For those new to renting out a property, rental management can seem like a daunting prospect.
In reality, with a few simple suggestions, managing your property to maximize its quality and value can be an uncomplicated, trouble-free process.
Though there are some unique challenges that come with rentals, having a firm understanding of your market and how to maintain your property can have a transformative impact on the success of your business.
With these five suggestions, we hope you’ll see your booking enquiries skyrocket!
Maintaining Your Property
If your business is handling a number of different properties, it’s very easy to lose track. If a property you’re managing isn’t well-maintained, then you’ll see a noticeable dip in success.
If you’re using short-term rental sites such as Airbnb, a lack of care and attention to your property can result in bad reviews. This could be a major setback to your property’s long-term success.
Likewise, if prospective tenants are attending viewings of a property that hasn’t been fully cleaned or maintained, this can make your property much harder to let out.
By making sure your rental property has been fully cleaned at all times, and that there’s no damage to any furnishings or features, you’ll ensure that your property is in the most enticing possible state for any potential bookings.
Remember that a lot of short-term rental bookings or prospective tenant viewings happen at the last minute, often with only a couple of days’ notice. You don’t want to lose out just because your property isn’t always in the best shape possible.
Know Your Guests
Having a strong idea of who your guests will be is a vital part of managing your property. If you’re managing a property long-term, you might want to take a look at the demographics of your local area, and what trends are currently taking place.
Are a lot of young families moving into your neighbourhood? Will external noise be an issue? You may want to invest in soundproofing measures so as to guarantee your tenants a restful night of sleep.
On the other hand, if it’s a short-let property in an area close to financial hubs, you may be getting a lot of enquiries from those travelling for business. You might want to think about providing better internet speeds for these prospective guests.
Knowing who your guests are likely to be is a sure-fire way to increase word-of-mouth publicity for your business and even ensure that guests will book your property for future visits.
Know Your Area
Similarly, it’s important to have a strong sense of your area and what’s going on locally – particularly if you’re renting in the short-term.
If you’re hoping to use your property on holiday let sites like Airbnb, you might find it harder to let it out during the low season, particularly if you’re based in locations with definitive tourist seasons such as beach or skiing resorts. You can adjust your expectations for success in these seasons accordingly.
However, this isn’t to say that you can’t maximize your enquiries outside of those peak months. Keep your ear close to the ground for events happening in your area that might attract visitors from elsewhere.
Is there a music festival happening nearby? A prestigious business conference? Maybe there’s a big new development being built close to you, or a major Hollywood movie being filmed, in which case there’ll be plenty of contractors and workers needing accommodation that you’ll be well-equipped to offer and tailor to their needs.
Staying ahead of the game when it comes to the goings-on of your local area is a key way to get ahead when managing your property and maximizing its success, no matter what time of year.
What Are Your Minimum Stay Requirements?
An important factor for both long-term and short-term rentals is defining how long a tenant should stay.
While opting for lengthier leases when renting a long-term property can ease your workload when it comes to finding new tenants, be mindful that you may be able to attract more enquiries if you offer shorter, more flexible leases.
Conversely, though it may make sense for a short-term rental to offer minimum stays as short as one or two nights so as to maximize the number of bookings, be aware that this may cause logistical issues for you.
Accepting two one-night bookings in the same week may make it impossible for a guest who is hoping to book a place for seven nights that same week to use your property.
Consider lengthening your minimum stay for a short-term rental to three or four nights in order to make sure that every booking made is of a high enough value.
Take Care of Your Guests’ Needs
Word-of-mouth is vital for sustaining your business. So arguably the most crucial tip of all for managing your property is providing a great service to your guests.
You might think that your work is over once you’ve let your property out for any given amount of time. However, being prompt, considerate and helpful when attending to any requests by your guests can actually ease your workload in the long run, whilst also generating great buzz around your business.
For instance, offering a great service to a tenant who’s signed a lease in one of your properties is a fantastic way to ensure that they’ll re-sign at the end of their tenancy. You don’t want to go through the trouble later down the line of vetting new tenants again, so being punctual and accommodating of any issues your tenant might be having is of no small importance.
Likewise, you might not see the immediate benefits of going above and beyond for a guest in a short-term rental who is only staying for a few days.
If anything, it’s even more important to be as obliging as possible with guests staying for shorter lengths of time. They may be looking to book again, sooner than you might think.
They may also leave reviews for your property, which can be a great way to guarantee future bookings if your business is known to be one that takes care of its customers.
It can also be a surefire route to losing business if guests publicly complain about the manner in which you handled their concerns.
To successfully manage a property, a host needs to invest constant time and attention into ensuring their place is up to the high standards potential guests expect.
Looking for more property rental advice?
It can be an exhausting process keeping up to date with check-ins, cleanings and handling problems guests may have. That’s why rental management services such as Keey are becoming more and more popular.
Professional property management services take the stress of handling a property full-time out of your hands, allowing you to increase interest in your property whilst saving you a lot of time and energy.
Using cutting-edge technology and an intimate knowledge of the letting process, property managers can be a great way to propel your rental property to the forefront and increase demand.
If you feel you could benefit from Keey’s services, take a look at what we can do for you.