Get the Best out of Your Vacation Rental Property Manager

Getting the best out of your vacation rental property manager is all about good communication, respect and working together. Effective software solutions have a major role to play in making it happen.

In practice, it’s not so easy but it’s essential that you strike the right balance to avoid a ‘tail wagging the dog’ scenario. When you, the owner, are remote from the property, a situation can develop where your vacation rental property manager oversteps regular day-to-day management and begins to tell you how things will be done. Establish clear guidelines from the start about who is responsible for what and about any situations you need to be made aware of and consulted about. In particular, emphasize to the vacation rental property manager any situations that you will need to be informed of immediately before any action is taken. The latter might include anything – from guest dissatisfaction to damage to the property to a boiler breakdown, depending on how much you wish to delegate to your vacation rental property manager.

Selling off your rental rights is rarely a good idea

There are management services companies who will take over the management of your property rental and pay you an agreed sum in advance. You are selling them the rights to your property for however many months of the year you agree to, retaining some time for your own use. You need never get involved in bookings or guests or worry about filling your calendar. On the other hand, the company’s own vacation rental property manager will view your property as a commodity to be marketed. Their aim will be to make as much profit as they can. They may not be too particular about who rents your property or how they use it as long as they get paid. If you put responsibility for maintenance in their hands too, you may end up paying well over the odds for simple upkeep. They certainly won’t view it as you, an independent vacation rental owner, might. You probably see it as your second home, something you have worked hard for and are proud of. Almost certainly something that you would like treated with consideration and respect. For those owners who opt for this hands-off way of renting, there is not a lot they can do to build relationships. Instead, they might have time to consider how much potential income they are losing by this arrangement. If any vacation rental property manager is willing to give a lump sum in advance for the rights to a property, you can bet that the property is a very viable proposition.

Choose your own manager and keep control

Perhaps these owners with this type of management arrangement think there is too much work and time needed to run it themselves? In fact, they stand to gain by instead appointing an on-site general manager and subscribing to the services of Homes and Rooms. Potential gains are significant. By using the Homes and Rooms services in conjunction with your own chosen vacation rental property manager you can keep that magic ingredient: control. This is your property and you call the shots. Remember that your manager works for you, not the other way round. We did hear of one such arrangement where the owner felt obliged to book through HomeAway to get time in his own property. That’s the level of control his vacation rental property manager had achieved. He was not a Homes and Rooms subscriber, but if he had been, he could have established at the start of their relationship that they would be using the Homes and Rooms Dashboard and that the manager would have access to only those areas which involved the day-to-day running. By using this solution, you are ‘inviting’ your vacation rental property manager to have a role in the site that you control rather than giving him the go-ahead to take over.

You’re in control, anywhere, anytime

Using the Dashboard, and specially developed software tools, the owner has full control of which information and which processes are delegated to the vacation rental property manager. Importantly, he or she can also choose a high degree of automation in dealing with time-consuming inquiries and reservations and will be regularly updated on any internet device. So, an owner can check on the realtime status of the property from virtually anywhere at any time, authorize transactions and convey instructions from a smartphone. The vacation rental property manager is just one of a number of potential staff who can be in the loop, each with their own tailored access to necessary information on a need-to-know basis. You decide who they are. So, for example, the service could provide access to your reservations calendar and timely reminders to your nominated housekeeper to refresh or prepare guest rooms. At the same time, they would be denied the ability to amend reservations or to see billing and payment details. It can accommodate as many specific staff as you wish and can be used just as effectively whether you have just one or several properties. For more information on how this works and the benefits to subscribers, please visit the Features section of the Homes and Rooms website. You may find the explanation of the Contact Administrator, a key facility of the Communication Manager feature, particularly useful. Of course, you are more than welcome to sign up for your 14-day no obligation trial of the Homes and Rooms service and see for yourself just how stress-free vacation rental management can be.