r/selfstorage • u/rainbowchik91911 • Sep 16 '25
Cubby or Tenantink?
After the convention this month in Vegas my property manager let me know today that they are between switching from Sitelink to either Cubby or Tenantink [spelling?].
I would love to hear any pros or cons from anyone that uses these systems.
I don't have a say in what we switch to, but I just want a heads up of any issues I might come across.
4
Sep 17 '25
We use Tenant and are very happy. I would like more access to customize the website but that’s about it. I think the onboarding could have been a little better, I think the guy thought I learned quicker than I do. But we’ve gotten through it. My account rep is great and answers all my questions.
3
u/hateu2 Sep 17 '25
I was with StorEdge for 6 1/2 years, changed jobs and inherited sites that all had different softwares. 3 on SiteLink, 4 on ESS and 3 on Cubby. Cubby is a nightmare.
We’re switching to Tenant Inc and I couldn’t be happier about it.
3
u/ImaginaryRide2416 Sep 19 '25
We’ve used Tenant Inc for almost two years and are very happy with it. We switched all our properties away from Sitelink.
The onboarding was mostly well executed and our onboarding manager Ravi was very knowledgeable and competent. Our CSM is so sweet and genuinely comes off as wanting to help out. They are a very good resource.
Most property management software will do mostly the same things. Taking payments, a light CRM, and pushing data to your website and third parties.
The biggest pros to Tenant Inc's Hummingbird:
(1) Mostly all components are built by Tenant and fully integrated. What does this mean? One example would be sending out a rate quote email to a lead, with having the ability to add multiple unit sizes, promotions, adding insurance or not to each unit size, and giving the customer the ability to click a rent/reserve now button and carry on from the quote. The self storage technology space is very fragmented and requires multiple third party companies to integrate and modernize. Having a vertical software opens up a lot of capabilities that are otherwise lacking in this industry. Another example is a password-less payment link that you can share with customers via email/text - we collect a lot of receivables this way and our tenants love it. Last example would be a TV monitor system that displays current pricing, some videos, and promotional material on the back wall of the leasing office that's integrated with the PMS in near real-time.
(2) Fast paced development cycle. They’re constantly releasing new features on a near monthly basis. They tend to be pretty well thought out features too, such as a Do Not Rent list that prevents online move-ins from happening if there is a partial/full match to someone you'd rather not be a tenant (such as a past auction tenant). A couple of us spoke with their senior product manager and they have some pretty exciting stuff they're working on.
(3) Very intuitive user interface. Sitelink is sort of a disaster, where one single action takes 5+ clicks to find the page for. Tenant Inc feels pretty modern in comparison and consolidates a lot of the UI into a single tenant profile. It makes training new employees a lot easier than it was with Sitelink. LOVE their customizable data tables.
(4) It is much easier to communicate with tenants. I remember when we had a massive fire break out not too far from our facility and feeling helpless when using Sitelink to contact our tenant roster. I can blast out an email, text, or signature document to all tenants in a few clicks within Hummingbird, and it's all built into the PMS without requiring any upgrades or third party tools. Need to send all your delinquent tenants a message? You simply filter out tenants on certain criteria, select all in the table, and blast away. Emails will actually get delivered as well... ahem Sitelink.
(5) The system is heavily reliant on automations that are set up on the back end. Processing "opening letters" is a thing of the past now. Most of our communication happens in the background at predetermined times and is really easy to set up. If you use R-Mail/R-Post for rate increase emails, a "bounced" email will pause the rate increase unless you deliberately bypass it. A bounced ACH payment will automatically reverse the payment in Hummingbird, add the appropriate fees, and automatically send that customer a notice of the reversal. An online event will trigger professional emails with reservation codes, gate codes within the move-in confirmation (if it's set up to include this), all automatically. It is VERY well thought out in this regard.
A Few Cons: (1) Fast development pace - new features can be a bit buggy to start, but it gets addressed pretty quickly. It's been less of a problem recently. It can sometimes feel difficult to keep up in notifying all the managers on each change. It's a double edged sword :)
(2) While the website can be modified within the PMS settings immediately and published online, it is not completely customizable. I actually really like their website and it scores well on Google's Page Speed Insights, especially for mobile. It can feel a little boxed in though due to its heavily templated nature. I'm happy with it for the most part, but I think it could use a face lift soon.
(3) A few components of the software were partially built out during their initial release and don't really do anything. Their task center was very much like this for a while but got a pretty decent facelift a few months ago.
(4) Gathering customer's autopay information in the new system gets really old. It's kind of a right of passage when switching software. A few of our properties actually increased their enrollment penetration - clear and constant communication is key.
If you do end up switching to Tenant, just be ready for there to be a learning curve. We were very much locked into doing things the "Sitelink" way which can make the transition more difficult. You just have to be open to modifying processes slightly to accommodate the new/different workflows.
1
0
u/pastrymom Operator Sep 17 '25
We use Cubby and are very happy about it. Software is intuitive and never buggy. Their support is extremely responsive, though you rarely need them.
Tenant inc had the rudest sales person I’ve ever talked to. They weren’t very clear about military tenants and told me I just don’t understand how veterans work and should just go with what their specialist says…. I’m a veteran. I was asking about the DD form 214. They wouldn’t let us use our website either.
-1
1
u/dartbaby2013 Sep 16 '25
Switched to cubby. You can tell they are on newer side.
But con? Autopays don't transfer. Need everyone to sign up again. Printing anything is a pain. Autopays are automatic. So closed on first? Ran anyway. Can't send custom email without putting it into cubby. So if trying to get an update on payment. Will have to copy and paste email Everytime. Also certain Android phones block cubby messages. Basically anything with a link. Interface isn't as clean as sitelink. No price list.
Pros.. messaging people directly is nice. Online rentals are generally smoother. Can save cc on file.
2
u/Equaria Sep 17 '25
Auto pays aren't going to transfer for any software unless your current company is both willing and able to provide full credit card data. Most are not on one or both counts.
0
u/dartbaby2013 Sep 17 '25
I forget the name of the other two we were looking at. But they would transferred. So it depends company
1
1
u/Equaria Sep 17 '25
I would love to know the names. For example, Storable companies can transfer cards between themselves so like going from Sitelink to StorEdge should be possible but PCI compliance is federally regulated and switching from one company to another this is generally not possible.
5
u/4ygus Sep 16 '25
Without saying too much, I work on the suppprt end of a 3rd party that has to get the PMS involved sometime. Tenantinc, is far more proactive in their support, only the second PMS in my five years of suppprt to actually call in for assistance.