management company

[David-And-Kevin0]

We are hosts. Our cottage receives excellent ratings. We have used about 30 Airbnb properties around the world. All have been excellent - without surprises. During a trip to Molokai, Hawaii last week, we stayed in a condo. Advertised through Airbnb, the property is managed by VACASA. The condo is a disaster. I'm unsure if the management company is ripping off the absent-owner or if the owner is aware of the condition of the place and does not give a crap. Does anybody know, if we give a frank review about the condition, does the owner see the criticism (if they want) or is everything funneled to the management company?

[Sarah977]

@David-And-Kevin0  Whose account is the listing under, the management co's or the host's? If the host's, the reviews appear on the host's account, so of course they would see it. If the reviews are on VACASA's account, the host would have to read the reviews there. 

I'd imagine there are some remote hosts who don't care and never look at the reviews given their managers and other hosts who definitely do. 

[Z-2]

@David-And-Kevin0 If you put the review on Airbnb, since it is so popular now, the owner might look at it. If the review just give back to VACASA (you reserve the condo directly though VACASA), then they may not display at all if it is really bad. We used management company before for renting my vacation houses. The first few years, we never look at the review on the company site. But if the guest complained about the house related problem, they will tell us and then they are happy to get paid for repairs. We never know how's the repair goes. Also sometimes, they will send us the guest reviews (paper filled), but I know they were just some reviews they want us to see because from those review, customer service are all good, only complains are house related. But as far as I know now, a lot of owners aware about this now. They do care and read the review sometimes. But they usually don't have a choice since they are not live there and can't control it. I have a neighbor (of one of my vacation house) find out the cleaning problems when they come to visit. But what they can do? All management company doing a lousy job when they are busy. The owners try to pick the better one from them.

[Michelle1851]

@David-And-Kevin0 I feel for you, as someone who travels frequently, I try to only use owners without management companies,  there is such a difference in quality.  After using management companies several times, we decided to buy our own property in that particular location.  I have met several owners who use management companies and honestly I don't think they care what the reviews are.  They bought at the right time and are just happy with the income, unlike myself who bought at an all time high and honestly cares about each and every guest.  When I book now, which is still frequently, I will only use an owner.    I just haven't found the same quality in management companies with no response to concerns, let alone getting a review out of them.