Dear WuBookers, for some time now, a new figure has been established alongside hoteliers and owners: the property manager, hospitality professionals tasked with managing multiple accommodations on behalf of others. With them and their specific needs in mind, we have developed Vacation Rental, a dedicated module within our PMS. Let’s find out more.

What is Vacation Rental and what is it for?

Managing a hotel, vacation home, or B&B is a demanding job that requires organization, time, and resources. When the number of properties increases, the business becomes even more complicated. That’s why we decided to support those who, for work, manage several properties, often not their own. Vacation Rental is the Zak by WuBook module designed specifically for those who do this job. Thanks to a number of specific features, it simplifies the work of property managers in terms of both operational management and dealing with different owners, as well as administrative tasks 

Furthermore, as it has been developed within our PMS for tourist properties, it can be easily integrated with all sales software, such as Channel Manager and Booking Engine, which are essential for ensuring visibility and turnover.

But how does it work in detail?

Features and characteristics of the new module

Let’s start from the beginning: within Zak Vacation Rental, you can register one or more properties, each with its own characteristics (name of the property, rates and sales rules, etc.). Each of these can also be associated with one or more owners, who may be the same or different from each other.

Let’s take the example of a property manager who manages five tourist apartments in Bologna: by accessing the PMS, they can view the overall performance of the entire business – for example, the revenue generated by all properties – or focus on a single apartment to make ad hoc changes and adjustments. These may concern cleaning shifts, prices, availability calendar, sales channels, and so on.

The platform is easy and intuitive to use and allows you to perform quick bulk actions or more specific ones on each individual accommodation. There are no limits to the number of properties that can be added, nor are there any requirements regarding their geographical location: the property manager can easily manage properties in different regions, all from the same interface.

But ease of use is not the only quality of Vacation Rental: let’s take a closer look at some of its key features.

Streamlined management of guest contracts: goodbye bureaucracy

In many countries, when a guest books a room or apartment, they sign a contract that regulates the terms of sale and agreements with the property manager. Now, let’s think about the property manager in Bologna mentioned above and try to imagine how many contracts they have to prepare, send, and check for each of the five apartments they manage. To prevent them from spending all their time doing just that, Zak’s Vacation Rental already has a system in place that automates this activity. Thanks to the templating system, it is possible to prepare and save standard contracts that can be scheduled or sent manually for each individual reservation. This means they don’t have to be customized every time, and the property manager can take care of other things.

Detailed and diversified reporting: everything always under control

The health of the business can be seen in the data. Zak allows the property manager to view the hotel KPIs of a single property or all managed solutions, or to select only those belonging to a certain owner. Based on the filters applied, they can see the reservation received, the amounts, the extras generated, the cleaning costs, and – another simplifying factor – the commission expected for themselves, for the owner, and for any OTAs from which the sale originated.

A similar report can then be shared with the various owners, who in turn always have control over the performance and reporting of the accommodation.

View (and settings) dedicated to owners: long live autonomy

Speaking of owners, we know that many want to stay informed about occupancy and reservations received. In some cases, however, this understandable curiosity can become stressful for the property manager, who not only has to worry about making everything work but also about keeping the various owners up to date.

Dedicated views solve this problem perfectly: through a simple personalized link, the owner can always see the availability of rooms in real time and for which dates they received reservations. And, if the property manager has granted editing permissions, they can also close dates independently to handle their apartment’s availability directly.

Centralized messaging: a single panel for all communications

What about when a guest requests information from Booking.com or Airbnb? Don’t panic: Zak allows you to manage all messages from these OTAs from a single page. When a message is received, Zak notifies the property manager, who can access this section to read and respond to all requests from guests who have booked through the two channels.

This way, they no longer have to waste time between the various agency intranets but can still keep track of communications with guests.

DAC7 report generation (for the Italian market)

With the introduction of the European regulation known as DAC7, platforms that manage online sales are required to report data on sellers who exceed certain income thresholds to the Italian Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate). Vacation Rental provides for the generation of reports for the fiscal authorities: an essential feature that reduces the operational pressure on property managers and will soon be developed for other European markets as well.

All the advantages of the WuBook module for property managers

All these features guarantee property managers smooth and ergonomic operations, allowing them to focus on the aspects of the business that require their utmost attention, without distractions. The comprehensive and user-friendly dashboard, DAC7 management, automatic division of commissions between the manager and the various owners, and the creation and sending of rental contracts for guests are practical features that save time and energy, ultimately benefiting the revenue of the properties.

In addition, we are currently working on implementing other features that will allow, for example, even more streamlined and semi-automatic management of payments and invoices between hospitality professionals and owners.

So, how do you get this valuable module? Contact support to activate it or to receive more information. We are always available to those who want to grow with us!