Co-hosting
What it is
Simply put, co-hosting is a service of assisting homeowners (hosts) with a variety of tasks related to the rental of their properties, both administrative (marketing, messaging with guests, etc.) and physical (key delivery and collection, cleaning, etc.). It is a simple and convenient solution for property owners who cannot or simply prefer not to perform these tasks themselves. Unlike traditional management companies, which generally take full control of one’s property, charge rather high service fees (due in large part to their high overhead costs) and typically require homeowners to sign long term management contracts, co-hosts offer a lot more flexibility by working alongside property owners. Some co-hosts do act much like general managers, providing most (and in some cases all) of the required services and coordinating the rest, as needed, with other service providers. This allows homeowners to distance themselves from the rental business entirely, essentially turning their properties into fully passive investments.
What it involves
As co-hosts, we are much like the general managers we described above, typically handling all the administrative tasks which can be provided digitally and over the phone without requiring our physical presence near the property. Some of the main ones include the following:
- Listing maintenance (making sure the calendar, rates and all other relevant information are all up to date)
- Answering inquiries and questions from potential guests
- Reservations (acceptance, modifications, cancellations, resolving payment issues, etc.)
- Messaging with guests and providing them with all the necessary information pertaining to their stays
- Collection of all required documents and/or personal details from each guest (when applicable)
- Coordination of ground services (key delivery/collection, cleaning, laundry, maintenance, etc.)
- Guest reviews (reviewing each guest and responding to reviews left by guests, when needed)
- Helping property owners resolve any disputes with their guests, when necessary
In addition to all the administrative tasks, we may also be able to provide homeowners with a wide range of ground services, depending on their location (please see GROUND SERVICES page for more details).
Database Marketing
Since becoming involved with holiday rentals we’ve been compiling a database of travelers and holidaymakers who love vacationing in northern Italy and in the Lake District in particular, where most of our clients’ properties are located. This list already contains more than 17.000 names, mostly our former guests, and is steadily growing with each passing year. We regularly contact these individuals, highlighting new attractions, upcoming events and all the wonderful properties we co-host throughout the region, enticing them to book one for their next holiday. Given the highly targeted audience, these marketing campaigns are usually quite successful, generating lots of additional bookings for many of our clients throughout the beautiful Lake District, and beyond.
Requirements
We can provide co-hosting services to owners of all kinds of properties all over the world. However, currently we only co-host properties listed on Airbnb or VRBO, or both. For those who are unfamiliar, these are two of the biggest and most popular holiday rental companies in the world with nearly ten million active listings between them. A property listed on either or both of these companies’ sites enjoys huge international exposure which, in vast majority of cases, is more than sufficient to generate bookings for all the available weeks.
How it works
If you have your property listed on Airbnb you are likely familiar with the site’s convenient co-hosting feature. The company allows account holders (hosts) to invite assistants (co-hosts) to help them manage their properties. Adding a co-host is a very simple and quick process which we can walk you through, if necessary. Once we are officially listed as your co-host we gain limited access to your account and can begin offering you our services as described in the “What it involves” section above.
For properties listed on VRBO (or any of its international sister sites like Abritel in France and Fewo-direkt in Germany) the process is somewhat different. The company, unfortunately, does not offer a co-hosting feature, similar to that of Airbnb. Our only option, therefore, is to manage our clients’ properties through their own VRBO accounts. To do that we need to be provided with account login information and our phone number needs to be added to the account to enable us to receive SMS alerts and other important notifications. Alternatively, if your property is yet to be listed on VRBO, we can simply add it to our own account, joining all the other properties we manage from there. This makes things somewhat simpler as it allows us to manage many of our clients’ properties from one single account rather than having to log into multiple individual accounts. By doing so you would enjoy a few additional benefits, like discounted listing fees and higher rankings in search results, given our Premier Partner status on VRBO. Importantly, even when listed in our VRBO account, you, the homeowner, would still have full control over your property (rates, rental policies, etc.) and you would be receiving 100% of the payouts from every booking, directly from VRBO. Upon termination of our partnership, the entire listing, including reviews, could be easily transferred to your own VRBO account, should you elect to do so.
Benefits of working with a professional co-host
Aside from the obvious time-saving factor, working with a co-host can provide a busy homeowner with many additional benefits. An experienced co-host can suggest ways to make one’s property more attractive and desirable, optimize the listing and increase its rank in search results, generate more interest for the property through different marketing techniques, offer quicker and more reliable communication with guests, coordinate everyone to ensure smooth and efficient operation of the business, and much more. It all leads to greater exposure of the property, a much better overall experience for all guests and, ultimately, more bookings throughout the year. And even though it does come at a price, it’s not uncommon for homeowners to net more income from their properties when working with competent co-hosts, even after accounting for their service fees.
Every co-host is different, of course, and homeowners should consider a number of factors before deciding on who to work with. These would typically include co-host’s experience, communication skills, reliability and fees, to name just a few. Should you like to explore the possibility of working with us, here are some of the key benefits we offer to our clients…
- 15+ years of experience with hundreds of satisfied clients
- Homeowners we work with are always in full control of their properties
- We do not require exclusivity (see FAQ)
- We operate under open contracts with no binding long term commitments (see FAQ)
- Airbnb/VRBO payouts go directly to our clients… we never handle their money
- We are fluent in several languages including English, Italian and Spanish
- We work with a limited number of properties to better serve all our clients and their guests
- We use innovative marketing to generate more interest for our clients’ properties (see FAQ)
- We charge some of the lowest service fees in the industry (see below)
- And much more
5-Star Support
In addition to the very effective “database marketing” campaigns which we outlined above, homeowners whose properties are located within the Italian Lake District (Lake Maggiore, Como, Lugano and Orta) enjoy one other important benefit. After nearly twenty years of living in and exploring the region, we offer our clients’ guests here an unparalleled level of support, both prior to and during their stays, providing them with lots of useful and practical information about the area, recommending our personal favorite spots and assisting them with anything that may be needed. This is always greatly appreciated and typically results in wonderful guest reviews which, ultimately, lead to more and more bookings down the line, a mutually beneficial outcome given how, for the most part, our service fees are fully dependent on the bookings we generate for our clients (see below).
Our fees
We offer two simple service fee models which cover everything outlined in the “What it involves” section above. Our clients can choose whichever model they prefer and it is possible to switch between the models, should the need arise. Please note, also, that our service fees are not subject to any additional taxes (VAT, etc.), regardless of the model.
COMMISSION model
We charge a 6% (six percent) commission from the bookings we generate and process. The commission applies to the nightly rates only, as shown in the property’s listings. For example, from a 4-day booking with nightly rates of €100 and a €70 final cleaning charge, our commission would amount to €24 (6% x €400). From a 10-day booking with €95 all-inclusive nightly rates, our commission would amount to €57 (6% x €950). Commissions are collected AFTER homeowner receives payouts from the underlying bookings. This is done either by invoicing our clients directly or by utilizing a handy “split payout” feature which is currently only available on Airbnb (see FAQ for more details).
FLAT-RATE model
We charge a flat €75 monthly fee for our co-hosting services, regardless of the number of reservations we process or their corresponding rental costs. For some of our clients this translates to paying us effective commissions of 2%, or less (see FAQ for more details). Invoices are sent out at the beginning of each month. For our clients’ convenience, automatic payments can be set up for these recurring charges.
PLEASE NOTE: Any fees charged by Airbnb and/or VRBO are always the responsibility of the property owner. This includes VRBO’s annual listing fees which currently amount to around €400 per year. In majority of cases homeowners may opt for VRBO’s pay-per-booking fee structure, similar to that of Airbnb’s, where no annual listing fees need to be paid.
Questions ??
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We will be happy to provide you with more information and answer any questions you may have regarding co-hosting or any other of our services.