Managing an Airbnb listing involves looking after your property’s occupancy, its earnings, cleaning it after the guests leave to name a few. While others opt to take care of their own short-term rental property, some sign up for the services of an Airbnb management company. Thinking about whether or not to sign up yourself? We’ll help you decide by weighing the pros and cons in this article.
Pro: High involvement and personally meet all guests
While some owners prefer to sit back and enjoy the passive income their short-term rentals provide, other homeowners favour a more hands-on approach. If you’re the type of owner who wants to be involved in every decision including minor rental issues, routine maintenance work, and other small matters, then managing your own Airbnb might be suitable. A positive on this is you’ll also get to meet new people and make your own judgement calls when vetting guests since you’ll be screening them personally.
Pro: Set Pricing Yourself
If you decide to self-manage your Airbnb, you can set the pricing yourself, making you in charge of how much your nightly rate is on any given night. Some homeowners would prefer it this way as it gives them a sense of control on what they feel their property is worth.
Pro: No Management Fee
Airbnb management companies usually take a portion of the short-term rental’s profit each month. While the percentage varies for every company, not signing up for one also means not having to pay management fees. This is attractive for homeowners who believe they can get more out of their property by not having to seemingly reduce their profit margin.
Con: Time Consuming
While it’s nice to have met guests personally, a big part of the challenge is staying on call 24/7. Property management companies usually have their staff who acts as a support to your guests and can be contacted anytime. Another time-consuming agenda is the maintenance of your property. In case something needs repair, property managers already have their contacts and can get in touch with tried and tested vendors straight away, responding to maintenance issues as quickly as possible.
Con: Dynamic Pricing
This is something that most property owners are wary of and is sometimes seen as a negative. After all, they don’t want to change their rates which they believe is the reasonable price to pay for a stay at their place. However, having dynamic pricing for your Airbnb is becoming increasingly more important, as guests will compare prices before booking and a growing number of Airbnbs are applying this already. Why? Because a Friday night is worth more than a Monday night and a busy season is more in demand than off-peak weeks.
While you can adjust the pricing manually, it takes a lot of time and going for an automated solution is more sensible. While you may want to stay adamant that your nightly rate can’t go below a certain amount, keep in mind that once a night is lost, there’s really no getting it back. Just think of the nights in your calendar as perishable produce and know that adjusting the rates a few days before the date has passed might be the prudent thing to do.
Con: Manage listings in different regions
Keeping track of everything that is going on with your short-term rental property may be tricky for someone who does not do hosting as a full-time job and even more so if they have multiple properties spread across different regions. Having a hosting partner who will be able to look after your property in different parts of the country can only benefit you and will give you the peace of mind that even when you’re away from your property, it is being looked after.
Con: Cleaning Everything
Even if cleaning is your strong suit, guests staying in Airbnbs usually expect a higher standard of cleanliness than their own homes. Think of it from a guests’ point of view. While you are aware of the history of your property, guests would not be, so that little stain may be noticed. Luckily, there are many companies that specialise in Airbnb cleaning. Linen also plays an important role as most guests would not like to use old sheets and covers. A lot of cleaning is involved when managing an Airbnb property and it would be less stressful on your part if you outsource all the washing, laundry, vacuuming, and everything else in between.
Hometime Makes Managing Your Property A Breeze
While initially, you might view property management as an expense, it still makes sense long term especially when you take a look at the data that self-managed Airbnbs have an average occupancy of 60% while professionally managed ones can deliver occupancy rates of above 75%.
