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Post by rubenmak on Oct 8, 2015 4:13:38 GMT
Good day all,
I'm putting my whole flat up for Airbnb and am looking to have a company manage it entirely. I have some concerns which would appreciate any advice.
1. The company works by presenting themselves as host instead of me (they are a super host). I understand this does not help me to build my own profile but apart from that is there any other issue I should be aware of? From Airbnb point of view, who is the beneficiary of payments received from renters?
The company works by receiving payment directly from Airbnb and paying me at the end of the month. Obviously this is less than satisfactory because I then have credit risk and end up financing the company.
2. I understand that Airbnb has a payout routing function which allows specifying the payment accounts and the % that goes to each account. Would anyone know whether, even though the company is listed as host, I as owner of the property can control the payout routing instead of having the management company controlling the payout routing?
3. Does Airbnb distinguish between landlord and host ?
Thanks and regards,
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 8, 2015 5:04:11 GMT
Hi Rubenmak, welcome to the forum. I hope we can help you with this question. What you are essentially seeking to set up, is a company which would function as a property manager for your property. THis is do-able on AIrbnb, and many folks do it. The "host" is the one on whose account the listing appears. THe host account owner can have the payments directed to any bank account they choose, so it can be directed either to your bank account, or theirs. YOu mention payout routing, and this is part of that. I do not believe that you can control the payout routing if you are not the owner of the AIrbnb account used for these listings, because only the owner of any given account can control the settings on that account. As far as distinguishing between landlord and host, or property owner and host, no, Airbnb does not have any way to make that distinction, as far as I am aware. If you look into setting up an Airbnb account and how it is done, there is only one set of personal info that goes on each account. So it could be an account with two people on it, but only one persons' info will go on the account. From the Airbnb point of view, the host whose account has the listing is the one who recieves all payments from the renters. They have no way of knowing whether that person owns the property or not, however, the person who lists a property is representing that they have permission to rent that property. There are several people in our community who are property managers, and I just sent a message to one of them and will see if she can provide some advice. But do try calling Airbnb at 1-855-424-7262 if you are in the USA (I believe they are available 24/7) or use the method mentioned here globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/707/phone-number-contact-airbnb-areasTo find the phone number to call in other areas if you live elsewhere. You might find some answers to some of your questions in the AIrbnb terms of service, here: www.airbnb.com/terms |
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Post by fleur on Oct 8, 2015 5:13:47 GMT
Why aren't you doing the management yourself? Is there a reason?
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Post by jvo on Oct 8, 2015 5:19:10 GMT
This is all pretty far afield from the original intent of AirBNB, since you are at arms-length as a host, or even worse, at double-arms-length (since you aren't even screening the guests). I predict a not-so-good outcome in terms of guest satisfaction and in terms of both you and the management company being unhappy with your pieces of the AirBNB pie. Perhaps you should just find a long-term tenant.
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Post by carolyn on Oct 8, 2015 5:30:51 GMT
Hi Rubenmak, I agree with jvo's point: you won't be screening guests, and that could backfire in terms of the care of your property. Can you reconsider and manage it yourself? If you'll be using Airbnb as a traveler OR host, you'll want to build a good profile with positive reviews. Also, you won't have control of the money if you're not listed as the host. Do you trust this other person?
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 8, 2015 5:31:04 GMT
I have a friend who is a host, both for her own property where she has guests, and she is also the property manager for about 4 other properties owned by others where she hosts guests. THis works very well for the property owners she works for, but she is an excellent, very responsible person and property manager, and she's just a one - person operation, not a large company, which I think is likely to work better. IF you do go this route I think you want to have a very good person, someone friendly and host-like, rather than a situation which will feel to the guest like renting from a large real estate company.
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 8, 2015 5:47:30 GMT
Also, another thing to consider --- if it were my property, I wouldn't want someone else having an account controlling that property and receiving all money for it and telling me when I would get paid for rentals. I would prefer it be done in reverse -- you are the one who gets all the money initially for the property, and then you decide when your property management company gets paid. AMong other things to be concerned about -- you aren't actually able to see the data in someone else's account, so you would have no idea if the amount of money that the management company is pulling in from renting your property, is what they are telling you. I personally would not like the loss of control involved in the scenario you describe.
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Post by CasaCadora on Oct 8, 2015 5:48:21 GMT
I wouldn't be comfortable with this arrangement myself....not only not controlling the revenue stream but also not controlling the guests. I guess I'm a control freak, fuss budget. I'm already giving 3% to Airbnb, 10% to the county for TOT, 20% to the IRS, 9% to the state of California, I can't see giving another 10-15% to a management company.
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Post by lisae on Oct 8, 2015 6:32:36 GMT
I agree with the others. If you relinquish full control to the management company, you have no way of knowing who's in your property, how often and if the financials are being doled out fairly. I would never be comfortable with that personally, especially the financial part.
Is there a way that you can set up your own account, hire a trusted friend or family member and the two of you share joint responsibility?
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Post by rubenmak on Oct 8, 2015 8:50:19 GMT
Hi all,
Thanks for your swift responses!
My concerns exactly too with the financial part. And I agree that this won't work. I found management companies that do not insist on that.
I am having a company look after it because I live abroad. Many companies now specialise in Airbnb management. So far I have not seen any horror stories in the handling affairs of the management company.
The return from Airbnb rental is higher than a straight long term lease.
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 8, 2015 22:24:04 GMT
Hi Rubenmak -- I just sent you a private message with the contact email for a friend of mine, and an Airbnb group organizer, who is a property manager who helps about 4 people with their properties on Airbnb. You can ask her any questions.
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Post by rubenmak on Oct 9, 2015 23:56:49 GMT
Thanks Deborah.
While on here, can anyone also tell me:
Does Airbnb payout routing allow specifying cleaning fee goes to a specific bank account and the rental paid into two different bank accounts based on a fixed ratio?
Does the host control the listing payout ratio?
Does Airbnb allow me to create a listing and but assign a different person as host?
Thanks!
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 10, 2015 3:17:03 GMT
Hi Rubenmak
I answered your questions by private message since you had also sent me a private message asking for this info....
Here's what I said:
YOu wouldn't be able to have the cleaning fee and the rental fee go into two different accounts, since the total for each reservation is dealt with as one lump sum by Airbnb.
Yes, the host controls the payout listing ratio.
As far as you creating a listing and assigning a different person as the host, you could do that in the sense that you assign a different person to do the hosting work. If you create an account, you are considered the "host" by the Airbnb system -- the owner of the account is the host. There is one email address used for each account, no more, so if you are having someone else do the work, you would need to find a way for that person to get the emails from your guests. You could possibly set up a shared email account that both you and your host/manager could access. Technically I have heard that Airbnb doesn't allow you to share the password for your Airbnb account with someone else, but I do believe that some folks do that. To my knowledge this is generally done by people who are related, eg, married couple, whose names are both on the account (eg, Dave and Sam, Belinda and Jeff). That said, some Airbnb accounts are actually not in a person's name but in the name of a company or resort, eg, "Stayawhile Resort" Whoever has access to the Airbnb account or email, whether one person or two, can log onto either your email account or Airbnb account and take care of responding to all the guests, meeting them , and doing all the work. HOwever you would have to trust this person not to lock you out of your account or change the payout info, because anyone with access to your account could potentially lock you out of it, and steal your money and run.
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Post by rubenmak on Oct 10, 2015 12:01:27 GMT
Thanks Deborah for all the information. It is what I need to know to make a decision.
Thanks again.
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 10, 2015 14:07:36 GMT
Something else that could help -- if the 2nd person on your account had access to the email account that you used for your Airbnb account, and that only, then once you as the host accept the guest and there is a confirmed reservation, the 2nd person on the account can do all the contacting that is needed via email. As long as no reservation changes are needed or anything needs to be done on the account itself, email access is all that is needed to communicate to the guest, not access to the Airbnb account. Access to the Airbnb account is needed initially to accept the guest (or engage in dialogue prior to acceptance). But once that is done all communication can be by direct email or anonymized email thru the email account.
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