There are 5.6 million active Airbnb listings worldwide right now. People worldwide are choosing Airbnbs over hotels and hostels, and it’s become a lucrative business.
Do you run an Airbnb?
Running an Airbnb can be hard work. This is why so many people choose to use Airbnb property management services to help. We’re here to talk about some of the pros and cons of using these services so you can decide what’s right for you.
Read on to learn more.
Benefits of Airbnb Property Management Services
So why would someone want to invest in Airbnb property management when they could just as easily do everything on their own? After all, running an Airbnb when you’re only renting out a single room is a breeze.
For people who are living in the homes that they’re renting out (which was the original intention of the Airbnb app), they likely don’t need anyone to help. Managing the rental is no more difficult than maintaining their home.
If not, it can be a lot of work to keep everything looking nice and ready for visitors. Having a full-time Airbnb vacation rental that you don’t live in isn’t too dissimilar from running a traditional rental property. Here are a few reasons that someone would hire an Airbnb property manager.
Someone Else Communicates With Vacationers
If you’re someone who doesn’t enjoy the social aspect of running an Airbnb, it can be grueling. You have to communicate with visitors so you can let them into the home and respond to their questions and requests, but this is more taxing than it seems.
People who work full-time or who live in different time zones from their properties may not have the time to respond to their potential visitors right away. Slow response times can cause visitors to go elsewhere instead.
When you hire a property management company for your Airbnb, you don’t have to worry about this. There’s a property manager available to help your visitors when they need it.
They’ll also arrange the stay in the first place and handle any potential requests.
Hosts Don’t Have to Arrange Anything Post-Stay
When your visitors leave your Airbnb, you have to get it ready for the next visitors. If there’s too much downtime, that’s time you could otherwise have spent making money.
Your Airbnb property manager can take care of the work for you. They’ll arrange for someone to clean the property so the next guest will have a clean and tidy space to stay in. They can also help with maintenance if necessary.
Hosts May Get Better Reviews
Getting good reviews on Airbnb is essential if you want to be successful. Most people are happy with the bare minimum in a standard Airbnb, but if you’re advertising your Airbnb as a luxury experience that’s better than a hotel room (and pricing it to match), you need to make sure that it meets all expectations.
Having a professional property management team available to take care of cleaning, maintenance, and quick communication is a great way to ensure that you have a good chance of getting great reviews.
Great reviews mean more renters! More renters mean more income. Find more here.
Management Companies Can Advertise Rentals
Speaking of getting more renters, a management company can help with that. They’ll help you market your property so more people see it.
In most major cities, there are countless Airbnbs to choose from. You want to market yours well enough that it competes with the rest.
Cons of Airbnb Property Management Services
So why wouldn’t someone want to hire Airbnb property management services?
As we mentioned before, DIY Airbnb management is fairly easy for people who are using Airbnb to fill empty rooms in their homes or even in-law suites on the property. Managing a single rental is a breeze.
Even people with larger properties may think twice before using a property manager. Here are a few reasons that people would prefer to do things on their own.
Hosts Have Less Control
This is often the primary reason hosts prefer to do things independently instead of using a property manager. When they run their own Airbnb property, they get complete control over what they do with it.
Airbnb property managers will take the host’s input into consideration, but their primary goal is to make the property as profitable as possible. Sometimes that may mean lowering rates instead of allowing vacancies when a host would prefer a vacancy or finding a more affordable (and potentially lower-quality) cleaning service after each stay.
A host wants to protect their investment. If that means that they’re responsible for the entire thing, so be it.
DIY hosting also allows hosts to keep their prices, calendars and more flexible. If they want to make a change, they don’t need to confirm it with a property manager.
Hosts Might Make Less Money
This is a possibility, but it’s not always the case. It really depends on the quality of the property manager and the host’s ability to manage the property on their own.
Because hosts pay property managers a percentage of the fee from the Airbnb, they make less money per stay. For hosts that consistently have happy visitors, it doesn’t make sense to pay someone else for help.
For hosts who are struggling to get visitors, it’s possible that having a property manager will make them more money.
Those Are the Pros and Cons of Airbnb Property Management Services
There are plenty of benefits and downsides to hiring Airbnb property management services. At the end of the day, the decision depends on whether or not the host is comfortable handling the Airbnb on their own.
Hiring a professional to take care of maintenance, marketing, and communication may save you money if you’re struggling to keep up. Is it right for you?
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