How Do You Assess an Airbnb Property Manager? Here’s How!
Prior to the advent of the Internet, real estate agents were the only option for holiday rental owners to list and book out their properties. Over the past ten years there has been a significant shift from the all-in-one real estate agent (selling and renting both long- and short-term) to the specialist airbnb property manager. A airbnb property manager can be an excellent option for those owners that are:
- Lacking time to manage a holiday rental (for example, the owners both work full-time)
- Not confident with technology
- Don’t live near to the property and need on-site assistance.
When looking to use a property manager it’s important to ask them a number of key questions and speak to some of their current owners to see how happy they are with their service:
-
How many properties do you manage?
If they are only managing between 1–5 airbnbs it is likely they do not have the systems and processes in place to manage a portfolio of properties, but everyone has to start somewhere so if they are small ask what their roadmap is for development of their service. Smaller managers have less to lose so the business folding is often a realistic possibility.
If they are managing 5–20 properties it’s likely they’ve developed reasonable processes and systems and above 20 it would be almost impossible to manage a portfolio of airbnbs without the required property management software …
-
What property management system do you use?
The key response you are looking for here is that they actually do have one and it is a reputable system (check out capterra software reviews at https://www.capterra.com/). If they say that they use spreadsheets or ‘just manage it within the booking websites’, head for the hills.
-
What hours do your staff answer enquiries?
This is critically important and you should be looking for 24/7 guest support. Anything else shows that they are not a professional organisation.
-
How fast do you respond to airbnb guest enquiries?
Ensure that they provide in writing that guest enquiries are responded to within two hours at the latest.
-
Do you have staff that can attend in the event of an emergency?
They must have staff that can be at a property within thirty minutes in the event of an emergency or issue.
-
What fees do you charge the owner?
Typically this will be a % fee based on the booking value but many airbnb property managers charge significant extra (and unnecessary) fees such as property set-up fees and annual listing fees that can run into thousands of dollars. If your airbnb property manager charges up-front or annual fees, look elsewhere.
-
What fees do you charge the guest?
Many property managers charge the guest extra fees such as pet fees and damage protection fees. These are again unnecessary and are merely a means for the airbnb property manager to boost their profits. They also increase the price to the guest thereby potentially reducing bookings.
-
What is your average $ revenue and profit per year per property?
Ask them to provide details of a range of properties in your area and the average revenue and profit that they are achieving.
-
What proportion of their properties are guest favourites?
Superhost is now old hat – the true quality measurement on airbnb is the number of properties that are guest favourites.
Want to really dig deep into a comparison of airbnb property managers?
Click here to download our Property Manager Assessment Checklist.
It’s pre-filled with our responses so you can compare your options with the best!
