Lodging and short-term rental
Accommodation let by the night, where occupancy, channel management and cleaning turnaround drive the numbers.
Six short steps. No email or account.
Family
Food, drink and hospitality
Thin margins, high turnover, and labour cost measured daily.
- Priority decisions
- 8
Foundation — what that means here
Operating reality
What makes this different
The realities that change which tools can actually work for you.
Occupancy and average nightly rate are the only two numbers that matter, and most accounting software reports neither.
Listing across several booking channels creates a double-booking risk that needs managing.
Occupancy and lodging taxes are jurisdiction-specific and frequently missed by new operators.
Cleaning turnaround is the operational constraint and is usually contracted out.
Where to start
The decisions that matter here, in order
You do not have to take them in this order, and you do not have to take all of them. This is where most businesses like yours start.
- 1Accounting software
Track income and expenses so tax time is a report, not an archaeology dig.
- 2Card payments
Take a card in person, over the phone or through a link.
- 3Business insurance
Cover the things that could end the business in one bad afternoon.
- 4Job and crew management
Run jobs end to end: schedule, dispatch, complete, invoice.
- 5Cash flow and budgeting
See what is coming in and going out before the account gets tight.
- 6Reviews and reputation
Ask happy customers to review you, and respond when they do.
- 7Business banking
A business account, so personal and business money stop mixing.
- 8Tax preparation
File the business return, and stop guessing at quarterly payments.
Your next step
Answer six short questions about your lodging and short-term rental business: your team, where the work happens and what you want to fix first. You get an operating plan in the order to tackle it, with the must-haves and comparison points for each area.
Answers
Common questions
- What software does a lodging and short-term rental business need?
- Accommodation let by the night, where occupancy, channel management and cleaning turnaround drive the numbers. The decisions that matter most are 8 areas, starting with the ones tied to how the work actually gets done and paid for.
- What makes running a lodging and short-term rental business different?
- Occupancy and average nightly rate are the only two numbers that matter, and most accounting software reports neither. Listing across several booking channels creates a double-booking risk that needs managing. Occupancy and lodging taxes are jurisdiction-specific and frequently missed by new operators. Cleaning turnaround is the operational constraint and is usually contracted out.