Managing Airbnb properties involves key steps to ensure a successful operation.

First, create a compelling listing with high-quality photos, virtual tours and competitive pricing. 

Second, set up a process that promptly responds to inquiries and bookings, manages guest turnovers (check-ins and check-outs) and maintains a clean and orderly property between guests.

Third, establish a reliable communication channel to address guest concerns efficiently and provide support.

Fourth, automate tasks that involve monitoring guest feedback, managing finances and staying compliant.

The best way to manage Airbnb properties is to partner with a reputable property management company in London. Their expertise will allow you to optimise your Airbnb property’s income potential and maximise occupancy rates.

Begin by researching and understanding how your property can qualify as an Airbnb property. Ensure that the property complies with the local regulations. Improve the interior design, equip it with energy-efficient appliances and install smart technology to make it appealing to potential guests.

Create an Airbnb profile and use high-quality photos/videos with detailed descriptions to make your property stand out. Set competitive prices based on market trends and your property’s unique features.

Once your Airbnb property listing is live, provide excellent service to improve the guest experience. Encourage reviews and continually improve based on guest feedback.

To enjoy a profitable and stress-free Airbnb business, get a reputable property management company to manage and maintain your property. Choose a company like City Relay that offers full end-to-end property management services that include guest communications, cleaning and maintenance and other Airbnb hosting tasks.

As an experienced Airbnb management company in London, City Relay understands that visual appeal influences the decision of a guest to stay in a flat.

Our professional and design-led onboarding process follows a strict list of property standards that will ensure a safe and pleasant stay for guests. Upon onboarding, our management will provide this checklist that breaks down what is needed including our cleanliness guidelines and amenities package. This ensures that the flat can provide a 5-star experience for guests.

The requirement list would also need updated certificates from the EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report), Gas safety and EPC (Energy Performance Certificate), among others.

If anything is missing, our team is ready to help you achieve complete compliance for your Airbnb property.

Our Airbnb property management in London manages properties available for a minimum of six months, ensuring they are not used as primary residences and are free of personal belongings. Additionally, there is no minimum or maximum property requirement to qualify for our services.

You don’t have to worry about a minimum contract length when you partner with City Relay. As an Airbnb management company in London, we don’t believe in lock-in contracts or exit fees.

All we ask is that you honour any existing contracts and future bookings on your Airbnb property before exiting.

City Relay manages properties located in zones 1-3 of London. But we’re rapidly expanding our reach as an Airbnb management in London and we’ve also started to expand outwards to cover more of the capital.

City Relay is also taking our property management service global. We’ve started managing Airbnb properties in other major cities like Paris and Barcelona. We’re hoping to conquer more cities soon.

Your property will be listed across booking platforms with a global reach. Apart from Airbnb, it will also be featured in other short-letting platforms like Booking.com, HomeAway, and Expedia. We can also advertise your property for longer lets through Rightmove and Zoopla.

Our management will also list your flat on our booking platform on the City Relay website – including our social media and email channels. This is a combined network of more than 20,000 previous City Relay guests for our partner hosts to enjoy.

Our flexible letting strategy combines the benefits of short-term (1 week to 3 months), mid-term (3 months to 6 months) and long-term (6 months and more) letting. It allows us to take advantage of the higher income opportunity of short-lets despite the 90-day rule that limits the number of days a host can short-let their property every calendar year.

We use data-driven technology to analyse the rental property market conditions and determine the right time to switch between the short, mid and long lets. This allows us to come up with a timely pricing strategy to maximise the income potential of your property.

Our comprehensive property platform Opago, helps us stay on top of different letting methods. It enables us to manage bookings that comply with property rules and regulations while helping partners meet their portfolio goals.

Once you’re a City Relay partner, you’ll be assigned a friendly and professional Account Manager who will be your direct point of contact for all Airbnb property concerns. They will take charge of your property’s management so you can relax and enjoy your rental earnings without lifting a finger. Part of the service includes reporting back to you regarding its performance and providing expertise in helping you improve and increase your income potential.

At the same time, you’ll be provided access to our platform, Opago. Your login details will give you access to the calendar availability of your property. You’ll also receive notifications of upcoming bookings, maintenance fees and monthly revenue predictions.

Payments are processed differently depending on the letting strategy used.

Short-let payments are compiled for the month and processed within the first 14 working days of the next calendar month (weekends and holidays aren’t included). Longer letting strategies are processed within 7 days after the rent is received from the resident.

If you have questions about our pricing strategy and payment service, get in touch with your designated Account Manager. Our accounts team are always on standby to answer questions and clarifications that you may have about your payment schedule.

Upon onboarding, you’ll be instructed to secure your own landlord insurance to protect your Airbnb property (including the fixtures and fittings inside).

For short lets, we encourage you to consult with our partner, Guardhog. They specialise in providing short letting insurance.

For long lets, make sure the tenants pass the referencing satisfactorily so you can take out rent protection and legal expenses insurance. We have partners that we can recommend should you need one.

AST is short for Assured Shorthold Tenancy. It’s the most common type of tenancy for private landlords or letting agents. This is a written agreement between the landlord and resident that details the terms and conditions of the tenancy – from rental price to maintenance responsibilities.

This applies to residents who are individuals (not a business) and should have a rental fee that doesn’t exceed £100,000 a year.

The tenancy agreement covers a fixed period wherein the landlord has every right to take the property back for as long as the resident is given at least 2 months’ notice to vacate the premises.

Know more about AST here.

City Relay offers the complete package of service when it comes to Airbnb management in London. That includes receiving and managing potential resident inquiries across multiple booking platforms like Rightmove and Zoopla. Our professional team responds to each inquiry as soon as possible and sets up viewing appointments accordingly.

Our expert long-let team is available 7 days a week to complete these viewings. Our knowledgeable team is trained to showcase your property and answer queries confidently and accurately. This allows us to secure residents quickly and with the best rental rate possible.

It’s the responsibility of Airbnb management for hosts in London to provide a safe place for residents and guests to stay in. To ensure that your residents are secure on your property, you are required to complete our list of safety checks.

• Electrical Safety Test
• Gas Safety Test
• Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations Compliance
• Energy Performance Certificate

City Relay strictly enforces high standards for all the properties we manage. This protects our guests and residents as well as our reputation as a letting company. Our commitment to providing a safe and enjoyable stay is what allows us to keep our occupancy rates high.

Some of these safety checks are required regularly to comply with either local or national safety regulations.

If you need assistance in monitoring and ensuring compliance, get in touch with our team. Our professional team of experts can advise you on what is required for your property or what safety checks need to be updated. You can take advantage of our in-house maintenance service to monitor your property’s compliance.

We follow a comprehensive vetting and referencing process that includes both credit and personal checks. Our experience as an Airbnb management in London strengthened our belief that a pleasant stay requires the right match between a property and a guest.

It’s not just about finding a guest that can meet your rental price. It’s about finding the right individual who’ll take care of your property during their stay.

Our two-stage vetting process also includes social media checks to ensure that we’re matching your flat with the right guest. This is the first level of security that we provide for every host so only responsible and reliable guests and residents will stay in their property.

Our service also includes collecting security deposits from residents to protect the rental income of hosts. This will also fund maintenance fees to take care of any damages incurred by residents and guests (save for the usual wear and tear of the Airbnb property).

London’s 90-day rule refers to the limit that a host can short-let a property per calendar year. This is strictly enforced by Airbnb. Once your flat has been short-let for a total of 90 nights, they will close booking until the end of the calendar year.

If you want to be able to book more than this limit, you’ll need to apply and get authorisation from the council.

City Relay’s Airbnb management for hosts in London takes this rule seriously. That’s why we use flexible letting as our strategy to maximise the earning potential of your Airbnb property while maintaining complete compliance. Once you reach the 90-day limit, we switch to either mid-term or long-term lets to fill vacancies and improve occupancy rates.

London is one of the most profitable Airbnb locations in the UK because it attracts an average of 30 million visitors every year. That’s a huge market for short-term accommodations.

As an Airbnb property owner, you can earn more than £100 daily. And it gets better if you let City Relay manage the property. 

When visitors look for potential properties to stay in, they’ll look for those with high-trust ratings and positive reviews. By being a City Relay partner, you’ll benefit from our high-trust rating by association.

City Relay charges 20% + VAT per booking. This high-quality service includes marketing your property, dealing with inquiries, vetting guests and collecting booking fees. We also offer personal check-ins wherein we meet guests to give them a warm welcome and personally hand over the keys to your property.

As a City Relay partner, you’ll get access to our property management platform, Opago. This will give you complete visibility of your property’s calendar, performance and booking information.

Our property management services include access to our housekeeping team. Once the guests check out, our in-house cleaners will return your property to perfect condition.

We’ll replenish using eco-friendly amenities and fresh linens. This will get your property ready for the next booking.

The most preferred fee structure by hosts is the split fee where they pay 3% of the booking rate to the platform while the rest of the fees are covered by the guest. The other fee structure deducts everything from the host’s payout, which could mean a 14% to 16% deduction.

VAT is added on top of these fees.

The cost of Airbnb management services varies in London or the UK because it’s influenced by the location, property size and range of services.

Typically, Airbnb management companies like City Relay follow a 10% to 20% commission scheme for the rental income generated. This means the cost of the Airbnb management is directly proportional to the amount the property earns. 

The exact commission rate will depend on the services that will be provided. Sometimes, additional fees are added for the initial setup or specific services like deep cleaning, maintenance, etc.

Yes, property owners in London enlist the services of professional Airbnb management companies to handle rental properties. These management companies offer a wide range of services that include listing optimisation, pricing strategy, guest communication, check-in/check-out coordination, cleaning and maintenance, 24/7 guest support and more. All these tasks are quite tedious and property management companies have the resources to efficiently accomplish them to help maximise both occupancy rates and rental income on behalf of the property owners.

We’d love to help you manage your Airbnb properties. Contact us so we can share how we can optimise your Airbnb’s potential.

Airbnb can be a highly profitable venture for property owners in London because the city is a popular destination for both tourists and business travellers. Maximising this profitability will depend on the location and size of the property, current market demand and the amenities offered.

To improve an Airbnb property’s profitability – like optimising the listing, improving the Airbnb profile, focusing on positive guest experiences and having a competitive pricing strategy. Working with an expert Airbnb management company can help maximise your property’s profitability.

Learn how we optimise the yields of Airbnb properties.

The costs of managing an Airbnb include interior decorating and furnishing, marketing and advertising, property maintenance, cleaning, utility bills, repairs, etc. You’ll also have to prepare for costs incurred by administrative tasks and guest services. Sometimes, major repairs or replacements are needed and these will lead to additional costs.

It’s ideal to have a system in place or a software program to monitor all your expenses. City Relay uses a smart platform to track and manage all Airbnb management costs so property owners can maximise their rental income and profitability.

Managing Airbnb properties requires a significant time commitment. If you have multiple properties, it could be a full-time job. You need to be available to communicate with guests, entertain queries, create competitive pricing strategies and market the property so more people will book a stay.

You also have to take care of the check-in and check-out procedures as well as coordinate the cleaning and maintenance in between bookings. All these can be tedious and time-consuming.

This is why outsourcing property management to City Relay ensures seamless operations and quality guest experience. Through their expertise, you can have a stress-free hosting experience and you can focus on maximising your rental income.

Find out more about what we can do for you here.