So I've been the marketing manager for a short-term rental management company for four months now. I can definitely say it has been fun and I have learned a lot. Here are some early thoughts coming from a marketing expert that had never worked in this field and as a property investor myself.

The first thing I realized is that it is a market ran by a few national companies. These companies manage a huge percentage of short-term rentals in South Texas and continue building by having a massive digital marketing budget. That is of course not a problem and more power to them. What concerns me there is that they charge a significant fee and are treating properties as numbers. This has created two common scenarios for me when I'm speaking to potential clients:

The first one is the upset customer. I'm encountering many property owners that have had horrible experiences with national companies leading them to never want a management company again. When I have asked why they no longer want a management company the most frequent answers have been "they were taking a high percentage but were never there for tenants leading to bad reviews" and "they found issues with the property but kept allowing tenants to book without fixing or telling the owner about the issues". You would be amazed at how many times I have heard the same things. In other words these companies just worried about booking booking booking and never having any concern for the property owner or reviews on the property.

The second is the unaware customer. This one I believe is the most common especially among the older (age) property owners and new inexperienced property investors. They get their property ready and start looking for a management company. They go to the first one they find online (biggest digital marketing budget) and somewhere in there they are convinced there is a reasonable reason why the fee is so high and go with it. A year goes by of mediocre customer service and high fees but they don't know any better. When I come in offering our fees and services they honestly believe it is too good to be true and I understand it. You've been told one thing for who knows how long but it of course becomes a new problem for us.

I have absolutely no issues with national management companies and I love the challenge to market smarter than them. It does sadden me that I have had to focus on trust building campaigns because of the damage they cause. I'm sure some are better than others.

In conclusion, stick to a local management company where you can personally speak to the owners. There are only so many ways a company can market your property so do not worry so much about property exposure and worry more about property protection and customer service. Also shop around for fees, it should never be 40%.