Around 2015 a small Vancouver team shipped a tool called AirGMS. The name told you everything: it was a management layer for Airbnb, and only Airbnb. Hosts running six or eight listings on the platform used it to answer messages from one screen, fire off check-in instructions on a schedule and stop forgetting to leave guest reviews. Then Vrbo and Booking.com became impossible to ignore, the product dropped the "Air" and became iGMS, and it has spent the years since trying to grow from an Airbnb power tool into a full property management system.
That history is the most useful lens for evaluating it today. iGMS still does the Airbnb-adjacent things very well, it has genuinely good team and task features for its price bracket, and it carries some of the limitations of a product that started narrow. This review lays out what the software actually does, where the pricing model can surprise you, and when a host should pick it over Lodgify, Hostaway or Hospitable, the platforms we cover most on this site.
What iGMS is, in one paragraph
iGMS is a cloud-based short-term rental management platform that connects directly to Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com through official API integrations, with iCal sync for everything else. On top of that channel layer it puts a unified inbox, template-based automated messaging, automated guest reviews, a cleaning and task manager with a separate app for cleaners, a direct booking website builder, payment processing, and reporting. Dynamic pricing and smart locks arrive through integrations rather than native modules. The core user is a self-managing host or a small management company with roughly 3 to 40 listings, mostly on Airbnb, who wants automation without enterprise pricing.
Where does iGMS rank among vacation rental automation platforms?
Among the automation-first platforms we review, iGMS sits in the mid tier: stronger than Lodgify on Airbnb-specific automation and team tooling, weaker than Hostaway on operations depth and channel breadth, and roughly level with Hospitable on messaging while trailing it on price for small portfolios. That ranking rests on four things we weigh in every review: how conditional the messaging rules can get, whether cleaning tasks reach cleaners without manual work, how pricing and locks connect, and what the whole stack costs at three, ten and thirty units.
On those criteria iGMS earns a recommendation for a specific type of host, not a universal one. If Airbnb is 70 percent or more of your revenue and you have a cleaner or two you need to coordinate, it is one of the two or three best choices. If you are building a direct booking business or managing for third-party owners, other tools do more.
Lodgify4.5/5
Build your own vacation rental website and manage bookings from one place
From $17/moBest for: Hosts who want a direct booking website
The messaging engine: good templates, limited logic
The unified inbox is where iGMS started and it still shows. Messages from Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com land in one thread per reservation, with guest details, booking dates and payout figures in a side panel. Airbnb messaging is fully two-way through the API, which matters because several cheaper tools still rely on email parsing for Airbnb threads.
Automated messaging works through templates triggered by reservation events: booking confirmed, a set number of days before check-in, check-in day, mid-stay, checkout, post-stay. Templates accept variables for guest name, property name, address, check-in time, door code and similar fields, and each template can be assigned to specific properties. For the standard six-message sequence most hosts run, this is more than adequate, and setup takes an afternoon.
Where it falls short is conditional logic. Hospitable lets you branch on channel, stay length, booking lead time and whether the guest has stayed before, so a same-day booking gets a different welcome than one made three months out. iGMS handles some of this through per-property and per-channel templates, but you cannot build the same depth of if-then rules. Our Hospitable automation review goes into what that rule builder looks like in practice, and if you have ever wished a message could behave differently for a two-night weekend versus a month-long stay, that is the comparison to read.
Two features partly compensate. Auto-replies can answer new inquiries within seconds, using a template that at minimum acknowledges the guest and sets expectations, which protects Airbnb response rate and Superhost status. And iGMS has one of the older and better automated review systems in the category: you can queue guest reviews with randomized templates that post automatically near the review deadline, which is exactly the kind of chore hosts forget until it costs them.
Does iGMS offer 24/7 automated guest messaging?
Yes, with a caveat. iGMS delivers round-the-clock coverage through scheduled templates and instant auto-replies to new inquiries, but it does not have a native AI assistant that composes contextual answers to unscripted questions the way Hostaway's inbox suggestions or Hospitable's paid AI tier do. In practice that means a guest asking "is there parking?" at 2 a.m. gets your auto-acknowledgment immediately and a human answer when you wake up, unless you have anticipated the question in a pre-arrival template.
For most hosts this is fine. The messages that actually need to arrive at fixed times, confirmation, directions, door code, checkout reminders, arrive on time whether you are awake or not. Hosts who want true unattended question-answering should either budget for an AI layer or choose a platform that includes one, a topic we cover across several tools in our guide to guest messaging platforms for vacation rentals.
Team and cleaning tools: the part iGMS gets right
This is the area where iGMS punches above its price. Cleaning tasks are generated automatically from checkouts and assigned to a cleaner, who receives them in a dedicated mobile app with the property address, checkout and next check-in times, a checklist, and the ability to upload photos and mark the job complete. Cleaners do not need access to your main account or your guest conversations. You can set default cleaners per property, override for a specific date, and see at a glance which turnovers are unassigned.
Beyond cleaning, the team module supports multiple user roles with permission scoping, so a co-host can handle messaging without seeing financial reports, and an owner can view their property's calendar without touching anything. For a two-person operation this is overkill; for a host with three cleaners and a part-time assistant it removes a real category of WhatsApp chaos.
The comparison here is instructive. Lodgify's cleaning management is basic, essentially task lists with assignment, and lacks a cleaner-facing app of the same maturity. Hostaway's task engine is deeper, with recurring maintenance schedules, inventory and photo verification workflows, but you pay for the platform accordingly. iGMS lands in between at a fraction of the Hostaway cost, which is why it often appears in the shortlists we assemble in our roundup of Hostaway alternatives for property managers.
Guesty4.3/5
The property management platform for short-term and vacation rentals
From Custom pricingBest for: Professional property managers with 20+ listings
What vacation rental automation apps support dynamic pricing?
Hospitable and Guesty include native dynamic pricing, at about $5 per property per month for Hospitable's module and as the paid PriceOptimizer add-on on Guesty Pro, while iGMS, Lodgify, Hostaway, Smoobu, OwnerRez and Uplisting rely on integrations with PriceLabs, Wheelhouse or Beyond. iGMS specifically connects to PriceLabs, Wheelhouse and DPGO, pushing nightly rates from the pricing tool to your channels through the iGMS calendar.
The practical difference is cost and friction. A third-party pricing tool typically adds somewhere between $10 and $20 per listing per month at small scale, on top of your PMS subscription. A native module is cheaper and one fewer login, but the third-party tools are more sophisticated, with better market data and more control over minimum stays and orphan-day rules. For a host on iGMS this is not a disadvantage so much as a design choice: you are expected to pair it with a dedicated pricing engine. Our dynamic pricing guide for vacation rentals covers how to choose one and what to check before connecting it to your PMS.
One thing to verify before committing: iGMS's own basic pricing rules (weekend markups, seasonal rates, length-of-stay discounts) exist but are simpler than what OwnerRez or Lodgify offer natively. If you plan to run without a pricing tool, that gap matters more.
How does iGMS handle smart locks and keyless entry?
iGMS supports smart lock automation through integrations rather than a built-in lock module, with the practical result that door codes for connected locks can be generated per reservation and inserted into messaging templates automatically. Supported brands and the exact mechanism have shifted over the years, so treat the integrations list on the iGMS site as the source of truth as of writing rather than any third-party article, this one included.
The competitive picture: Hospitable offers smart device automation on its Professional plan with extra devices at $5 each, Uplisting charges GBP 10 per month for its smart lock add-on, Guesty sells Locks Manager as a paid add-on, and Hostaway connects through marketplace integrations. iGMS has not historically charged a separate fee for the lock connection itself, though you may need a lock brand's own subscription or a middleware service depending on hardware. If you have not yet bought locks, our smart lock setup guide for vacation rentals covers which hardware plays well with which platforms.
Does iGMS include guest screening?
iGMS does not include a native guest screening or identity verification module; screening on iGMS means relying on the channels' own verification (Airbnb ID checks, Booking.com and Vrbo traveler profiles) plus a manual review of the inquiry thread, or connecting a third-party screening service alongside the PMS. This is common in the mid-market: Lodgify and Smoobu take the same approach, and even Hostaway and Guesty route screening through partner integrations rather than owning it.
The gap is most visible for direct bookings, where no OTA has vetted the guest for you. If you plan to push traffic to an iGMS-built direct booking site, budget for a separate screening tool and a rental agreement flow. Our overview of guest screening tools and practices explains what a sensible screening layer looks like and where it sits in the stack.
Uplisting4.5/5
Short-term rental management software and channel manager
From $100/moBest for: Professional hosts who need a powerful channel manager
The direct API connections to Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com are solid and, for the Airbnb connection in particular, among the most complete you will find: listing content, pricing, availability, messaging and reviews all sync. Everything else goes through iCal, which is one-way for content and slow for availability updates. If your revenue mix includes several regional or niche portals, that is a real limitation compared with Hostaway's or Guesty's multi-channel breadth.
iGMS also ships a direct booking website builder with payment processing. It is functional: a template-based site with property pages, a booking widget and card payments. It is not a marketing asset. Lodgify's entire identity is the website builder, with SEO tooling, multi-language support and a more polished front end, and for a host whose strategy is to move guests off Airbnb, that difference is the whole decision. Our Lodgify website builder review shows what the higher end of this feature looks like.
iGMS pricing: how the model works
iGMS has long used two pricing approaches, and this is where you should read the current pricing page rather than trust any secondhand figure, including ours. As of writing, the company has historically offered a usage-based option billed per booked night, aimed at hosts with few listings or seasonal occupancy, and a per-property monthly subscription for hosts who prefer a predictable bill. It has also at various times offered a free or near-free entry point for a single listing, and higher tiers that add features like the direct booking site and priority support.
We deliberately are not quoting a dollar figure per night or per property. iGMS has changed these numbers and plan names more than once, and a stale price is worse than none. What we can say with confidence is how to evaluate it against the platforms whose pricing we have verified:
Platform
Pricing model (verified Aug 2026 unless noted)
Entry point
iGMS
Per booked night or per property per month; check site as of writing
Two observations follow. First, the per-booked-night option is attractive for a seasonal property that sits empty five months a year, because you pay nothing in the off season, and unattractive for a city apartment at 85 percent occupancy, where a flat per-property fee wins. Run both against last year's occupancy before choosing. Second, Hospitable's free tier has changed the small-portfolio math for everyone: a host with two listings can now get a unified inbox, automated messaging and cleaning workflows for nothing, so iGMS has to win on Airbnb depth and team features rather than price alone.
Where iGMS falls down
Every product we review has a section like this, and iGMS's is not long, but it is specific.
Reporting is adequate for a self-managing host and thin for anyone managing owners' properties. You get revenue, occupancy and payout summaries; you do not get the owner statement generation and trust accounting that Hostaway, Guesty and OwnerRez provide. If you take a management fee from third-party owners, that gap becomes a monthly spreadsheet.
Channel breadth beyond the big three is iCal-only, as covered above. For European hosts on Holidu, regional portals or metasearch, that is a real ceiling.
The messaging logic, while reliable, lacks the conditional depth that Hospitable and Hostaway offer. You will notice this when you try to make the same template behave differently by stay length or lead time and find yourself creating near-duplicate templates instead.
Support quality shows up in user reviews as inconsistent: fast and knowledgeable in some accounts, slow in others, with the variance correlating to plan tier. That pattern is common in this price bracket and not unique to iGMS, but it is worth knowing before you migrate a live calendar.
And the direct booking site, as noted, is a checkbox rather than a strategy.
Who should choose iGMS
The clearest case is a host with roughly 3 to 25 listings, heavily weighted to Airbnb with some Vrbo and Booking.com, who works with a small cleaning team and wants one tool to coordinate them. For that host, iGMS's Airbnb depth, cleaner app and automated reviews solve the daily problems, and the price, however the current plan is structured, is unlikely to be the obstacle.
The second case is a seasonal operator who finds a per-booked-night model attractive and does not want to pay a subscription during months with no guests. Confirm the current terms as of writing, but if that option exists when you read this, few competitors offer anything comparable.
Hosts who should look elsewhere: anyone managing for owners (Hostaway or OwnerRez), anyone building a direct booking brand (Lodgify), anyone who wants deep conditional messaging with a free entry point (Hospitable), and anyone running 50 or more listings across many channels (Hostaway or Guesty).
Verdict and recommendation by portfolio size
iGMS is an honest, competent mid-market platform whose strengths trace directly to its Airbnb-first origins. It does the automation most hosts actually use, it coordinates cleaners better than anything at its price, and it asks you to bring your own pricing tool and screening layer. It is not the platform to build a direct booking business or a management company on. Its site is at https://www.igms.com/ if you want to check the current plans against what we have described.
For 1 to 4 units, start with Hospitable's free Essentials tier and see whether you outgrow it; if you want a direct booking website that can actually rank, Lodgify at around $20 per month is the stronger foundation. For 5 to 15 units with an Airbnb-heavy mix and a cleaning team, iGMS is a legitimate contender alongside Hospitable, and the decision should hinge on how much conditional messaging you need. For 15 or more units, or the moment you take on your first third-party owner, move to Hostaway and accept the quote-based pricing and longer onboarding in exchange for the operations and reporting depth you will need.
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Hospitable Automation Review, the closest competitor on messaging depth, with a free tier that changes the small-portfolio math.