Books that balance themselves.
Live trust balances, automatic reconciliation, and exception flags that catch the problem before your auditor does.
A storm
is coming.
Currently in Private Beta
Property Management Intelligence for vacation rental operators who are done waiting on someone else's roadmap.
The difference
For the first time, the software molds to your business.
For as long as there has been property management software, it has worked the other way around. You learn how the system does things, then reshape your operation to fit inside it. Lightning flips that. It molds to the way your business already runs, so you get sophisticated software without changing how you work.
ADVISORY 01The forecast
The old systems had their turn.
For years, vacation rental software has promised the future and shipped the past. Bloated platforms bolt a fresh coat of paint onto twenty-year-old code and call it modern. Systems take a week to learn and a consultant to configure. Roadmaps move slower than your owners' patience.
Meanwhile, the people actually running homes are stitching together a dozen tools, exporting spreadsheets at midnight, and flying blind on the numbers that matter most.
We got tired of waiting for someone to fix it. So we built it.
Not software. Intelligence.
ADVISORY 02What's coming
One platform. Every part of the operation.
STR Lightning is a full property management system with real-time intelligence wired through every corner of it. Reservations, trust accounting, property care, revenue management, guest and owner relationships. All in one place, all talking to each other.
Trust accountingLive reconciliation
Balanced
Bank$248,614.20
Ledger$248,614.20
Difference$0.00
Illustration with sample data.
Owner portalYou decide what each owner sees
Try it
Flip a switch. The owner's screen updates instantly.
Illustration with sample data.
Voltage · Revenue managementRates that move with the market
Try it
Avg nightly rate$0
14-night potential$0
Event nightsDec 24, 25, 31
Illustration with sample data. Gold dots mark event nights.
Every turn, in flow.
Cleanings, inspections and maintenance run on one intelligent board, so nothing slips between a checkout and the next arrival.
Owners see it as it happens.
Real-time statements and performance, and you decide exactly what each owner gets to see.
Find the money you're missing.
Revenue, occupancy and owner performance signals that point to where the next dollar is hiding.
Pricing with a pulse.
Revenue management built right into the platform. Rates move with demand, pace and the market, with no extra tool to bolt on.
Know every guest. Keep every owner.
A full CRM for the guest lifecycle, direct booking strategy and owner communications, wired straight into your reservations.
Missing something? We build it.
Tell us what your operation needs. We mold Lightning around it and ship it fast. Not on next year's roadmap.
ADVISORY 03Direct bookings
Own the guest. Own the booking.
Every booking that comes through a listing site is a guest you are renting back from someone else. Direct bookings are where the margin lives and where loyalty starts. The operators who win the next decade will be the ones who own their guest relationships.
Lightning gives you every tool to build that. Guest lifecycle management, direct booking strategy and owner communications live in the same platform as your reservations and your books, so every stay makes the next direct booking easier.
Guest lifecycle.
Know every guest by their stays, preferences and history. Reach the right ones at the right moment, from first inquiry to their fifth return visit.
Direct booking strategy.
Turn the guest who found you on a listing site into one who books on your site next time, under your brand, at your margin.
Attribution.
See which channel, campaign and message earned every booking, so you put your money where the direct revenue actually comes from.
Guest lifecycleWatch one guest become a direct booker
- Books on a listing siteCommission paid
- Welcome and pre-arrivalBranded messages in your voice
- Five-star stayPreferences saved to the guest profile
- Post-stay offerA return-guest rate, sent at the right moment
- Books directYour site, your margin
Year1
Direct bookings0
Commission kept$0
Illustration with sample data: a $2,400 stay and a 15% channel commission.
Every repeat guest is a commission you never pay again.
ADVISORY 04Who's behind it
We run vacation rentals. We also write the code.
Lightning was built by operators. People who have managed homes, reconciled trust accounts at midnight, and taken the owner call on a holiday weekend.
Touting about how many developers you have is very 2005. We build in-house, with no offshore development team. Our team brings vacation rental operations, design, and engineering to the same table. The people who understand what a property manager needs help decide what gets built, test it against real workflows, and stick around to make sure it works.
Trust accounting is where we hold the hardest line. Every dollar follows strict best practices, reconciles continuously, and gets flagged the moment something is off. The messy scenarios that tie other systems in knots are simplified into a few clear steps, instead of a spreadsheet and a prayer.
We know exactly where the old systems break, because we have been the ones holding them together. Lightning already runs on portfolios we know very well.
And we can't wait to show you what we built.
Lightning fast.
Ideas become features in weeks. The roadmap answers to the people using it.
Stay close.
Real people, real relationships, and support that picks up when you need it.
Build what's missing.
If you have been wishing your software did something, say it out loud. That is how we decide what's next.
Struck by Lightning · Est. 2026
Private beta
Get struck first.
We are opening Lightning to a small group of professional property managers who want a hand in shaping it. Design partners get early access, a direct line to the team building it, and a say in what ships next.
The first beta group is filling up. We admit a small group of operators at a time, and spots are limited by design.
- Who it's for
- Professional vacation rental managers
- Portfolio size
- Any. Built to scale.
- What we ask
- Honest feedback
- Direct line
- beta@strlightning.com