OwnerRez is another popular vacation rental platform in our series of software reviews.
OwnerRez calls itself an “Elite” vacation rental channel manager, property management system (PMS), and website provider. Its co-founders are vacation rental homeowners and property managers with engineering skills — a blend that almost always guarantees decent quality. With 4.9 stars on Capterra and Software Advice, OwnerRez is one of the top options to consider.
Read the handy summary of OwnerRez core features, integrations, pros and cons, OwnerRez pricing, and other details below.
What is OwnerRez
OwnerRez is a property management platform that automates and optimizes routine operations run by hosts and property managers. It also helps launch rentals with a customizable website builder and simplified publishing of listings.
OwnerRez offers a standard pack of property management features, including a channel manager, dynamic messaging, customer relationship management, website builder, owner statement generator, booking calendar, and personalized OwnerRez customer service. Overall, the platform is known for its high level of customization, accounting features, and relatively steep learning curve.
Who uses OwnerRez?
OwnerRez has a super flexible pricing model that allows users to run from one to over five hundred properties. In other words, the platform is suitable for both one-property hosts and rental heavyweights.
Single-property owners
The property owner with one rental, Jacquelien W., shares:
“Ownerrez is an amazing tool that helps me professionally run my short-term business and saves me time and headspace. I only have one rental, but I also have a bookkeeping business and Ownerrez is invaluable at taking over those tasks that take up so much time and thought. From messaging guests to keeping my calendars synched, taking payments on time, syncing my rates across all platforms, etc. Ownerrez does it all and does it so well!”
Rental agencies
“We are a large rental agency, over 200 properties, with a very unique market. The ease of use, streamlining of former mundane tasks, customization, reporting, Help articles for DIY fixes, expert support when you tap-out and give up the DIY approach and much more make OR the best business decision we’ve made in long time (Will).”
OwnerRez and direct booking
Another category of users is hosts seeking to get direct bookings. OwnerRez supports a website builder that allows you to reach potential guests face to face, avoid service fees, and unlock other benefits of building a direct booking website.
“The majority of my bookings are direct bookings via my website. I sync and automate using OwnerRez booking software, and list on Airbnb, VRBO, and a dozen others. Do not rely on one channel (Reddit user).”
9 Key OwnerRez features
The OwnerRez platform has strong financial and accounting features, deep customization, and collaboration tools. Other than that, the functionality largely overlaps with other property management platforms because, well, most property owners have similar automation needs.
Channel manager
OwnerRez enables you to instantly push every change made within the platform to rental channels. You can also view all your bookings to quickly handle the requests and compare rates by channel with pricing recommendations. The feature is available to all subscribed users, even those with one property.
“The automatic sync feature eliminates the need for manual updates across multiple channels, saving me time and ensuring consistency across all platforms (Sarah).”
Property management
This feature can be very helpful for property managers who need to stay accountable for running others’ rentals. It allows you to calculate commissions and generate monthly statements. You can also record expenses you have paid out of your pocket to later ask owners for reimbursement.
The property management module also includes a user portal where property managers can grant access to specific users (e.g., hosts, cleaning staff, maintenance team, etc.). You decide what information is available to whom, like availability calendars or owner statements.
Vacation rental website builder
The website builder debunks a common direct booking myth that having a personal website costs a fortune. OwnerRez focuses on building robust and reliable websites rather than following UI/UX trends. You can use their own website builder, add OwnerRez’s widgets to your existing website, or use the WordPress plugin. This feature is essential for hosts and property managers who want to interact with guests directly, bypassing Airbnb, Vrbo, and other online travel agency (OTA) platforms.
Dynamic messaging across channels
You get a single inbox to manage all communications, including emails, SMS, and messages exchanged through booking platforms such as Airbnb, Vrbo, and booking.com. OwnerRez allows you to fully automate communications with customizable templates and trigger-based message delivery.
Digital rental agreements
When it comes to rentals, it’s better to make things official, even for the short term. OwnerRez gives you an easy way to do it. Rental agreements are included in the checkout process or through a signing link. The platform has built-in e-sign support and secure online storage.
Accounting and reports
With this platform, you get a variety of financial reports exportable in Excel and/or CSV formats. It also streamlines taxes by adding tax line items to bookings and simplifying remittance. You can use your own payment processor with OwnerRez.
Educational resources
OwnerRez is known for stellar customer support and educational materials. They teach users how to get the most out of the platform and are ready to assist with any concerns, from setup to third-party integrations.
“OwnerRez offers monthly webinars and Q&A. I try to attend as many of these as possible to learn more about the many features available. I love OwnerRez, but I’m sure there are SO many features I haven’t begun to take advantage of (Theresa).”
Customer relationship management
The property management system optimizes customer relationships in many ways. It helps you get a real guest email by sending a point of contact link. OwnerRez also collects, stores, and hosts guest reviews posted across channels. You have one tool to store all guest records, manage relationships, and run marketing campaigns.
OwnerRez app
You can access the main features on any device with the OwnerRez app. It’s a progressive web app, which means it adapts to any platform and screen size. No need to install it from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Just go to https://app.ownerrez.com and sign in with your account to access the app.
Pros and cons of OwnerRez
After testing the tool and analyzing OwnerRez reviews, we may conclude that most users are satisfied with the platform. Many people praise OwnerRez customer service, saying it helps with any request and carefully checks everything before answering. There are also lots of positive reviews regarding customization options. Those who complain are usually dissatisfied by advanced features that can be hard to figure out.
OwnerRez reviews from hosts and property managers
In most cases, hosts and property managers give OwnerRez five stars. Many have been using the platform for years and don’t want to change a thing. The fact that OwnerRez was launched by engineers with a rental background is a huge benefit.
“It’s a dynamic software that thinks of everything that’s required to run a vacation rental business. Very often the solutions are implemented with the knowledge of what the user needs even before the user realizes that it’s needed (Maged B.).”
“OwnerRez goes above and beyond to make sure your system is working for your needs. With the 1 to 1 hour support sessions, a helpdesk that automatically identifies urgent needs and responds to them, and is always providing new enhancements and connections. Hands down, the best PMS in the biz (Lance)!”
Some people even return to OwnerRez after testing other options:
“In 2022, we moved to another property management system. But we were forced to move back to OwnerRez three months later because we needed an API for a more modern, updated website. OwnerRez is a better technology stack, and we don’t plan to leave again. In fact, we’ve now migrated our website to OwnerRez as well (Carl).”
As we have already mentioned, OwnerRez customer service excites users most of all:
“It has been a great experience. I am the owner of my vacation rental and I am creative but not so technical, so any problems I’ve had have been answered usually in one day and with clear solutions provided by real humans not AI. I am in awe of the seamless integration of so many moving parts (Lori)!”
“I had low expectations when I first started the free trial of this company service for my 3 year old Airbnb rental business. Everything felt a bit intimidating to start with. But boy, once I got assigned by the onboarding team I was blown away by their reps’ efficiency in email responses and especially the complimentary training (Laura).”
Of course, the OwnerRez app is not perfect. In particular, it may not be the best choice for a multi-unit property.
“If you have a multi-unit property, OwnerRez doesn’t provide what you need. When we dug deeper we discovered that OR has two drastic gaps: one is no support for Google Hotels or Hotel Metasearch in general. Yes they support Google Vacation Rentals but that is not the same as hotels. The second major gap is the terrible integration support for external websites. The WordPress plugin is severely limited (Alex).”
It’s also more challenging to learn compared to other popular property management systems. Yet the quality of support makes up for difficulties.
“Ownerrez is not as user-friendly as other software programs I have tried, but the benefits far outweigh the cons. It is capable of so much (Jacquelien)!”
Hospitable vs. OwnerRez vs. Lodgify
If you’re considering OwnerRez for property management, you’ve likely already reviewed multiple similar platforms. We have a series of articles on PMS systems, including Bookster, Hostfully reviews, Hospitable reviews, and Lodgify overview. Read them for more details on what each platform can offer and unbiased reviews.
Overall, Hospitable is best for automation-focused users running small to midsize short-term rentals. Lodgify has a strong website builder and marketing tools. OwnerRez stands out with deep automation and advanced accounting tools.
OwnerRez pricing
The platform has a multi-layered and highly customizable pricing model. You select the number of properties to manage and additional features to pay for. The cheapest option is $40 per month for one property. Two properties will cost you $55 per month, and so on.
The basic functionality available in all plans includes channel management, team access & portal, and digital signatures. Every extra feature will drive up the cost.
Free trial
OwnerRez has a 14-day free trial covering all the features. If you turn on premium features, the platform won’t charge you for them during the trial period. Once the trial ends, OwnerRez will start charging you for all the services you use. It’s a great opportunity to test the platform before committing to long-term use.
OwnerRez integrations
OwnerRez integrations may not be as extensive as those of Guesty and Hostfully, but they can still cover most of your needs. The platform has direct partnerships with major channels like Vrbo, Airbnb, Booking.com, Google Vacation Rentals, Hoppers, and others.
You can also connect it through API with dynamic pricing tools, door locks systems, guest communication tools, advanced AI-based solutions, housekeeping services, and insurance providers, including Truvi.
OwnerRez and Truvi for secure direct rentals
OwnerRez and Truvi integration can considerably simplify the lives of people launching direct rentals. While OwnerRez allows you to build a direct booking website and automate most operations, Truvi protects your property.
Truvi damage protection services bring up to 5 million incident resolution to the table. It covers different types of common guest damage, minimizing time to claim resolution.
Truvi also has a built-in guest screening feature that automatically runs ID verification and checks guests against multiple databases to detect suspicious booking requests. It helps hosts and property managers avoid fraud and minimize rental risks.
