Only a 10 percent management fee - the ol' bait & switch trick rises again!

[Collin Hays]

I received this lovely postcard in the mail today, from a well-known, very large management company in the Smokies.  They are offering to manage my cabin for a paltry 10 percent fee!  Or are they?

I went to their website to book a property.  They've generously marked down the rent by 30 percent, but have made up for most of that with fees that they keep for themselves!  Follow along with me on this:

The original rent was scheduled to be $1,533.  If that was my cabin, I would have enjoyed 90 percent of that, or $1,380.  

But because of all of the fees they charge - $417 in junk fees and "club" membership fees that they keep - they have marked down the rent - the part they share with me - to $945.  So instead of $1,380, I get $851 - 90 percent of the reduced rent.  

So here are my trivia questions:  

1.  Is my management fee 10 percent, or 37.6 percent?  

2.  The couple on the postcard doing the high-five - are those the cabin owners, or the management company owners?

[Andrew Steffens]

I know this company :D 

People here in FL do it too.  Even Vacasa does it.  They shortsell the owners revenue expectation, discount the rent, jack up cleaning fee and other fees and keep all of the profit.  It is a pain to compete with but I believe being transparent with fees is paramount to long term success as a PM company.

- Cleaning fee kept by PM has about $20-40 profit depending on unit size and this profit covers all consumables for our starter packs (toilet paper, paper towels, soaps, etc) so the guest foots the bill not the owner.

- Pet fees kept by PM that funds our damage waiver program.  Since Airbnb is very difficult to collect damages from we insure every reservation for $1000-2000 depending on unit size.

- Early Check in Late check out fee kept by PM to cover logistics.  Capped at 4 hour max, any more time requires an extra days rent paid.

- Extra person fees kept by owner at normal split

- Pool heat fee is split 50/50 if applicable.

Any other way I feel is dishonest.  Discounting rent to throw in a bunch of other junk fees and programs to be just a hair cheaper than booking on Airbnb and keeping all of it is immoral.