Oook, let's talk about this Entrata news. Over the last year, their competitors added or increased API fees, causing lots of frustration and pushback. Everyone was begging Entrata to "stay strong". I've even been championing #freethemfdata, hoping to show this industry that there is a majority who believe that everyone wins when we all "play nice in the sandbox". But now Entrata has announced that they, too, are introducing a fee structure for API partners. "Another one bites the dust." Right? I'm not so sure. Here is how I'm thinking about this: 1. API fees are incredibly common across industries. According to a Postman survey last year (link in comments), 72% of respondents said that API's generate more than 10% of their company's revenue (see chart) 🤯 API fees are not a sign of a company being "behind the times". Many of the most innovative companies charge them. And let's not forget >>> 2. We've all complained for YEARS that our industry's APIs are outdated. Improving these API's won't happen without significant investment by the companies who provide them. What are the odds that they would simply eat into their own margins to make that happen? Not to mention >>> 3. Over the last 10 years, operators have steadily added many best-of-breed solutions to their tech stack. I have to imagine that the PMS's are seeing massive increases in API traffic. True, the cost to support this growing demand may not be close to what some are charging for access. But it isn't free, and it's again unreasonable to expect them to just eat all of that cost. They could simply hike up prices on their clients; or they could introduce a new revenue channel: charge the companies who, let's be honest, benefit from these APIs as they build their own businesses. Now, there are two ways to go about the latter >>> 4. They could simply start charging, or increasing, API fees, with no tangible benefit. This doesn't do anyone any good. Even if that revenue were solely allocated to cover the costs, and they weren't profiting (lol), we would still be furious that we can't feel any change other than to our wallets (sound familiar?). But there is a scenario where everyone wins >>> 5. They could invest that added revenue in ways that tangibly improve the partner and/or the client experience, justifying the costs. They could finally start working WITH us to make the changes that we've been asking them to make for years. From what I see, Entrata is already diverging from previous narratives. I don't see their competitors committing to building a "partner ecosystem". I can understand how this feels like a "here we go again". And yes, time will tell whether Entrata is able to deliver on this promise of a partner ecosystem. And I agree that it's frustrating when something that was free to you is all of a sudden no longer free. Personally, I'm going to reserve judgment until the dust settles. Maybe by then, at least some of the MF data will be freed.
Mike Davis, CAS
3mo
All the uproar over this and I’ll give a viewpoint from someone who worked for over 14 years at one of the big three and then left to open up the multifamily division of a point solution. Did I enjoy the fact that the integration with Entrata was free? Of course. But working for such a long time for one of their competitors. I knew that there were real costs associated with building as well as maintaining those integrations. If either side made some kind of change they were many times that was discovered that the integration was broken during that process and would have to be fixed during testing. so while I of course, would love for the integrations to be free. I understand the need to cover the cost associated….however the heartburn becomes real when that is turned into a profit center.
Mike Masterson
3mo
Great points. I genuinely believe that when there's a cost involved in 'playing,' it ensures all parties are held accountable to create the best ecosystem. Having a branded partner network usually results in events and visibility that partners might never have had the opportunity to access otherwise, thus helping them earn and retain business. I do find some of the fee structures for partnering to be excessive. But if there's a thoughtful discussion about revenue sharing or a sliding scale, it allows for growth focused on clients rather than what is often perceived as a money grab.
Nitin Gupta
3mo
The problem is not the fees. Problem is how they’ve gone about it. 2 weeks notice, one email, no other messaging. I saw it as a marketing email until today. And it’s dependent on the number of clients, not the number of properties. Punishes the small guys.
Steve Wunch
3mo
Very insightful post Jordan Easley!!
Remen Okoruwa
2mo
Jordan, great post! Entrata has taken a unique approach with the new price rollout, focused on delivering more value to proptechs rather than just adding more fees. That is to be commended. Based on some comments on my prior post, it appears that a big part of the negative reaction is due to 1) the absence of some paid features when the payment change was announced and 2) the whiplash of going from free to paid after so many years. I suspect these two sentiments will lessen over time. But Entrata has conceded its unique position in the integration market and now looks much more like its direct competitors.
Devin Jacob
2mo
ResMan has 250+ partners and is building that partner ecosystem you mentioned. Check out our list of APIs: https://www.myresman.com/platform/integrations
VP of Partnerships at Realync
3moHere’s the link to the Postman report: https://www.postman.com/state-of-api