How to choose an Airbnb management company on the Gold Coast

Gold Coast managers differ most on how they charge, how they price peak dates and how close they are to your property. Start with four questions.

What does the fee cover? Full-service management should cover the listing, pricing, guest messages, check-ins, cleaning between stays and maintenance. Some companies add an onboarding fee or charge for extras. Ask for a list of everything you would pay.

Where will your property be listed? A listing on Airbnb alone misses guests who book through Booking.com, Vrbo and Stayz. Ask which platforms the company uses and whether calendars are synced.

How are peak dates priced? Summer school holidays, Schoolies and Magic Millions push rates up for short windows. A manager should change prices often, not set one rate for the month.

How local is the team? The Gold Coast runs from Southport to Coolangatta. Ask who covers your suburb and how fast they can reach the property.

If you are still deciding whether to let short term, our guides to what a Gold Coast Airbnb can earn and the best areas for Airbnb on the Gold Coast are the place to start.

Airbnb management companies on the Gold Coast compared

Houst

Houst manages short stays across the Gold Coast, including Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach, Southport, Main Beach, Mermaid Beach, Burleigh Heads, Palm Beach, Miami, Robina and Coolangatta. It lists properties on Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and Stayz.

The fee is a single commission: from 14% of rental revenue for full-time management and from 20% for part-time. There are no setup fees and no monthly charges. Pricing, photography, guest vetting, check-ins, cleaning coordination and an owner dashboard are included. Full detail is on our Gold Coast management page.

Hometime

Hometime is an Australian company with a Gold Coast office in Burleigh Heads. It lists service areas including Broadbeach, Burleigh Heads, Palm Beach, Southport, Surfers Paradise and Tugun.

Hometime charges a one-off onboarding fee and then a commission on bookings. It does not publish the rate on its Gold Coast page. It says the cleaning fee is paid by the guest. Our Houst vs Hometime comparison goes through the two models side by side.

MadeComfy

MadeComfy lists the Gold Coast among its Queensland locations, alongside Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. It lists properties on Airbnb, Booking.com and Stayz, and puts weight on its corporate travel network. It does not publish a fee on its homepage. Our Houst vs MadeComfy comparison covers how it works.

Local operators

Smaller Gold Coast companies often focus on one strip or a few buildings. Before you sign, check which platforms they use, how they price peak weeks and what their guest reviews say.

How the fees compare

Gold Coast managers use two main fee models.

• Commission only. One percentage of booking revenue covers the service. Houst works this way, from 14% for full-time management.
• Onboarding fee plus commission. You pay a one-off amount to set up the listing, then a percentage of each booking. Hometime works this way.

Cleaning is the other cost to check. Some managers charge the guest a cleaning fee on top of the nightly rate. Others take cleaning from the owner's share. The difference shows up in your payout, not in the headline rate.

A worked example

Houst's Gold Coast figures for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom property are an average nightly rate of A$371.16 at 68% occupancy, or about A$92,121 a year in revenue. These are Houst portfolio and industry benchmarks, and your property will differ.

• Revenue: A$92,121
• Houst commission at 14%: A$12,896.94
• Left before other costs: A$79,224.06

Run the same sum for every company you are comparing, using their rate and any onboarding fee. Our guide to Airbnb management fees explains what usually sits inside the percentage.

What Houst covers on the Gold Coast

Houst's fee covers the full service. That includes listing setup and optimisation across Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and Stayz, professional photography, dynamic pricing, guest vetting, 24/7 guest communication, check-ins, linen and toiletries, cleaning and turnovers, maintenance coordination and a host dashboard with your bookings and income.

Pricing is set around the Gold Coast calendar: the summer school holidays from December to January, Magic Millions in January, Schoolies in November, the July school holidays, Easter and the Gold Coast Marathon.

See the Houst Gold Coast page for coverage by suburb, or get an estimate for your address.

Questions to ask before you sign

• What is the total cost? Ask for the commission, any onboarding fee, and who pays for cleaning, linen and maintenance call-outs.
• Which platforms will my property be on? Ask for the full list and whether calendars are synced.
• How do you price summer and event weeks? Ask how rates and minimum stays change over December, January and Schoolies.
• Do you check body corporate by-laws? Ask whether the company reviews your building's by-laws before listing.
• How do I leave? Ask for the notice period and any fees for ending the agreement.
• What do owners and guests say? Read owner reviews and the guest ratings on properties the company already manages on the Gold Coast.
• What do I see each month? Ask for an example statement or a look at the owner dashboard.

Gold Coast rules to check first

Many Gold Coast apartments sit in buildings with body corporate by-laws, and those by-laws can restrict or prohibit short-term letting. Whether a house needs approval depends on its zoning. Read your building's by-laws, and check the rules for your property, before you sign with any manager.

Our guide to Gold Coast short-term rental rules covers council requirements, safety and the Queensland rules in detail.

Getting ready for summer

December and January bring the Gold Coast's highest occupancy and nightly rates. A property listed in October or November has time to pick up its first reviews before the peak, and a manager needs a few days to photograph it, set up the listings and set prices.

If you plan to use the property yourself over Christmas, block those dates early and let the manager price the weeks around them.