Multiple Properties-Best Practices? Individual Sign-Ins?

Question

I have been doing so well with my Big Bear property others have asked me to manage their online bookings. Is the only way to do simply having them sign up on AirBnB, FlipKey, VRBO and giving me the log ins? Or is there a way to merge so they can still get payments but I can manage from the app without having to log on and off of that app based on whose property I am trying to manage.

Seems like the easiest way is to set it up all under my company name, but some owners don't want that as they then lose all the reviews if they decide to do this themselves- and renters seem to like renting from individuals rather than companies.

Would love to hear thoughts and experiences on this.

Blair Russell · Answer

@Mike R.

On Airbnb you can direct payments from different properties to different accounts/split payments/etc.. They have a lot of payment routing settings so you could in theory  direct 10% (or whatever you would charge) from each booking to your own account and the other 90 to the owner.

Lynn Burson · Answer

@Mike R. you are 100% correct!  As you scale up and take new clients you will quickly notice different views, quality,... with VRs that clash with your concept.

Its RE with a large amount of a hospitality component that many owners seem to over look / ignore.

Mike R. · Answer

I'd like to list it under my boutique rental company, as that helps build my brand, but the problem I can see- if owners don't listen to suggestions like buying better towels or buying a bigger dining table- then my company gets the bad review... So it can backfire for sure.

Lynn Burson · Answer

During the good old days owners and PMs could transfer accounts and keep the reviews,... but a few years ago VRBO, HA,... changed this policy for several reasons.

As previously mention we have to log into each house unless it was set up in the beginning under one account.  Also, at least two emails & text messages can be directed to different individuals.

Many owners complained directly & on the HA message board but nothing changed.  Some people like renting from the owner/individual but some feel safer with a PM/boutique rental company.

Waverly Rennie · Answer

that's how I did it when I was using a PM for one property- the PM got the texts and emails and just logged in to my account. VRBO accepted to have two email addresses so I was copied on all correspondence, which I very much liked. AirBnB wouldn't accept more than one email address which meant I couldn't stay in the loop unless I went to the AirBnB inbox. Recently I just took over management and changed the email address back to mine, and the advantage is that means I got to keep my reviews etc. My PM used the same system with a few other properties he managed for various owners- just logged in under their accounts.

Mike R. · Answer

Thanks Patrick, I talked to AirBnB- same thing- all you can do is have the owner sign up for their own account and then log in and out of the app thru all the different owners. Real pain.

Patrick V. · Answer

I've complained about this issue to HomeAway for a long time. It makes things very difficult for property managers trying to onboard new clients. An owner already has a listing and reviews and may have paid for a subscription. HomeAway wipes all that out when you take that owner in as a client and list them under your property mgmt company. It's just awful and I've told them so. My understanding is they are in no hurry to do anything to rectify it either.