What does your PM charge for Airbnb?

[James Wise]

Yo freaks my company is currently making a big push into the Short Term Rental business in the Cleveland market. Thus far, our business has primarily been long term buy & holds in the lower income space. Ya know Section 8 and that sort of thing.

But now we're going to be hitting the luxury space with our Short Term Rental business line so it's going to be a major change of pace from our normal operation of being the Section 8 beasts that we are. I'm looking to crowd source some best practices from the BP nation. What I am looking for right now is feedback on what you guys are seeing from your property manager's that handle your short term rental portfolios.

• What does your PM do that you like?
• What does your PM do that you do not like?
• What does your PM charge you in relation to what they charge you for normal long term rentals?
• What market are you in?
• What is your average nightly rate?
• What websites does your PM use outside of Airbnb and VRBO?
• Are you happy with your PM? Why/Why not?

All feedback is welcome.

[Collin Hays]

Originally posted by @James Wise:

Originally posted by @Nathan Gesner:

My PM charges 25% to manage my rental. Long-term management is 10%. 

My rental is in Cody, Wyoming. She uses her own website, which is where most of her reservations are made. Another 25% or so come from VRBO or Travelocity. She used to advertise on AirBnB but stopped because some of their policies are nonsensical and the quality of rentals is noticably lower: https://codylodgingcompany.com...

I like that the PM handles pretty much everything. I see when reservations are made, I see when reviews are posted, and I get a check each month. On rare occasions I get a call for a maintenance issue like changing out a water filter.

I net about $30,000 with this converted mobile home. If I rented it long-term, I would net less than $15,000.

 What kinda stuff is Airbnb trying to pull? Give me the dirt Nate. Give me the dirt!!!

Well for one, during COVID, airBNB unilaterally refunded guests affected by COVID all rents on behalf of the owner. That might seem like a very noble gesture, but it was actually a very immoral and unethical one:  The homeowners did not sign up to be insurers.  So the concept is, whatever peril befalls the guest - illness, car troubles, death, job loss, natural disaster - we may, at our own discretion, assign the damages from that peril to you, the homeowner.  Sorry, that's not the way the world works.

If your house burns down, why should it be the mortgage company's responsibility to waive your debt because you elected to allow your homeowner's insurance to lapse?   It's an awful peril, but why would it suddenly become the burden of someone else?  

We have a huge problem in this country of folks not owning their own stuff.  We had someone just this week want to cancel on several hours notice for a full refund because someone in the family has COVID.  Well why should that guest be able to immediately demand indemnification from that by assigning their damages to my homeowner?  Did the guest purchase trip cancellation insurance?  Of course not.  

Sorry, homeowners have enough perils of their own without taking on all of the perils of their guests.