Vacasa- My absolute nightmare of a business partner

[Michael Snider-Held]

I wanted post a warning to my fellow community members. Currently the BP podcast is sponsored by a company called vacasa. i have been using vacasa as my management company for two summers now to manage my property in the finger lakes.  Vacasa takes a huge cut of the profits. They charge exorbitant fees above the rate you get as the owner and they list on third party sites at rates way above what they pay you. For example my nightly minimum is $200 but its listed for $340 a night on airbnb before the cleaning and booking fees are added in other words, i the property, owner get $150 per night from airbnb, vacasa takes $190 per night from airbnb and then charges fees.  When i ask my property manager about it the response is that i must talk to rates department. rates department blows smoke and tells you they cant control airbnb

But wait there's more!  Do not make the mistake I did in thinking that Vacasa is in anyway a property management company.  They will tell you that they have a maintenance department that will take care of minor maintenance. What they mean by that is that they will  respond to a call about a leaky toilet, send the maintenance guy to confirm that its a leaky toilet and then hire a third party to come fix it. Usually this occurs on weekends after six pm and the companies they partner with are all charging emergency fees. i have had emergency services come for a thermostat that the vacationer couldn't figure out how to use. $200 for an hvac guy to say "turn the dial like this".  last year i had third party emergency maintenance in four of my six months vacasa managed. This year i have had two in two months.   This year i left the property to vacasa ten days before my first renter. They did not inspect the property to do a clean until the day of the guest arrival. During that time they supposedly found a leak which was beyond the scope of the maintenance  and i had to pay a plumber to come in saturday morning while the guests were there. thats on top of the "deep clean" which cost $300 and was somehow done in a couple of hours.  now there's a wasp nest  on the corner of my garage. Maintenance does not do pest control. so my house, which is surrounded by ten acres of woodland requires $430 from orkin because they cant be bothered to open a can of raid.  

but wait there's more! the one thing that my property manager is really good at is telling me how something isn't her job.  there's always an other department to call but the kicker is this. When i asked her about the maintenance fees. she openly admitted in writing that vacasas' primary obligation is to the satisfaction of the renter and that they have no obligation to the home owner beyond changing lightbulbs and cleaning the linens. 

In the advertisement on BP podcast they exclaim that they will drive up the rentals and that you will have a low vacancy rate. this is 100% true. i have been booked solid since may. however. last month it cost me $500 to let strangers stay in my house and this month i might break even.  It is my experience that Vacasa has no interest in being your partner and that they will syphon off every penny of potential profit you can make until you fire them.  Zero stars I do not recommend their services. i recommend against them.