After trying 3-5 other PMS competitors with a variety of “basic technical issues” as Jesse puts it, Epicurean signed up with Hostfully. Unlike other systems, Hostfully offered the reliability and flexibility needed to run a mid-term rental business at scale.

Jesse shares that, “From a basic technical standpoint, [Hostfully’s] been so solid. I’ve never had to worry about whether bookings are syncing between platforms or had to wonder if our automations will work properly.” He continues, “Technology should be invisible. It should be something that works so smoothly in the background that you never have to think about it. With Hostfully, I never have to think about it.”

With the mental bandwidth Hostfully saves him, Jesse can focus on his passion for hospitality—or “making guests feel taken care of”—a term he differentiates from operating traditional rental properties. Because of his guests’ length of stay and their independent advertising efforts, the majority of Epicurean’s reservations (roughly 95%) are direct bookings. This requires Epicurean to function more or less like a concierge service.

Typically, guests reach out to Epicurean by phone or email. Jesse chats with them to better clarify their needs, and, in tandem with Epicurean’s availability, together they identify the right property. In this key moment, Jesse says Hostfully makes the booking process a breeze. Here’s how: Jesse creates a booking hold for his guest in Hostfully’s PMS; he then copies the payment link from the “Payment Timeline” tab; and finally, he sends it along to the guest who can then book and pay upfront for their first 30 nights. He then extends the guest’s stay 30 nights at a time via Hostfully until the guest gives 2 weeks’ notice to move out.

This process exemplifies what Epicurean does best: human-led hospitality made easy by technology, or, as Jesse explains it, “a seamless checkout process for the guest.”

Jesse points to Hostfully’s portfolio direct integration partners as “the engine under the hood” that makes his direct booking process possible. These include Akia which Jesse leverages to power text communication with guests, Vacation Rent Payment (VRP) for built-in payment transactions, and Enso Connect for device control syncing, all connected smoothly through Hostfully.

Jesse shares that, “Because of our integration partners, we’ve been able to run a pretty sizable mid-term rental business with only one employee, while many of our local competitors have a dozen or more employees doing tasks that we’ve been able to automate.” He continues, “I’ve traveled out of the country for up to 16 days at a time while running my business. Without Hostfully and their integration partners, that would be really difficult to do.”

In addition to the integrations and booking functionality Hostfully provides, the platform’s reporting features have saved Jesse several hours a week. In the past, he had to manually calculate RevPAR using Excel spreadsheets. But now, Epicurean’s key metrics are tracked automatically on Hostfully’s analytics dashboard. Thanks to valuable time saved and reduced manual tracking errors, Jesse can now focus his efforts on making important business decisions, and delivering top-notch hospitality to his guests.

With seamless direct booking workflows and reliable integrations, Epicurean has transformed what could have been a chaotic, hands-on business into a smooth, scalable operation. The company is positioned to keep growing in the mid-term rental market, knowing its technology can support the journey.