Owning a vacation property can be a rewarding investment, but managing it efficiently requires the right expertise. When seeking a vacation property manager, it's crucial to ask the right questions to ensure that your property is in good hands. From communication tools to property inspections, here are some key questions to ask potential vacation property management companies:
How long have you been managing properties?
What is your management fee and structure?
- What other fees are there?
- Do you charge for going on-site?
What property management software do you use?
- Does it have an owner portal where I can see bookings and revenue?
What do you do to improve listing optimization/SEO?
- Tools/technology?
- Do you track where the listing is showing up (what page?)
What is your pricing strategy?
- What tools do you use?
- Who does the pricing?
- How are rule sets being decided?
Who is on your team?
- How often is your local team on-site?
What is your process for guest communications?
- Do you have 24/7 guest communication?
How do you make sure parties/events aren’t happening?
- Do you have someone monitoring the cameras? Who? How often?
How do you screen guests?
- Do you take security deposits?
- Do you require rental agreements?
- Do you require additional insurance?
How do you keep up with the maintenance of the house?
- Preventative maintenance?
- Do you make money on this or is it at cost?
What platforms (OTA’s) are you on?
- Direct booking site?
- What percentage of your bookings come from each listing site?
What is your best-performing property revenue?
Would you be willing to send a P&L/expense report so I can see how that is structured?
If you have any questions or looking for perspective on what you should be looking for in some of these answers, we are happy to send you our responses or document that explains the important aspects of each question.
Good luck!
-Five Star Vacation Home Rentals
