8 Steps to Manage Your Vacation Rentals Disaster-Free (+ Get Better Reviews)

As a vacation rental owner, your plate is always more than full. You have to manage multiple listings, respond promptly to guest queries, manually update and align your booking calendars, oversee all your own marketing, and supervise property maintenance—all while scaling your revenue. 

If this seems overwhelming, you’re not alone. 

Running a vacation rental takes a lot of strategic planning and constant action. You have to stay on top of distribution channels, operational processes, and multiple factors in between to deliver a flawless guest experience. 

But it doesn’t have to be that complicated. If you’ve decided to be your own property manager and do all the heavy lifting yourself, this article will eliminate all the guesswork. We’ll share eight proven steps to master hassle-free rental management. 

Let’s get into it!

It’s a huge task to manage your vacation rentals on your own. Team up with Jetstream for 24/7 guest communications, seamless channel distribution, and 100% less hassle. Book a demo

Table of contents

• What are the benefits of vacation rentals?
• How do I manage my short-term vacation rental?
• What are the steps to managing a vacation rental property?
• Should you do your own property management?

What are the benefits of vacation rentals?

So, you’ve got an empty property and you’re not sure what to do with it. Maybe you’re considering renting it long-term, but short-term vacation rentals come with their fair share of benefits. 

Here are the four most popular perks you can get from vacation rentals:

• Higher financial payoff. Unlike long-term rentals, a vacation property gives you the advantage of dynamic pricing. That means you can hike the prices during peak seasons and maximize your revenue. 
• Flexible for personal use. A short-term rental comes with the freedom to book time for yourself. So, on top of bringing revenue, your vacation rental also offers the comfort of a short stay anytime. You can easily plan a trip at your property and adjust the availability calendar to avoid bookings during your trip. 
• Better tax breaks. Short-term rental owners can get tax deductions for their property, including charges for cleaning and maintenance, utilities, and insurance. These tax breaks differ for every state and country. So, check the laws applicable in your local market and minimize your tax payoffs to save more. 
• Minimal wear and tear. An underrated benefit of owning a vacation rental is the low cost of fixing wear and tear. Since the average stay is only a few days or weeks, the chances of a big mishap are significantly low. You can further reduce this expense with a foolproof guest screening process and house rules. 

While long-term rentals promise a stable cash flow, vacation rentals offer greater flexibility and better profits. If you have the time to run with the ball and manage your property, the financial payoffs can be even higher. 

How do I manage my short-term vacation rental?

Put simply, you can manage your short-term vacation rental property in two ways:

• Hire a property manager or management company
• Be your own property manager and do it yourself

Managing your property yourself allows you to build a brand and creates a personalized experience for your guest. It could even save you money if done right. But, that’s a lot of work, so hiring professionals often seems the easier choice for busy property owners. 

But do you really have time to spend enough time learning how to choose a property manager? And what happens to your business when you relinquish control of your properties to some other company?

If you’re not ready to make that investment—of time or money—we’ve compiled eight steps to help you become a solid property manager. 

Don’t want to hand over your keys to a corporate property management company?
Jetstream takes the pain out of DIY property management. We’re the go-to solution for everything from channel distribution to listing optimization. Book a demo

What are the steps to managing a vacation rental property?

The vacation rental industry promises a steady flow of passive income. If you’re a bit of an entrepreneur, you can even make a scalable business out of it. 

But how do you get started and ensure your efforts don’t end up stressing you out and costing you a fortune?

Here’s our 8-step framework to supercharge your short-term rentals:

1. Get listed

If you dream of a fully booked calendar, channel distribution is the first step to reaching this goal. Without an effective channel distribution strategy, you’re not getting listed on the right online travel agencies (OTAs)—and you’re leaving money on the table for your competitors. 

Channel distribution is about choosing which platforms to get listed and attract bookings. So, instead of depending on one popular channel like Vrbo or Airbnb, you can get more visibility, drive demand, and minimize risk for your rental property with a multi-channel distribution strategy. 

A successful multi-channel distribution strategy includes

• An efficient channel manager. Manage one or more properties across several OTAs through a single dashboard with channel management services from a partner like Jetstream. Get granular insights into all your property listings with detailed reports to make data-informed decisions. 
• Listing audits. Periodically review your online listings across all channels to ensure they are properly visible and provide all the latest information. This is important since OTAs can update their user interface or policies that might affect your listing presentation. 
• Optimizing for revenue. Update your rates and listings by following a full-fledged revenue optimization strategy. This will focus on demand generation through marketing and discounted deals. You have to experiment with various tactics to see what works best for your property. 

You can consistently scale your RevPAR numbers with a robust distribution framework. A partner like Jetstream can bring this strategy into action with its real-time sync technology for managing and marketing on major OTAs like Airbnb, VRBO, Expedia, Booking.com, Google, HomeToGo, and leavetown.com.

Jetstream can get you listed on all the major channels, including your own direct booking website and the niche platforms that suit your target market

It’s a huge task to manage your vacation rentals on your own. Team up with Jetstream for 24/7 guest communications, seamless channel distribution, and 100% less hassle. Book a demo

2. Implement automated check-in and check-out 

The check-in and check-out processes are two of the most underrated aspects of the guest experience. A smooth and convenient check-in process creates a great first impression, setting a pleasant tone for your guest’s stay, and a seamless check-out process finishes off their stay positively. 

But for a vacation rental homeowner, streamlining every inch of check-in and check-out is never easy. What if there was an easy solution to eliminate any friction from these processes? The good news: there is. 

62% of travelers prefer checking in and out via a mobile app. Use this to your advantage by automating the process with contactless check-in software from a company like Operto. The better news? Jetstream integrates with Operto, so you get all the benefits of self-check-in and 24/7 support from a guest-facing team to handle any hiccups.

Getting automated will save you time and effort while giving your customers all the information they need upfront, and more flexibility to plan their arrival and departure. Here’s how:

• Welcome email. Set up an email sequence to welcome guests at the start of their stay. Include details like location map, neighborhood, nearby parking, your contact information, and commute options. Send this email a day before their arrival. 
• Smart lock. Install smart locks to give guests the convenience of entering the property themselves whenever they arrive. Grant access a few hours before their check-in time and let them enter with a simple code. The keyless access feature on Jetstream offers the ease of checking in and out with a one-time passcode delivered to the guests’ phones. 
• Thank you email. As the check-out date approaches, send guests a thank you email giving clear instructions about the check-out process, like a link for them to clear the dues. Make the process as hassle-free as possible, listing a few easy steps to complete the check-out. 

3. Pick a calendar management system

Managing a vacation rental property yourself means you handle marketing and sales, optimize listings and distribution, and oversee guest communication, among tens of other things. 

With so many moving parts in the process, it’s only natural to make an error in updating your booking calendar. But this error can result in double bookings, costing you both money and reputation. 

Enter the calendar management system: a simple solution automatically updating your availability calendar based on bookings across multiple channels. This tool is available as a feature in most vacation rental management software and even as stand-alone apps. 

Here’s how you can benefit from a calendar management tool:

• Prevent double bookings that force guests to cancel and change their plans, potentially spoiling your reputation.
• Centralize operations and stay on top of all your bookings in real-time through a single dashboard instead of manually juggling between platforms. 
• Notify your maintenance staff about all the bookings beforehand to ensure proper cleanliness before every stay. 
• Proactively plan your marketing and sales strategy based on current and projected demand. 

A calendar management system makes life easy for vacation rental owners like you, eliminating the scope for mismanagement and overbooking.

4. Leverage dynamic pricing

For many travelers, booking a stay with you boils down to the pricing. Price is arguably one of the most critical factors in your guest’s decision-making process. So, setting competitive prices is the only way to find the sweet spot between high costs that kill demand and low prices that lose money for you. 

But manually changing your prices to strike this balance anytime demand rises or dips is far too much work for one person. This is where dynamic pricing can be a game-changer. 

Dynamic pricing algorithms measure demand and calculate the best price based on your set parameters. Jetstream’s integration with Wheelhouse intelligently analyzes the market conditions to pick the best price for your property. The tool estimates the nightly rate based on various parameters, like seasonality, events, and demand. 

A dynamic pricing tool helps:

• Maximize revenue by predicting demand and setting high/low prices accordingly
• Make pricing decisions more efficient, saving you the headache of changing prices manually
• Increase occupancy and secure a higher number of bookings to maintain consistency every month
• One-up your competition and gain an edge over them

Let’s understand how dynamic pricing works with an example. 

Your property is often booked out for the weekend. So, the base price is naturally high. Let’s consider that a few holidays will fall in mid-week next month. The demand is projected to be high around that time. Your dynamic pricing tool will factor in this anomaly to raise the prices for that week way before the month even starts. 

5. Automate and manage guest communications

Maintaining seamless communication with your guests is a huge part of managing their expectations. You have to meet them where they are and understand their needs beforehand to deliver a top-notch experience, starting with effortless communication.

Make it easy for guests to reach you even before finalizing a booking. Here are a few ways you can use automation to streamline and step up your guest communication:

• Create FAQs and guides to answer common guest queries with a short response time 
• Make personalized message templates to help guests at every step of the booking process and during their stay 
• Use a property management tool like Jetstream to set up triggers for guest communication, like when they check-in, a day after they’ve checked in, etc.
• Set automated messages for operational purposes like booking confirmation, pre-arrival check-in, and upselling opportunities

Managing guest communication can quickly become overwhelming, especially in the peak season. If done wrong, it can lead to negative reviews and bring down your ratings. So, whether you’re maintaining a single property or multiple, try to automate as many aspects of guest communication as possible.

It’s a huge task to manage your vacation rentals on your own. Team up with Jetstream for 24/7 guest communications, seamless channel distribution, and 100% less hassle. Book a demo

6. Create a guest screening process 

Not every guest will follow house rules and be responsible enough to prevent damage to your property. That’s why it’s important to carefully screen your guests to avoid paying heavy sums for maintenance in the future. 

Let’s look at a few handy tips to make a fail-proof guest screening process:

• Confirm basic details with your guests like how many people will stay, the purpose of their stay, and the contact details for each guest. A short form would work best to collect these details.
• Verify all guest IDs and validate their payment to avoid any scope for fraud. You can also collect a small sum of a security deposit to compensate for any potential damages to your property. 
• Create a rulebook for occasions and festivals, and plan ahead to ensure your property is not compromised when larger groups arrive. 

A robust guest screening process is essential when managing a vacation rental by yourself. Minimize maintenance costs and deliver a positive guest experience by screening your renters beforehand using Jetstream’s intelligent guest screening tech integration with Autohost. You can also use Jetstream to integrate with Superhog and get Host Liability and Damage Protection for each guest to save up on costs. 

7. Hire housekeeping and maintenance team

Cleaning and maintenance are among the biggest logistical challenges for vacation rental owners. You have to coordinate with your guests and cleaning staff to avoid possible clashes in timing. Besides, you also need to clean up your property quickly after one party leaves and before another group arrives. 

Without a professional maintenance team, cleaning can become a problem because guests might leave bad reviews if their cleaning expectations aren’t met, which will ultimately hurt your business. So, hire a housekeeping team to keep your property spick and span. 

Here are a few handy tips to simplify their role:

• Set up standard operating procedures (SOPs) and maintenance standards for your cleaning team.
• Automate cleaning workflows using a property management tool like Jetstream. Streamline your operations by scheduling cleaning hours. 
• Add deep cleans to your schedule and perform safety checks to match the level of cleanliness you promise. 

Your property’s physical condition can make or break your guest’s satisfaction. Get a stunning clean by outsourcing vacation rental cleaning and setting strict standards. 

8. Install a home security system

Vacation rentals are prone to thefts and trespasses, especially if you don’t have onsite staff. Keeping your property secure against security threats should be one of your top priorities as a vacation rental owner. 

A home security system can be the answer to all your security-related worries. It’ll provide real-time updates from your property with 24×7 recording outside the property, motion sensors, noise detectors, and smart locks. You can hire professional services to set up your security system or go for a more affordable do-it-yourself setup. 

This security system will give you regular updates about the happenings within and around your property. 

Should you do your own property management?

So, you know what it takes to manage a vacation rental and the steps you can follow to do it without a vacation rental management company. But should you do your own property management? TL;DR answer: yes. 

Short-term vacation rentals are about personalizing the guest experience—from responding to their pre-booking queries to sending them a welcome basket and several finer details. It’s a lot of work and comes with its fair share of challenges. But all your efforts help build your own brand (instead of your property manager’s) and strengthen your relationship with customers. 

It’s as simple as putting yourself in the driver’s seat to go where you want instead of letting someone else take you where they want to go. 

So, if you have your own direct booking website or already have a cleaning team in place but find the administration side of property management exhausting, go for DIY property management.

On the flip side, when working with a property management company, you hand over your entire property to them. It reduces the heavy lifting for you, but it also shifts the credit to the PMC. They can take a good share of praise and good reviews for your property. Besides, changing property management companies when you’re not satisfied with the services is a huge hassle. 

However, you should outsource your property management responsibilities to a company if you just want to be a silent business owner and stay out of the processes entirely.

Make vacation rental management a breeze

Managing your vacation rental property is no cakewalk. You have to monitor your distribution strategy, leverage marketing tactics, maintain and secure your property, and optimize revenue management—all while improving the guest experience. 

Instead of taking the leap to become your own property manager, consider the time you can commit to your property and carefully assess the efforts it’ll take. Once you’re confident about taking the step, establish your workflows to simplify the management process with a tool like Jetstream.

It’s a huge task to manage your vacation rentals on your own. Team up with Jetstream for 24/7 guest communications, seamless channel distribution, and 100% less hassle. Book a demo

Frequently asked questions about managing vacation rentals

How do you maintain a vacation rental property?

Maintenance is one of the biggest requisites for running a successful vacation rental. Here’s what you can do to maintain it well:

• Block time for property maintenance and avoid any bookings
• Hire a professional cleaning team for high-quality cleaning service
• Conduct a thorough inspection weekly or bimonthly 
• Audit the safety and cleanliness status regularly

You can also make a maintenance manual to document all your property’s cleaning and safety standards.

What is a good profit margin for vacation rentals?

Vacation rentals are profitable, especially during peak travel seasons. A 10% profit margin is excellent for vacation rental owners when starting. 

Knowing your profit margin from the outset is crucial to pricing your bookings and hiring other service providers. Your profit margin denotes the rental income left after deducting the operating costs. 

How do you make a vacation rental property more attractive?

The beauty of privately owned vacation rentals lies in their unique location and decor. But several other factors go into making a property more attractive, including:

• A thematic decor that matches the location’s vibe
• A friction-free booking and stay experience
• Seamless and easily accessible communication avenues
• Personalized services and offers 
• High levels of cleanliness 

Besides these factors, you can also research to pick unique amenities that other rentals in your area don’t offer.