Every few months, someone in a host Facebook group asks: what apps do you actually use? Not the sponsored listicle version — the real stack. The tools that are open on your phone at 7 AM when a cleaner texts that she can’t make it.
This is that answer. We manage short-term rentals and we built StayReady because our own stack had a gap in it. Below is every tool in our current setup, what it does, what it costs, and — honestly — whether it’s worth it.
The Stack at a Glance
Before the breakdown: our setup has four categories. Operations, pricing, messaging, and accounting. Every category matters. Most hosts are strong in one or two and running blind in the others.
| Category | Tool We Use | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Operations | StayReady | Free (1 property) / from $49 |
| Dynamic pricing | PriceLabs | ~1% of revenue |
| Guest messaging | Hospitable | ~$15–20 |
| Bookkeeping | Wave | Free |
That’s it. Four tools, all integrated with Airbnb, all running mostly on autopilot once set up. Total cost: typically under $80/month for a host managing 2–4 properties — and the ROI on each one makes it easy to justify.
1. StayReady — Our Operations Layer
What it is: A purpose-built platform for short-term rental operations — cleaning coordination, supply tracking, maintenance alerts, and profitability dashboards. We built it because nothing else handled the full turnover cycle in one place.
What we use it for every day:
- Turnover scheduling — the moment a booking is confirmed on Airbnb or VRBO, a turnover job auto-populates in StayReady with the correct checkout and check-in times. No manual entry.
- Cleaner notifications — our cleaners get a text with their checklist before each job. No app to download on their end, no back-and-forth to confirm what needs doing.
- Supply tracking — each property has par levels set for towels, toiletries, coffee pods, cleaning products. When stock dips below the threshold, we get an alert. We used to run out of things constantly. We haven’t in months.
- Maintenance logging — anything that needs fixing gets logged immediately in the app, assigned to the right person, and tracked until it’s resolved. No more sticky notes, no more “I thought you were handling that.”
- Net profitability — Airbnb payouts minus cleaning costs, supplies, and maintenance. The real number, per property, per month.
What it doesn’t do: Revenue optimization and dynamic pricing. That’s intentional — we use PriceLabs for that, and it does it better than any operations platform would.
Cost: Free plan covers one property (no credit card required). Paid plans start at $49/month for multiple properties.
Verdict: We built StayReady because we needed it. But the honest answer is: if you’re managing 2+ properties and spending more than four hours a week coordinating turnovers, chasing cleaner confirmations, or manually updating spreadsheets, this is the highest-leverage change you can make. Join the waitlist →
2. PriceLabs — Dynamic Pricing That Actually Works
What it is: A revenue management tool that sets your nightly rates automatically based on local demand, competitor pricing, upcoming events, and seasonality. It connects directly to Airbnb and VRBO and updates rates in real time.
What we use it for:
- Automated rate-setting within guardrails we control (min/max prices we set)
- Market dashboard showing how our properties compare to local supply
- Upcoming event alerts that flag when rates should spike
The honest setup story: The first two weeks felt uncomfortable. PriceLabs was pushing our rates up on weekends and down on slow weeknights in ways that felt counterintuitive. We almost overrode it. We didn’t, and our revenue was up 18% that first month versus our static pricing. After three months, the algorithm had our market dialed in and we almost never touch it.
The one thing to get right: Set your minimum price floor above your true cost floor. That’s your cleaning fee plus supplies plus platform fees plus any mortgage or rent allocation. PriceLabs can only optimize above your floor — if the floor is wrong, the whole thing is wrong.
Cost: Approximately 1% of revenue. For most independent hosts managing 1–5 properties, that’s $15–45/month.
Verdict: The highest-ROI tool in our stack. If you’re still on static pricing, this is the first thing to change.
3. Hospitable — Automated Guest Communication
What it is: A guest messaging platform that automates everything a guest should hear before, during, and after their stay — across Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com from a single inbox.
What we use it for:
- Booking confirmation with house rules and what to expect
- Pre-arrival message sent 48 hours before check-in with the door code and parking instructions
- Check-in day message at 2 PM confirming they can get in
- Mid-stay check-in asking if everything is good (this catches problems before they become reviews)
- Pre-checkout reminder with what to do before leaving
- Post-checkout review request 30 minutes after checkout
All of that runs automatically. We write the templates once. Hospitable fills in the guest name, property, dates, and check-in details.
Time saved: We estimate 90–120 minutes per week across our properties. The mid-stay check-in alone has saved us from at least a dozen bad reviews by giving guests a direct channel before they go to the app.
Cost: Starts around $15–20/month per property. Multi-property accounts get volume discounts.
Verdict: Table stakes if you manage more than a couple of properties. The setup takes a full afternoon done properly — worth every minute.
4. Wave — Free Bookkeeping for STR Hosts
What it is: A free accounting platform designed for small businesses. It handles income tracking, expense categorization, and basic financial reporting.
What we use it for:
- Logging Airbnb payouts as income
- Categorizing expenses: cleaning, supplies, maintenance, platform fees, insurance
- Running a quarterly P&L to see where money is going
- Exporting everything for our accountant at tax time
Why not QuickBooks? We tried it. For independent hosts managing fewer than 10 properties, QuickBooks is significantly more complex than you need it to be and costs $30–50/month for that privilege. Wave handles what most hosts need and it’s free.
What to watch: Wave’s automatic bank connection can be flaky depending on your bank. We manually reconcile once a month rather than relying on the sync. Takes about 20 minutes.
Cost: Free. They make money on payment processing and payroll add-ons, neither of which we use.
Verdict: Start here. If you outgrow it, you’ll know — the moment your accountant asks for something Wave can’t produce, it’s time to move up.
What We Don’t Use (and Why)
Full property management systems (Guesty, Lodgify, Hostaway): These are built for property managers running 20+ properties, with team permissions, CRM pipelines, and per-listing analytics that go far beyond what an independent host needs. They’re priced to match — typically $100–300+/month. If you’re running 5 or fewer properties yourself, the overhead isn’t worth it.
Turno/TurnoverBnB: Excellent if you’re finding cleaners from scratch. We have a stable cleaning team, so the marketplace doesn’t add value. But the calendar sync and checklist automation is something we replicate inside StayReady.
Pricelabs competitors (Wheelhouse, Beyond): We tested all three and kept PriceLabs. The differences are real but subtle at our scale. If you’re on a competitor and happy, that’s fine — the important thing is not using flat pricing.
How to Build Your Own Stack
If we were starting from scratch today, here’s the order we’d do it:
Week 1: Set up StayReady. Connect your calendars. Build your cleaner checklists. Get your first automated turnover notifications running. This is the foundation — operations first.
Week 2: Enable dynamic pricing on PriceLabs. Set your minimum price floor carefully. Let it run for 30 days before judging it.
Week 3: Set up Hospitable. Write your core message templates. Connect your Airbnb and any other platforms.
Month 2 onward: Add Wave (or whatever bookkeeping tool you choose). Start tracking every expense. Run your first monthly P&L.
That’s a complete operational system. It takes about six weeks to get fully running. After that, the week-over-week maintenance drops sharply and the properties run with a fraction of the time they used to require.
One More Thing
StayReady is currently in early access. We’re onboarding hosts in batches so we can give each new user direct setup support. If you manage 1–10 properties and want to join the next cohort, the waitlist is open.
No spam, no sales calls. Just a note when your spot is ready.
Questions about the stack? We answer most of them on the StayReady blog. More on operations, pricing, and what it actually takes to run short-term rentals profitably.