Question about managing property for another homeowner

I own a property that is listed on Airbnb and I manage another property for someone else. The homeowner wants access to the Airbnb account so he can keep up with the calendar and be informed about guests, etc. Questions I have about this for those who manage other properties:

  1. How do I give him access to Airbnb for his property without letting him access my personal listing and my travel I do through Airbnb?
  2. What issues have you had with owners having access to the information when you are the property manager?

Thanks for your reply!

You can make him a co-host for his property that you listed for him, and this way he can view the calendar. As a co-host he would not have access to your personal travel information.

Thank you so much! I wondered about a couple-host. Just don’t want him having access to my personal Airbnb property information. Have a good day!

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You should have the listing for the property you manage set up in the host’s name and yourself added as the co-host. This is the best way for it to be set up for the host as they retain the ratings and stars. @Jodmey

In which case you can be added as the co-host.

This means they have full access to their calendar, payments etc.

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Thank you for your reply. I’m listed as the host because I’m already a superhost with the ratings and the experience. He lives out of state and will not be involved in the managing of the property. But I just learned I can add him as a co-host

I agree, the property owner should always be the listing owner. We see a lot of posts where this is not the case and it can be a mess for both the owner and the property manager.

The property manager should be a co-host, but should also be designated as the primary host.

See this article

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If you have any kind of falling out with each other, that setup can end badly for you and for the owner. If he doesn’t maintain the property, then you get stuck with bad reviews. If he decides to use another property manager, the listing doesn’t even belong to him.

The above two statements are 100% conflicting.

They sort of are, but it sounds to me like the owner just wants to see what’s going on, not be actively involved in any of it.

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Own the listing, own the business. He can’t dump you so easily if he wants a cheaper manager or you wan’t to renegotiate your terms later on. Half the dorks on this forum couldn’t run a cannoli stand in NYC in the middle of a famine.

Thus speaks the self-opinionated, self-appointed deity.

Why post on this forum if your opinion of people here is so low? Would your life not be simpler if you found somewhere more accepting of your arrogance?

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Seems pretty clear which half you fall into

:stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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we manage more than one property for owners, like yours, who don’t to be involved in the day-to-day operations (grunt work).
My advice is to keep the listing under your account. If he wants to garner the benefits of your superhost status and do none of the back and forth with the guest and Air, then I believe you should get the reviews for that property on your account!
If you’re a superhost now, then you know what to do to maintain that status. Should be relatively easy (depending on the condition of his house, of course).
But you will do all the work to set up the house at the beginning and maintain the house down the line. AND you’re dealing with the guests and Air directly.

If the listing is in his name, then you do all that work and he can later take over the listing, or bring in a different manager, and you’re left out to dry.

Also, if he wants to know about the guests (like via your conversations with them on the Air dashboard) that will definitely bite you in the butt later. You don’t need to hear his opinions on how you’re handling a particular guest; or hear his questions about kids, dogs, whatever, when you’ve got it all under control; and you certainly don’t want him to enter a conversation you’re having with a guest - which I believe he can do as a co-host.

In the end, it’s in his best interest if he takes a back seat, lets you do your job, and then enjoys the deposits to his account and the benefits to his tax filings (for which he did no actual work).

As you know, there’s some real work involved managing a vacation rental. I think you should not be hindered by a third party - the guest and Air are quite enough! :slight_smile:

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Thank you for your reply. Theses are my thoughts exactly. He has already used a national company for management so is used to turning over control. But he wants a local person who can keep an eye on the property and who knows the area. I’m the one putting in all the work, energy, and time into it so I feel i should maintain the listing and the benefits of the positive reviews. He wants to have some information like what the calendar looks like and the bookings coming up. Probably to just know. I would if I was in his shoes. But I don’t want him to have interaction with the guests. If I make him a co-host I’ll just need to be clear that all communication needs to come through me. But not thrilled about him “looking over my shoulder” so to speak, and I don’t want him stepping into the conversations.

That’s not a good enough reason to do your client a dis-service by putting the listing in your name, so they lose all the ratings and reviews if they decide they no longer want to work with you.

Superhost status is pretty easy to get so they can soon have this for themselves within 10 or so bookings if you are managing their listing properly.

They can, as you know still benefit from your experience, if they had the listing under their own profile.

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Exactly.

And…

he can always look at the calendar of his property on Air to see what’s going on.

And you can always shoot him an email when there is a confirmed booking. (We do this with all our bookings for that very reason – so the owner knows what’s going on at their home and when.)

If you do those two things you won’t have to make him a co-host where he can stick his nose into everything. (that’s very rocky territory… we’ve been there and, trust me you don’t want an owner, as you correctly said, over your shoulder!)

Stick to your guns. It’s not worth it if you are hindered at every turn and can’t even do your job.

Another reason to keep the listing in your name is that the rental proceeds will go into your account. If you have to be reimbursed for supplies for the house (dish soap, toilet paper, etc.) then you can deduct it from what you pay him.

No waiting around for him to remember to pay you.

Piece of advice. Clearly lay out what your responsibilities are. Like you’re responsible for the rental process only. You’re not responsible for caretaking of the house like lawn mowing, trash pickup or cleaning the gutters. Unless you need to be… at an additional charge of course!

All the best,

Jason

Pine Hollow Lodging

Vacation Rentals In The Catskill Mountains

845-586-1433

http://www.pinehollowlodging.com/

Join us on Instagram and Facebook!

Wow so glad with that sort of arrogant attitude towards your host clients that you don’t act as a co-host for my Airbnb business. @pinehollowlodging

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well… I’m sorry you see it that way. We feel that it’s not arrogance as much as we’re running our business without having to check in every time we change a light bulb or give someone free early arrival for being a five time repeat renter.

And, as FYI, we’re not keeping owners out of the system. We update them all the time. It just slows down the working gears of the rental process when there are too many cooks in the kitchen. We know… we tried it once years ago.

This has worked for us for 16 years and all our owners have been happy with the results.

If you’re OK with someone being a co-host and entering your conversations with your guests, perhaps communicating directly with the guest, and maybe giving you and your guest their opinions (which may or may not be the same as yours), etc., that is certainly your prerogative. That’s just not a model that we can use, managing many properties at a time.

If you have a different way to address the poster’s question, I’m sure they’d be happy to hear it. I’m sure we’d all benefit from reading a variety of experiences.

As I understand it, that’s the way this forum is designed and how it works best. People ask questions. Then other people with experience, ideas, and suggestions share that with the person who posted the question.

It has certainly worked for us when we asked for help, ideas, and experiences.

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Can you either play nicely or just go away?

I think too that it would be a good idea to change your ridiculous user-name. It’s the sort of user name that a twelve year old would choose.

In addition, I have no idea about the religious preferences of most of the members here but nevertheless, I imagine that there are some members and readers who find it offensive when coupled with your attitude.

Thank you.

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If you read my earlier posts, you would have seen I have already provided a solution to the OP’s question. @pinehollowlodging :slight_smile:

The vast majority of co-hosts and hosts use Airbnb in the way it is designed ; which is to have the listing set up in the hosts name with the co-host added as either the main host or co-host.

It works absolutely fine. Only someone incompetent at running their business would not agree in advance who responds to guests queries. I co-host a property in London, deal with all guest queries - never had a problem in four years.

You are suggesting problems that don’t exist, because you would rather build up your clients reviews and ratings under your own business.

Do you advise your clients that if they want to move away from using your services that they will lose all the reviews and ratings if they don’t want to use your company any more BEFORE they sign up to work with you?

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…or you could just put him in purgatory…

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