All guides
23 practical guides for vacation rental owners and the people who look after their homes, grouped by subject.
Choosing and working with a manager
Finding the right people for your home, agreeing on how it will be run, and keeping the relationship healthy.
How to choose a vacation rental managerHanding over your home is less about finding the cheapest offer than finding the people whose habits you can live with…Questions to ask before hiring a managerA first meeting goes quickly, and it is easy to leave with a good feeling and few facts. These questions are designed…What a management agreement should cover, in practiceThis is not legal advice, and it is not about wording. It is about subjects: the everyday situations that cause…Full-service management, co-hosting or doing it yourself?Owners often think the choice is between hiring a manager or not. In practice there are three quite different…Onboarding your home with a new managerThe first weeks with a new manager set habits that last for years. A careful handover avoids the classic early…How to read your owner statementYour owner statement is the main window you have onto how your rental is run. A clear one takes ten minutes to check.…Owner stays: using your own homeMany owners bought their rental partly to enjoy it themselves. Owner stays work smoothly when they follow a few simple…Working well with your managerMost owner–manager relationships do not fail over one big problem. They fade over many small ones that were never…When and how to change managerChanging manager is sometimes the right call. Done in a hurry, it can also cost you bookings, reviews and keys. Here is…
The guest experience
Everything guests see, touch and read — from the arrival message to the barbecue.
Creating a warm welcomeGuests decide how they feel about a home in the first few minutes after the door opens. A warm welcome is less about…Writing a house manual guests actually readA good house manual saves your guests time and saves whoever answers the phone a dozen messages per stay. Most manuals…Self check-in done wellSelf check-in gives guests freedom to arrive when they like. It only feels welcoming if it works the first time, every…Guest communication before, during and after the stayGood guest communication feels effortless from the outside. In practice it is a small set of well-timed messages, and…Kitchen essentials for a vacation rentalGuests judge a kitchen by one simple test: can they cook a proper meal without improvising? A well-equipped kitchen is…Guest amenities, indoors and outAn amenity only counts if it works and is clean when the guest wants to use it. A tired barbecue or a dusty terrace can…Handling guest complaints gracefullyComplaints are part of hosting, even in excellent homes. What guests remember is usually not the problem itself, but…
Housekeeping and upkeep
Cleaning, linens, maintenance and the local team that keeps a rental ready all year.
A turnover cleaning checklistBetween two stays, a home has to go from lived-in to looking untouched. A written checklist is what turns a good…Linens and towelsBed linen and towels are what guests touch most. They are also the first thing that betrays a tired rental: grey…Preventive maintenance through the yearEvery rental breaks eventually. Preventive maintenance is simply the art of choosing when — ideally on a quiet weekday…Building a local vendor listWhen a pipe bursts or the power goes out with guests inside, the time to look for a plumber is not then. A good vendor…Managing your rental from a distanceMany owners live hours, or countries, away from their rental. Distance is manageable as long as you never depend on…Preparing for high seasonIn high season there is little time between stays and no room for surprises. Most of what goes well in those weeks was…Closing up for the quiet seasonSome rentals close for part of the year; others simply have long gaps between stays. Either way, an empty home needs a…