5 Powerful Digital Tools Every Vacation Rental Owner Needs
Private accommodation is a big part of Croatia’s tourism. According to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, in February 2025 there were 187,000 overnight stays in rooms, studio apartments, and vacation homes. That made up 26.5% of all commercial accommodation overnight stays.
Tourism keeps growing every year. Still, many vacation rental owners in Croatia manage everything with paper, Excel sheets, and phone calls. This way of working leads to overbookings, admin errors, and missed chances to earn more.
In this article, we’ll go through the most common problems rental owners face and share five digital tools that help fix them quickly.
What are the most common problems for vacation rental owners in Croatia?
Running a vacation rental business is not easy, especially when you're relying on outdated tools. We talked to many vacation owners, and here are the problems they deal with the most:
1. Overbookings
A lot of owners have trouble with double bookings because their calendars aren’t synced across different sales channels (OTA channels). When this happens, it costs money, time, and usually leads to bad reviews.
The last thing you want is to rent the same unit to two different guests for the same dates.
2. Manual calendar and price management
Another big problem is updating calendars and prices manually across platforms like Booking.com and Airbnb. It's tiring. You have to remember to block dates on every platform if one gets booked. You also need to log in to each channel just to change your prices.
3. Administrative tasks and constant rule changes
Registering guests in eVisitor or any other National Tourist Registry, sending invoices, paying taxes, handling tourist fees, and dealing with fiscalization are all daily tasks for owners. Many say they feel overwhelmed by how often the rules change and how much there is to track.
And since they also need to focus on guests, admin work usually falls behind. Most of the time, they end up focusing too much on one and not enough on the other.
4. Relying on only one or two OTA sales channels
Posting your listing on just Booking.com and hoping for the best doesn’t work anymore (seriously, why are some of you still using notebooks?)
Without visibility across multiple OTA channels, even a brand-new vacation rental can stay empty. Poor photos and ignored reviews only make things worse.
5. Avoiding digital tools entirely
Modern vacation rental owners can’t rely on just one tool, let alone none. But many still use notebooks to track bookings, change prices manually, and open or close dates by hand. This slows everything down and increases the chance of mistakes.
Vacation rental owners told us clearly: these problems hurt their business. What helps is, there are tools that can take this weight off their shoulders.
The big question: How can digital tools help vacation rental owners?
If running your vacation rental business feels more like a struggle than something you enjoy, you’re not alone. Many owners we talked to said the same. Daily tasks like guest check-ins, calendar updates, pricing changes, and keeping up with platforms take over their time.
The upside is that digital tools now handle a lot of that for you. Here’s how they help.
Automate reservations and calendar synchronisation
No more notebooks or Excel sheets. Digital tools keep all your calendars synced in real time. When someone books your vacation rental on Airbnb, that same date is automatically blocked on Booking.com and your website. That cuts down mistakes and saves you time and money.
Connect to OTA channels (Booking.com, Airbnb, and more)
Manually changing availability and prices across OTA channels is frustrating. A channel manager lets you do it all in one place. Change something once, and it updates everywhere.
Register guests and send invoices in minutes
You don’t need to enter guest details by hand anymore. Tools now let guests add their info before they arrive. When they show up, everything’s ready for check-in and invoicing in just a few clicks.
Use reports to make better decisions
See how much you're earning, when you're fully booked, and where you’re losing money. These tools show it all visually. You might find out that Thursdays are always half-empty. That’s a chance to run a promo or offer a discount.
Next, we’ll show you five tools that make all this much easier.
5 tools every vacation rental owner should start using
Below is a short overview of five digital tools that can save you time, reduce errors, and help you run your rentals better.
1. AirDNA for market and competitor analysis
Want to know how your competition is doing? AirDNA gives you average rates, occupancy levels, and revenue data for similar rentals in your area. It also shows seasonal trends so you can see when demand is low or high and adjust pricing accordingly.
2. PriceLabs smart tool for dynamic pricing
PriceLabs helps you move away from guessing prices. It uses local data, demand patterns, seasonality, and events to suggest the best price for each day. This helps you avoid undercharging during peak periods or setting prices too high when demand drops.
3. Canva simple (and free) design tool
Strong visuals lead to more clicks. Canva lets you create visuals for ads, Instagram, flyers, and anything else you might need. You don’t need to be a designer. Just pick a template and tweak it. You can use these visuals in your emails or listings.
4. Mailchimp tool for staying in touch with guests
If a guest had a good stay and might return next year, Mailchimp lets you send a personal email with an offer. It's great for newsletters, updates, or reminders. You can also do all of this through your rental software if it has email features built in.
5. Rentlio One Croatian app for vacation rental management
Rentlio One is a Croatian-made app that gives you a full set of tools: channel manager, calendar, invoicing, eVisitor integration, and more. You can manage everything on your computer or phone, wherever you are.
Here’s what some Rentlio One users said:
“The perfect office for vacation rental owners. Easy to use. And if you get stuck, their support is fantastic.”
Go4St, Vacation Rental owner in Split
“Reliable and simple for managing up to 30 units. Intuitive layout, minimal training needed, everything is clear and support is excellent.”
Isabela S.
“I don’t see how anyone can manage multiple platforms without this. Invoicing and guest registration are faster. Fewer mistakes.”
Mirko V.
All of the tools above, from pricing and bookings to communication, are made to help you run your vacation rental business better. Most offer free trials or basic plans, so you can test them without risk.
If you're looking for less stress, more free time, and higher income from your vacation rentals, these tools are worth trying. This season is a good time to start. Change how you manage your business. Work like a modern vacation rental owner.
Daniel Herman is a growth marketing enthusiast with 10 years of marketing experience who enjoys thinking strategically and seeing the bigger picture. He writes about everything related to developing marketing activities and KPIs, branding, and taking a long-term approach to success, always with the goal of sharing useful ideas and inspiring action.
