I used to manage my own property and 11 other properties owned by various owners. I think the main nightmare for me was how individual owners took their time in responding to issues regarding maintenance, upgrades, etc., decision-making that required spending money. This resulted in my rating drop, and that's never good. I finally decided to stop hosting for others, and concentrated only on my 1 property, and since my revenue has increased because I have more time to do things properly, and also charge much more than I used to because I take advantage of the calendar function, charging more for holidays, long weekends, festivals, etc., I guess you can say Thailand is blessed with having so many 🙂
Would I manage more properties again? Yes, I would, if I owned them outright, allowing me to make decisions quickly without having to pass through individual owners for permissions.
Housekeeping has always been one nagging point for me, I have a hotel background, plus a little OCD, which makes me picky, no matter how many times you warn the housekeeping about doing things properly, it never gets perfect. I spot check 90% of the time, especially for long stay guests. I deep clean the apartment every 6 months or less, for that I have an excellent team, a clean apartment solves alot of problems.
Communication, wasn't the best when I was managing several units, but purely out of not being organized. Nowadays, I have a full outline of text messages categorized into Apartment Entry, Safety Deposit Box, Internet, Television, House Rules, Allergies, Car Park, Check-out, Important Notes, etc. I send each one separately with Capitalized Headings so that the guest can find important information easily. That has greatly reduced messaging back and forth, I don't use the automated message feature in the Airbnb app because it will be sent out immediately once clients book, and basically gets buried deep in other back & forth chatter, I usuallyl send it about 2 weeks before their arrival.
I follow up immediately upon check in, eg. "Hi how as the check-in, did everything go alright, is the apartment as you expected...." and, I might send them some friendly advice, like the tide times this week, restaurant info, etc. by having this communication, you cut the risk of them complaining about something or another AFTER they check out.
Even though housekeeping isn't the best, I include it during guest stay, they serve as are my eyes & ears if guests smoke, or doing something they shouldn't, there's plenty of weird people.
Keep in mind we are running a hospitality business, you can't automate everything, it's very much hands on, but you can streamline things by being better organized, yes it is a full time job. I would not hire an agent, means less money for me, and there is no guarantee they would do it better.
One other important factor that almost slipped, the length of stay. I have a minimum length of stay requirement, 5 nights for low season, 2 weeks to a month during high and peak season. If you are doing daily rentals, forget it, it's time-consuming and has a higher maintenance cost. But this all depends on your location and demand.
It's a lucrative business to be in, if you own the property, not the bank.
Good luck.
