We manage the cleaning and linen. This means we arrange the cleaners to come past after guests check out, and order clean linen for the cleaners to set the property up for new guests.

We charge cleaning and linen directly to guests on top of their nightly rate. We calculate the cleaning fee as the cost of cleaning and linen +11% so you are not out of pocket (ie, the cleaning fee we charge the guest is 11% more than what is costs). The cleaning and linen companies invoice us each month and we can either pay them out of your remittance or forward the invoice on for you to pay.

Yes, when you add a booking in your Owner’s Portal, it automatically schedules the cleaning and linen. Owners are charged for this at cost in their monthly remittance, and the 11% management fee is not charged on cleaning and linen for owner bookings.

You should supply basic essentials to get your guests started. Things like oil, pepper, salt, dishwashing tablets, paper towel, and dish scrubbers. We will ensure that these items are topped up for the next guests. Owners pay for these supplies and restock them themselves. Alternatively, we can restock these items for you at cost plus a $50 restocking fee.

We supply 500mL bottles of body wash, hand wash, shampoo, and conditioner from Aurora Spa Rituals. On average, this costs owners between $400 - $600/year - charged directly to you at wholesale cost. Providing high-quality toiletries is important for guest satisfaction. These larger volumes help to minimise rubbish and offer a better guest experience compared to small travel-sized portions, so we see this as a good investment.

You will need a lockable space at your property. Good examples include a locker in the garage or lockable cupboards in the house. All the spare consumables that you don’t want guests to have access to need to fit. A space of around 1m3 (1m x 1m x 1m) should be sufficient. We supply toilet paper so you don’t need to store this. Note that if you have other personal items that you want to put away while guest stay at your property, you will also need to have space to store these.

One of the reasons we can keep our management fee so low is because the booking platforms we use do a lot of marketing themselves. We list our properties on three of Australia’s most popular booking platforms - Airbnb, Booking.com, and VRBO (HomeAway/Stayz). The marketing budgets and reach of these platforms is extensive and we regularly see our managed properties appearing in online ads. We also market our brand and individual properties on Google Search, Google Display Network, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, and in Snowy Mountains Magazine and Snowpost Magazine. We put the effort in to present your property to its fullest potential. We contract an award-winning professional photographer who specialises in real estate photography to ensure your potential guests love what they see and make a booking.

Yes, you will get a login to a secure site where you can enter dates you wish to reserve the property for yourself or your family and friends. You can even charge family friends for cleaning and linen or a discounted rate through the Owner Portal, which accepts payment via credit card or direct transfer. Furthermore, your Owner Portal offers you complete transparency over all your bookings, including who the guests are, how much they paid, how long they’re staying, which platform they booked through, financial performance, occupancy, and more. You will also be able to see all communication between us and your guests.

The platforms we use all charge different rates. Bookings made directly through our own site do not attract a fee, so we drive as many bookings as possible to this site. Airbnb and Booking.com charge hosts 15% while VRBO (HomeAway/Stayz) charges hosts 4.3%. VRBO also charges guests a fee that varies between 8% - 12%. Don't worry though, we mark the prices up on each platform to reflect these charges so guests booking through these platforms pay more than if they book with us directly.

Yes, you can provide these codes to family and friends along with the link to your property on our site. Guests complete the normal booking process and add the discount code when making payment. Guests booking this way will also save on the platform fees as explained above.

Our management fee is placed on any income for the property. The two primary income sources are the nightly rate and cleaning/linen fee. So for regular guests or friends/family who pay, we will charge 11% on whatever they pay, whether it’s a discounted or full rate. However, when a nightly rate and/or cleaning/linen fee isn’t charged (for example, when you make an owner booking for yourself or reserve the property for someone else without charging them) there's no management fee - you'll pay for cleaning and linen at cost.

We process the accounts at the end of each month and forward funds directly to your bank account. We deduct our management fee and any other relevant costs (eg maintenance) out of this remittance, so what you receive is your net balance.

We’ve been managing properties in the Snowies since 2016. We bought our own chalet in Crackenback in 2018. Some of our managed properties are listed on the APM platform accounts, while some are listed on their owner’s account. We’ll be moving all our managed properties across to the APM accounts on each platform wherever possible to boost recognition of our brand. We operated as sole traders until September 2020 and then registered as a company when it suited the needs of our growing business.

In addition to the four years we’ve been operating in the Snowies, we ran a similar business called cushie concierge services on the Northern Beaches of Sydney since 2015, building our property portfolio from scratch to 20+ properties in a year. We recently sold this business and have embarked on our next adventure! See our previous business here: https://www.airbnb.com.au/users/95214788/listings

We provide a code for guests to access the door or a lock box containing the property keys. This allows guests to check in at any time - particularly helpful for people arriving late from Sydney. We’re available 24/7 to assist guests with any needs they may have.

Airbnb provides a great booking environment for both owners and guests. Owners and guests both have the opportunity to review each other - holding each other accountable for the experience - creating a culture of mutual respect. Bad experiences on either side can be publicly disclosed so each party does their best to satisfy the other. Guests also need to submit government issued identification before they stay, and the platform provides a streamlined complaint-handling process in the rare instance of a problem occurring. Letting your property through Airbnb or another platform carries many of the same risks as letting through a hotel or through an agent. Wear-and-tear on the property is normal, and accidents can still happen, and these factors are not dependent on your letting strategy.