Many owners begin autoadministrando your vacation home in Orlando convinced that thus earning more. The logic seems simple: if you don’t have to pay commission to anyone, I’ll take the 100% of the revenue.
The problem is that this calculation ignores three things: the time it takes to manage a property, the mistakes that are made when you do not have experience in the local market, and the income that is left to generate for not having the systems correct.
This article does the full calculation. Not to convince you of anything, but to get the real numbers on the table before taking the decision.
What it really costs to manage your property from the outside
Manage a vacation home in Orlando from Colombia, Mexico or any other country, it is not impossible. But it has a cost in time and errors that are rarely calculated with honesty before you start.
These are the tasks of self-management and the average time required per week in active season:
| Task | Weekly time estimated |
| Respond to inquiries from guests (24/7) | 3 to 6 hours |
| Coordinate cleaning between stays | 2 to 4 hours |
| Manage bookings and calendar platforms | 1 to 2 hours |
| To address maintenance issues | 1 to 3 hours (variable) |
| Update prices and listing | 1 to 2 hours |
| Fiscal management and reporting | 1 hour (monthly pro-rata) |
| Total weekly | 9 to 18 hours |
9 to 18 hours per week. That is between a quarter and half of a full working day, dedicated to manage a single property. From another country. In another time zone. With guests who expect a response in less than an hour.
The price of the most common mistakes in self-management
Time is a cost visible. Errors are a cost invisible that many owners only discover when you have already occurred.
Pricing static in a dynamic market
An owner who fixed a fee of $200 per night throughout the year in Kissimmee is charging you $200 in the weeks of Christmas (when he could collect $320) and also in September (when $160 would be more competitive and create more jobs).
The result: revenue suboptimal in high season and empty weeks in low season.
Cleaning poorly coordinated
A cleaning that does not end in time before check-in, or not done to the standard that is expected by the host, it generates a review negative. A single review of 3 stars in the first months of operation can cost hundreds of future bookings.
Slow response times
Airbnb measures the response time of the host and uses it as a factor for ranking. A host with a response time of more than 12 hours low in the search results. For an owner in another time zone can not respond to emails at 2 AM from Orlando, this is a structural problem.
Lack of knowledge of local regulations
The fines from the HOA, the tourist tax of Osceola County, the requirements of the license for vacation rental in the state of Florida. An owner who does not know these regulations in detail may be operating with legal risks that are real and not know it.
The comparative real: self-management vs. Home Vacation Group
Let’s take a real property: house 5 rooms in Kissimmee, market value $ $ 420,000.
Scenario A: self-management
- Average rate per night: $195 (fixed rate, without pricing dynamic)
- Yearly occupancy: 65% (no multi-channel or tuning)
- On busy nights: 237
- Gross income: $46.215 USD
- Operating expenses estimated (cleaning, maintenance, taxes): $14.000 USD
- Net income: $32.215 USD
- Time spent: 10 hours/week average = 520 hours per year
Scenario B: Home Vacation Group
- Average rate per night: $248 (pricing dynamic optimized)
- Yearly occupancy: 82% (multichannel + positioning is active)
- On busy nights: 299
- Gross income: $74.152 USD
- Commission HVG (15%): $11.123 USD
- Operating expenses (coordinated by HVG): $14.000 USD
- Net income owner: $49.029 USD
- Time spent by the landlord: 0 hours
Net difference: $the 16,814 USD more with HVG
And that’s not counting the value of time: 520 hours per year of work that the owner recovers to devote to what you want.
What HVG makes the self-management can not easily replicate
Presence multichannel active
Home Vacation Group simultaneously manages the presence of each property on Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com and Expedia. Each platform has its own algorithm, its own audience and its own rules of optimization. Keep four listings up to date, synchronized and optimized requires systems and experience that the majority of owners do not have.
Pricing dynamic with data from the local market
The pricing is not adjusted once a month. Are adjusted daily, or even several times a day in periods of high demand, based on data of occupation of the area, behavior, competition and local events. This is only possible with specialized tools and knowledge of the market of Orlando.
Network of local suppliers
When the pool needs urgent maintenance at 6 PM on a Friday, or the HVAC failure in high season, Home Vacation Group has a network of local suppliers that you work with regularly and respond quickly. An owner self-administered in another country has to find that provider from zero, at a distance, at the worst time.
Compliance with legal and fiscal
Renewals of licenses, the correct registration of the tourist tax, the compliance of the regulations HOA. All of this is covered within the service, without the owner having to do follow-up.
To see more about the advantages of a management company and full-service compared to other options, including the comparison with platforms such as Airbnb that offer basic management, our guide details every difference.
And if you want to read how to homeowners who have doubled their income with HVG succeeded, including the detail of what’s changed in the management, this article has the real cases.
What self-management itself has to please
To be honest means to say also what works in the self-management.
If you have real time to spend on it, you know the market of Orlando from the inside, you need trusted suppliers both local and you can respond to messages any time, the self-management can work. Especially for homeowners who live in Florida or the Orlando area, and they may oversee the property personally.
It also makes sense in properties at a very low price by night where the commission of 15% on income small does not generate savings sufficient to justify the professional management.
But for most owners Latin americans who live outside of Florida and have a property of upper-middle income, the math almost always favors the professional management.
What more you ask the owners before you make the change
Can I start with HVG and return to self-administer if I want to?
Yes. There is No exclusivity contract to permanent. If at any time you want to resume the direct administration, you can do so with the notice provisions of the contract.
What happens with my current reservation if I make the change?
The existing reserves in the platforms are respected. The transition process includes a review of the calendar of bookings active, and the coordination of check-ins and check-outs are outstanding.
How long does it take to see the impact on revenue?
The owners come from self-management with pricing, static tend to see the impact in the first 30 to 60 days, when the pricing dynamic begins to optimize the fees and listings in new platforms generate additional reservations.
Does the 15% commission includes all or is there additional costs?
The commission of 15% covers the complete management: pricing, platforms, attention to guests, coordination of cleaning and minor maintenance. The direct costs such as cleaning, repairs or replacement of consumables will be charged separately at actual cost, no additional margin.
The calculation that the majority of owners are not done until it’s late
The question is not whether you can self-manage your property. The question is whether what we feel like doing it yourself compensates for what it costs in time, stress and mistakes.
In most cases, the answer is no.
Request a free scan of what HVG can save vs. the management.
