Daylesford Country Cottages offers property management services to owners of short-term rental properties. On Airbnb, this is done through the excellent “co-hosting” functionality – we have been a Superhost on Airbnb for over 7 years and have been vetted and approved by Airbnb to join their official “Experienced Co-host Program” in the Daylesford and Hepburn Springs area. We can also create and operate listings for your property in a similar manner on booking.com and Stayz/Vrbo if you want.
We have now hosted over 5,000 sets of guests in our own self-managed cottages, with all of them consistently achieving occupancy rates of 85-95% (including midweek nights).
For owners, engaging an Airbnb co-host is a much more flexible way to get help with operating your short-term rental property, compared with signing a contract with one of the large local property management agencies. We can do as much or as little as you require, but you always remain in full control, and you can terminate the arrangement at any time should you wish to, with no notice and no penalties.
All communication between hosts, co-hosts and guests, and all routine payments, remain within the Airbnb system. Our fee for managing the listing is 10-15% of what the owner gets after Airbnb has deducted their service fees and the short-stay levy (so it amounts to about 8-12% of what the guest pays in total), depending on the scope of our arrangement with you. Cleaning and/or laundry/linen hire services, if you engage us for those, are additional and will be billed separately.
Here is a quick summary of our Airbnb co-hosting services. These will be similar for booking.com and Stayz/Vrbo listings if you want them.
Listing set-up
Full listing setup, including high-quality photos, appealing descriptive text, accurate amenity lists, pricing and policies
Setting prices and availability
Finely-tuned nightly rates, including peak seasons/long weekends, and automated (but carefully monitored) last-minute discounts on a sliding scale in the 3 weeks leading up to a particular date.
Booking request management
We aim to respond within 5 min to all booking enquiries. We advise turning on “Instant Book” but can vet guests if you wish.
Guest messaging
We are available from 7am to 1am to respond promptly to guest messages sent through the app.
Onsite guest support
We are available 24/7 to answer phone calls from guests, and can usually be onsite to provide support within a few minutes.
Cleaning, linen hire and maintenance
For our co-hosted properties, we have partnered with a well-established and respected local cleaning company that specialises in turning around short-term rental properties and providing a linen hire service. They would bill you directly but we will coordinate them on your behalf. We can organise local tradies for you when necessary for urgent maintenance and repairs.
Listing photography
Andrew is a highly skilled digital photographer and can take 10-20 photos of your property with professional lighting and camera equipment, and optimise the images in Photoshop. All the photos of our cottages on this website were taken and edited by Andrew.
Interior design and styling
Anthony is happy to advise on interior design and the types of furnishings that guests expect, and to source items if desired
Additional services
Our listing setup fee starts at $250 + GST.
For more information, have a look at our co-hosting profile on Airbnb, https://www.airbnb.com/co-hosts/profile/1184578104033372507?source=REFERRAL, and send us an initial Airbnb message from there. Or give Andrew a call on 0479 074518 for a no-obligation exploratory chat.