How to choose a holiday rental property management agency

Holiday Rental Property Management Choices

One of the most difficult tasks any property owner must face once they have decided to turn their property into a holiday rental home is what company to use for the ongoing property management.

Types Of Holiday Rental Property Management

The choices that property owners have when it comes to holiday rental property management on the NSW South Coast is typically;

1. Self managed property management;A homeowner will take care of everything from managing bookings, dealing directly with clients, organising property access, any issues during the rental period, cleaning or property preparation as well as ongoing maintenance.If you are lucky you live locally which makes all those steps a little bit easier to manage but it becomes more difficult when further distances are involved as you then have to engage with local contractors and hope they deliver the right levels of service for your property.What many property owners don’t factor in for this style of management is that while they save on management fees they don’t sit down and consider the cost to them as far as time, stress & anxiety is concerned. Even simple things like keeping up with the current laws can be difficult, therefore it can become a false economy in some situations.
2. Real estate agent property management;For most locations on the NSW South Coast and other popular holiday destinations there will be a wide selection of local real estate agent companies who offer a mix of property sales, regular rental properties & manage holiday rental accommodation as part of their overall range of services.The challenge with using a real estate agent is that your property can then become just one of hundreds of properties being managed so you don’t receive the personal attention you require to maximise your rental returns.It is pretty common for property owners to use real estate agents without realising the rental revenue they are missing out on. A real estate agent is simply filling its books with as many properties as possible to amortise their staff costs, they normally don’t put any extra effort to create a holiday house rental that delivers an incredible experience.In fact their business model is based on spending as little time as possible doing any management so they can maximise their profits. So for a property owner that wants to maximise their holiday rental returns this can be counter intuitive as you are simply treated the same as any other property being managed by the real estate agent.
3. Specialist holiday rental property management;Using a specialist holiday rental property management company like Supercalla Luxury Properties creates an opportunity for a property owner to be part of a small collection of properties that are given individual care & consideration.It means your holiday rental is given end to end management that creates a holiday destination that is presented as a unique brand & location. Everything from the photography, styling and how the property is presented is elevated to attract high quality holiday makers that are used to staying in luxury accommodation.This level of differentiation is what can create opportunities for higher rental returns, high occupancy rates & the ability to have 1 on 1 conversations with either Rob or I about how we can develop your property’s profile over time.

So rather than being on someone’s list of five hundred other properties that are being ticked off a list you get personalised holiday rental property management from two locals that Rob grew up in the Southern Highlands and I grew up in Jervis Bay but moved to Sydney for careers. We have operated our own holiday rental for the last 4 years but we only moved down in the last 12 months

Can Property Managers Deliver Hospitality

Thinking about most of the holiday rental experiences we have had, you turn up to the property & find a key hidden in a box or maybe have to go to the local office to pick it up. That’s it. It is a cold, heartless experience.

What most property managers don’t do is think about the guest experience from start to finish. Supercalla has a laser like focus on delivering good ol fashioned hospitality. Yes, the word hospitality isn’t typically mentioned when it comes to holiday rental accommodation but that is where we take the time to understand our guests so we can deliver a first class, personalised experience for them.

This delivers a better outcome for property owners so they can get better returns from their investment.

Tips For Selecting a Holiday Rental Property Manager

Many property owners we have spoken to simply don’t spend the right amount of time needed to find the right property manager for holiday rental. Here are some of the key things that should be thought about;

Is the property manager local?
The use of the internet makes it entirely possible to rent a property in Kiama by using a property management company that is based in Sydney. Although that doesn’t mean it is the smartest choice. If you use a local south coast property management company they will have a much better level of knowledge of the local area including relationships with local trades, the best way to present your property, changes happening in the local community and more. All of these things can make a big difference to how well your holiday rental is presented.

How many rentals per staff member do they manage?
A lot of property managers either are too afraid to ask this question or don’t even think about it. From the outside it might look like the property management company has a great team with lots of happy smiles in their profile photos, although what you can’t see is whether that company has 10 properties per staff member or 1,000. So ask the question, this can help determine how much time might be allocated to your property.

Do they have any reviews?
A quick Google of their company name will lead you to see what reviews you can find (if any) on their Google My Business profile, Facebook or even sites like productreview.com.au or wordofmouth.com.au. Skip past all the positive reviews & look at some of the ones that are less than 5 out of 5 to see what other clients have said and how that property management company handled the feedback. It shows you what their approach is like.

What is the range of services they offer?
If you skip past all the glossy brochures and promises, what is it that they will actually do on a regular basis and how extensive are those services. So for example does the monthly management fee just cover the absolute basics or is there time spent on development as well?

A low cost holiday rental property management company might not be the wisest choice if your rental is vacant for 50% of the year because no other development work has been done to keep it rented regularly. So the cheap management fees become a false economy.

What is the style & quality of their portfolio
If the mix of rentals they offer is spread across units and houses with just a small proportion of holiday rentals they you have to really consider how well they will be able to manage your holiday home as part of that mix.

The benefit that a luxury holiday rental specialist provides in this type of situation is 100% focus on holiday rentals without the distractions of driving property sales or dealing with regular rental properties.

Put an enquiry through, what is their communication like?
Does it feel generic like cut and paste responses or is it personal, relevant and contextual? If you get very generic responses you can quickly get an idea of how they deal with all their other properties.

Questions To Ask A Rental property Manager

If you really want to test the conviction of the property management company then ask some of these questions & keep in mind who you might be dealing with, is it a 20-something in their first job or is it an experienced property manager that has been in the industry for many years?

• Is there a dedicated team for holiday rental property management listings?

• What are your qualifications? How experienced or knowledgable are the people that will manage your property?

• Is the director / owner of the agency involved in day to day operations?

• How many properties do you manage as a company? Size isn’t everything but it will help provide an indication of the time that can be devoted to managing your property.

• How many properties are allocated to each manager within the company? This will provide an indication if their managers have too many properties to look after.

• What is their commitment to best practice & can they demonstrate this?

• What differentiates their service to other agencies? For example, what marketing strategies will they use to attract potential tenants to your property?

• Will there be one point of contact with the agency?

• How do you determine a suitable rental amount?

• How will repairs and maintenance be handled & what are some of the trades used?

• How often will they inspect the property?

• How often will they contact you about the property?

• What systems are in place to easily track things like rental returns, costs, fees etc?

• Do they have hospitality experience?

• Do they operate their own holiday property? i.e does this company have skin in the game so to speak?

Supercalla Luxury Properties is a NSW South Coast holiday rental property management specialist that has been created for the specific purpose of managing luxury rental properties in the region. We live locally, own properties in the region that we rent ourselves & have life long careers spent in delivering premium services.

We know that choosing a property management company can be difficult but our personalised, 1 on 1 service, is aimed at making it simple for anyone who owns a property on the south coast, whether it is in the Kangaroo Valley hinterland or the beachfront in Vincentia, to turn it into premium holiday rental accommodation.