Ever wondered what your property management fees actually cover?
Whilst our business cards and email signatures may suggest only a single job title; the reality is that we wear multiple hats and take on several different roles throughout the day.
Good property management is about maximising what a property owner can earn from a property while minimising the risk, meaning a good one is worth their weight in gold.
How are we as property managers able to ensure that we are continuing to maximize profitability for our portfolio of clients without losing our sanity to the stress of a never-ending day job?
The answer is discipline and adherence to core property management principles.
High-performing property managers remain committed to core principles which enable us to navigate many responsibilities as well as the challenges that we get thrown our way each and every day.
Here are five principles that allow property managers to thrive and get outstanding results for their property owners.
Presence
The first step is understanding the importance of maximizing exposure for the holiday listings that we manage.
The best property manager amounts to nothing if we have no properties to manage. The quickest and easiest way to secure a constant stream of bookings is simply to maximize the chances of your properties getting found in the first place.
There are plenty of booking sites and Online Travel Agencies, and they are only growing, so this represents both a challenge and an opportunity: If this is not managed effectively, listing on too many sites can and will run the risk of spreading us too thin.
Becoming consumed by the excessive admin involved in managing multiple listings across multiple platforms is a real risk. If managed correctly, listing on multiple sites, but not too many will open the property manager up to thousands of more travelers, eager to book the properties we manage.
With the assistance of technologies and tools we can transform the complexities of our portfolio into the simplicity of a centralized management platform.
And the best tool for doing this is a channel manager that enables us to manage multiple accounts across multiple platforms with simplicity and ease.
Efficiency
Short-term rental property managers simply don’t have the luxury of completing any task in anything less than the most efficient way. To achieve these goals, we are dependent upon the technologies and tools that we implement into our businesses.
We need to take advantage of new and innovative automation tools that allows us to put many of our daily tasks on auto-pilot, without compromising the quality of our outputs or the standard of our service.
Whether it be guest communications, daily pricing or leaving guest reviews, many of these “repetitive” tasks can not only be replaced by cutting-edge technologies, but actually enhanced by them too.
Responsiveness
Maintaining happy guests is a critical factor for sustainably managing a portfolio of properties. The minute this disappears, the portfolio will fall like a sack of potatoes.
The most effective way to demonstrate the attention and dedication to our guests is to remain responsive to their every want and need 9 within reason). Guests come in all shapes and sizes, but they ultimately share the same expectation that we will provide quick answers to their questions or pleasing resolutions to their issues. This is a challenge at times.
Guest Vetting is time consuming, and we must ensure that we communicate using the preferred communication channels of your respective guests. Finding a solution that accommodates the various communication preferences of our different guest types, can be complexing to navigate multiple communication platforms. Very difficult when the guest is not to be reached, and their response rate seems to be zero.
Dynamic
As any high performing property manager, we can confirm that effective property management is just as much a mindset as it is an activity. And the reality is that good short-term property management is a 24/7 job, all year round.
Fortunately, technological progress has freed us as property managers from the limitations of a physical office or a defined location. (Thank Goodness or this would be impossible)
Whether we are communicating with guests, trades people, updating our calendars, owners, body corporates or liaising with cleaners; high-performing property managers operate dynamically and on-the-go, without being set back or constrained by our physical location.
Continuos Improvement
Successful property managers live by an ethics of continuous improvement.
We utilize the years of hosting experience to create great experiences for our guests as well as profitable outcomes for you, our clients.
To continuously produce these outcomes, we adopt a data-driven, evidence-based approach to decision-making. We understand that you can’t improve what you can’t measure. Andreas is our numbers expert and we are very fortunate to have him a apart of the GrowHost Team.
We relentlessly validate our performance using reporting insights that illuminate where they’re doing well, as well as where there might be room to do better. With nowhere to hide, we set ourselves on a track of continuous improvement, and create transparency for our clients that we represent.
Andreas ensures that he incorporates the latest and greatest reporting tools and analytics that shine a spotlight on our hard work and dedication, and create a roadmap for continually stepping up our property management game.
What Does a Typical Day Look Like?
So with the above said this is just some of the things we do each day….
- We oversee the daily business operations of dwellings and life cycle of guests
- Advertising through email campaigns, social media, OTA’s, Visit Sunshine Coast platform
- Collecting rent
- Screening guests
- Organising maintenance and repairs often doing this ourselves to limit your expense
- Owners are kept well informed
- Managing Reservations, cancellations and booking alterations
- Revenue management, inventory and rates, market comparisons
- Guest vetting can be very consuming in time both through email, phone, on line chats, reviews and personal contact.
- Daily housekeeping operations & rosters
- Moving furniture, replacing furniture
- Filling up gas bottles
- Ordering linen, amenities
- Website up dates
- Follow leads, Chase business & events
- Monthly Newsletters and a personalised revenue forecast is produced for you
- Trust accounting and compliance
- Paying Bills
- Shopping for an installing unit items
Just to name a few 🙂
Many, many things each and every day and the dynamics of each day change 24/7
So YES, property management is not easy, dedication to our job is 24/7, but hey we wouldn’t change a thing!
How Can GrowHOST Help?
We are a property management company that specialises in short-term rentals, and we have a team of experienced professionals who can take care of everything for you. From listing your property and handling guest enquiries to managing cleaning services and maintaining the property, we will take care of everything.
In addition, our service is designed to help you maximise your earnings and grow your business.
With GrowHOST, you can start an Airbnb business with ease. If you would like to enquire about how we can help you set up your Airbnb for success, get in touch today.
