iGMS vs OwnerRez
This article examines iGMS vs OwnerRez by concentrating on the main features that a hospitality management software should offer. The data has been collected from iGMS’s and OwnerRez’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, OwnerRez has a rating of 4.9, with the highest score for Customer Service, Features, and Value for Money.
Trustpilot introduces OwnerRez as an Average tool with a 2.8 TrustScore.
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.
While working with OwnerRez, you do not need to worry about the bookings that come from OTAs to which you have an API connection, as everything will automatically be visible in your account.
You can enable push notifications through the OwnerRez’s Web App to receive alerts, such as a new booking notification, on all your devices.
However, you may face some difficulties if your booking is direct. Then, everything should be done manually. Here are the steps:
- Create the booking and enter guest details.
- Activate payment collection and enter their card information.
- Schedule the security deposit.
- Reach out to guests for further information, such as photo ID and signing of the terms and conditions (through the Renter Agreements feature).
After taking these steps, the booking will be created, and it will resemble one created automatically.
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.
The full API integration is only available for Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com. In addition, you will have full access to all API integrations if you have five or more properties.
When you open the window for each channel synchronisation, you can see the list of your listings with Sync Status, Listing Status, the last time a booking was made for each property, and the last time the information changed or synced again.
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.
OwnerRez offers several ways to keep the cleaners posted about the latest housekeeping tasks:
- Custom Cleaner iCals
Using iCal integration, you can create a custom calendar for your property, export all your bookings there, and share the link with your cleaners.
- Portal Access
With login details, your cleaners can access your calendar, notes, and guest details based on the levels of access you define.
(This feature is available only if you use the Property Management Premium Feature.)
- Custom Trigger Emails
You can create a trigger email in OwnerRez to be sent out after each departure so that the cleaner knows about the latest check-outs.
- Third-Party Alerts
If you turn on Third-Party Alerts for each property and put in the cleaner’s name/email address, the system will email the assignee automatically each time a booking hits, gets cancelled, or changed.
- Stay Report
The stay report shows you who is arriving, departing, and staying. This report can be printed and sent to your cleaners as a schedule.
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.
OwnerRez is integrated with eRentalLock and a couple of other door lock companies for self check-ins. It can automatically generate codes for your many different door locks, including numeric sequence locks and Wi-Fi locks – each time a booking is created.
However, you still need to inform the guest about the code. For that, you can create an email template within the system with your preferred trigger rule. Based on that, OwnerRez will automatically send an email to your guests to enter the property without your presence.
- 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.
OwnerRez offers hosted websites for its customers for an extra charge.
If you have one property, the fee for having a hosted website would be $10.00 per month, which may differ based on the number of your listings.
The website includes:
- A page per property
- A booking engine
- An availability calendar
- Your different rate plans for the season
- Images and videos
- Reviews
- Amenities
- Property location
- Google Vacation Rental Structured Data
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.
OwnerRez does not include an extended stay option. It means you cannot define different monthly and/or weekly rates.
Extending your guest stay for your direct bookings can be done manually by changing the dates, the charges, and payment collection.
If a booking is coming from an OTA and the guests stay longer in your properties, the change should be made on the OTA webpage directly, even if you use API integration.
- 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.
OwnerRez has an option in their check-out process called renter agreement. A signing link can also follow this agreement, which is highly recommended for bookings that come from different OTAs.
There is a suggested renter agreement, but you can create as many agreements as you want and customise them as a host.
After the signature link is used, you can ask your guests or a particular group of them to verify their contact information for you. This way, you will restore your guests’ details even when the booking comes from a listing site.
OwnerRez’s integration with Besty AI automates guest messaging and interactions.
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.
OwnerRez creates a profile for each of your guests regardless of the sources or channels they come from.
To have an organised CRM, you have the option to merge your contacts or team them up.
OwnerRez’s guest CRM shows you the guests’ history, including the number of their previous bookings with a summary, payments, contact information, and some tags.
By creating different tags, you can highlight some characteristics or ideas about the guests, such as great, never again, breakfast, extra bed, and rental boats. The reason for having tags on the CRM level and booking level is to help the owner. The owner will keep in mind the key points that may seem minor but have a considerable impact on their hosting quality to turn the guests into loyal ones or prevent an annoying person from returning to the property again.
iGMS:
- 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.
OwnerRez does not seem to have a particular feature dedicated to your maintenance issues. You can create manual tasks if needed.
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.
OwnerRez supports mobile phones and tablets. Their web version is mobile responsive, meaning that you can work with the system the same way you do from your PC. It can also be installed as an app on your mobile devices.
iGMS enables you to manage different Airbnb accounts from one central system.
You can use OwnerRez internationally. They allow for multiple currencies, which can be set per property. You can have multiple different credit card processors to accept different currencies, as well.
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.
OwnerRez can help you manage your housekeeping to some extent, but it needs manual interference and supervision (it will not be done automatically).
However, it is clear that some more extensive operations with more complex scheduling involved, including housekeeping, maintenance, and other support staff, need an advanced solution. To meet this, OwnerRez has partnered with ResortCleaning and VRScheduler.
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.
OwnerRez’s PM (Property Management) area gives you a wide variety of options, provided that you use the Premium plan. You can configure owners and assign the properties that you manage for those owners, including some settings like your commission.
You can grant portal access to owners to see your calendar. You can also generate monthly owner statements so that owners can see their booking earnings and the expenses you have charged them. In addition, your grand total for the month will be calculated.
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 directly collect payments. You can configure payment methods in the financial settings to accept credit cards, cheques, or PayPal.
- You have integration with Quickbooks for your accounting. All the invoices will get generated automatically using Quickbooks’s integration with all the data needed, such as taxes, add-ons, etc.
- You can generate partial payment links, meaning the system generates two invoices for you. It is also possible to set reminders for the guests, which will be sent to them via email.
- Regarding security deposits, OwnerRez offers its optional Damage Protection programme with an insurer called RentalGuardian. The other possible ways are either to hold a security deposit or to have a Refundable Damage Deposit or “RDD.” These can be created manually in the system.
- They offer API integrations with Payeezy, Authorize.net, Bambora, Lynnbrook, Stripe, and more payment processors for payment collection. You can check them out on their website.
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.
- OwnerRez offers various reports which can be exported to Excel/CSV files.
- The booking summary report helps you compare your booking percentage over different periods. You can also compare property by property.
- You can apply other filters like Airbnb or channel bookings only.
- You can also have a Line Item Pivot report where you have the list of all your bookings on a list with all the information you may want to check.
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.
Using OwnerRez, you can define seasonal rates and spot rates. You can have the rates applied to only random days in a month, certain days repeatedly, or the entire month. The rate plans from one property can also be batch copied to a destination property.
Under rate rules, you can create last-minute discounts.
OwnerRez also offers integration with Beyond and PriceLabs for dynamic pricing.
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.
Once you sign up, the OwnerRez’s support team will reach out to schedule a free 1-hour 1:1 call.
OwnerRez has a ProConnect (Concierge) Setup apart from support documents and asking for help.
The OwnerRez team will go through your account’s onboarding process entirely by themselves based on the information you provide for them. At some points, like the part for website setup, your presence will be needed.
There would be a charge for this service based on the number of your properties. The service will only be available for your existing listings, not the ones you add later on. It is also good to know that Concierge Setup is not an express service, and it might take 3 to 6 weeks to complete.
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OwnerRez offers a Line Item Pivot where you have the list of all your bookings on a list with all the information you may want to check. You can see your booking data, rent price, cleaning, surcharges and discounts, taxes, host fees, charge totals, transaction totals, and PM totals. You can export these to Excel, as well.
Remember that this information will be generated for each booking, not for your organisation, like the monthly profit report in total.
However, OwnerRez can generate monthly owner statements to see their booking earnings and the expenses you have charged them. In addition, the total of the month will be calculated.
OwnerRez integrates with Quickbooks for your bookkeeping tasks.
Having PM services (calculating commissions, generating owner statements and recording expenses) and integrating QuickBooks require an extra fee to be paid to OwnerRez on your base plan.
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.
OwnerRez does not have a Unified Inbox beyond Airbnb messaging. However, you can have your Airbnb and Vrbo messages sent to OwnerRez automatically, and you can answer them back from your OwnerRez account directly.
You can have your enquiries forwarded into OwnerRez from Vrbo or TripAdvisor, but your replies will be sent out as a traditional email to the guest.
Some pre-set email templates can be sent out to guests automatically using the triggers.
They can be turned off for the bookings that you may choose from your list. You can also create your email templates based on your needs.
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.
OwnerRez pricing starts from $40 (31 GBP) per month. The more properties you have, the less you will pay. However, the default plan only includes Channel Management and Digital Signatures. If you want to have the Property Management feature (to calculate commissions, generate owner statements, and record expenses), QuickBooks integration, hosted website, and SMS messaging, you need to include them in your base plan and pay extra for each. OwnerRez does not have a free version, but they offer a 14-day free trial.
iGMS vs OwnerRez: 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.
OwnerRez will help you manage your properties as there are lots of features available for each aspect of managing a short-rental business. There are also so many integrations that can be used. However, you need to keep in mind that, to have some of the features, you need to pay an extra amount per property to have them activated. OwnerRez can be an excellent solution for small and large multi-location companies and those who work with Vrbo, Booking.com, and Airbnb.
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