Success with VA's for STR business?

Question

**Has Anyone Had Success Using a VA for Their STR Business?**

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for insight from other STR owners/operators who have used a virtual assistant to help run their business. My biggest challenge with VAs has been their lack of understanding of my local market, which makes it tough for them to handle certain tasks effectively.

That said, I know there are experienced VAs out there who specialize in short-term rentals. Has anyone here had success using a VA for recurring tasks like guest messaging, pricing adjustments, listing management, or coordinating with cleaners/vendors?

I’d love to hear any firsthand experiences or recommendations on how to find and train a VA that actually adds value without constant oversight. Thanks in advance!

Autumn Cain · Answer

I think this is such a great question to discuss as using VA's is a huge part of the ever evolving STR industry. I personally work with a wonderful team of highly efficient VA's, both as an ops manager for a STR PM company and a PA agent I utilize VA's for PM ops as well as transaction and research assistance as a realtor. Here are my pros and cons!

Pros:

1. An obvious one : cost. As a part time RE agent I am able to easily afford a base rate for a personal assistance with tasks like research, transaction coordination etc. and offer commission bonuses for closed sales to have someone on standby and be extra motivated for my closing to take place. This frees up my time from more time consuming minor tasks, and are tasks I can easily create an SOP for.

2. Work Ethic- the VA's I work with are exceptionally motivated and time efficient in their tasks. I can trust them to do their work as expected in a timely manor as they are more wary of the ability to find a good, consistent, USD payment based job.

3. Hours: As an ops manager for a Pm company having 24/7 support is a must, and having Va's in opposite time zones are ideal as they can work during their daytime hours which would be a graveyard shift for a US based employee.

Cons:

1. As mentioned here, some cons involve comprehension of English as far as guest interactions and terms.

I think a con is useless without some proposed solutions so mine are: have your SOPs organized, specific, and ready! They will be your VA's bible when language nuances are a blocker.

Secondly, PM-wise, we escalate any complaints immediately to a US based area manager to formulate a positive response.

2. On call communications: I hate to say it, but guests more often than not have a negative view of their experience when they get met with outsourced callers. It is unfortunate but based in fact.

My bandaid is again Us based area manager escalation.

I agree with the sentiment that many VA tasks can be automated, but I think that when it comes to communication that having a human aspect is invaluable, where some fiscal based tasks should be automated for accuracy.

Jon Martin · Answer

I think your challenge is expecting them to have "knowledge of local markets". You don't hire a VA to think for you and read your mind, you hire them to immediately answer the phone/email/message and execute on a SOP and hopefully resolve the problem, which @Andrew Steffens touched on above.

If a VA can take care of after hours inquiries and solve 90% of the problems without you being bothered, I'd say that's worth it. A call center service could also help with this, because you typically pay VAs by the hour with a fixed number of hours where you have to keep them busy, whereas a call center charges you by the minute as needed with a lower monthly minimum. Combined with automation for basic stuff (lockouts, parking, WIFI) like @John Underwood said this would greatly cut down on your headaches.

John Underwood · Answer

I think most of this can be automated without the need of a VA.

Jeff Langley · Answer

Your team is only as good as your training and SOPs.

I have 4 very talented VAs for multiple businesses and they’re amazing.

Andrew Steffens · Answer

I have 4 Phillipines based "Front Desk Agents".  All of them speak great English (one actually grew up in CA) and all of them have been with me for 4+ years and work for me exclusively.  All of them also had hospitality experience, some had STR experience.  We have local support during business hours and then local support on call, but they are my front line for messages and the phones after hours and weekends.

In my opinion they work harder and are more conscientious then US workers I could hire for 2-3x the cost.  They are almost never late or call out.  When they do its for legit issues, I can tell they feel really bad about it, and try to make it up in any way they can.

Their culture is different and they are only as good as they are trained, so SOPs are very important.  On top of their front desk duties they do admin tasks for the other departments on down time.

I think adding some to your team can be very beneficial but just like any other hire you have to find the right one and train them properly or you will probably not achieve optimal results.

Collin Hays · Answer

We don't use VAs. One of us can be reached at all times with a text or call.

My own experience is that VAs are mostly good for platitudes.  "Unfortunately" and "I am sorry" are the ones you hear most of the time.

Mike Grudzien · Answer

I want to follow this.  I've heard both good and bad.

Stephanie Walker · Answer

I have a ton of experience with this. I own a PM management company and a remote staffing company. I train our STR Operators myself. We have some US Based and some International, depending on your budget.

Success with VA's for STR business?

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