New STR manager questions

[Thomas Lord]

Hi guys, 

Starting out in the STR management space and have a couple currently under management from friends and family relationships. Ive been browsing the forums and trying to find the biggest issues LLs have with property management companies in this space and it seems like they boil down to:

Not handling fees in the LLs best interest 

Setting expectations early on and putting those in the contract 

The PMC having too many properties under management 

Just plain terrible customer service to LL clients. 

Am I missing anything? Want to make sure that I am informed and able to provide the best service in my own area. I figured it would be best to reach out and hear it from you guys who are actually experiencing the issues/pain points or benefitting from really great property management. 

Appreciate any help, thank you!

[Andy Whitcomb]

I currently self manage and I have quite a few concerns about shifting over to 3rd party management. Here are some of them:

1. Marketing/brand: We have built a strong brand and following around our properties, is it possible to maintain that brand with a third party manager and if so would they manage the brand as well as we do?

2. ADR and occupancy: Like many I am concerned that the manager would not maximize the pricing of the units appropriately and would sacrifice either price or occupancy. We feel we sacrifice neither one, but maybe that means we are leaving money on the table since we are 90-95% booked. However our prices are very high for our market.

3.  Property quality and upkeep: We spend a lot of time adjusting and tweaking the property to be the best it can be. This includes improvements to the design, functionality, and guest experience as well as general property maintenance. 

Some reasons we WOULD do property management:

1. Managing cleaners: This is a HUGE pain in the butt. We use all local independent cleaners who live in the neighborhood, this is great because they are very close by and are familiar with our properties, but communication is nearly constant.

2. Maintenance and repairs: If we had a manager who had a solid team in place to quickly and efficiently handle property and hot tub maintenance, that would be great. As long as they actually did it and did a good job. Our properties are fairly rural so timely accessibility is an issue.

3. Managing guests: This one hasn't been that bad because we only have 3 properties right now, and typically our guests are pretty awesome. However, as we scale this will be something that needs to come off my plate.