Is STR Tech Becoming a Pay-to-Play Market?

9/2/2025

The short-term rental industry faces a hidden tax: steep fees charged by property management software (PMS) providers for API access, writes Pierre-Camille Hamana, the CEO and founder of Hospitable. Vendors that offer tools like pricing engines or smart-lock dashboards must pay hefty onboarding charges—often five figures—plus ongoing revenue shares before earning a cent. These fees act as entrance tolls, diverting resources from innovation and product development while stifling startups. As a result, only well-funded vendors survive, delaying new product launches and limiting competition. Property managers and guests ultimately bear higher costs and fewer choices. Unlike Big Tech platforms with vast reach, most PMS systems lack comparable scale, making these fees disproportionate. Regulators have intervened in other sectors, such as healthcare, to curb such practices. A better model would require vendors to pass tangible benefits—discounts, upgrades, or extended trials—directly to hosts and managers. 

PhocusWire (08/29/25) Pierre-Camille Hamana

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