If managing your holiday lets feels more like firefighting than growth, it might be time to upgrade your tools. This guide shows how leading UK agencies automate their admin, maximise bookings, and stay ahead—whether in Edinburgh, Swindon, Liverpool or the Cotswolds.
Managing a growing portfolio of holiday lets is a unique challenge. You’re navigating the summer rush in Cornwall, coordinating city breaks in Manchester, and ensuring every guest experience meets expectations. But as you scale past 15-20 properties, the administrative tasks—the endless emails, booking updates, and cleaning schedules—can become a significant bottleneck, preventing you from focusing on strategic growth.
The holiday-let opportunity remains strong: in 2024, the average income for UK holiday let owners rose to £24,700, reflecting the ongoing growth and profitability of the sector.
What is Holiday Let Management Software?
Think of holiday rental management software as the central command centre for your entire rental agency. It’s an all-in-one digital ecosystem designed specifically for property managers, replacing the chaotic mix of spreadsheets, calendars, and scattered messaging apps. Instead of signing up to multiple tools, this software consolidates every aspect of your business—from bookings and guest communication to cleaning schedules and owner settlements—into one intuitive dashboard.
The 5 Must-Have Software Features for Managing Holiday Lets
As your agency grows, the tools that once worked become limitations. To scale successfully, you need a system with features designed for complexity and efficiency. Here are the five essentials that separate professional, scalable agencies from the ones stuck in an administrative rut.
A Powerful, Integrated Channel Manager
- The Pain Point: The constant fear of a double booking, especially during the August bank holiday rush when a cottage in the Cotswolds is listed on three different websites.
- The Solution: Your Channel Manager becomes your digital hub. It manages listings seamlessly across every booking platform. It syncs your availability and rates in real-time across every platform you use, from major OTAs like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo to more niche, UK-specific portals like Plum Guide.
- The Benefit: You maximise your visibility and booking potential without the administrative headache or the risk of costly errors.
In 2024, 30% of holiday let bookings were made within four weeks of the holiday start date, marking a 3% increase from the previous year. This shift highlights the growing trend of spontaneous, last-minute getaways among UK travellers.
To capitalise on this, your agency needs to ensure that every property’s availability and rates are updated instantly across all booking platforms. A powerful, integrated Channel Manager helps you secure these last-minute bookings and avoid costly double-bookings.
A Unified Inbox for All Guest and Team Communication
- The Pain Point: Managing guest enquiries from Airbnb, emails from direct bookings, and internal team messages about a leaky tap.
- The Solution: A unified inbox consolidates all communications into a single, organised feed. Every message is automatically logged against the relevant booking or property.
- The Benefit: Faster replies, fewer missed messages, and a consistent guest experience that earns glowing reviews.
Intelligent Automation That Gives You Time Back
- The Pain Point: The endless, repetitive tasks that consume your day: sending confirmations, chasing payments, scheduling cleans, or generating reports.
- The Solution: Intelligent automation handles these workflows for you. Set up triggers to send emails, assign tasks to cleaners, and generate owner settlement reports.
- The Benefit: Spend less time on admin and more time building owner relationships, marketing your brand, or growing your portfolio.
A Central Property Management System (PMS)
- The Pain Point: Booking data in one system, accounting in another, and owner info on a spreadsheet.
- The Solution: Your PMS is the control tower. It connects all your tools and holds everything from calendars to maintenance logs, all synchonised in real-time.
- The Benefit: You gain a real-time, 360-degree view of your business and the confidence to manage like a pro.
Robust Reporting and Analytics
- The Pain Point: Making key business decisions without reliable data.
- The Solution: Reporting tools track occupancy, revenue per night, channel performance, and more.
- The Benefit: You make smarter, faster decisions, optimise pricing, deliver transparent reports to owners, increase occupancy and lower orphan nights.
Owners who adopted dynamic pricing tools in 2024 saw, on average, six additional bookings and 21% higher revenue compared to those who did not use these tools.
How Do You Choose the Right Holiday Let Software for the UK?
Knowing which features to look for is the first step. The next is choosing a software partner that truly understands the complexities of the UK holiday rental market and can support your agency’s ambitions. As you evaluate your options, use this checklist:
Scalability: Does it support 20 to 200+ properties?
All-in-One System: Is the Property Management System, Channel Manager, and Website Builder truly integrated?
Direct Booking Engine: Does it include a customisable, commission-free engine?
Expert Support: Is the support team experienced in the UK market?
Is Avantio Better than UK-based Software Solutions?
Unlike competitors, Avantio offers a single, unified ecosystem—a PMS, Channel Manager, Unified Inbox, Guest and Owner Area, Online Check-In, Revenue Calendar and Website Builder all working in perfect sync. No clunky integrations. No hidden commission. Just one platform designed for serious agencies.
Designed on over 20 years of experience, we’ve been collaborating with professional holiday rental agencies to build technology that solves their biggest challenges. We understand that managing property portfolios requires more than just software; it requires a strategic partner. Our all-in-one platform is designed as a single, unified ecosystem, combining a powerful PMS, a fully integrated Channel Manager, and a commission-free website builder to give you complete control over your business.
But where is Avantio based?
Avantio has a global but local approach. Our teams are based both in the UK and internationally, offering local expertise alongside global scalability. We work closely with property managers across the UK, providing tailored support and insight into local market dynamics.
With Avantio, you’re not just adopting technology; you’re gaining a strategic partner committed to empowering your growth.
Not a UK-based property manager? Avantio also has teams and offices based around the world: Spain, France, Mexico, and the USA. Contact us to see how we work in your market!
Schedule a discovery call with our UK team today
Find out how our property management solutions can help you achieve your full revenue potential.
Schedule a callFrequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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How do I manage a holiday let remotely?
Use a cloud-based PMS, Channel Manager, and automation tools to manage every property from anywhere.
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What is the difference between a PMS and a Channel Manager?
The Channel Manager distributes listings. The PMS is your control tower—connecting everything in your business.
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Can this software handle properties across different UK regions?
Yes. You can apply region-specific settings for properties in Cornwall, London, the Lake District or the Scottish Highlands.
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Why is Avantio better than other software solutions?
If you want a single, robust platform instead of multiple integrations, Avantio gives you everything you need in one place. Plus, we’re backed by 20+ years of experience.
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Can I automate owner billing and reports?
Yes. You can generate and send automated settlement statements through our customisable Owner Area, reducing errors and saving hours each month.
