There are different aspects and qualifications to look at when you are hiring or scanning for a good property manager for an Airbnb property. Here are the top things that you need to look out for. 

• If your candidate has any experience in handling other Airbnb or BnB properties in general. Or if they have any experience in handling and managing properties in related fields. These can include real estate from the hospitality industry or even multi-family property management. 

• Talk to previous employers of property management candidates to ensure that their background and work experience are credible.  

• You must also look for property managers who know how to work with the latest technology selection to keep updated with bookings and streamline management. 

• Your property manager should essentially have local language skills; if they do not, then it can become a major barrier. 

• The property manager must also have a detailed knowledge of the local place to enhance the tourism experience of the visiting customers. This will directly impact the ratings of the Airbnb property and help it grow further.  

• An ideal candidate for the property manager role must also be a local person. This will help with the two points mentioned above. And additionally, property managers will not have to pay extra for accommodation.  

• A candidate should also come with some property management or hospitality degree to be efficient and well-trained in their job. This is even more important if the candidate does not have prior working experience.  

What does the job role of Airbnb property managers entail? How can property managers earn more in their existing roles? Why do some managers earn more than the average rates? Let us find out.  

• Understanding your guests 

Airbnb is part of the tourism and hospitality industry. No matter where the property is located or its type, it is always about providing a holistic experience for your visitors. A good property manager must understand their guest's needs and customize their approach to guest handling accordingly. Such small changes for each guest can increase the average commissions of managers and help the business get better ratings.  

• Understanding your listing and its USP 

Airbnb is all about properties with a USP. As a property manager, understanding this USP and selling it to the guests is what will help the manager and business grow. Why should customers stay at a particular property? You need to know the property inside out and how each facility in the property can help enhance your customers' stay. Mention those details in a great fashion on the website to help get more bookings and increase the manager's commissions.  

• The location of the property  

Each Airbnb property comes with a unique location, and understand why people are visiting that particular location. Provide quirky and exclusive location-specific information to the guests to build a connection with them and help better their stay at the property. This will help improve your ratings for both the property and the property manager.  

• Understanding the special offerings of each season 

Each season in a tourism area comes with its own special offerings. A property manager must know what these mean for the tourists and how they can become an added selling point for the property. Offering exclusive inputs, insights on local events, and more can easily help do that.  

The hotel industry has stopped waiting for things to go back to “normal”; they have adapted to the “new normal” post-pandemic and have adapted the hotel real estate accordingly. Here’s how. 

1. Digital hotel experience 

Digital buyer experience was already on the rise in the real estate industry, but post-pandemic hotels have started to use new technology selections in their hotels. Check-in and check-outs have become contactless and happen through apps; housekeeping services like cleaning and upkeep are being done with smart appliances. Paying in cash at hotels has become almost obsolete, and e-payments are the new norm. The whole hotel experience is becoming digital with very little human interaction to keep up with the social distancing standards of the pandemic. 

2. Virtual reality  

Previously people traveled to beaches and mountains, but with the rise of technology and post-pandemic many hotels have started to adopt virtual reality experiences inside hotels. People can be sitting in a city hotel and enjoying a beach or forest experience through Virtual or Augmented Reality devices. Hotels have even come up with kiosks for such services, and many real estate owners are taking this trend quite seriously.  

3. Rise of solo travelers 

Hotels are now offering amenities and facilities that favor solo travelers. People have all genders have taken to solo travel and facilities like backpackers hostels instead of luxury hotels are on the rise. A budget-friendly solo traveler can not afford a luxury room and the hospitality industry needs to revamp its structures and business models accordingly to cater to this growing crowd. The strategy and leadership at your company need to take a closer look at the business process overview and make new plans to diversify the audience they entertain.  

Travel Pulse survey has found out that 1 in 5 people are planning solo trips within the next year, and that is a huge market to tap into.  

4. Rise of long-stay workation tours 

Many offices are offering complete remote work options to their employees, like LinkedIn and PwC. This has encouraged long-stay workation tours where people can indulge in leisure and work simultaneously. This has made hotels offer more flexible stay options and open spaces for office workers to relax and give them a holistic workation experience.  

5. Personalized, boutique options 

Hotels are going the extra mile with assistive technology implementation plans and integrating CRM and property management software to make interaction with their clients more personalized. They are also offering boutique stays to clients to make them feel valued and get ahead of the competition.  

6. Health and wellness tourism 

The pandemic has taught people the importance of health, and health and well tourism are on the rise due to that. Hotels are now investing in buildings, spas, yoga centers, spiritual rooms, and more to make the most business from this market trend.  

7. Sustainable hospitality is in demand 

The commercial hotel industry produces a lot of waste and adversely affects the environment, but more customers and investors demand sustainable options. Business Travel News reports that Marriott had more than 20 customers ask about their carbon footprint levels, and they have started work to take this into account while building their hotels and managing their assets across the globe.  

8. International travel is getting back 

With active vaccination drives and the number of COVID cases going down and reducing travel restrictions, international travel is becoming more accessible and more frequent. There is a rising trend among hotel owners to cater to these international tourists with diverse demands. More offices are spending their budgets on sending employees for corporate tours, and that is boosting the commercial real estate hotel market.  

9. The growing need for construction is driving the market 

MRI Software offers property management services that can transform the way communities live. Here’s how. 

• MRI Living 

MRI Living is MRI software’s residential property management solution. This is the perfect software solution for property managers handling multi-family properties and has features to help you in every step of the tenant life cycle. From attracting prospective new tenants to handling their lease work or even automating the maintenance work, they have a solution for it.  

• MRI@Work 

MRI@Work has a larger focus on commercial properties and office workplaces. This software solution can handle the bulky data work and commercial business and space management of places like retail properties, shopping malls, warehouses, etc. The commercial real estate market is volatile, especially after the pandemic, and MRI services can help you beat the pandemic blues.  

MRI is a property management software, but it has some exclusive features.

• Online application management 

The MRI software services help you open up a waitlist system for your online applications. This will help you filter through bulks of data, shortlist applicants without long phone calls, and do lots of data entry work. It can even flag duplicate or fake applicants and save time for your business by streamlining the whole process. Choosing tenants or your office staff can all be done by customizing this feature into your existing system. 

• Voucher management 

Managing affordable housing work can be a daunting task, but MRI has a solution for all kinds of properties. MRI voucher management helps PHAs administer Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers to keep track of program participants, collect their data, and manage payments and minor leases to speed up the process.  

Yardi software can be used for all kinds of real estate properties, from senior living homes, affordable housing, and multi-family homes to shopping malls and parks. Here’s a deep dive into its features.  

• Yardi Breeze 

Yardi Breeze is fairly easier to integrate and use. They do not have very high-end technical solutions. At times, it is better suited for real estate companies just starting out on their PropTech journey. This is cheaper and has all the features for basic property management. 

• Yardi Voyager 

Yardi Voyager needs software support and staff training to use; they have customized features and solutions for specific property management needs. This version of Yardi works best for bigger commercial real estate businesses.  

• Automated CAM reconciliation 

They offer a quick CAM reconciliation feature, they tall estimated CAM charges against actual CAM charges to avoid any discrepancies and charge tenants accordingly. CAM experts generally do this work, but Yardi offers a software solution to this.  

• Resident screenings 

The top property management features are similar in MRI and Yardi.  

• Asset management 

Each real estate property has numerous assets, and keeping track of their maintenance, conditions, and tenant feedback can get automated and save your property manager a lot of time.  

• Back office accounting 

Back office accounting can be a tedious task with invoice checking, verifications, and matching all transactions to close books at month-end can be a lot of work. Yardi or MRI property management software can easily automate the back office accounting work.  

• Tenant portals 

The property management software will offer you easy-to-use tenant portals where you can interact with your tenants, collect rent, look at their grievances, and provide immediate solutions to make their time feel valued and improve relations.  

• Real estate budgeting and forecasting 

Budgeting and forecasting are crucial in any business, and the right property management software has proper analytic tools and finances and accounts tracking services that help them with your budgeting and forecasting plans. It will help you understand your current financial conditions and also plan your way ahead. 

There are innumerable tech trends that are rising the ranks of the real estate market. Here are a few of the most important ones that you can’t afford to miss out on this year. 

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

AI-based service providers can now predict the exact cost of real estate in any location, at any time. With the use of AI in this software, the life of a real estate agent becomes much easier with no manual errors to worry about. 

Pre-programmed algorithms can now go through piles of documents in seconds and find you the right path in no time. From property values, land records, debt levels and even personal information on homeowners, everything is just seconds away with AI. Like Zillow is using their AI technology to predict property prices for over 104 million homes across the US.  

• Data Management & Analytics  

There are no proper centralised data management providers for real estate that can help you process data to understand market trends. There is a void for this particular system and you can develop your own data management tool for your business process overview.  

Real estate analytics will help you predict market trends in the purchase, investment, development and much more. This will also give you inside information on buying trends and great competition analysis. Airbnb is using market data and buying trends to predict how likely a website visitor is to rent a particular property. 

• Virtual Reality (VR) 

The upcoming generation is all for real-life experiences without the actual effort of it and Virtual Reality is one such example to go by. This is exactly why real estate needs to find ways to make their customers see and feel like they are inside a property from the comfort of their own homes. This almost palpable visual experience of visiting a house with VR is sure to leave a mark on potential customers and eventually increase sales. 

Companies like Matterport and Real Tour Vision provide VR services to real estate businesses. This has become increasingly popular over the last couple of years both with realtors and customers alike. 

• Digital services 

Due to the pandemic people have become real advocates about touch-less services across industries. The real estate sector is not far behind. Once virtual signatures were looked down upon as non-credible, they have now become an everyday reality in property deals.  

From mortgage financial services to project management processes, everything is now going the digital way. People meet their agents on virtual mediums, take tours on virtual mediums, sign contracts with e-signatures making this a safer way of business amidst the pandemic scare. Live streaming on Zoom call among these things has become the forerunner in the digitalization of the property buying/renting process and it is here to stay. 

This will not only make customers feel that their time is valued but will also make your work updated with the rising tech trends in the market.  

• Robotics in real estate process automation  

Providing virtual assistants for virtual home visits, chatbots or voice bots will bring quick answers to customers about impending queries. This will again hit the right chords with millennials who want quick fixes in their fast lives with minimal physical effort.  

Every real estate business knows that client referrals are crucial to making it big. A customer who is satisfied with your company is sure to use your service again. They are also highly likely to recommend you to friends and family.  

Research shows that over a whopping 82% of all real estate transactions are referrals. This data highlights the importance of satisfying the client in a real estate business. Without exaggeration, one can say that it could make or break your business.  Therefore, the onboarding process is crucial because it is your client's introduction to your business. They may have arrived at a friend's recommendation and may have expectations of you.  

Therefore, the onboarding process sets the tone for all your future interactions with the tenant. It is crucial to start things on a warm note as a landlord. It is your responsibility to be both professional and friendly. Being aware of the importance of this practice, you can proceed onto the steps required of the onboarding process, including 

1. Tenant Application Review 

All property managers know how tedious and expensive evictions can be. Installing software like Yardi and MRI can help prevent such hassles so that you admit only the lowest risk tenants. It comes equipped with customizable filters that allow you to choose your client by specific categories.  

Besides this, with Yardi ScreenWorks, you get access to many rental data. You can use this information to verify the real estate history of your tenant. An efficient partner will help you optimize your tenant onboarding process by ensuring the following details are in order. 

• A history of debt, mortgage information, credit scores within a moderate range 

• References from old landlords and real estate businesses 

• Payment history 

• Identity verification including Social Security Number, Driving License, and other govt-issued identification 

• Insurance details are crucial and should always be verified before the onboarding process.  

• Employment details including past work history with paycheck stubs, employer data, and more 

• Personal information like full name, contact, and current housing details. 

• A pro tip would be to inquire about pets. Your building may be a no pet zone and this minute detail cause friction between you and the tenant later on.  

2. Lease Details 

A lease should cover all loopholes regarding the tenant's stay. It should also protect the rights of the tenant and landlord. The issue of practices like standard area management fees often causes disputes later on in the business relationship.  

Your contract should be concise about which responsibilities you and the tenants have to avoid future misunderstandings. Typically, leases contain information like 

• Complete legal names 

• Date of lease 

• Rent details include but are not limited to yearly maintenance fees, the expense for the use of common amenities, rent values, security deposit information, and more. 

• Fees for late rent payment, penalties on property damage, etc 

• Details on pets  

Leases are usually long and difficult to read because they include the factors mentioned above. It also takes time to add these clauses to the contract. But a lease abstraction software can help you with this. It distills all the crucial points of the agreement and produces it in writing, which is straightforward.