The short answer
With Smoobu, hosts maintain the calendars, prices and occupancy rules of several holiday apartments in one place, and each booking blocks the night on the other channels. On Airbnb, using management software usually means the host-only fee of 15.5 percent instead of 3 percent, according to Airbnb. Content per portal and payment methods still have to be maintained separately.
Key takeaways
- With Smoobu, you maintain calendars, prices and occupancy rules in one place; portals and their commissions remain.
- On Airbnb, switching to management software usually changes the fee model: instead of the split fee, which is usually 3 percent, the host pays a host-only fee of 15.5 percent alone, according to Airbnb.
- What stays duplicated is whatever is not a calendar: content per portal, reviews, payment methods.
- Channels with a direct interface synchronise faster than iCal; this determines whether double bookings occur.
- Switch outside peak season, starting with one apartment and one channel.
With the switch to Smoobu, you maintain the calendars, prices and occupancy rules of several holiday apartments in one place only, and each booking blocks the night on the other channels. At the same time, the Airbnb fee model usually changes, and some things remain duplicated: content per portal, payment methods and everything that is not a calendar.
How calendars, prices and bookings generally flow between systems is described in the connection of channel manager and PMS. This article is aimed at hosts who still reconcile by hand today and are deciding on Smoobu.
What Smoobu keeps in one place after the switch
- Calendar: a booking on one channel blocks the night on all other channels.
- Prices and rules: seasonal prices, minimum stay, arrival and departure days are set centrally and distributed.
- Inbox: messages from several portals come together in one view; confirmations and arrival information go out as templates.
Which fields a booking carries, and which queries a website can make, is described in the interface documentation [Q2]. What Smoobu does not take over: it does not decide prices and it does not negotiate with portals.
What changes with Airbnb fees
Airbnb knows two models: the split fee, under which most hosts pay 3 percent and the guest pays a separate service fee, and the host-only fee, which is usually 15.5 percent [Q3]. According to Airbnb, the host-only fee is required, among other things, for hosts who use software to manage their accommodation [Q3].
Anyone connecting Airbnb via Smoobu should therefore check before the switch which model will apply afterwards, and set the prices on Airbnb accordingly; under the host-only fee model, the guest pays no separate service fee. The calculation is worked through in the overview of Airbnb fees for hosts. Booking.com's commission depends on your agreement with Booking.com [Q4]; which programme maintains your calendar does not affect it.
Example: four holiday apartments
| Item (sample calculation, per the assumptions) | Value |
|---|---|
| Annual revenue, 4 apartments × 180 nights × EUR 140 | EUR 100,800 |
| of which via Airbnb, assumed 40 percent | EUR 40,320 |
| Airbnb fee under the split fee, 3 percent | about EUR 1,210 |
| Airbnb fee under the host-only fee, 15.5 percent | about EUR 6,250 |
| Manual reconciliation, assumed two hours per week | about 100 hours a year |
The fee line is easy to overlook before the switch: in our example, the host pays around EUR 5,000 more in fees on Airbnb, while the guest no longer pays a separate service fee. Whether you offset this through the price depends on the final prices the guests saw beforehand.
The Smoobu subscription, which is billed by the number of properties, also needs to be considered; you select the current tariff yourself according to the pricing page [Q1]. Set against this are the hours that manual reconciliation costs you today, and the double bookings that no longer occur.
What remains duplicated despite Smoobu
For each portal, check whether Smoobu also transfers the description and photos or only calendars and prices; anything that is not transferred you continue to maintain there. Reviews stay on the portal where they were written. Payments run through the route of the respective channel, and on your own site through a payment service with its own fees.
Synchronisation is only as fast as the slowest channel. Portals with a direct interface receive changes quickly; channels connected via iCal fetch the calendar at intervals, and double bookings arise in that gap. The reasons are explained in keeping channel manager and your own website in sync.
How to switch without putting bookings at risk
- Start outside peak season, with one apartment and one channel.
- Transfer the existing bookings and compare them night by night with the old calendar; via iCal they often arrive only as blocked periods without guest data.
- Rebuild your price rules and run the three most complicated cases through in the test access.
- Connect the remaining apartments and channels only once two to three weeks have passed without any discrepancy.
- Clarify in advance which data can be exported again; an export without guest data makes a later change expensive.
How the implementation works with HOHEIT
You set up Smoobu yourself; HOHEIT builds your own website on top of it. HOHEIT checks in the first consultation whether your system fits, against the interface documentation; Smoobu is one of the connected systems with an open interface. A Gastgeber website (for hosts) takes four to six weeks and, according to our pricing page, costs from EUR 4,900 one-off and from EUR 149 per month. After that, you continue to maintain calendars and prices only in Smoobu, and the website displays them live. You maintain texts and offers in the content system, in which HOHEIT trains you at the start.
When the switch is not worth it
With a single apartment on a single portal there is nothing to reconcile. If you rent exclusively direct, you need a clean calendar rather than a channel manager. If the real problem is not maintenance but too few enquiries, Smoobu does not solve it: it distributes availability, it does not create demand. And if a large part of your revenue runs through Airbnb, work through the fee line in advance using your own figures.
Next, count how many places you currently have to change a price if you raise it once, then read how a website with a Smoobu connection uses the same calendar. To talk through your apartments, you can book a call.
Sources and further reading
Häufige Fragen
What happens to bookings made before I connect to Smoobu?
They stay under the fee model under which they were booked; the new model applies to bookings made afterwards. So set a cut-off date, adjust your Airbnb prices beforehand, and check the first bookings afterwards line by line in the payout overview.
Do I need a payment service provider if I use Smoobu?
For direct bookings with card or instant payment, yes. The system manages the booking, and the money flows through a connected payment service with its own fees. Alternatively, you can work with enquiries and bank transfers; that is cheaper, but costs conversions, because the guest has an extra step to complete.
How many units justify such a system?
Less the number of properties than the number of channels. Just two apartments on three portals already make six calendars that can drift apart. A host with five apartments who rents exclusively direct does quite well without one.
Who maintains prices after the switch?
You, in one place: in Smoobu. After that, do not change prices directly in the portal, otherwise calendars and prices drift apart again. Record within the team who may set prices; two people changing things in different places create exactly the double maintenance the switch should end.
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