Airbnb management contracts: the clauses to check before you sign
Choosing a management company is rarely decided by the sales pitch — it is decided in the contract. Scope of service, commission base, term of engagement, ownership of the listing: four badly drafted lines can cost you several thousand euros a season. Here is what an owner should read before signing.
Scope: what is included, and what is not
Most disputes between owners and managers start with a vague scope. A serious contract lists services one by one: listing creation and distribution, pricing, guest communication, welcome and key handover, changeover cleaning, laundry, consumables restocking, routine maintenance, dispute handling. More importantly, insist on the reverse list — everything outside the flat fee: deep end-of-season cleaning, works supervision, attending a tradesperson's appointment, snow clearing, damage remediation, photo shoots. Get an hourly or fixed price for each, or you will discover them on your first statement. Finally, ask what response time is guaranteed for a breakdown on a Sunday evening, and who actually answers the phone at that hour. A manager without a genuine on-call rota will hand the problem back to you — which is precisely what you were trying to delegate.
Fees: commission, calculation base and extras
A "20 % commission" means nothing until its base is defined. Check whether it applies to the amount paid by the guest, the net amount paid out by the platform, or revenue excluding cleaning fees and tourist tax: between two readings, the gap easily exceeds 15 % of your annual income. Then look at how money flows — paid straight into your account, or through the manager's — and the payout delay attached. A monthly transfer with an itemised statement is the standard; beyond thirty days, ask why. Clarify what happens to the cleaning fee charged to guests, to platform commissions and to bank charges. Finally, check who declares and remits the tourist tax: on Airbnb the platform collects and remits it directly to the local authority, but that is not the case on every channel, nor for direct bookings.
Term, exclusivity and exit conditions
This is the clause people read least and pay for most. A seasonal management contract is rarely signed for less than a year, which matches the rhythm of a season — but be wary of automatic three-year renewals paired with six months' notice. The healthy balance: one year renewable, two to three months' notice, with a termination window in the shoulder season rather than mid-winter. Next, examine exclusivity: most contracts prevent you from marketing the property in parallel, but all of them must preserve your own right to use it. Have the number of weeks you reserve for yourself, and the blocking lead time, written down explicitly. Finally, plan the exit: who owns the listing, the photos, the review history and the platform account? Without a clear clause you walk away without your two hundred reviews — the hardest asset to rebuild.
What the SmartStay contract sets out
Our contract runs to a few readable pages, with no joining fee and no monthly subscription. The scope is itemised service by service, with a priced schedule for anything outside the flat fee, so you know before signing what an exceptional call-out will cost. The commission applies to one single, explicit base, and every month you receive a transfer together with a booking-by-booking statement detailing platform commissions, fees and charges — the same transparency we apply to our own internal accounts. The term is one year renewable with three months' notice, your owner calendar stays free, and the listing, photos and review history remain your property. We operate across Savoie, Haute-Savoie and Lyon, with a seven-day guest on-call rota and a network of local trades we can mobilise the same day.
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