By Steve Sherlock

When thinking about starting a vacation rental management business there are a few things ambitious entrepreneurs will want to consider.

First and foremost, it’s imperative to determine the reason you are going to start the business and imagine what success will look like. If you want to purchase a single vacation home to live in for half of the year, that’s much different from starting a management company with the goal of hundreds of properties under management.

Once the business has a direction and rough draft of a plan, the next step is to know the numbers! Start with the initial investment and revenue projection and build out what you are willing to spend money on from there. For example, third party cleaning services are a nice luxury to have, but if it’s going to eat 5% of the rental profit they might not be a good investment for a smaller property owner or manager.

Another helpful planning strategy is to consider the vacation rental management business from the guest’s perspective. What are some necessities that guests expect from their accommodation? What might generate a negative review that can be handled before guests arrive? Using these questions along with a long list of other considerations can help determine if a business is feasible and worth the effort.

While these strategies can serve to help vacation rental managers, there are a lot of factors that might affect a decision to invest in vacation rental properties or start a management company. For additional resources, be sure to check out the information available on FlipKey, Barefoot, Homeaway, Vacation Rental Partners, Rentals United and other online blogs or forums.