It’s no secret that good vacation rental management can help you increase your reservations and grow your Airbnb company. According to Vacasa, hiring a vacation rental manager or management firm to monitor your rentals may save you up to 30 hours spent on day-to-day business chores. It’s obvious that competent management is necessary for long-term success, but what does vacation rental property management entail?
Continue reading to learn all you need to know about short-term rental management, including what it is, what it entails, and how to utilize it to your advantage.
What Is Vacation Rental Management and How Does It Work?
Vacation rental management includes overseeing and administering rental homes, including everything from reservations to cleaning and maintenance to marketing and customer service.
A vacation rental property manager is in charge of various daily activities to deliver a fantastic guest experience and maintain the seamless functioning of a short-term rental company.
Vacation rental management is distinct from ordinary property management, despite certain similarities. Short-term rental management requires more time on guest engagement and property promotion than regular property management.
Vacation rental managers concentrate on offering a top-notch guest experience since people book vacation properties more often for holiday reasons. This differs from ordinary property management in that most individuals lease regular homes for a longer period for living reasons rather than holiday ones.
As a Vacation Rental Property Manager, You Can Begin Your Career
The short-term rental sector has been booming for years. Short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com have made it simpler for hosts to start holiday rental enterprises.
Domestic travel has witnessed a boost in popularity due to the current travel standstill. Staycations, digital nomads, and families now account for the bulk of reservations. Although the COVID-19 epidemic has affected the sector, the industry is far from dead with several nations suspending international travel.
In several countries, immunizations were widely distributed in 2021, and some have been able to reopen safely. The return of tourism is closer than ever, and working as a vacation rental property manager may still be rewarding.
1. What is the role of a property manager?
Despite the term, it is not required to own a property to work as a vacation rental property manager. You may manage the properties of other property owners without ever owning one yourself, provided you have the right skills and experience.
Your day-to-day responsibilities as a property manager will include:
- Responding to messages and inquiries from guests
- Responsibilities for bookings and cancellations
- establishing and changing rental rates
- Obtaining money for a reservation
- Supervising the check-in and check-out of guests
- After each stay, restocking supplies
- Scheduling cleanings and maintenance visits to the property
- Creating guest testimonials
- Using the internet to market and promote the property.
You may expand your property management company by managing many vacation properties for numerous clientele.
2. How do you take care of your holiday rentals on your own?
Self-managing your rentals has several advantages, including lower expenses and greater control over your rental properties. On the other hand, Vacation rental administration is a time-consuming procedure that requires balancing a variety of tasks.
To ensure that your management processes work as smoothly as possible, you should first create a company strategy and set targets. Consider employing a cleaning agency and forming a network of dependable contractors to assist with maintenance, guest communication, and other tasks.
Find out how to run a vacation rental property on your own.
The next stage is to familiarise yourself with PropTech tools and software solutions. To succeed in the vacation rental sector and stay ahead of the competition, you need to use vacation software like Lodgable.
3. What are the requirements for becoming a vacation rental manager?
Management of vacation rental properties is not for the faint of heart. So, before you determine whether or not becoming a property manager is a suitable job option for you, consider the following traits that benefit property managers:
- Multitasking skill
- Superior time management abilities
- Adaptability and a problem-solving mindset
- The capacity to manage people and monitor the accomplishment of duties
- Willingness to learn new skills and knowledge
- Having excellent communication skills (an essential trait as you will have to build good relationships with your guests to ensure a brilliant guest experience)
- Energetic and upbeat demeanor.
You’ll have to keep a careful check on your competition in addition to maintaining a vacation property. You should be willing to try new techniques and strategies in your management process and adapt to rapidly altering vacation rental industry trends.
4. What are the steps to becoming a property manager?
If you want to work in vacation rental management, you should realize that becoming a qualified property manager takes time. So, first and foremost, think about the following:
- Your state’s or country’s legal requirements for property managers
- The finest legal courses and certificates that are relevant to the standards of your country/state
- The length of time it will take to get legal certification
- As a vacation rental property manager, your long-term business objectives.
Learn more about becoming a certified property manager.
Getting Started with a Vacation Rental Property Management Business
1. How do you go about starting your property management firm?
You may confidently establish your vacation rental property management firm after you’ve obtained expertise as a property manager. Starting a property management firm, on the other hand, takes a great deal of planning and attention to detail. When it comes to launching a business, there are a few key things to consider:
- Considering and settling on your company’s legal structure
- Creating a company strategy and determining your objectives
- Obtaining the essential licenses to do business
- Choosing the finest tools and software to assist you in running your company
- Selecting and arranging your workplace space
- Developing a website and promoting your company to attract customers.
Learn more about how to establish a property management business.
2. How do you make money as a vacation rental manager?
There are a few critical tactics you can follow to guarantee your bottom line stays as steady as possible in the vacation rental industry:
- Educate yourself
Studying success is one of the most effective methods to duplicate it. Case studies of successful vacation rental property management organizations will help you figure out what they’re doing well. Don’t be scared to reach out to a firm through social media (the best option is LinkedIn).
After you’ve gotten to know them, you might question them about typical challenges they’ve experienced and how they overcame them. You may more readily overcome any possible hurdles or impediments by learning from others’ errors and how they dealt with them.
Learn more about the factors that contribute to the success of a vacation rental management firm.
- Keep up with the latest trends
Trends occur quickly in the vacation rental sector, which is always expanding and developing. Staying current by keeping up with new marketing and business trends as they emerge is an underlying component for success.
Failure to do so may cause customers to go elsewhere for more active and knowledgeable businesses. Following relevant platforms and sources specializing in vacation rental management, such as industry-related Youtube channels and property management blogs, is an excellent way to keep track of trends as they alter and evolve.
- Continue looking for fresh possibilities.
As a property manager, you should constantly look for innovative methods to help your company grow. You should always look for new strategies to advertise your company and attract new leads and clients. Take notice of what your rivals are doing online and consider how you might follow in their footsteps (if you are not doing it already).
Using the Services of a Vacation Rental Management Company
Whether you own one vacation home or numerous, you may need the assistance of a property management business to keep everything in order. When it comes to choosing a property management company, there are a few things to keep in mind:
1. What is the best way to locate the top vacation rental property management firm?
- Determine your requirements.
The first and most critical stage is determining your requirements as a host. How much assistance do you need to manage your holiday rentals? Do you merely want assistance with guest management and the rental, or do you also require marketing and obtaining bookings? You may start searching for a firm that suits your demands after you’ve recognized and established a list of them.
- Do your homework
The next step is to start researching a firm that provides the services you need. It’s also a good idea to consider your budget since bigger organizations are likely to charge more for the same property management services than smaller, independent firms.
You may start screening and assessing prospective firms once you’ve identified them. Check Yelp and Google Business for reviews, and contact the company in issue for references from current or past customers.
- Inquire the appropriate questions
It’s critical to ask precise questions about their business strategy to ensure you choose the best company for you. You might ask the following questions:
- How many people work for the company?
- Do they provide full-service management, or can you pick and choose the services you need?
- Will a team of agents oversee your rental, or will you be allocated a single agent?
- Does the business react to customer communications and requests outside of business hours?
- What procedures does the firm have for dealing with situations outside of working hours?
- How will the company track and monitor your rental property’s performance?
- How will the firm boost your rental’s performance and occupancy rate?
- Is the business based on a set of terms?
- Learn about the costs.
Another essential subject to consider is the cost of vacation rental property management. The guaranteed income, fixed-rate, and commission models are the three most common management fee models.
Each fee system has its own set of advantages and disadvantages for property owners. Aside from understanding how much organizations charge, you also need to know what services are included in the price structure and whether or not some services are additional.
More tips on picking an Airbnb management business may be found here.
2. How much does hiring a vacation rental management company cost?
The costs charged by a vacation rental firm might vary from 10% to 50% of the monthly rental revenue, depending on many factors:
- The location of the rental properties (urban, beach rentals, mountainside properties, etc.)
- The number of rentals you want the provider to look after.
- The rental’s size and kind (luxury villas will require more overall management compared to apartments)
- The scale of the business
- The company’s size, whether it’s a small local business or a large worldwide corporation
- The services that the property management business provides
- The organization’s cost structure (fixed-rate, guaranteed income, commission-based, etc.).
Finally, you may put your findings in a list or spreadsheet after analyzing each company’s property management charge and service structures. This will allow you to compare and contrast each firm’s advantages and disadvantages before settling on the one that best meets your demands. Keep in mind that the fees you pay will affect your net revenue.
Learn more about the costs of vacation rental property management.
3. The top five vacation rental management organizations in the United States
Although it is recommended to do your research before choosing a vacation rental property management business, the following are some of the top-rated firms in the United States:
- Evolve Vacation Rentals is a company that specializes in vacation rentals.
- Turnkey
- Casengo
- Vacasa
- Yonder
A Must-Have Tool for Successful Vacation Rental Management
Lodgable can assist you in meeting all of your business goals, whether you’re an individual property manager or the owner of a bigger management firm.
