How to manage multiple vacation rental properties

Many homeowners can manage one vacation home. It’s not easy, but with plenty of time, attention, and resources, it can be done. However, things may start to get complicated when you have multiple vacation rentals to look after. More rental properties means more of everything that comes with it—good and bad. More reservations and rental income, yes. But, also more guests, listings, service requests, and maintenance.

If you’ve invested in multiple vacation rentals, it’s best to have strategies in place to help you manage it all with ease. Here’s where to start.

1. Get organized (and stay that way)

Let’s be frank—you can’t afford to be disorganized with multiple vacation rentals. From hiring (and managing) housekeepers to overseeing all your booking channels (like Airbnb and Vrbo), expect a fair amount of work from just one vacation home. With several properties, that work multiplies. Keeping the mountain of details straight is essential to the health of your business.

Follow a master calendar (or invest in a channel management software) that includes all reservations, maintenance visits, and more. Most importantly, create a filing system that works for you—whether you organize all your details by property or by month—and stick to it. Staying organized is the best way to keep your business on track and forging forward.

2. Stick to consistent systems

When juggling multiple investment properties in your portfolio, it’s easy to waste time jumping from one task to another. Streamline your workload by creating efficient systems once, then just press repeat. For instance:

• Create ready-to-go templates for guest questions and marketing emails.
• Follow the same format to respond to guest reviews (customized to each guest and situation, of course).
• Provide your housekeeping team with the same cleaning checklist at every property.
• Buy essentials (soap, paper towels, toilet paper, etc.) in bulk on a regular basis and keep each home fully stocked.
• Give the same instructions to your vacation rental photographers and copywriters when creating your listings and marketing materials.

While your homes may be vastly different, you need consistency in marketing, cleaning, paying the necessary taxes, and more. Staying consistent will reap benefits like less confusion and more profitability.

3. Schedule regular vacation rental maintenance

When needing to keep multiple properties in prime condition, the key is prevention. Start off by doing a thorough inspection of all your vacation rentals. Look out for any minor issues that could become major headaches later on—mold on the rooftops, tree branches edging too close to your windows, plumbing issues—then hire the proper professionals to take care of it.

Afterward, be proactive and perform routine checks and maintenance. It’s the best way to get ahead of any potential issues at your properties. Keep a master calendar with reminder dates for certain maintenance tasks, such as trimming trees and bushes, maintaining the caulk on your windows, and cleaning out the gutters. At Vacasa, we perform maintenance checks on our homes, in addition to preparing homes in certain markets for seasonal conditions.

4. Invest in smart home technology

Today, you can easily control many aspects of your homes from your phone—helping to automate tasks that keep guests comfortable and all your real estate investments safe. Plus, installing smart home technology is a great time-saver, allowing you to manage multiple properties from a distance. Some devices to consider:

• Smart locks in lieu of exchanging keys (Vacasa offers a smart lock program to our homeowners)
• Smart thermostats to control the temperature
• Smart lights that switch off once guests leave
• A noise monitoring device to alert you to sustained high volumes (signs of a possible party)
• Programmable water heaters
• Water-sensing leak detectors
• Smart window shades

5. Get good at screening guests

While most travelers treat vacation rentals respectfully, risky guests do exist—and they could potentially damage any of your rentals and prompt neighbors to complain. And, the more properties you have, the bigger the potential for problematic bookings.

Whether you have one vacation rental or 10, you are the main safeguard against risk. Some scenarios that screening can prevent:

• Parties: Screening can help identify guests with a higher likelihood of throwing a party, such as someone underage or a local who wants to book one night.
• Fraudulent bookings: Stolen IDs and credit cards are a reality. Thorough guest screening can prompt guests to confirm their identities and help you accept only legitimate bookings.
• Criminal activity: Screening guests (and checking their rental history on whatever site the booking is coming from) can help make sure they are who they say they are and block any criminal activity taking place at your vacation home.

When you hire Vacasa to manage your vacation rental, we help safeguard your home with automated and manual guest screening.

6. Assemble your own team of pros to help you

Our team manages tens of thousands of vacation rentals across North America, Costa Rica, and Belize. We’ll be the first to tell you—running several vacation rentals is too massive of a job for one person.

Hiring the right people is the best way to take care of your property, your guests, and your bottom line. Find vendors you can trust in all aspects of running your vacation rentals, then keep them on speed dial. Some to consider:

• Channel manager
• Housekeeper
• Local assistant (to handle guest requests and act as an emergency contact)
• Pricing analyst (to help you set the right rates at the right time)
• Marketing assistant (to help with email marketing, SEO, social media marketing, responding to reviews, and writing marketing materials)
• Photographer
• Electrician
• Pool and hot tub technician
• Repair person
• Gardener
• Plumber
• HVAC technician
• Lawyer
• Accountant

7. Turn to a full-service vacation rental company to manage all your properties

Homeowners who manage just one vacation home can attest—the work never ends. There are always guests to assist, rooms to clean, repairs to handle, reviews to respond to, rates to adjust, marketing to keep up with, and so much more. The smartest solution when you have multiple vacation rentals? Working with vacation rental experts to make it all happen.

Full-service vacation rental managers—such as Vacasa—will handle it all, while also maximizing your bookings and rental income. Hiring a management company means paying a fee, but they’ll keep your vacation rental business streamlined and running smoothly. The results—repeat guests and flourishing revenue.

Owning multiple vacation rental properties can be both exciting and lucrative. You can host more guests and enjoy multiple income streams. However, the day-to-day tasks of juggling multiple homes can get complicated—leading to double bookings, missed opportunities, and wasted time and money. Follow these tips to stay on top of all the details and keep your success on track.