Management of Short Term Rental Accommodation or Airbnb Management has changed dramatically over the last few years.
There are many professional hosts or businesses that run a number of properties however there is still a significant number that choose to manage their own Airbnb. The following information will help you start to think about why and how to choose one.
Why use a Short Term Rental Accommodation Manager
Property owners benefit from using an Airbnb Manager for the following reasons:
- More time as tasks can happen any time of the day or night
- Furnish and set up your property.
- Clean and maintained home all year round due to regular cleans and checks
- Maintenance and trades management at a lower cost and experience with their standard.
- Access to significant discounts in furniture and supplies
- Experience in dealing with resolutions and issues that can occur with Airbnb, VRBO or other platforms.
- Unemotional, a good manager cares about your property but doesn’t take guest complaints to heart (Don’t worry you can’t please everyone).
- Compliance in meeting STRA Regulations in your area.
- Expectation of 24/7 services from guests especially if something goes wrong
- Higher revenue due to optimised pricing and specialist skills.
What Do You Look For In A Good Airbnb Management Company?
There isn’t a magic formula however we can provide you with some tips on what to look for or what to ask a prospective Airbnb Management business. Consistent performance is always a good indicator especially through a downturn or low season.
A good performing manager will result in strong reviews, strong occupancy and outperform the market for your property. Whether it’s a large business or a small boutique, it doesn’t matter as much. Having said that, there are some companies that seem to ignore some of their lower performing properties and disregard it rather than spending time to fix it. Key aspects to look at or questions to ask:
- Cleaning track record and system as without a doubt this aspect affects more reviews than anything else. How do they check cleaning?
- Superhost, Premier host or preferrer property status will assist in rankings.
- What platforms do they list your property on? Is it only one or multiple?
- How do they determine their pricing strategy? Ask for detail.
- Ask what they would do if a property isn’t performing and measures taken to correct it.
- Guests don’t only book through Airbnb and VRBO, ask how they obtain their direct guests?
- They should know details such as the peak and low season for the area.
- How do they conduct check ins? Is there a method in place to protect your property? How do they ensure guests don’t break set rules?
- Ask if something is damaged in the property, what process they take for each platform they use.
- Are there extra fees over and above the management fee?
- What are your responsibilities as a property owner with the management company?
- Ask them what their biggest issue they have with managing properties in the past.
- What happens with a guest emergency at 2am in the morning? How do they handle it?
- What flexibility do you have to use the property?
- What fees are payable on termination?
- Ask them what was the worst experience with a guest and how they handled it (yes it sounds like a job interview…it’s your investment after all?)
Conclusion
In the end, every Airbnb Management business / Short Term Rental Management business should be confident answering the above questions as they are standard. A good one will show research prior outlining why your property will perform as a Short Term Rental. Take into consideration that not all properties work as a short term rental and some are better suited for long term property management and in that case we would be happy to refer you to an agency to manage your property.
We at MYP would also be happy to assist you with your property, show you if it can perform and we can easily answer all the above questions for you. We have some more information on Pricing your Airbnb and the many services that we do.
#Airbnbsuperhost #VRBOpremier #bookingcompreferrer #AirbnbManagement
