Frequently Asked Questions on Listing Your Property with Us
What will TravelPro Services do for me?
We pride ourselves on managing every aspect of keeping your vacation rental booked and ready for guests and owners to enjoy. Our goal is to enable you to maximize revenue from your rental without having to do any of the work involved with managing it. That means we do everything from taking photos, writing descriptions, and marketing your vacation rental property to working with potential guests and making bookings as well as managing logistics like reservations, payments, check-in and check-out, housekeeping, property upkeep, and dispatching emergency maintenance. We also manage maintenance technicians for regular maintenance, improvements, and emergencies. We make sure property owners can sleep well at night knowing their property is being taken care of and generating the most revenue possible in the Halkidiki vacation rental market.
What is the cost for these services?
Commission rates for property manager services average start from 10% and range as high as 25%, depending on the model of cooperation between you and our company. There are two static costs to doing business with TravelPro Services, the commission, and the cleaning cost. The commission rate will depend on several factors such as: the model of cooperation between us, or an open cooperation with on-demand services chosen by you. We provide full-service management without cutting any corners and we may offer new owners, various options of cooperation with us, based on their needs. Try it for a year, let us prove our quality and service excellence to you, and we’re sure you’ll continue, but if you decide not to, there are no commitments.
How do we get started?
Getting started is easy and risk-free. We can activate properties that are existing vacation rentals usually within a couple of business days. Our contract has no start-up fees. Activation includes taking new photos, putting together detailed listings, setting a rate structure, creating advertising marketing on the internet channels, and beginning upload the property on more than 50 platforms so to take reservations – all in as little as a few days!
Can you help me convert my property to a vacation rental?
Yes, we will help in any way we can. A TravelPro Services representative will assist you in finalizing a variety of projects including setting up your phone, cable, and internet. We are also willing to work with contractors and furniture companies on the placement of your belongings to ensure a great-looking property.
What kind of contract would be needed?
Our contract is an open-book and we believe it should not have any onerous clauses. It is straight-forward and includes a 60 day out clause for any reason – if you are not happy with the service you can leave with 2 months notice. Our contract is, in essence, a lease agreement for your property with our company, with the right to sublet to the final customers.
Do I totally lose the right to use my home during the period that you manage it?
No, however, we do require that all properties that wish to use TravelPro Services are available for seasonal rental. An owner, friend, or family can use a property for some days (maximum 15 days) during the period that we manage it, however; if you plan to only make it available occasionally then your property is probably not right for our program. We also reserve the right to cancel a property owner agreement if the property is predominantly unavailable for bookings.
Do the properties you represent have to be a certain size or quality?
To some degree, yes. TravelPro Services focuses on upper-end rentals in desirable locations. This could be a high-end villa, a beautiful maisonette or even a cozy apartment, up to a large property that is a vacation destination at the beach. But in any case we are willing to look at every property and let you know if we feel it will make a good rental. Contact us to see if your property qualifies.
What am I required to have in my property?
Guests expect a fully-functioning property when they arrive complete with furniture, appliances, cookware, glasses, internet, TV, etc. as well as a standard supply of bed linens, bath and hand towels, and typical consumables like light-bulbs and batteries. We will work with you to make sure that you have everything in place. We even have inventory forms to ensure you have the right quantity of each item. Internet and Phone connections are required at every property. Nicely decorated properties tend to command higher rentals and we always encourage owners to have a property that shows well. A good test of whether or not you need to have something in your rental is to put yourself in a guest’s shoes… If you were staying somewhere for a week-long period, what would you expect to have in that rental property… that is what we aim to provide to guests for their stay.
How do you set the pricing for my rental?
We look at nearby comparable rentals to gauge pricing in the market. We also look at availability calendars to see how well others are booked at the pricing they have posted. We also rely on our own internal data from other comparable rentals we manage. Pricing is very specific to the size of the property, the exact location, and the quality of the finishes. No pricing is ever set perfectly the first time – the key is to monitor and adjust pricing based on actual market demand. This is where TravelPro Services excels – we monitor conversion rates of your rental at initial pricing and adjust up or down according to how well the rental is booking. It is an ongoing process that is always a top priority. The more money our owners make, the more we make – so we try and do everything we can to maximize the revenue.
How do you communicate with the guests?
We have several ways for guests to communicate with TravelPro Services. Our biggest form of communication is our website and email. Second, we have employees ready to answer the phone around the clock. We have an after-hours emergency number to assist at any time in case of an emergency. We are always looking for ways to gather feedback from our guests. Our staff contacts each guest while in the house to ensure their vacation experience is above expectation, and we also encourage them to leave their comments and high ratings for the accommodation. We provide feedback with our owners to make sure each property can maximize its rental potential and address our guests’ needs.
Can guests book my property online?
Of course, they can through more than 50 platforms that we make a registration for your property, several marketplaces, or even touristic agencies in which we forward it. In many cases, lots of potential guests prefer an email or phone call to our company, for a direct reservation. We do also have the ability to allow guests to view a property online on our websites halkidikipro.com & travelpro.gr and secure their reservations with a credit card.
When and how do I get paid as an owner?
Owners can expect to receive their rental income one working day after each departure from their property. Expect to receive a financial clearance statement and an automatic direct deposit to your bank account for each reservation. Your statement will also include a breakdown of expenses and maintenance costs including any invoices from your preferred outside vendors.
What if I already had previous bookings made on my property?
Not a problem! TravelPro Services will not charge anything for reservations no more than 15 days, if you would like us to manage those guests (i.e. additional collections, customer service, check-ins, check-outs, scheduling cleaning, etc). We will work directly with you to gather all the details we need. TravelPro Services will fully manage these bookings for you just like any booking we made. We may need to collect the cleaning fee from the owner as well as taxes to remit assuming those amounts have already been paid. If not, we can collect any outstanding amounts. If you wish to manage the guest, or your former property manager will do it on your behalf, we will block those bookings off in our calendar and no charges will apply. Also, should you be transferring from another company, we can manage any confirmed bookings at the time of transfer to TravelPro Services at no additional charge.
What kind of updating/reports will I get on my unit?
Through our PMS system, you have access to your property’s calendar, and you are informed by SMS / mail every time you have a confirmed reservation. Anytime you have an inquiry, you can contact us to address any questions. We also provide annual feedback, completed each fall; this provides feedback from the guests, a review of your maintenance history, and suggested updates to help maximize the rental potential of the property.
Do I have to handle paying any lodging taxes?
No, we handle that for you. We collect the taxes, put them into our owner escrow account, and remit on your behalf. Each reservation has taxes added to the amount of the rental – so when you see a rental euro amount, you can rest assured that we have collected and will remit tax on top of that – you do not need to send us extra money to pay taxes nor do you need to file with your lodging authority.
What about cleaning fees?
Depending on model of cooperation between us in every case, we can manage the cleaning of property or the owner can decide to do it by himself. Always the cleaning fee is paid like an extra charge by guest or it’s calculated on the total amount of reservation. There is nothing you need to do to schedule or pay for them. If you wish to have your property cleaned by yourself, just let us know and we pay you for it as part of your reservation statement.
Do I need to provide a cleaner?
If you have a cleaner you are used to working with, then we may utilize them for your rental. In general, we have cleaners contracted with whom we set up in our work order and maintenance system who have proven to be fast, flexible, and reliable. So if you do not have a regular cleaner we will have one ready for your usage. We provide our own set of cleaning standards that each cleaner abides by when working with TravelPro.
Do I need to do my own laundry?
No, our cleaning fees cover laundry service for linens, towels and amenity items with every clean. All of our cleaners have their own professional laundry facilities or have the linens and terry laundered professionally off site to avoid any usage of your washer or dryer.
Do I need to provide the amenities?
No, you don’t need to worry about these items when our company is in charge of cleaning the property; TravelPro Services ensures your property remains fully stocked. We require that our vacation rental properties come with an initial set of amenities provided by the cleaners so when guests arrive, they don’t need to head straight to a market. That set includes several rolls of toilet paper per bathroom, a roll of paper towels, small sizes of soap, shampoo & conditioner, dish soap, dishwasher detergent tabs, and trash bags in the kitchen. Our cleaners purchase hotel amenities in bulk and restock these for every stay. Rather than have an owner manage and maintain, TravelPro Services bills these items included in the cost of the departure cleaning.
What if I want to do some decorating/remodeling?
We love it when owners stay involved with decorating and improving their property. Just make sure to check that the property is not booked and you can easily access it whenever you want! Our property managers can assist with getting you in contact with licensed contractors and designers to help complete the project just as you imagine!
What if there is an emergency? Who do the guests call?
The guest will always call TravelPro Services when we manage the property. The guest will actually never know the name of an owner for privacy reasons (unless you prefer otherwise, for example in cases that you are in charge for check-in / check-out). We take the call and dispatch the appropriate maintenance technician or vendor, or we let you know and you decide what to do. We pay the vendor and add the bill to your property owner statement, taking out of the revenue owed to you during the reseervation – that way you don’t have to worry about paying out-of-pocket for anything unless it happens to be a major repair. We do charge a small fee for these types of emergencies jobs, generally around 15euro, but sometimes more if we have to have someone on site for extended periods of time.
What about regular maintenance?
TravelPro Services provides guest servicing and management, as well as property management to owners, but we are not a maintenance company. We handle a 24/7 call center, reservation management, guest support, regular housekeeping scheduling and inspections, dispatch of qualified maintenance personnel, monitor internet up-time, indoor, maintain electronic locks, etc. Our Property Managers are qualified in property management. During inspections we will restock light bulbs and even perform simple maintenance like changing remote control batteries or light bulbs for lamp fixtures, if spares are available on site. Our inspection process is very thorough and we attempt to address as much as possible to minimize costs to owners.
