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Originally Posted On: https://www.citysuperhost.com/insights/intro-to-property-management

An Introduction to Property Management with City Superhost

Since 2017, City Superhost has been passionately welcoming guests from around the globe. With years of expertise and a wealth of experience, we’re not just hosts — we’re your hosting experts.

Our mission? To maximise your rental income while taking exceptional care of your property. We handle every step of the guest journey, ensuring our guests are as well cared for as our owners. Trust us to transform your property into a thriving, hassle-free little hotel!

Property Requirements

Every property must fulfil some fundamental criteria to ensure it feels more like a home, rather than a rental space. This includes the provision of the following:

• Bedroom: Property owners need to provide comfortable beds, along with duvets, pillows, and mattress protectors. While we supply the linen and towels, owners should also ensure that each room has a full-length mirror and a hair dryer. A TV is optional.

• Kitchen: Owners should ensure their properties are well-appointed with essential appliances such as a microwave, toaster, and kettle. While a coffee machine is optional, it can be a welcome addition for guests.

• Living room: You also need to provide comfortable seating for each guest and a Smart TV capable of live broadcasting, not just app-based streaming. Additionally, offering Sky TV as an optional extra can enhance the guest experience.

• Bathrooms: Include hotel-style soap dispensers for easy refilling, as well as a toilet brush and a toilet bin in the bathroom.

• Additional essentials: An iron and ironing board, travel cot, Henry vacuum, mop and bucket, and washing machine (preferably a washer-dryer) are also essential amenities.

• The highest quality WiFi available.

The final stages of setting up your property can seem expensive, but you’ll get back much more than you put in. It’s important to get things right from the start to ensure we make a great impression with each guest that enters.

By maintaining high standards, we can set higher rental rates, attract positive reviews, and ensure consistent returns. Distinguishing your property from others is key to achieving and sustaining success.

Before We Get Going

Our guests require convenient access to the property, typically provided through a lockbox or smart lock. Our handyman can supply and install two lockboxes (one for guests and one as a backup) for £80. Next, our cleaning team will visit to clean and prepare the linen for the onboarding team.

Set Up Day

We implement a setup fee starting at £300 to guarantee your property is ready to go live the next day, ensuring we have all the necessary resources for expert hosting. Our team will handle every detail of your listing, from photographing your property to creating and optimising listings on Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO, and our direct booking site, complete with compelling descriptions that make your ads pop.

We make it our mission to become familiar with every nuance of your property, enabling us to assist guests with any inquiries they might have. Furthermore, we’ll empower guests to find answers on their own by producing instructional videos for the most common questions we receive.

Guidance and Support

The following day, we’re live and ready to welcome guests! We’ve optimised your pricing and calendar management and we’re ready to maximise your returns. Look out for your email from Guesty (check your spam!) – log into your owners portal to see your bookings and income in real time.

Getting Paid

Throughout the month, we collect all the rental payments from all the bookings, on each of our platforms. When the month ends, we’ll remit your rental income back to you. You’ll always be paid out for the previous month on or before the 14th of the following month. You’ll receive payment into your nominated bank, alongside a statement showing each stay and any additional charges. If a guest checks in within that month, you’ll receive the full payout for that stay.

Ongoing Support

Your dedicated account manager will reach out to introduce themselves and share with you our hard work, alongside the links to your listings. For ongoing communication, email your account manager – for anything you’d like a same-day answer on, we’re available by phone Mon-Fri between 9AM-5PM.

Our Property Management Services

Our Airbnb listing management services ensure your property stands out and converts views into bookings. We optimise listings on top platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com, implement dynamic pricing, and maintain high occupancy rates through strategic guest operations.

Airbnb Listing Management

• Listing creation and optimisation: We’re experts at creating listings that convert views into bookings. Just like on Google, it matters where you appear in the search rankings. Our 100 point check-list ensures that each listing performs at its peak.

• Where we list: Your properties will be listed on the most popular online travel platforms: Airbnb, Booking.com & VRBO and our direct site. By listing on these platforms, we can really optimise those listings rather than spreading bookings across 30+ platforms.

• Direct booking website: Your property will also feature on our direct booking website, where guests can find us through Google, saving on fees and increasing your profits.

• Demand-based pricing: Our prices dynamically adjust based on local demand. This ensures you earn top revenue on peak days while maintaining competitive rates to attract bookings during quieter times.

• Dynamic minimum night strategies: Across all our properties, we maintain an average occupancy rate of 85%. We achieve this by targeting optimal stay durations and efficiently bridging booking gaps.

Guest Operations

• 24/7 guest communication: Guests have the ability to contact us day or night, either by phone or through their chosen travel app. Prompt responses to both booking and guest inquiries contribute to increased booking rates and higher guest satisfaction.

• Guide book: Our guide books give guests the opportunity to find the information they need, when they need it. Not only do we supply them with detailed ‘how-to’ videos, we provide them with local recommendations to all our favourite hot spots!

• Cleaning and laundry: Following each stay, our professional cleaning team will thoroughly clean the property to prepare it for the arrival of the next guests. We supply all linens, towels, and consumables, and take away any used linens and towels for off-site cleaning. Additionally, our cleaners will identify and report any damage that may have happened during a guest’s stay.

• ‍Guest vetting: Ensuring the care of your property and the respect for your neighbours is our top priority. We vet all our guests, requiring them to submit a government-issued ID, and employ various strategies to attract the right guests.

We also recommend noise monitoring via Minut to maintain a peaceful environment and deter unwanted guests.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we take over your existing listing?

No, we’ll create a brand new listing so it can be fully optimised under our profile.

What if my property has council bins?

You’ll need to sign up to business waste management and ask the council to take their bins away. Council bins don’t work for many reasons – i.e guests won’t use the correct bins, they produce too much rubbish & they won’t get pulled onto the street for collection. We recommend Fresh Start.

What about Council Tax vs Business Rates?

If you don’t pay business rates anywhere else, it’s very likely you can convert your property from council tax to business rates and save 100% of the costs. You can start the process here.

Do you charge commission on maintenance?

No, we don’t charge any commission on any general maintenance issues that can be dealt with by the handyman. Our handyman charges £40 an hour with a £40 minimum. Anything outside of his remit, we will charge from £25/hour arrangement fee.

What insurance is in place in the rare event of damage?

Airbnb bookings are covered by their Aircover policy, which covers up to $3m host damage protection. Booking.com facilitates a £400 damage deposit, and for any other platforms we ask that owners purchase short let specific yearly insurance here.