Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between.

Danielle asks:

We discovered that our nightly rate has been set lower than we expected, because of a 10% discount our property management company has been running. How can we make sure if this is best practice, or if we should avoid this in the future?

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Hello, listeners.

Welcome back for another great week.

My name is Sarah Karakaian.

I am Annette Grant.

And together we are--

Thanks forVisiting.

And this is the--

Hosting Hotline.

Okay.

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We're going to chat about property management.

Hi, guys.

My name is Danielle.

Me and my husband are listeners of the show, and we finally took the plunge.

We bought a three-bedroom, two-bath house in the west end of Panama City Beach.

You can find us on Instagram, @the.cowabungalow.

My question is around full property management, and I feel like I have

experienced something that didn't feel right to me, but I just didn't

know what was industry norms, so I would love your opinion.

Um, me and my husband reached out to our property management company

on a certain date in July and asked for our nightly rate to be lowered,

um, to a very specific amount.

Uh, once we got lowered to that rate, we got a flurry of bookings all at the

same time, which we were so grateful for and very excited about until we did the

math and the breakdown of those bookings.

And it came in 10% lower than the rate we had just set with

our property management company.

And their response was, well, we give 10% off right now.

We're running a special.

If you don't want to be included in discounts, you need to specifically

let us know, which we were a little confused about because we have literally

just told them what our nightly rates should be, and they never specified

that it would be lower than that rate.

Oops, I think she got cut off.

We do have a minute and 30-second minimum, but I think--

We've got the gist of the question.

Wegotthegist.

Oof.

All right.

Sarah and I encountered this today, listeners.

It is so important to review your contracts.

As a business owner, as a short-term rental host, I'm first going to advise

you, um, facts over feelings here.

Um, does that sting?

Does it hurt?

Absolutely.

But we're going to be in this for the long-term.

Review your contract.

I have a feeling that there are some light items in there that might mention that

you will be a part of their discounting if there's a lull in the season or

part of their promotional offers.

There might be a line that says if you want to opt out of our promotional

offers, you need to let us know.

So number one, I would check the contract.

Number two, sounds like it might be not miscommunication between you and

the person that you talk to, but I don't know how large the property

management company is that you're working with because you might have had one

conversation with someone or an email.

I always encourage email.

That way, you have it, um, in writing, on digital writing.

You might have heard that message loud and clear to one person, but

they have a revenue manager or someone's in charge of promos that

the message didn't get relayed to.

So what I hear here is I think we need to do a little bit

more research, and it stinks.

I'm not saying it doesn't because the damage is done there as far as what you

anticipated the revenue being, but I think really understanding for the future.

AD MARKER

And Danielle, obviously you're a listener of ours, so we're on your side.

But as a fellow property manager of other people's properties,

I will tell you this, Danielle.

And we manage a very small amount of properties on purpose.

We believe in boutique and really hands-on approach regardless.

But even as small as we are, once something steps outside

of our systems, mayhem ensues.

And I'm not being dramatic.

If a homeowner were to reach out to me and ask to, first of all, lower price

to a very specific price, I would want to have a more in-depth discussion as

to why and where you got that data from, because I would hope that my client, you,

would trust the fact that the prices we have set are based on data, but I'm also

here where I'm a partner with my owner.

So I do want to have these discussions about the pricing.

And it may have been something that they wanted to collaborate with you on and heed

your request, but it's so out of their normal system that they didn't think, oh

my gosh, we also have this promo going on.

So I'm just trying to see it from the property manager standpoint of

wanting to be a partner with you, wanting to go with your suggestion.

I'm not sure what that conversation was like, and not even thinking

about that promo that was going on.

Because again, uh, honestly, we make it very clear when we start relationships

with owners, that if you come into our program, it is our program, and

you have to trust us completely.

I'm not saying we don't make mistakes from time to time, and that our owners

don't point things out, but they do so in the way of like, hey, we trust you.

We know you've got this, but we see this, this, and that.

Do you mind looking into it?

So does that make sense to have just--

Yeah, no, that's what I'm saying.

I think, um, Danielle and her husband could have clearly communicated that.

But what you said, Sarah, mayhem ensues of like-- and also, just put yourself

in the property management's shoes of, if every owner was calling in

every day wanting to adjust pricing.

So my advice is too, I want you to take a look in the mirror of

like, well, why did we hire them?

It's for them to be the experts.

Instead of lowering to a specific rate, I would have clear communication with them

because you would be surprised sometimes.

I think I know what's best, and I'm a hard charger, and then I

talked to somebody, and I'm like, I never even thought about that.

Because maybe they knew this 10% promo was coming that was going to get you to that

rate that you and your husband had come together on, and that was a part of their

plan all the time, was to get you that.

I will tell you this.

Consumers, no matter where they are, you guys heard us at

the beginning of the episode.

People like discounts.

People like to feel like they're winning, like they've gotten-- I

just stayed at a hotel, and they had this pop-up discount coupon code.

I was like, put the--

Sign me up.

Good day.

I used it.

I remember what the code was, and it probably wasn't even a discount,

but I felt like I was winning there.

They might've had that plan all along of those discounts, but yeah.

Communication is key here.

And I would really read the contract and let them do what they do best.

Challenge them.

But, um, again, it sounds to me that it was a blanket discount that they were

doing on every homeowner in their program.

It's something they probably do on a quarterly basis.

There's probably a box that didn't get checked on the computer.

There was a coupon code that didn't get disabled on your listing.

I actually feel very confident in this, Danielle.

It was in no way, shape, or form malicious intent or them wanting

to go against your wishes.

I don't think it's that at all.

I think it's something more.

But I do want to offer that too, Danielle, that it's not uncommon for a

property manager's program to be-- if you are in our program, we have systems

in place, and we need you to trust us.

I think this is a great opportunity, Danielle, to now get them on a Zoom call

or a phone call and have that conversation as if you're partner, because you are.

Yes, it's your property, but their job is to mix their expertise with it.

And the cool thing about you, Danielle, is you listen to Thanks for Visiting,

so I know that you are more educated than you might think that you are.

And so let them know that.

And tell them you're coming at it from a partnership standpoint, and that when

you do have a suggestion for pricing or anything else with your property, you'd

like for them to meet you as that partner.

But also, either you respect the fact they've got this program in

place and what they say goes, and maybe they're not the partner for you

Yeah.

That's what I was going to say.

Last but not least, though, I want to tie a bow on this of-- also red flags.

If something doesn't feel right, if this isn't the right partnership,

again, read your contract, and bolt.

Don't feel bad for pivoting.

Sarah and I, we've been looking at contracts all week, relationships

we're in, and if something doesn't feel right, and there are red flags,

the contract is in place for a reason.

It's easy to get out of.

It's easy for you to choose someone else.

Also, I don't want to end this episode without saying you are the homeowner.

You are the CEO of this business.

So if that felt wrong with your gut, there might be a multitude of other things.

So you choose who you want to work with, who you sign contracts with, but also, if

you decide to continue on, make a note.

Email.

Say, hey, we had this conversation.

Document, document, document.

Facts over feelings.

Data over drama.

But you are the CEO, and we appreciate you listening to the show.

We had to give you our perspective on all the angles there.

Danielle, good luck.

Keep us posted, please.

We mean that.

With that, my name is Sarah Karakaian.

I'm Annette Grant.

And together we are--

Thanks for Visiting.