When deciding how to manage your vacation rental, it’s a good idea to be honest with yourself, your time, and your abilities. Also ask yourself: what management style works for you?
When deciding how to manage your vacation rental, it’s a good idea to be honest with yourself, your time, and your abilities. Also ask yourself: what management style works for you?
With vacation rental management, there are many options. You could hire a property manager, manage it yourself, or some combination of both with the right software to make your job easier.
A property manager oversees handling multiple vacation rental properties they don’t own. The benefit of using a property manager is knowing a professional with experience is handling guests and property management. Property managers are usually well connected with other maintenance people, in case something comes up that they can’t handle.
Property managers’ services can range in price. The commission rate is 12% + GST for properties located in Australia and New Zealand, and 12% to 15% + GST/VAT for properties located in the rest of the world. Working with a property manager also means giving up some control and delegating certain tasks. This may be difficult for some homeowners who want to be more involved.
You can research property management companies online. Look for companies with great reviews and large online followings, as well as companies that rank high in the search results. Another way to find property managers is to ask other vacation rental owners or a real estate agent for recommendations.
Before hiring a property manager, find out if they will:
Not all vacation rental homeowners choose to hire a property manager. Many prefer to self-manage, or “rent by owner.” It can be rewarding to run every aspect of your business, as well as provide wonderful guest experiences, and our online platform makes it easier. Another advantage to self-management is getting to keep more of your income by saving on property management fees and commissions.
However, there are also challenges to self-management, especially if you live far from your property. Maintaining vacation rentals requires work and often depends on being able to provide house maintenance, home repairs when necessary, yard upkeep if applicable, regular cleaning and housekeeping, and much more.
Finding reliable and trustworthy services is one of the most important part of managing your rental and key to providing a good experience for guests. (It’s also one reason many people end up hiring property managers for support.)
These days, many property management companies are flexible and can provide different levels of support as needed. Now you have the option to self-manage your vacation rental properties while still using a property management company for emergencies and other issues. This is especially helpful if your properties aren’t nearby.
With a hybrid rent-by-owner/property manager relationship, it's important that both you and your property manager are clear on how to work together. A verbal and written contract can outline how tasks are delegated. There are several ways this arrangement can work:
Whether you’re managing your vacation rental properties on your own or using a hybrid method with the help of a property manager, the right software can save time and simplify doing business, especially with multiple properties.
Software streamlines property management and bookings by managing multiple calendars, advertising properties across multiple sites, handling online accounting, and more.
When using software for managing reservations, always be sure to follow these best practices:
When choosing software, look for these basic features:
