Shopbnb ‑ Rentals & Bookings

July 19, 2024

I have been using Shopbnb for about 7 months to manage 8 cabins at my summer resort in Minnesota, and it has been a rollercoaster experience.

Firstly, I want to update my previous feedback regarding chat support. It's okay. Once I learned the response times, which are fairly prompt during business hours and about a day or so during weekends and holidays, I found it manageable.

Despite this, my overall rating remains at 2 stars. Over the last 7 months, I have reported more than 27 bugs and suggested over a dozen basic features necessary for day-to-day operations in the vacation rental space. Unfortunately, the app remains very unstable and unreliable in terms of its existing functionality.

PROS and Who It Might Fit Well
-Small Operators: Ideal for small operators with 1-2 properties who may occasionally rent their places and have an existing clientele with fixed dates.
-Website Creation: One of the best features of Shopbnb is the website creation process. Despite a lack of documentation, someone with basic technical understanding can figure it out and build a nice site.
-Payment Processing: Built on Shopify, it offers reliability in payment processing and peace of mind.
-Ease of Use: Easy to navigate, and launching new listings is simple and straightforward.
-Cost: Good entry-level cost. Keep in mind you still have to pay a Shopify subscription and a percentage for each reservation.

CONS
-Quality of Software: The biggest issue is the quality of the software. I constantly encounter errors, which is especially problematic when it affects reservations, guests, or bookings.
-Reservation Management: Features to manage reservations are non-existent. For example, when guests request additional nights, extra guests, date changes, or property upgrades, they have to cancel and make a new reservation.
-Managing Multiple Properties: Managing multiple properties across different booking systems is very time-consuming. If you upload pictures or change descriptions for one property, you have to repeat the process on all other platforms you use.

These are just a few comments based on my experience managing 8 properties. I hope this review is helpful for others looking for booking software.

(Original December 24, 2023)

At the beginning it was a great experience.

Then, when I was trying to add more listings and really get ready to upgrade, it really sucked.

Nothing worked, super buggy, unable to add more listings, it said that I didn't have access to the account, but no why and no documentation to find out about it.

Customer support/chat sucks. No one ever responded on a timely manner.

It my opinion they have a good UI/UX team that practically copied a similar product that I am accustomed to, so that is fine. But dev team needs work on making this an stable product.

I am giving it a chance even though, but if this keeps happening I am going with a full SaaS services that integrates Airbnb and VRBO.

It has been super frustrating, but I just want to be done and have direct bookings.