The questions a serious manager is happy to be asked
Before you sign, get written answers on four points: what the percentage is calculated on (the gross paid by the guest or the net that reaches you, before or after portal commissions), who pays for cleaning and linen, which services and expenses the proposal includes, how long you are tied in and how you get out. If even one of those answers stays verbal, vague or postponed until after signature, you already have the information you came for.
Below you will find the questions one by one, with the reason for asking and the answer that should light a warning lamp. We wrote them ourselves, and several are awkward for us too: that is rather the point.
1. The questions about money
What is your percentage calculated on? It looks like one question, it is three. On the gross paid by the guest or on the net that lands in your account? Before or after portal commissions? Does the end-of-stay clean sit inside the calculation? Two managers quoting the same percentage on paper can cost you very different amounts: ask for a written worked example on a typical booking. Warning sign: they answer with the percentage alone and change the subject.
Who pays for cleaning and linen? As a rule the guest pays the end-of-stay clean, but it is not automatic and it does not always cover the full cost. Find out who collects that charge and who covers the difference when it falls short. Warning sign: the whole answer is "cleaning is paid by the guest".
Which services are included and which expenses remain separate? Photography, linen, access devices and operational call-outs can be treated differently by different managers. Ask for the complete list and who authorises expenses paid on your behalf. Warning sign: the proposal does not let you reconstruct the total cost.
2. The questions about the contract
How long am I tied in and how do I get out? Term, automatic renewal, notice, penalties, exclusivity, and what happens to bookings already taken if you leave mid-season. Warning sign: these conditions are not available in writing before signature or remain ambiguous.
Who sets the rates? Almost always the manager does, because they see the demand and hold the portal data, and that is fine. The point is not who holds the pen: it is whether you can see the rates applied and understand the logic. Warning sign: "we take care of pricing", and nothing more.
Can I block out my own weeks? Almost always yes, but agree in advance how many, with what notice and with what effect. If they fall in peak periods the impact on revenue is real and should be said to your face, not discovered in June. Warning sign: they grant it verbally and never write it down.
Who owns the listing and the reviews if we part ways? This is the question owners ask last and should ask first. If the listing lives on an account in the manager's name, the review history stays there and you start from zero elsewhere. Warning sign: there is no clause governing the exit at all.
3. The questions about operations
Who comes into my house, and how are guests selected? Ask who holds the keys or the codes, whether cleaning is done by staff or by a different supplier each time, and whether enquiries are filtered at all (groups, parties, pets). A house can be ruined in a single weekend.
Who answers the guest at two in the morning, and in which languages? How quickly a problem is picked up can affect the review. A large share of visitors to Sardinia do not speak Italian.
What happens if the air conditioning breaks on 12 August? Ask who calls the engineer, how quickly, who fronts the cost and up to what amount they act without disturbing you. If the answer is "we let you know and you decide", in August that means three days in a hot house.
4. The questions about transparency and compliance
What reporting do I get, and how often? A serious statement arrives on a fixed schedule and shows every booking: amount collected, channel, commissions, costs, net. Warning sign: the report is one end-of-season total you cannot cross-check against anything.
Who handles the CIN, police notifications and the tourist tax? Three different obligations with three different deadlines, and the responsibility does not disappear because you delegated it. Find out who actually does the work and who answers if something is missed. On the last one, remember that the tourist tax is not your revenue: it is collected and paid over to the council.
How many portals will my house appear on? Two portals are a concentration risk, not a strategy. Ask for the list and for how the calendars are kept in sync.
5. The warning signs, in short
The first is the guaranteed return: nobody can guarantee you an income without having seen the house, and anyone who does is either covered by a clause you have not read or is keeping the upside. The second is percentages that change depending on how you look at them. The third is contracts with no way out. The fourth is reporting you cannot verify: if you cannot trace a single booking through to the amount credited, you are not reading a statement, you are reading a summary.
6. Fixed fee or percentage: not the same thing
A manager who charges you a fixed monthly fee gets paid whether the house works or not. A manager working purely on a share of revenue gets paid if you do. This is not a moral question, it is a question of incentives: in the second case an empty week in September is a problem for both of you, in the first it is a problem only for you.
There is a third arrangement, the guaranteed rent to the owner: the manager promises you a fixed sum and keeps everything they manage to earn above it. It can make sense if you want zero variability, but know what you are buying: you are handing over the upside in exchange for certainty, and it is being sold to you by someone who knows that house better than you do.
7. Our own model, without dressing it up
Here is how we work: no fixed fees, no monthly subscription, no hidden costs, only a percentage of revenue. We assess every property before proposing the service and turn down homes we do not believe we can manage well.
What we can put on the table: 90+ properties under management, over 1 million EUR generated for owners, distribution across 50+ portals, 5.0 on Google. Put the questions in this guide to us as well, and insist on written answers: the owners page sets out how we work, the rest we will tell you on a call.
Last updated in August 2026. We review figures, rules and references periodically; before making tax or operational decisions, check the linked sources and your circumstances with a qualified adviser.
Carry on with these
- Your first year with a manager: what happens month by monthFrom the photography to the first closed season, without surprises.
- What a house in Sardinia really earnsWhy a single flat figure does not exist and how a serious estimate is built.
- What you need to start: documents, safety, equipmentEverything to put in order before the first booking.
- The tourist tax: who collects it and who pays it overWhy it is not your revenue and never enters your taxable income.
- All the owner guidesNine guides on tax, compliance, returns and management.
Want to put us to the test with these questions? Ask for the free valuation on your house: we answer point by point, in writing.