Property Management Software
Cloudbeds
All-in-one hospitality management platform for independent properties
Best for Scale
Enterprise-grade hospitality platform with broad channel coverage
Contact sales • No free trial
Comparison
Cloudbeds vs Rentals United
Pricing, pros and cons, and buyer-fit side-by-side. Pick the one that matches your operation — or see why neither should.
Property Management Software
Rentals United
Channel manager with 90+ OTA distribution for professional property managers
Best for Enterprise
Deepest OTA channel catalog for managers who already run a PMS
Contact sales • No free trial
✓Editorial verdict
Which Should You Pick: Cloudbeds or Rentals United?
Pick Cloudbeds if you operate an independent hotel, hostel, or mixed-inventory hospitality business and want a unified PMS with front-desk, housekeeping, revenue management, 300+ OTA connections, and a commission-free direct booking engine in one platform. Pick Rentals United if you already run a vacation rental PMS like Guesty, Hostfully, Track, Escapia, or MEWS at 50+ listings and need a dedicated distribution layer reaching 90+ channels including niche OTAs and metasearch beyond what your PMS-native channel module covers.
Editorial perspective from the Cloudbeds side; factual claims about Rentals United are drawn from its review.
Pricing Side-by-Side
Cloudbeds
Full pricing →Contact sales • No free trial
Flex
Custom quote
Small independent properties
- Core PMS functionality
- Channel manager for major OTAs
- Built-in booking engine
One
Custom quote
Growing independent hotels
- Everything in Flex
- Expanded reporting and analytics
- Enhanced channel distribution
Experience
Custom quote
Multi-property operators
- Everything in One
- Multi-property management tools
- Revenue management features
- Advanced integrations
Enterprise
Custom quote
Large portfolios and hotel groups
- Everything in Experience
- Dedicated account management
- Custom integrations and API access
- Priority support
Rentals United
Full pricing →Contact sales • No free trial
Contact sales
Rentals United does not publish numeric pricing. The vendor's pricing page lists property-band tiers (Pro for 5-99 properties, Business for 100-499, Enterprise for 500+) and states 'Our prices are tailored to your business.' Capterra confirms 'Starting Price: Contact vendor for pricing' and 'Free Trial: Not available.' Confirm pricing directly with Rentals United sales.
Try Rentals UnitedWhat each tool does well — and where it falls short
What Cloudbeds does well
Operational efficiency through deep integration
Users praise the all-in-one platform that centralizes reservation management, reduces errors, and streamlines processes. OTA integrations across 300+ channels simplify multi-channel distribution.
Intuitive interface and ease of use
Users consistently highlight the ease of use and intuitive design, appreciating how it streamlines hotel management tasks in one platform despite the system's breadth.
Strong customer support
Multiple users note excellent support quality through chat and dedicated account managers, helping offset the platform's complexity.
Commission-free direct bookings
Built-in booking engine charges zero commission on direct reservations, making it attractive for operators building a direct-booking strategy.
What Rentals United does well
Connects to 90+ listing channels including niche regional OTAs
Every tier advertises certified API connections to 50+ channels and access to 90+ listing channels in total, which is the platform's core differentiator versus PMS-bundled channel managers.
API described by integrators as robust and well-documented
A Capterra reviewer called the API 'absolutely phenomenal' and 'unbelievably robust, brilliantly documented,' and the vendor publishes API documentation as a top-level resource.
Preferred-partner status with Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com
Named preferred-partner programs with the largest OTAs can reduce listing-quality friction for managers routing inventory through Rentals United.
Broad PMS interoperability for managers who already have a stack
The partner page lists integrations with Guesty, Track, Hostfully, Escapia, and Streamline, making it a natural distribution layer behind an existing PMS.
Where Cloudbeds falls short
Reporting system limitations
Users note significant flaws in the reporting system, with some reports being completely unreadable by accountants due to accuracy issues — a dealbreaker for operators who need clean financials.
Hidden fees and aggressive upselling
Users report constant upselling of features expected to be included at the advertised price. ITQlick notes users report unexpected charges for add-on features.
Technical reliability issues
Users experience connectivity problems, system bugs, and availability matrix glitches that can block inventory and prevent guest bookings during critical periods.
Opaque pricing makes cost comparison difficult
Cloudbeds publishes no prices — all four plans require custom quotes. Third-party sources give conflicting figures ($99–$180 starting points), making budgeting impossible before engaging sales.
Where Rentals United falls short
Interface described as click-heavy and dated
A GetApp reviewer noted that 'navigation through the system requires more clicks than necessary,' which adds up to real daily operator time at scale.
Reports of double-booking incidents and billing disputes
A GetApp reviewer (jeffrey D.) wrote 'They cost me tens of thousands in double bookings and did not pay any of the fees.' This is a minority report but operationally serious when it happens.
No transparent pricing and no free trial
Capterra lists 'Starting Price: Contact vendor for pricing' and 'Free Trial: Not available,' so buyers cannot evaluate cost without a sales call.
Sub-5-listing portfolios are not the core ICP
The vendor's Pro tier starts at 5-99 properties, with only a 'We can still help!' note for smaller portfolios — signaling smaller hosts will not get the typical onboarding path.
Which Should You Pick
Pick Cloudbeds if
Multi-property operators seeking all-in-one hospitality management with strong OTA integrations and commission-free direct bookings.
Skip Cloudbeds if
Small operators on tight budgets concerned about hidden fees, upselling tactics, or needing robust reporting capabilities.
Pick Rentals United if
Professional property managers with 20+ listings already running a PMS who need maximum OTA distribution breadth across niche regional channels in addition to Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com.
Skip Rentals United if
You have fewer than 5 listings, want self-serve transparent monthly pricing, or only need the top 3 OTAs.
Where Cloudbeds and Rentals United actually differ
- Product scope: Cloudbeds is an all-in-one hospitality platform with PMS, channel manager, booking engine, revenue management, and payments unified for 22,000+ properties across 157 countries. Rentals United is a distribution layer designed to sit behind an existing PMS — it is not a standalone PMS and explicitly partners with Guesty, Hostfully, Track, Escapia, MEWS, Streamline, Hostify, StayFlexi, GuestWisely, and Elite Dynamics.
- Channel breadth: Cloudbeds connects to 300+ OTAs with native two-way sync including Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia, Google, and TripAdvisor across hotel, hostel, and vacation rental segments. Rentals United markets 'Certified API connections to 50+ channels' and '90+ listing channels total' — fewer certified API connections than Cloudbeds' 300+ but with a long-tail OTA and metasearch reach Cloudbeds does not specifically emphasize for vacation rentals.
- Pricing model: Both are quote-only. Cloudbeds publishes four named plans (Flex, One, Experience, Enterprise) with third-party sources citing $99–$180/mo starting points. Rentals United publishes only property-band tiers (Pro 5–99, Business 100–499, Enterprise 500+) with HotelMinder citing a third-party figure of €107/mo paid yearly for 10–19 properties — the vendor confirms no dollar figure.
- Direct booking economics: Cloudbeds includes a commission-free direct booking engine in every plan as a built-in module. Rentals United is a distribution layer with no first-party booking engine — you keep your existing PMS's booking website or use a separate tool, so direct booking economics depend on your underlying stack rather than the channel manager.
- Integration ecosystem and API: Cloudbeds has an open API with 400+ marketplace integrations including QuickBooks Online, RemoteLock, and a broad partner network. Rentals United has a documented public REST API at developer.rentalsunited.com consistently praised in Capterra reviews ('The API is absolutely phenomenal!'), 40+ PMS partners, and integrations with PriceLabs and Stripe — narrower marketplace but stronger reputation for raw API quality.
Common objections
- Rentals United reaches 90+ channels including niche OTAs and metasearch — doesn't that beat Cloudbeds on distribution?
- On the long tail of vacation-rental-specific niche OTAs and metasearch, Rentals United has a real edge for established managers who've already saturated the big channels and need incremental demand. But Cloudbeds connects natively to 300+ OTAs spanning hotels, hostels, and vacation rentals, which is broader overall — just weighted differently. The honest answer is segment-dependent: if you run a vacation rental portfolio at 50+ listings and want long-tail STR-specific OTAs, Rentals United wins; if you run hotels, hostels, or mixed inventory and want unified PMS plus broad distribution, Cloudbeds wins.
- Rentals United is purpose-built as a distribution layer with a phenomenal API — why not pair it with a lighter PMS instead of buying Cloudbeds' all-in-one?
- That is a legitimate architecture, and for established vacation rental managers running Guesty, Hostfully, Track, Escapia, or MEWS, plugging Rentals United behind it is exactly the intended pattern. Cloudbeds' value is consolidating PMS, channel manager, booking engine, revenue management, and payments under one vendor with one contract and one support relationship — which removes integration overhead at the cost of opaque pricing and documented upselling. Pick the unbundled stack if you already have a PMS you love; pick Cloudbeds if you'd rather buy hospitality operations as one platform.
- Cloudbeds has documented reporting flaws and Rentals United has a dated UI plus a minority of double-booking complaints — which operational risk is worse?
- Different failure modes. Cloudbeds' reporting accuracy issues are a back-office problem cited by accountants as unreadable in some cases — painful at month-end and tax time but not blocking day-to-day bookings. Rentals United's dated, cluttered admin UI is a daily friction tax, and the minority of double-booking reports in Capterra reviews are higher-stakes since double bookings cost real money and guest trust. Neither is a clean reliability winner — diligence both during evaluation, and weigh which failure mode hurts your operation more.
Keep Digging
Cloudbeds
Enterprise-grade hospitality platform with broad channel coverage
Rentals United
Deepest OTA channel catalog for managers who already run a PMS