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282. Hosting Hotline: Creating Trust With Your Property Manager · Thanks For Visiting

• 0:00
  Hello, listeners.
• 0:00
  Welcome back for another great week.
• 0:02
  My name is Sarah Karakaian.
• 0:03
  I am Annette Grant.
• 0:04
  And together we are--
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  Thanks forVisiting.
• 0:06
  And this is the--
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  Hosting Hotline.
• 0:08
  Okay.
• 0:08
  We can't start this episode without, of course, personally now live, inviting
• 0:13
  you to TFV Con because I want to tell you, come Thursday, so two days
• 0:18
  from right now, when you'll hear this episode, early repricing is over.
• 0:23
  And with our code PODCAST, you can stack them.
• 0:27
  This content is so good.
• 0:28
  You need to be there.
• 0:29
  Um, the vendor hall is going to be next level.
• 0:31
  You need to be there.
• 0:32
  And when you're in Columbus in the fall, I promise you, it's gorgeous.
• 0:35
  We wouldn't have invited you to our hometown if we didn't think you'd
• 0:38
  have a blast while you're here.
• 0:40
  So take advantage of early bird pricing.
• 0:42
  tfvcon.com.
• 0:43
  We're going to chat about property management.
• 0:47
  Hi, guys.
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  My name is Danielle.
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  Me and my husband are listeners of the show, and we finally took the plunge.
• 0:54
  We bought a three-bedroom, two-bath house in the west end of Panama City Beach.
• 1:01
  You can find us on Instagram, @the.cowabungalow.
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  My question is around full property management, and I feel like I have
• 1:14
  experienced something that didn't feel right to me, but I just didn't
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  know what was industry norms, so I would love your opinion.
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  Um, me and my husband reached out to our property management company
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  on a certain date in July and asked for our nightly rate to be lowered,
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  um, to a very specific amount.
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  Uh, once we got lowered to that rate, we got a flurry of bookings all at the
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  same time, which we were so grateful for and very excited about until we did the
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  math and the breakdown of those bookings.
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  And it came in 10% lower than the rate we had just set with
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  our property management company.
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  And their response was, well, we give 10% off right now.
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  We're running a special.
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  If you don't want to be included in discounts, you need to specifically
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  let us know, which we were a little confused about because we have literally
• 2:08
  just told them what our nightly rates should be, and they never specified
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  that it would be lower than that rate.
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  Oops, I think she got cut off.
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  We do have a minute and 30-second minimum, but I think--
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  We've got the gist of the question.
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  Wegotthegist.
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  Oof.
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  All right.
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  Sarah and I encountered this today, listeners.
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  It is so important to review your contracts.
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  As a business owner, as a short-term rental host, I'm first going to advise
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  you, um, facts over feelings here.
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  Um, does that sting?
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  Does it hurt?
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  Absolutely.
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  But we're going to be in this for the long-term.
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  Review your contract.
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  I have a feeling that there are some light items in there that might mention that
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  you will be a part of their discounting if there's a lull in the season or
• 2:59
  part of their promotional offers.
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  There might be a line that says if you want to opt out of our promotional
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  offers, you need to let us know.
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  So number one, I would check the contract.
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  Number two, sounds like it might be not miscommunication between you and
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  the person that you talk to, but I don't know how large the property
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  management company is that you're working with because you might have had one
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  conversation with someone or an email.
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  I always encourage email.
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  That way, you have it, um, in writing, on digital writing.
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  You might have heard that message loud and clear to one person, but
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  they have a revenue manager or someone's in charge of promos that
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  the message didn't get relayed to.
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  So what I hear here is I think we need to do a little bit
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  more research, and it stinks.
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  I'm not saying it doesn't because the damage is done there as far as what you
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  anticipated the revenue being, but I think really understanding for the future.
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  AD MARKER
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  And Danielle, obviously you're a listener of ours, so we're on your side.
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  But as a fellow property manager of other people's properties,
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  I will tell you this, Danielle.
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  And we manage a very small amount of properties on purpose.
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  We believe in boutique and really hands-on approach regardless.
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  But even as small as we are, once something steps outside
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  of our systems, mayhem ensues.
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  And I'm not being dramatic.
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  If a homeowner were to reach out to me and ask to, first of all, lower price
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  to a very specific price, I would want to have a more in-depth discussion as
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  to why and where you got that data from, because I would hope that my client, you,
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  would trust the fact that the prices we have set are based on data, but I'm also
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  here where I'm a partner with my owner.
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  So I do want to have these discussions about the pricing.
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  And it may have been something that they wanted to collaborate with you on and heed
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  your request, but it's so out of their normal system that they didn't think, oh
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  my gosh, we also have this promo going on.
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  So I'm just trying to see it from the property manager standpoint of
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  wanting to be a partner with you, wanting to go with your suggestion.
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  I'm not sure what that conversation was like, and not even thinking
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  about that promo that was going on.
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  Because again, uh, honestly, we make it very clear when we start relationships
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  with owners, that if you come into our program, it is our program, and
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  you have to trust us completely.
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  I'm not saying we don't make mistakes from time to time, and that our owners
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  don't point things out, but they do so in the way of like, hey, we trust you.
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  We know you've got this, but we see this, this, and that.
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  Do you mind looking into it?
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  So does that make sense to have just--
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  Yeah, no, that's what I'm saying.
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  I think, um, Danielle and her husband could have clearly communicated that.
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  But what you said, Sarah, mayhem ensues of like-- and also, just put yourself
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  in the property management's shoes of, if every owner was calling in
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  every day wanting to adjust pricing.
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  So my advice is too, I want you to take a look in the mirror of
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  like, well, why did we hire them?
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  It's for them to be the experts.
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  Instead of lowering to a specific rate, I would have clear communication with them
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  because you would be surprised sometimes.
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  I think I know what's best, and I'm a hard charger, and then I
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  talked to somebody, and I'm like, I never even thought about that.
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  Because maybe they knew this 10% promo was coming that was going to get you to that
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  rate that you and your husband had come together on, and that was a part of their
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  plan all the time, was to get you that.
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  I will tell you this.
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  Consumers, no matter where they are, you guys heard us at
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  the beginning of the episode.
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  People like discounts.
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  People like to feel like they're winning, like they've gotten-- I
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  just stayed at a hotel, and they had this pop-up discount coupon code.
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  I was like, put the--
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  Sign me up.
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  Good day.
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  I used it.
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  I remember what the code was, and it probably wasn't even a discount,
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  but I felt like I was winning there.
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  They might've had that plan all along of those discounts, but yeah.
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  Communication is key here.
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  And I would really read the contract and let them do what they do best.
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  Challenge them.
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  But, um, again, it sounds to me that it was a blanket discount that they were
• 7:28
  doing on every homeowner in their program.
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  It's something they probably do on a quarterly basis.
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  There's probably a box that didn't get checked on the computer.
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  There was a coupon code that didn't get disabled on your listing.
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  I actually feel very confident in this, Danielle.
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  It was in no way, shape, or form malicious intent or them wanting
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  to go against your wishes.
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  I don't think it's that at all.
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  I think it's something more.
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  But I do want to offer that too, Danielle, that it's not uncommon for a
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  property manager's program to be-- if you are in our program, we have systems
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  in place, and we need you to trust us.
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  I think this is a great opportunity, Danielle, to now get them on a Zoom call
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  or a phone call and have that conversation as if you're partner, because you are.
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  Yes, it's your property, but their job is to mix their expertise with it.
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  And the cool thing about you, Danielle, is you listen to Thanks for Visiting,
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  so I know that you are more educated than you might think that you are.
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  And so let them know that.
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  And tell them you're coming at it from a partnership standpoint, and that when
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  you do have a suggestion for pricing or anything else with your property, you'd
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  like for them to meet you as that partner.
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  But also, either you respect the fact they've got this program in
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  place and what they say goes, and maybe they're not the partner for you
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  Yeah.
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  That's what I was going to say.
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  Last but not least, though, I want to tie a bow on this of-- also red flags.
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  If something doesn't feel right, if this isn't the right partnership,
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  again, read your contract, and bolt.
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  Don't feel bad for pivoting.
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  Sarah and I, we've been looking at contracts all week, relationships
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  we're in, and if something doesn't feel right, and there are red flags,
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  the contract is in place for a reason.
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  It's easy to get out of.
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  It's easy for you to choose someone else.
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  Also, I don't want to end this episode without saying you are the homeowner.
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  You are the CEO of this business.
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  So if that felt wrong with your gut, there might be a multitude of other things.
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  So you choose who you want to work with, who you sign contracts with, but also, if
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  you decide to continue on, make a note.
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  Email.
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  Say, hey, we had this conversation.
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  Document, document, document.
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  Facts over feelings.
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  Data over drama.
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  But you are the CEO, and we appreciate you listening to the show.
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  We had to give you our perspective on all the angles there.
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  Danielle, good luck.
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  Keep us posted, please.
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  We mean that.
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  With that, my name is Sarah Karakaian.
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  I'm Annette Grant.
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  And together we are--
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  Thanks for Visiting.
• 10:00
  Talk to you next time.