Property management: how it works, and who does what

When you hand a home over to a manager, the first question isn't “how much will it earn”: it's on what terms. There are two ways of doing it, and they change three things: whose name the home stays in, who takes the risk and who makes the decisions. Here's the first.

What property management is

With property management the home stays in your name in every respect: the rental contract is in your name and the guests are your guests. The manager works on your behalf and is paid a commission on bookings.

It's the model we use for most of the homes we manage, for all three lengths of rental: short, mid and long-term.

How the management is paid

A percentage of confirmed bookings, and nothing else: no monthly fee, no set-up cost. The percentage depends on the city and on the services that home needs, and we put it in writing in the estimate before you decide. How and when payments are made is agreed with you and written into the contract.

That's the whole point of this model: if the home doesn't earn, you don't pay. Our income and yours rise and fall together, which means we have the same interest you do in raising the average price and filling the calendar.

What the percentage covers, item by item, is in what short-term rental management costs.

Who does what

What we do:

1. We prepare the home. Photographs, staging where it's needed, and listings on all the platforms.
2. We set the prices. We update them with the season, with events in the city and with demand.
3. We take care of the guests. Enquiries, check-in, any problem during the stay.
4. We look after the home. Cleaning and fresh linen between one stay and the next, routine maintenance, tradespeople we trust.
5. We do the paperwork. The CIN (the national identification code), the regional code, the notification to the council, guest registration on Alloggiati Web. If the home is already up and running, we check that everything is in order and deal only with what's missing. The tourist tax (imposta di soggiorno), on the other hand, follows the city council's rules, which set the rates and exemptions: how it's handled for your home we agree with you.
6. We send you a statement. Every month you get the statement: bookings, expenses and our commission, line by line.

What you do:

• You set the minimum price, if you want one we won't go below.
• You decide your own dates. With short-term rentals you block the calendar when you need the home.
• You approve expenses before they're made, when they aren't routine maintenance.

For tax matters, your accountant is the reference; if you have a question, ask us.

Who carries the risk

You do. It's the difference that matters most compared with the other model: if a month is empty, that month the home earns less, and our commission falls with it. Nobody can promise you a set amount, because that amount depends on the market for that home in that season.

In exchange, the good months are good in full: the August peak on the Ligurian Riviera, or the week of the ATP Finals in Turin, is yours, less our commission.

When it makes sense

• The home is in a location the market rewards, and the full months pay for the empty ones.
• You want to see what it really earns, month by month, rather than a flat figure.
• You're happy with income that varies, because you don't need it to cover a repayment.
• You want to keep control of the price and the dates.

If instead you need a set amount every month, the answer is the other model: rent-to-rent, and how the fixed rent works.

What about the length of the rental?

It's a separate question, independent of this one. With property management the home can be let short, mid or long-term, and it often pays to alternate them over the year. Which one makes sense for yours is decided at the property visit, with the prices in your neighbourhood: the comparison is in short or long-term rental.

The free estimate tells you what your home could earn, and the short-term rental management page sets out what the management includes.