What does a vacation rental manager actually do day-to-day?

On an average day, the work includes: responding to new booking inquiries and guest questions across platforms, coordinating cleaning schedules between checkouts and new arrivals, managing maintenance requests from current guests, reviewing and adjusting pricing for upcoming dates based on market data, processing booking confirmations, and handling any guest issues that arise mid-stay. On any given week, there's also listing updates, vendor coordination, review responses, and platform optimization. It's an active job: not passive income management.

How much do property managers charge in Costa Rica?

Most full-service vacation rental managers in Costa Rica charge 20–30% of rental revenue as their fee. At Nest Stays, we charge 25% commission on rental income only: there are no monthly flat fees, no setup costs, and no separate charges for standard services. Minor repairs are included. Cleaning is guest-paid so it doesn't come out of your revenue. You know the total cost before you sign anything.

Is self-managing a Los Sueños property worth it?

It depends entirely on your situation. If you're local, have time, and don't mind being on call for guest questions, you can manage the property yourself. The real cost is platform reach (most self-managers use one or two platforms), dynamic pricing expertise, and the review standing you're giving up compared to listing under an established SuperHost account. In our experience managing properties at Los Sueños, professionally managed properties consistently outperform self-managed equivalents by 30–60% in gross rental income: driven by pricing optimization, platform reach, and the review compounding described above. And that's before accounting for the 20+ hours per month of your own time.

What happens to my property between guest stays?

At Nest Stays, every checkout triggers a professional turnover: full cleaning, amenity restocking, inspection, and any small maintenance items addressed before the next guest arrives. We also conduct periodic property audits: not just after something breaks, but on a scheduled basis to catch problems before they become expensive. Your property should consistently be in better condition after a year of professional management than before, because issues get caught and fixed instead of accumulating.

Can I still use my property whenever I want?

Yes. You own it. The practical reality is that the highest-revenue dates at Los Sueños (Christmas week, January through March fishing tournaments, spring break) are also the dates owners most want to use. We'll show you which specific dates have the highest revenue impact so you can make informed decisions about which weeks to block versus rent. There's no restriction on owner usage; the goal is just to coordinate far enough in advance that we can manage availability around your plans.

How long before I see results?

From signed agreement to first booking, the typical ramp-up is four to six weeks: time for the professional photoshoot, listing creation across platforms, and proper indexing in search algorithms. Properties that launch in October or November often see bookings immediately, ahead of the December–March peak season. Green season launches have a longer ramp-up but still start generating bookings within a few weeks. Properties in our portfolio that have been running for a full year outperform their first-year numbers as the review base builds and the algorithm rewards consistent quality.

What Does a Vacation Rental Manager Actually Do? The Los Sueños Owner's Guide

The question most Los Sueños property owners ask before hiring a manager isn’t “what do they do?” It’s the one underneath that question: “Will this actually improve my returns, or is it just another 25% taken off the top?”

It’s a fair thing to wonder. The vacation rental management industry has a long history of companies that list your property, collect their fee, and don’t do much else. Owners end up doing guest communication at midnight, chasing down maintenance issues themselves, and wondering why they’re paying for management at all.

That’s not what we’re describing here.

A full-service vacation rental manager (the kind worth the commission) handles every part of the operation so you receive a monthly report and a payout, not a to-do list. Below is a detailed breakdown of what that actually involves, how the Nest Stays model works in practice, and an honest look at what self-managing costs you beyond the obvious time.

What “Full-Service Management” Actually Covers

The phrase gets used loosely. Here’s what it means when it’s done properly.

Listing Creation and Optimization

Most owners underestimate how much work goes into a listing that actually converts. Professional photography is the obvious starting point, but it’s just that, a starting point. The photos need to be shot at the right time of day, edited for warmth without looking overprocessed, and sequenced to show the space the way a guest experiences it (not just a room-by-room inventory).

The copy matters just as much. “Stunning ocean views” appears in approximately 40,000 Costa Rica listings. What actually differentiates yours is specificity: which building, which floor, what the sunset looks like from that particular balcony, where the nearest beach club entrance is, how far the walk is to the marina.

Beyond the initial listing, there’s ongoing optimization: adjusting descriptions based on booking patterns, testing different photo orders, monitoring competitor listings, and updating availability calendars across platforms.

Dynamic Pricing

A fixed nightly rate is money left on the table. At Los Sueños, demand swings dramatically throughout the year: the dry season from December through April commands significantly higher rates than the green season, but within those seasons there are micro-peaks: the Signature Triple Crown fishing tournaments in January through March, Christmas and New Year’s weeks, spring break, where well-managed properties charge 50–80% more per night than their standard rate.

Dynamic pricing software monitors booking pace, local event calendars, competitor availability, and lead time to set the highest rate the market will bear on each specific night. This isn’t intuition. It’s data. Our pricing model drives up to 20% higher average daily rates compared to properties on fixed pricing.

Multi-Platform Distribution

Every guest doesn’t shop on the same platform. Airbnb skews toward international travelers and younger demographics. Vrbo is popular with U.S. family groups booking longer stays. Booking.com captures a different mix. Direct bookings (through our site) come from return guests and referrals who’ve already decided they want to come back.

Listing on all channels simultaneously (with synchronized calendars so you never double-book) exposes your property to the full range of people searching for Los Sueños accommodations. It also creates redundancy: if Airbnb has a slow week, Vrbo might pick up the booking.

Guest Screening and Communication

Screening isn’t just asking “how many guests?” A proper screening process reviews guest history, ratings on prior stays, the composition of the group, and the purpose of the trip. Short minimum-stay requirements get enforced. Parties in resort condos get prevented before they happen, not cleaned up after.

Communication with guests runs from inquiry to checkout, and there’s more of it than most owners realize. Questions before booking, check-in instructions, mid-stay check-ins, coordinating late arrivals, handling noise issues, managing early-checkout requests. A single booking might involve a dozen conversations across multiple platforms. A manager handles all of it.

Check-In and Check-Out Management

At Los Sueños, check-in involves gate access, property entry, smart lock codes, and ideally a proper walkthrough or at minimum a detailed property guide that prevents the “how do I work the TV” calls at 11pm. The whole process either sets a guest’s tone for the trip or creates friction that follows through to the review.

Checkout involves inspection, key return, damage assessment, security deposit handling if needed, and starting the turnover process immediately so the next guest arrives to a clean property.

Cleaning Operations

Professional cleaning isn’t the same as hiring a housekeeper. Turnover cleaning in a vacation rental has specific standards: restocking toiletries, making beds hotel-style, checking every inch of the property for things guests leave behind or damage they caused, resetting the space to listing condition. A missed towel or a forgotten guest item left for the next arrival generates a bad review. A property that looks and smells perfect generates a good one.

At Nest Stays, cleaning fees are guest-paid: there’s no added cost to the owner for turnover cleaning.

Maintenance Coordination

Things break. The question is whether they get handled fast and cheaply, or slow and expensively.

A manager with an established vendor network (reliable plumbers, electricians, AC technicians, handymen) gets things fixed before the next guest arrives. We handle minor repairs (batteries, lightbulbs, drain cleaning, small fixes) at no additional charge to owners. Larger items get quoted, approved, and coordinated without the owner needing to make a single call.

The ongoing audit process matters here too. Regular inspections catch problems before they become expensive, the slow leak that becomes a mold issue if nobody notices, the AC filter that degrades performance for six months because nobody thought to check it.

Accounting and Transparent Reporting

You should know exactly how your property performed every month: which nights were booked, at what rate, what the cleaning and maintenance costs were, and what lands in your account. Not an estimate. The actual numbers.

We provide end-of-month reports with all bookings and expenses itemized, handle vendor payments on your behalf, and take care of HOA fees and property taxes. You get one report and one payout. Same day, every month.

The Nest Stays Model in Practice

We manage properties at Los Sueños and the surrounding Central Pacific area. Here’s how our model works specifically.

25% commission. That’s it. No monthly flat fees. No onboarding costs. No separate charge for this service or that one. Minor repairs are included. Cleaning fees are guest-paid. You know exactly what you’re paying for.

Our portfolio holds top 5% Guest Favorite status on Airbnb, with 230+ five-star reviews and a 4.97-star average across all properties. The SuperHost status isn’t a nice-to-have; Airbnb’s own data shows SuperHosts earn 60% more revenue per available night than non-SuperHosts, driven by higher search placement and better conversion when a guest lands on the listing. Every new property we take on benefits from that standing immediately.

The concierge piece is what separates the experience from standard property management. We arrange airport transfers, grocery stocking before guests arrive, fishing charters, golf tee times, surf lessons, chef services, day tours, and restaurant reservations. When a guest’s trip goes off smoothly (better than they planned) they leave a five-star review that mentions it specifically. “The team arranged our fishing trip and stocked the fridge before we arrived” is the kind of review that gets your property booked. A 4.7-star property and a 4.97-star property are not close to each other in Airbnb’s algorithm, even though the number looks small.

This creates a cycle that compounds:

Better service → five-star reviews → higher search placement
Higher search placement → more bookings at better rates
Better rates attract guests who are spending money on a real trip, not just looking for the cheapest option
Guests who are investing in their vacation respect your property
A property that stays in excellent condition earns even better reviews
Higher earnings, less wear, more revenue for the owner

The concierge services aren’t just a guest perk. They’re how we protect your property.

Self-Managing vs. Professional Management: The Real Comparison

Self-managing is possible. People do it. Here’s what it actually costs.

Time: Property management isn’t passive. Responding to inquiries, managing messaging across platforms, coordinating cleaning, handling maintenance calls, processing guest concerns, updating pricing, managing calendar blocks for your own use, the real number is 20+ hours per month for a professionally managed property. More if something goes wrong.

Expertise gaps: Dynamic pricing software (Wheelhouse, PriceLabs, Airbnb’s Smart Pricing) requires ongoing management to work properly. Multi-platform optimization: knowing which photos perform best on which platform, how to write listing copy that converts, how to sequence availability for minimum stays without leaving gaps: is a skill that takes time to develop. Getting it wrong means your property sits vacant at peak pricing while competitors with the same view type sell out.

The SuperHost gap: If you’re self-managing and building from scratch, you’re starting without the review base and platform standing that drives search performance. Our portfolio already has 230+ reviews and top-tier status across platforms. A new listing under that umbrella performs better from day one than the same property starting cold.

The revenue math: The right question isn’t “how much does management cost?” It’s “what’s the net difference in my pocket?” A well-managed Los Sueños property outperforms a self-managed one by more than the management fee in most cases: because of pricing optimization, platform reach, and the review cycle described above. You can see real income ranges for Los Sueños rental properties here.

Here’s an honest side-by-side:

	Self-Managing	Professional Management (Nest Stays)
Your time per month	20+ hours	~1 hour (review report, bank transfer)
Platform presence	1-2 platforms (typically)	Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com + direct
Pricing	Fixed or manually adjusted	Dynamic, data-driven, 20%+ higher ADR
Review standing	Starting from zero	230+ reviews, 4.97★, top 5% Airbnb
Guest communication	You, 7 days a week	Handled end-to-end
Maintenance coordination	You make the calls	Managed, minor repairs included
Cleaning	You coordinate	Professional, guest-paid turnover
Reporting	Manual accounting	Monthly payout + itemized report
Cost	Platform fees (~3–15.5%), your time	25% commission, no other fees
Concierge services	No	Yes: drives better reviews

The self-management option isn’t wrong for every owner. If you’re based nearby, have deep local contractor relationships, are comfortable with pricing software, and have the time: you can make it work. But most owners who try it for six months come back to professional management because the revenue gap, the time cost, and the 2am guest messages add up faster than expected.

Ready to See What Your Property Could Earn?

The income numbers above are ranges. The specific number for your property depends on your unit, its current condition, how you want to use it, and what the competitive landscape looks like in your part of Los Sueños.

The intro call is 20 minutes. We’ll look at your property specifically, give you an honest income estimate based on real market data, and walk you through exactly how the management relationship works. No obligation.

Schedule your free intro call →

Los Sueños Rental Income Guide — Income ranges by property type (1BR condos through 5BR villas) with the factors that move each number up or down.
How to Choose a Property Manager in Costa Rica — Questions to ask, red flags to avoid, and what separates great managers from mediocre ones.
Property Management Fees in Costa Rica — What managers charge, what should be included, and how to evaluate total cost.
Owner Onboarding Roadmap — Complete service breakdown and what the onboarding process looks like.
Owner Resources Hub — Everything property owners need to maximize revenue and minimize hassle.