Both do trust accounting. Only one publishes its price.
Escapia is a long-standing PMS from Expedia Group with built-in trust accounting, a 3-way reconciliation report and a direct Vrbo connection — this isn't a takedown. The differences are the price (by quote), how you reach Airbnb and Booking.com (a $5-per-property add-on), and how much of the operation comes from partners. VacayOps is the Full Platform at $29/property/month: PMS, direct connections, website, field operations, phones, CRM, owner statements and trust accounting.
Running the business
Every Escapia cell is from escapia.com. Where Escapia's site doesn't describe something, the cell says so.
| Capability | VacayOps | Escapia |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage fee on bookings | None on direct or Airbnb bookings; 0.5% on Vrbo, Booking.com and Expedia payments — our payment partner’s fee, at cost | None — booking channels charge their own commissions |
| Published price | $29/property/month, on the pricing page | a flat monthly fee by property count, by quote |
| Users | Unlimited, no per-seat fee | Unlimited, at no additional cost |
| System of record for your properties (PMS) | ||
| Vrbo | Direct connection | Direct connection, no distribution fees |
| Airbnb & Booking.com | Direct connections included | through the EscapiaConnect add-on ($5/property/month) or a third-party channel manager |
| Direct-booking website | Built in, no booking fee; AI edits arrive as proposals you approve | built by partners such as Bluetent |
| Housekeeping & maintenance scheduling | ||
| Checklists, inspections & mobile tasks with photos | through partners such as Breezeway and Turno | |
| Form builder & AI form creation | Drag-and-drop builder; AI drafts a form from a description or rebuilds one from a PDF, Word file or photo of the paper form | through partners such as Breezeway and Turno |
| Form answers as automation triggers | A submitted form or a single answer (a “Fail”) starts a workflow — create the maintenance task, notify the manager | left to the partner app |
| Guest messaging inbox | Email and text inbox (texts US only); Airbnb messages need EscapiaConnect | |
| AI guest messaging | through partners such as Akia and Enso Connect | |
| Nightly pricing | Rule-based rate automation included; PriceLabs plugs in natively for market data | Rates Manager and Vrbo-data Market Rates (US) included; PriceLabs, Wheelhouse and Beyond |
| Smart locks & thermostats | $5/device/month | through partners such as RemoteLock and PointCentral |
| Business phone system & recorded calls | lines $7/line/month, calls recorded | an Escapia number for texts and call forwarding (US); call recording not marketed |
| Sales CRM & owner pipeline | lead management for guest inquiries; owner CRM through a partner | |
| Email marketing | through partners such as StayFi |
Escapia column from escapia.com (pricing, features, integrations, EscapiaConnect terms) and Expedia Group's 1 September 2026 release, as of 24 October 2026; the booking-fee row as of October 2026. Escapia and Vrbo are trademarks of their owners; VacayOps is not affiliated with Escapia or Expedia Group.
Owner money and the books
Both platforms do trust accounting. Here is how they differ.
| Capability | VacayOps | Escapia |
|---|---|---|
| Trust accounting | Included (Full Platform) | Built in, with a general ledger |
| Three-way reconciliation | Monthly, with sign-off and a reconciliation PDF | A 3-way reconciliation report |
| Bank reconciliation | CSV, OFX or QFX import from any bank; US bank link through Stripe | |
| Owner statements & owner portal | ||
| Co-owners of one property | Percentage shares — each owner credited and shown their share | Split statements for shared ownership |
| Owner change in the middle of a month | Month split by check-in date — a statement for each owner | not described on escapia.com |
| When revenue counts on owner statements | Check-in, check-out or night by night | “revenue recognition rules” — options not listed |
| Owner payouts | Recorded — you send them from your own bank | Tracked, with owner check printing |
| Year-end IRS forms | 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC rents as IRS IRIS-layout CSV files you upload | 1099s and 1042s, with electronic 1099 files for IRS filing |
| Operating books (P&L, balance sheet) | P&L, balance sheet, cash flow and general ledger next to the trust books | Escapia says it is “not an operating accounting software like QuickBooks or NetSuite” |
| QuickBooks | QuickBooks Online sync (invoices and bills) | no accounting integrations marketed |
Escapia accounting facts from escapia.com's trust accounting, reporting and What's New pages, and Escapia's own 2023 accounting training deck (escapia.com), as of 24 October 2026.
Where VacayOps pulls ahead
A price you can see
Escapia prices by quote. VacayOps is $29/property/month on the pricing page, with exactly two add-ons: smart devices at $5/device/month and phone lines at $7/line/month.
Every channel and the website in the base price
Direct connections to Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, Google Vacation Rentals, and Hopper are included — no per-property channel add-on — and so is a booking website. Keep 100% of your direct bookings. No booking fee, no revenue share — card processing is billed by your own processor at its rates.
The rest of the operation, built in
Checklists and inspections with photo capture on mobile, AI guest messaging, recorded phone calls, an owner sales pipeline and email marketing — on escapia.com these come from partners.
Where Escapia goes further
Escapia has been doing vacation rental trust accounting for a long time, and some of it goes beyond what VacayOps does today.
- Year-end 1042 forms as well as 1099s, and electronic 1099 files for IRS filing — VacayOps produces 1099 CSVs you review and upload.
- Vrbo-marketplace Market Rates for pricing (US properties), included.
- Consolidated statements for owners with several properties.
A quote and an add-on vs one price
At 100 properties, listed on Airbnb and Booking.com as well as Vrbo.
Escapia
Quote + $500/mo EscapiaConnect
A flat monthly fee by property count, set by a sales quote. Airbnb, Booking.com and Google come through EscapiaConnect at $5 per property per month; websites, checklists and inspections, AI messaging and smart locks come from partners, billed by them.
100 properties = the quote + $500/mo for EscapiaConnect.
VacayOps Full Platform
$29/property/mo base
PMS, direct connections to Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, Google Vacation Rentals, and Hopper, a booking website, field operations, phones, CRM, email marketing, owner statements and trust accounting — unlimited users. Add-ons: smart devices $5/device/month, phone lines $7/line/month. Vrbo, Booking.com and Expedia payments carry our payment partner’s 0.5%, passed through at cost.
100 properties = $2,900/mo — published, same for every manager.
EscapiaConnect price from Escapia's EscapiaConnect terms, and “No percentage booking fees.” from Escapia's pricing page, as of 24 October 2026. Booking channels charge their own commissions on both platforms; on VacayOps, Vrbo, Booking.com and Expedia payments also carry our payment partner's 0.5%, passed through at cost. Switching is built in — a self-guided Migration Center, with a specialist reviewing your move. From Escapia, the move uses its standard reports — reservations, owners and a trial balance for opening balances, including the guest deposits you hold. Current VacayOps pricing at vacayops.com/pricing.
Trust accounting, every channel and your field team on one published price.
One login. One bill. Unlimited users. Priced per property. No seat fees, no setup fee, no contract, and no booking fee on your direct site. 14-day free trial — no charge until it ends.