted, the owner can manage pricing, guest communication, and create and assign cleaning tasks.
Elina PMS allows you to create accounts for owners, so they can manage availability on their rentals, view their properties’ performance, and see bookings.
You can view owners’ profiles, including standard information, documents, multiple addresses, and notes history.
You can set up fixed, or percentage withholding and use this in monthly reports to property owners.
Depending on the configuration, you can give owners a number of free nights to take back without approval or upon request.
iGMS allows you to collect payments from your direct bookings, website, and hotel collections using the Stripe payment gateway.
- After connecting your Stripe account with iGMS, following every direct booking, the system will generate an invoice with the necessary information in the reservation card, which is editable.
- iGMS generates invoices, and the guests can complete their payments using Stripe 3D Secure Link.
- You can easily log payment and deposit if it is for a hotel.
- You can also refund the guest from the system.
You can make payments both online and in person by using ElinaPAY’s leading technology.
- Sends secure payment links
- Allows you to collect card and/or payment in the booking engine.
- Enables you to use online check-in to take payment from the guest before arrival.
- Lets you charge imported cards automatically, when the charge is due, or manually when required.
- Provides portable card payment terminals (PDQs) for in-person payments.
iGMS’s reports include total revenue, cleaning and management fees, the number of cleaning tasks performed per month, taxes and service fees, monthly revenue reports, payouts, and itinerary information.
The user could adjust iGMS reports, including payouts, reservations, monthly revenue, and tasks to give to other team members.
Elina’s Today Dashboard shows:
- Today’s arrivals, departures, orders, and notes.
- Reservations made since yesterday, with a filter to see which are arriving today.
- Sources of bookings.
- Recommended actions.
Elina’s Yesterday Dashboard shows:
- Payments and invoices info and actions.
- Review of revenue and add-ons.
Elina’s Performance Dashboard shows:
- Monthly overview of occupancy, RevPAR, and ADR.
- Last month, current month, and next month’s bookings.
You can integrate iGMS with PriceLabs, DPGO, Wheelhouse, and Beyond to get dynamic pricing services.
You can also enable the Channel Markup feature to change pricing, availability, and rates.
Elina offers dynamic rate management using which you can edit rates, create dynamic rates, and link rates together.
In addition, Elina integrates with dynamic pricing tools, such as Beyond, PriceLabs, and OutPerform to eliminate manual rate updates.
iGMS offers a Help Desk, Email Support, and Website Chat Support for Pro, Flexible, and trial accounts. However, iGMS customer support working hours differ for each plan.
The Pro users can receive support Monday to Friday 24 hours and 9:00 to 17:00 on the weekends.
Elina’s built-in support is accessible from the Smarter PMS.
There are hundreds of step-by-step guides, videos, tips, and pointers.
Also, the system shares the new improvements, shows the product roadmap, and unveils the latest updates on partner services.
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iGMS’s unified inbox only works for Airbnb, Booking.com, and HomeAway at the moment.
iGMS allows you to respond to all guest enquiries from Airbnb and HomeAway with ready-made email templates within the system. Messages received from Booking.com require you to search the name of the guest in iGMS messenger.
iGMS’s unified inbox lets you see the booking and guest details, pin, mark, answer the messages, write notes on a To-Do list, and alter reservations if necessary.
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Pricing
iGMS offers three different plans: Host, Flexible, and Pro. The Host plan allows you to choose between a monthly or annual commitment. Each property’s price under the annual plan is 12.6 GBP ($16), and it is 19 GBP ($24) on the monthly plan.
The Flexible plan has limited features activated but allows you to use Airbnb listings with full functionality, using which you need to pay 0.80 GBP ($1) per night if you have reservations. If you decide to use a Pro plan, you can choose between a monthly or annual commitment. At the beginning of each month, you will receive an invoice from the company that counts the number of your active properties – properties that have received at least one booking. Each property’s price under the annual plan is 15 GBP ($19), and it is 22 GBP ($28) on the monthly plan.
As for the cancellation of your subscription, they have specific policies that are good to know upfront. iGMS also offers a 14-day trial in the beginning, which is an excellent opportunity for you to decide whether it is the right solution for you or not.
You can get a pricing quote by giving some information about your business on Elina’s pricing page.
Features like the booking engine, channel manager, online check-in, and direct booking website come with extra fees.
iGMS vs Elina: Which Property Management System to Choose?
To find the best PMS, you need to focus on your needs and expectations. Suppose you need a system that links you to some OTAs like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Expedia. In that case, iGMS helps you keep your calendar updated, manage your operations, and automate your communications. iGMS provides a central portal to manage and organise cleaning and maintenance teams. So, this platform makes it really easy to assign jobs, track work orders, make payments, and handle all the other tasks associated with cleaning and maintenance teams. However, iGMS offers only online support (no phone support) for both pro and free versions which isn’t ideal when you are in an emergency.
Elina is a comprehensive software that effectively manages hotels, vacation rentals, and serviced apartments. Its user-friendly interface enables staff to navigate the system quickly and easily. Elina offers a variety of features, including real-time inventory management, automated invoicing, and reservation tracking, which boost property managers’ productivity and save time. However, Elina’s price is higher than other property management systems, as some features come with additional charges. Besides that, the absence of the Unified Inbox feature in Elina may make you reconsider choosing this software.
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