Property Management
Should I Hire a Property Manager for My STR Property?
Hire a property manager or manage my rental myself? Find out how both options work so you can make an informed decision based on your situation.
Owning a vacation rental property can be an excellent source of income, but managing it requires time, effort, and consistent focus. From guest communication, turnover cleanings, and maintenance to setting prices and marketing, the responsibilities are endless.
So once you list your property on Airbnb or Vrbo, you may start wondering, “Should I hire a property manager for my short-term rental or handle it all on my own?” Choosing the right path is a big decision that will affect how much money you can make and how much time you will spend running your rental.
So, is hiring a property manager worth it, and do you really need a pro to succeed? Let’s find out.
Should I Hire a Property Manager or Self-Manage My Property?
New hosts who are running a vacation rental may consider it an easy, low-effort way to earn passive income. The reality is that vacation rental management requires commitment and involves juggling multiple daily tasks that can consume significant time, leaving you feeling consistently stressed.
Fortunately, you have options on how you’d like to manage your STR property, so you can choose a solution that fits your needs and lifestyle:
You can hire a professional property manager to oversee your rental on your behalf so you can enjoy your passive income. But you’ll have less control over the day-to-day decisions and operations, and you’ll have to pay recurring management fees.
You may opt to self-manage your vacation rental and automate repetitive daily tasks using short-term rental property management software to save time. Going the DIY route allows you to keep more revenue in your pocket and gives you full control over how your property is run, but it requires some of your time.
All-in-one property management software like Hospitable can help you streamline routine operations and minimize your workload so you can focus on other priorities.
Hiring a property manager
Property managers handle a wide range of daily tasks involved in running rental properties on behalf of property owners. They take care of everything so you don’t have to.
Key responsibilities of STR property managers typically include:
Creating and optimizing property listings on major OTAs like Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com
Strategically pricing your property to get more bookings and maximize revenue
Managing bookings and cancellations, coordinating check-ins and checkouts
Screening guests, drafting the short-term rental agreements, and managing security deposits
Handling communications with guests from initial inquiries and bookings to check-in and providing customer support during their stay
Coordinating turnover cleanings, scheduling regular maintenance, and addressing any urgent repair requests promptly
Managing online reviews
Hiring a property manager to handle the day-to-day management of your rental property allows you to take a hands-free approach. But this service comes at a price. Property managers charge a fee, typically a percentage of income. These extra costs can reduce your profits.
So if you own only a single short-term rental, hiring a property manager is worth it if you view your property purely as an investment and prioritize passive income. Still, you can easily self-manage your rental, even remotely, by streamlining routine operations with a good PMS and hiring reliable local cleaners.
As your rental property portfolio grows, the logistical challenges can multiply, and handling everything yourself can become overwhelming. So if you want to scale and be 100% hands-off, hiring a property manager to oversee daily operations might be the right strategy.
An experienced professional can ensure smooth operations across your property portfolio and a memorable experience for your guests. However, it’s important to take your time and find a property manager who matches your needs and is skilled in navigating competitive STR markets.
Hospitable can help you skip endless searches and find a perfect fit for your rentals. We can connect you with top-performing property managers in your area so you can choose confidently.
How to keep self-managing while growing your portfolio
If you don’t want to hand things over to a property manager, a good strategy is to use technology to automate property management and delegate only specific tasks, like hiring someone for “boots on the ground” emergencies if you’re not local. For example, managing 3 rentals can feel like a part-time job, but you can use vacation rental software to handle repetitive tasks that can be automated and hire a co-host to help you with some tasks for a lower fee.
And while managing 5+ short-term rentals requires significant time and can be challenging, especially if you have a full-time job, if you want to maintain higher margins and are ready to put in some effort, it’s quite possible to self-manage your properties if you choose a PMS with a comprehensive set of features like Hospitable.
Our STR super app allows you to automate 90% of property management tasks with the help of AI and put your business on autopilot. Let’s briefly overview the key advantages of Hospitable that make self-management easier, saving you many hours every week.
Hospitable allows you to ensure consistent communication with your guests across all touchpoints of their journey.
You can create message templates and schedule sending automatic messages based on the key moments of the guest journey or days of the week to provide your guests with the necessary information for their stay at the right time.
You can use AI tools available in your Inbox to quickly generate detailed, personalized responses to guest messages based on booking data, previous replies, and any information you’ve uploaded to the Knowledge Hub to educate the AI about your properties.
You can opt for a fully automated AI Inbox and let the AI respond to your guests automatically without your review when you’re not online or even 24/7.
Our system allows you to automate assigning tasks to your cleaners based on your booking schedule. We’ll notify your cleaners about upcoming jobs via SMS or email on time. You can also opt for automatic Marketplace Cleanings, and we’ll source the cleaner for you through our partner's network of cleaners.
You’ll be able to use Hospitable’s built-in Dynamic Pricing, which is included on Host, Professional, and Mogul plans, saving you money on third-party dynamic pricing tools. You can activate this feature for some or all of your properties, and our system will automatically adjust your nightly rates based on the real-time market conditions and your strategy to maximize revenue and optimize occupancy.
With Hospitable, you can list your properties on multiple channels without worrying about juggling calendars, messaging, and cleaners across bookings. You‘ll be able to manage listings on all your connected platforms from a single centralized dashboard.
As a channel manager, Hospitable will protect your listings on major OTAs, including Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Agoda, and Google Vacation Rentals, from double bookings with instant calendar sync. You’ll also be able to use iCal imports to sync bookings from niche platforms like Expedia or HipCamp, while taking advantage of Hospitable automations and AI features.
Hospitable manages smart devices to help you offer your guests automated self-check-ins and optimize energy use in your properties between bookings. If you connect the supported smart locks and smart thermostats to your account, Hospitable will sync them with bookings.
Our system will create a unique door code for each new reservation and share it with your guests before check-in. Hospitable will also automatically adjust your smart thermostat settings based on your booking schedule to ensure a comfortable temperature for your guests and help you save on utility bills.
Hospitable will help you minimize the risk of dealing with troublesome guests and protect your properties from damage. You can create templated short-term rental agreements, and Hospitable will automatically populate them with guest and booking data and send them to your guests for signature. You can also add the Hospitable automated security deposit to any of your properties, and we’ll automatically collect and release it to your guests.
Final Thought
So, should you hire a property manager or manage your rental yourself? Deciding whether to self-manage your vacation rental or hire a property manager depends on your situation, priorities, business goals, budget, and how hands-on you want to be. If you enjoy hosting, want to maximize your revenue, and have the time, skills, systems, and automations necessary to do the work yourself effectively, self-management can work well.
But if you have limited time and managing the day-to-day operations becomes overwhelming, or you value convenience and want to get passive income, hiring a property manager might be the right strategy. It allows you to free up your valuable time and enjoy the income without stress.
