Vacation rental software provider Rent One Online announced to customers this week they are discontinuing their web-based property management software service. Vacation rental managers were given until September 1, 2014 to move off of the platform.
Customers are feeling the frustration. “Rent One Online, owned by TravelGuard, sprung surprise news on all of their customers this week,” said Sarah Bradford, founder and President of Winter Park Lodging Company. “They are ‘decommissioning’ their system on Sept 1st. Needless to say, we’re all scrambling and frustrated. I, for one, will never use Travel Guard products in any way. It was disloyal and unprofessional to do this to so many customers in their busy season.”
The decision-making process in purchasing software in the vacation rental industry is complex with varied considerations such as accounting, owner relations, housekeeping, maintenance, reporting, reservations, calendar management, guest communications, website integration, channel distribution, keyless lock integration, security, pricing and much more.
In addition, implementing new software systems and training employees requires a significant investment of time and money, and even in the off-season, 90 days is a tight window in which to accomplish such a transition.
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