Warning against use of Turnkey Vacation Rentals to manage properties

Paul368
Level 4
New Orleans, LA

Warning against use of Turnkey Vacation Rentals to manage properties

Hello, 

 

I have been a host for six years across two cities, and I wanted to put out some information about my experience with Turnkey Vacation Rentals in Nashville, TN. This company was a complete disaster for my listings, and I would never recommend any host use them. I have a TON of things to say, but I'll try to list the basic issues with their "service."

 

1. They advertise a "hands-off" and "worry free" service for absent landlords. It was anything but. They couldn't even handle basics like getting the lawn cut before it was 3 feet tall in mid-summer, causing mutiple terrible reviews. I had to check up their work constantly, and they showed no care at all to making sure guests had a good experience and would leave the listings with good reviews.

 

2. They similarly advertise high-quality vacation listings, but they were awful at basic things that give guests a good experience. Replacement towels and linens were of really low quality, and not maintained well, despite these expenses being charged to me. They didn't even try to use good products when they weren't paying for them! Again, no care given to providing a good guest experience, and the listing suffered for it. 

 

3. They never held guests accountable for damages or even apparent theft. Items went missing from the home, including a full bed frame. Curtain and bathroom hardware was pulled down and shoddily replaced multiple times, but no guests were held accountable for these damages, and I ended up eating the costs.

 

4. Becuase the reviews suffered so terribly, after buring through my old airnbnb reservations that were already in place at handover, they had one good month of revenues (when their listing was new), and then after that, reservations tanked. I had 3-4 days out of two months reserved when I finally fired them. Now I'm having to cover the mortgage at this house with no revenue coming in for two months wheil I wait to get a long term tenant in place.  

 

Bottom line, this company is unprofessional in many ways and not to be trusted with any property that is nice enough to be a good airbnb listing. Plus, there is no bond or deposit in place to ensure their care of your property or business reputation. Use their services at your own risk.  

110 Replies 110

Do not sign with Turnkey:( The company is totally automated and getting anything done is impossible. No one works on the weekend so you can handle problems yourself on your days off. I have a lot of experience with nightly rentals and Turnkey was by far the worst management we have had. We made less money although when we signed up we were promised that we would make more, A couple of disappointing months in they raised their fees to 23%. They promised not to nickel and dime us and yet we were charged for credit card fees when Airbnb handles that. Also we were charged $95 for removing a gopher from the pool when my husband took it out. The final straw was when they withheld payment for all our rentals so they could nickel and dime me about relocating a guest. So far my ach payment is a week late and I have not been able to get anyone on the  phone to discuss it despite long hold times and many many messages. Run don't walk!

Hi Amanda,

 

I just finished reading your response to Paul about your experience with TurnKey. I work for a company called Coleman Research where we partner with consulting firms and investment management companies who use our database of experts to learn more about a certain topic or subject. I'm working on a project where my client is interested in speaking to people who have had experience with companies like Turnkey and I think you'd be great for them to speak to. They want to speak with about 20 people who have this experience so I though you'd be a good fit like Paul. These conversations with my client happen over the phone and last about an hour and you would be paid for your time. I'd be happy to talk and answer any questions you might have! 

 

Best,

Victoria Centeno 

vcenteno@colemanrg.com

(919) 502-0813 

Hi @Amanda610 -- I work at TurnKey and apologize that we're just now responding to this after discovering this forum thread.

 

I'm surprised to hear you weren't able to reach anyone on the weekends. We do have many staff members work weekdays. However, we absolutely understand the importance of weekend coverage and ensure that we have 24/7 coverage for both our owners and guests.

 

Regarding our fees and pricing structure, we always ensure they are transparent, and that these are clear/available to owners in the owner dashboard and emailed owner statements. In addition, credit card fees were only ever passed on to homeowners where these expenses were incurred on the booking platform. However, this was never the case on Airbnb. If that was your experience, we would be very interested to learn more and see where the miscommunication was.

 

When it comes to relocating a guest, it can be very costly and also a painful experience for the guest, as you can well imagine. As such, there can be additional fees attached to this, which are clearly outlined in our owner agreement. When this is the case, we make sure to communicate proactively with the homeowner to avoid surprises. Our goal is to ensure the guest is taken care of, and that if this relocation happens, we do it with empathy. Sometimes this does come at an added expense to the owner.

 

If you would like to reconnect with us or further discuss the issues you experienced so we can improve our service, please email us at reviewsupport@turnkeyvr.com.

we have a home in Omaha Nebraska that did very well on airbnb. the property was hosted by a company in florida but they only do high end properties now. ours is in the $250 range and always got 5 star ratings. we are looking for a reliable company to host. we can help provide cleaning crew to manage locally in Omaha. Please advise if your company will be interested. I can be reached via email *sensitive information hidden*. Thanks. Mike Khan

@Mike2009 Hi Mike! Would help to assist you with co-hosting -- we have a couple properties we manage in Lincoln NE. Feel free to shoot us an email at hello@jhkingmanagement.com thanks!

Winnie K.

Hi Paul,

 

I just finished reading through your post about your experience with TurnKey. I work for a company called Coleman Research where we partner with consulting firms and investment management companies who use our database of experts to learn more about a certain topic or subject. I'm working on a project where my client is interested in speaking to people who have had experience with companies like Turnkey and I think you'd be great for them to speak to. These conversations with my client happen over the phone and last about an hour and you would be paid for your time. I'd be happy to talk and answer any questions you might have! 

 

Best,

Victoria

**[E-mail address, phone number and name hidden due to safety reasons - Community Center Guidelines]

Hi Victoria,

You may send me an email at

**[E-mail address hidden due to safety reasons - Community Center Guidelines

if you wish to follow up.

Thanks!

I would happily speak to Coleman Research.

I have been struggling with TurnKey and have not yet signed an agreement.  Their poor communication and lack of straight answers to my questions is making me very wary. I got a lot of contradictory answers about how and what they payout property owners.

I got few bookings through them after a month. I took back my listing so I could rescue my high season from them.

TurnKey provides ‘cheap’ and inferior toiletries etc. and charge the homeowner a ridiculous fee  to supply items for every guest and most guests don’t use them but you are still charged. It feels a bit shifty. Thank you, Katie

Norman31
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

I had similar experiences to those of Paul in New Orleans.

 

I did do some research on Turnkey before signing with them, including speaking with a friend of a friend who uses them and loves them.

 

My AirBnB is very much a 5* hotel type place - it's a large and complicated house and this was made clear to the Turnkey sales rep who visited.  However it quickly became apparent that they could not cope with the demands of a complicated house and 5* status.  The toiletries they used were awful - the toilet paper was pathetic, the list was endless.  They failed to understand all the house controls and so were useless with guests' questions.

 

The week before we returned to our own house for a vacation, we got a torrent of complaints about cleanliness from a guest (who I'd booked on VRBO but was being looked after by Turnkey).  This same guest did a chargeback on VRBO for the stay which I've not managed to have reversed.  When we arrived at the property, it was filthy, despite being charged by Turnkey for cleaning.

 

As to bookings, they were terrible:  we signed with them in May and were largely full through early October but had plenty of vacancies after then (still high season for us).  We were achieving high occupancy with high prices and 4 night minimums.  I reluctantly agreed to permit Turnkey to reduce the minimum to 3-nights.  They only managed to get three bookings for 3 nights each over a period of 4 months.  When challenged, they said we were charging too much, completely ignoring the fact that we were achieving those rates ourselves.

 

I can see that this company might be ok for a cookie cutter apartment in a town, but it simply cannot handle anything out of the ordinary.  Avoid it like the plague.

Hi @Norman31 -- I work at TurnKey and apologize that we're just now responding to this after discovering this forum thread.

 

We hate to hear your experience with TurnKey was not positive. We recognize that unique and stunning homes like yours often need encyclopedic knowledge to help guests take advantage of high-end amenities. As such, we've invested in launching a smart system that lets us store and provide answers to guest questions at the market and property level.

 

We've also improved our prior owner bookings process to account for the unique situation where the party managing the guest is not the party responsible for collecting the funds. We'd welcome any feedback on handling this more effectively, or any other opportunities for us to improve our experience.

 

We'd also love to hear more about any pricing differences between self-management and TurnKey. We've found that transitioning from FRBO to property manager setup does require some tweaking to ensure that our rates are optimized. Please feel free to email us at reviewsupport@turnkeyvr.com

We’re looking for your help. We paid in full (#BKG-486304) before the virus prevented us from traveling, but Turnkey won’t refund our money.  The credit offered cannot be used because some of our party live in Portugal, and the others traveled from East Coast and can’t return.  We asked for a refund less 10% deposit which is normal policy if we could have cancelled early enough and were ignored.  Lastly we offered to pay your full management fee  less the balance refunded, and were refused saying it’s “the right thing for everyone involved”. Please ask John, TJ and Jen to reconsider.  A credit is of no use to us.  No exception is made for those who cannot use the credit no matter how long it is extended.

@Harrison50  This is a discussion forum for hosts and guests. Whose help are you looking for? Turnkey isn't going to be reading your post here. If you booked this through Airbnb, you need to talk to Airbnb customer service.

Airbnb wasn't an option, and I am exhausting all resources.  I will try other venues...

Larry168
Level 1
New Orleans, LA

Paul, just now seeing this. Similarly, I live in NOLA and have rental in Nashvillle. I’ve had similar experiences with TK. I looked at other companies on-line, but curious if anyone has had success with other management companies?

Yes me too! Any other companies suggested?