Well like most things in life, it depends.
The quick answer is that usually if you have 3 or less properties then you probably don't need to endure the monthly cost and significant time investment. The more properties you have the more likely you will want to pay for the convinces that a good property management software (PMS) can offer.
The reality is that if most of your bookings are coming from a single source such as VRBO or Airbnb then it can be pretty easy to forego a PMS. Especially with the features that Airbnb has added recently. Automated messaging, booking notifications to your cleaners, and co-host features allow for the automation and delegation of most task.
In our experience in trying a dozen of the most popular PMS we found a sad trend. Most have 2 or 3 features that they were founded on that are actually useful and user friendly with the vast majority of others being junk fillers and a waste of time. That's why we designed bookly to just be a direct booking widget that can integrate with other tools.
Bookly covers the basics so if you don't have or want to integrate with other tools you don't have to. Active iCal syncing (so you don't have get any double bookings) Booking reminders, weekday/weekend pricing, coupon codes, tax collection are just some of the tools that Bookly offers, all at no additional charge!
However, if you want to leverage a PMS, Bookly can integrate. Want to connect Pricelabs for daily pricing optimization, just link your account. We even have Facebook/Meta tracking pixels already setup so all you have to do is link your Meta Ads account!