A Calgary Property Manager's Guide to Short-Term Rental Success

Calgary's short-term rental property management is continuously evolving, creating ongoing challenges that property owners must meet head-on. Identifying these challenges is the first step in overcoming them.

As a leading Calgary short-term rental property management company, we’re skilled at understanding the problems our area faces and how to solve them. So, keep reading to learn all about these common challenges and how you can solve them.

Adapting to Calgary's Bylaw Regulatory Changes

Challenge: How to keep up with Calgary's short-term rental regulations and bylaws?

Solution: 

Like many other areas in the country, Calgary continues to explore updating or enacting new regulations on short-term rentals. Being aware of all applicable bylaws and regulations is crucial to avoid fines or penalties. 

You can overcome this challenge with regular consultations with local authorities, attending community meetings, and joining professional property management associations for updates and advice. Depending on your activity level, you can also influence these conversations to guide the development of regulations.

Market Competition and Pricing Strategies

Challenge: How to stay competitive in a saturated short-term rental market?

Solution: 

We’re well past the early days when short-term rentals were a small, novel industry. Now, short-term vacation rentals are a significant industry that influences the economy of entire cities. Offering an appealing property with competitive pricing is critical.

Solve this challenge by conducting thorough market research, exploring dynamic pricing strategies, and offering unique amenities or experiences that set your property apart. Getting advice from an experienced Airbnb short-term vacation rental property management company can help with each of these strategies, or you can entirely rely on the property management company to successfully implement them for you.

Effective Guest Communication and Management

Challenge: How to ensure seamless communication with guests, manage bookings, and handle guest expectations?

Solution: 

Managing bookings, setting expectations, and communicating with guests is critical for a thriving business. Utilizing property management software for efficient booking and communication, setting clear house rules, and providing a local guidebook for guests.

Additionally, communication is at the heart of tenant satisfaction. Quick responses to guest inquiries can help address any issues that arise and otherwise help provide a problem-free experience. 

Working with a local Calgary short-term rental property manager can ensure any issues or questions are quickly responded to, as it can be a challenge to stay on top of guest communication as your business grows. Learn more about the benefits of working with an Airbnb property management company.

Maintaining Property Quality and Safety

Challenge: How to uphold high standards of cleanliness, maintenance, and safety?

Solution: 

Every property should have a strict cleaning and maintenance schedule. Hiring professional cleaning services is necessary to build a scalable business, as trying to clean everything yourself will quickly become time-consuming. It’s also crucial to abide by all sanitization standards to ensure your practices are current.

Additionally, clearly establish safety measures to keep guests safe while they’re at your property. Keypad locks and security cameras can go far in protecting guests. Having a safety incident can create significant issues well behind a bad review.

Online Reputation Management

Challenge: How to build and maintain a positive online presence and reputation?

Solution: 

A positive online reputation is crucial for a thriving short-term rental business, while a negative reputation can be a challenge to overcome. Providing an excellent guest experience is the first step in building an excellent reputation.

From there, you need to actively seek guest feedback, address negative reviews in a timely manner, and use social media to enhance visibility. While Airbnb will likely remind guests to leave a review, as a short-term property owner or property management company taking the initiative to ask guests how their stay was can go far in receiving more reviews.

Overall, the goal is to minimize the impact of bad reviews and earn more positive reviews to build an overall excellent reputation.

Financial Management and Maximizing Profit 

Challenge: How to optimize profitability while managing operational costs?

Solution: 

Properly managing all the involved financial expenses and revenue streams is critical to building a lasting business. Without having the right approach to the financial side of the business, you may struggle to navigate the other challenges of the short-term rental industry.

Maximizing profitability depends on detailed budgeting, expense tracking, and exploring all possible revenue streams. For example, off-peak seasonal promotions and partnerships with local businesses can help keep your properties profitable during the typical low season.

Additionally, it’s crucial to keep cleaning, maintenance, and fee costs carefully managed in relation to the rates you charge. Mismanaging expenses can quickly cut into your profit margin.

Team Up with Aisling Baile to Navigate the Short-term Rental Market

Navigating the ups and downs of Calgary's short-term rental market can make or break your short-term rental business. Guests’ needs, requirements, and expectations are constantly evolving — you must be able to evolve to meet them.

Aisling Baile is a leading short-term rental property management company in Calgary, ready to help you ebb and flow with the market. Are you ready to partner up to navigate this ever-changing market?Contact us today to get started.