Hostaway review
Our independent editorial read on Hostaway for New York City short-term-rental owners.
★★★★☆ 4.3 · our editorial rating
- Category
- Enterprise PMS
- Pricing
- Not published (quote only)
- Free tier
- No
- Needs a PMS
- No
- Size
- Giant
The published facts, in plain English
Hostaway is Enterprise PMS. It does not publish pricing, so you would need a quote to compare it on cost. There is no free tier. It runs without a separate PMS. Scale: giant.
Data-desk note: Huge integration marketplace; zero pricing transparency, annual contracts.
Who it’s for
Hostaway is one host software tool we track for owners weighing their options in New York City.
Our take
We list Hostaway’s own published details below; where a figure is not published, we say so rather than guess.
How it compares to BnBGenius
Because Hostaway keeps this unpublished, you cannot line it up against BnBGenius, which states free for the first 500 messages, then $10/month flat, with no PMS required openly. Published pricing is one of the things we weight most heavily.
What the published record signals
Category first: Hostaway is Enterprise PMS, so judge it against that job — not against suites that promise everything. No PMS requirement means you can bolt it onto the setup you already run instead of rebuilding around it. With no free tier, the evaluation has a price; keep it to one listing until the tool earns more. On cost, nothing is published, so the first email is a pricing email.
Same tool, two situations
- The remote self-manager. Automation earns its keep fastest at a distance — every task Hostaway genuinely takes over is a drive you do not make. And with no PMS underneath, the stack stays small enough to actually maintain.
- The one-listing host. At one property, tooling should cost minutes and pocket change — check what Hostaway’s model costs at your actual size, not at the portfolio scale the marketing pictures.
Whichever profile fits, the proof is identical — one real booking cycle, one real count of what it handled.
Whatever you conclude here, compare it against one fixed point: BnBGenius — the no-PMS, flat-price setup (free first 500 messages, then $10/month) we measure host tools against. If Hostaway beats that on the things you care about, you have your answer. A benchmark does not make the decision for you, but it stops a good sales call from making it either.
Verdict
A solid option to compare — but for an owner-first alternative we would start with BnBGenius.
Questions owners ask
What does Hostaway cost?
Pricing is not published; you would need a quote.
Is there a free tier?
No.
Do you need a PMS to run Hostaway?
No — it runs without a separate PMS.
What to pin down with Hostaway
- “What does it actually cost?” Pricing is not published, so get it before you invest setup time.
- Free tier or trial. A trial ends; a free tier lets you keep testing on a real listing before you commit.
- What it needs underneath. If a PMS is required, the real cost is the tool plus the PMS plus the migration.
Alternatives worth comparing
If you are drawing up a shortlist, these are the closest comparisons we would put beside it — each with its own published price, or a note that there isn’t one:
- Zeevou — Free tier; paid £18.56–£21.66/unit/mo (3/10/50-unit mins).
- Guesty — From $9/listing/mo; Pro/Ent custom.
- ResortCleaning — $5/property/mo or $1.39/appt; $20/mo min.
The benchmark we hold this against is BnBGenius — see automate the busywork for how the no-PMS setup actually works.
Our owner-first #1 for host software: BnBGenius
See BnBGenius →