StayFi vs the Competitors: WiFi Marketing for Vacation Rentals

Airbnb and most OTAs give you the booker’s name and a masked contact. The other three people in the group, the ones who might book their own trip next year, stay invisible. Guest WiFi is the one point where almost every guest willingly hands over a contact, because they want to get online. StayFi built a business on that idea. This article is about getting the same result on your own terms.

How rental WiFi marketing works

The setup is the same whichever tool you use:

1. Your property has an open guest network with no password.
2. When a guest connects, their phone or laptop is redirected to a splash page, called a captive portal.
3. They enter a name and email (and optionally a phone number), tick whether they want to hear from you, and accept your terms.
4. The access point lets that device online, and the details land in your guest list.

The differences between tools are in the details around that flow: whether the email is checked, where the guest lands afterwards, what hardware it runs on and how you get the data out.

What to compare in a StayFi alternative

Score each tool you are considering against these questions. They are listed roughly in order of how much they will cost you if you get them wrong.

• Do you have to buy their hardware? Branded routers add an upfront cost per property and make leaving expensive.
• How is it priced? Per property, per access point or per account changes the maths a lot once you have more than one listing.
• Are emails verified? Without verification, some entries will be a@a.com. Ask what stops a guest typing nonsense.
• Is marketing consent recorded? You need to know which guests agreed to hear from you, and be able to word the request to suit the rules where your guests live.
• Where do guests land after they log in? A dead-end “you are connected” page is a wasted moment. Your guidebook is a better destination.
• Can you get the data out? CSV export, or an API, so the list can go into the email tool you already use.
• Can you see what is happening? Device counts per property are an early warning for parties and over-occupancy.
• What if a property has no compatible router? A no-hardware fallback means you can start everywhere at once.

For the feature-by-feature answer for BetterSTR against StayFi, see our StayFi alternative comparison. The rest of this article is about the practical side.

What hardware you need

BetterSTR’s captive portal runs on UniFi or TP-Link Omada access points. If you already have either, there is nothing to buy. If your property only has the router your internet provider supplied, you have two choices:

• Add an access point. A single UniFi or Omada access point covers most small rentals and lets the portal require every device to sign in.
• Start with the WiFi QR code sign. Print a sign, guests scan it, fill in your form and are shown the WiFi password. It costs 20c a scan with no monthly fee and no hardware. The trade-off is that your router still has a normal password, so guests can share it and skip the form, and emails can’t be verified.

Already have StayFi gear on the wall? If it is a UniFi device, our guide to repurposing your StayFi UniFi device walks you through moving it over.

What it costs, worked through

BetterSTR WiFi marketing is $5 a month for the controller (once per account) plus $2 a month for each access point. Some real examples:

At the time of writing, StayFi starts at $19 a month and sells its own access points from $99 to $303. If you also want a premium guidebook, a TV welcome screen and an in-room tablet, BetterSTR Simple is $15 a property a month and includes WiFi marketing for up to 3 access points per property. All of it is laid out on the pricing page.

How to switch, step by step

1. List your access points. Note the brand and model at each property. UniFi and Omada are ready to go; anything else gets the QR sign or a new access point.
2. Export your existing guest list. Before you turn anything off, download what your current tool has collected. It is your data.
3. Connect your controller to BetterSTR and add a guest network for each property.
4. Design the form. Choose which fields you ask for and which are required. Name and email is enough for most hosts; every extra field costs you sign-ups.
5. Test it on your own phone. Connect, fill in the form, click the verification link and check you land on the guidebook.
6. Switch off the old portal and update any printed WiFi instructions in the property.
7. Tell your cleaners. They will see the new splash page too, and they are often the first to hear “the WiFi isn’t working”.

Teething problems to expect, and the fixes

• “The sign-in page didn’t appear.” Some phones wait a few seconds before showing it. Ask guests to open any web page, which triggers the portal. A QR code for the portal on the fridge or the TV helps too.
• “I didn’t get the verification email.” Usually a typo in the address or a spam folder. Guests can try again with the right address.
• Smart devices that can’t fill in a form. Keep your own devices, such as smart locks or cameras, on a separate private network rather than the guest network.
• Guests on a long stay. Find out how long a sign-in lasts with your setup, and mention in your guidebook that guests may be asked to sign in again on a long stay.

Make the list worth having

A list nobody emails is just a spreadsheet. A few habits make it useful:

• Only email people who opted in. Export the opted-in guests and leave the rest alone.
• Send a handful of emails a year, not a newsletter a week. A “we have opened up next summer” note and an off-season offer are usually enough.
• Tag by property. Guests who stayed at the beach house want beach house dates, not your city flat.
• Use the tools you already have. BetterSTR exports to CSV for Mailchimp, Klaviyo or similar, and the guest list is also available through the API.

We go further into turning these contacts into repeat stays in how to get direct bookings from Airbnb guests, and compare the wider field in the best vacation rental WiFi marketing tools. For everything the portal does day to day, see BetterSTR WiFi marketing.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to buy new hardware to replace StayFi?

Usually not. BetterSTR’s captive portal runs on UniFi or TP-Link Omada access points, and StayFi gear that is a UniFi device can be repurposed. Properties without a compatible access point can start with the WiFi QR code sign.

How much does BetterSTR WiFi marketing cost?

$5 a month per account plus $2 a month per access point, so a single property with one access point is $7 a month. The QR code sign is 20c a scan with no monthly fee.

Are the guest emails verified?

On the captive portal, yes. Guests confirm their email with a magic link, and devices that don’t verify are disconnected after a few minutes. The QR code sign can’t verify emails because the router still has a normal password.