One of the most important decisions any short-term rental owner faces is whether to self-manage or hire professional help. There's no universal right answer — it depends on your goals, your availability, your proximity to the property, and how much you want hosting to be part of your daily life.
Here's a candid look at both approaches.
The Case for Self-Managing
Self-management makes sense when you live near your property, have the time and inclination to handle guest communication, cleaning coordination, and maintenance. Many owners start here and do well — especially with a single property and flexible schedules.
The biggest advantage is cost: you keep 100% of your revenue. You also maintain complete control over every decision, from pricing to which guests you accept.
The Hidden Costs of Self-Management
What many owners discover over time is that the "free" cost of self-management isn't actually free. Consider the true costs: your time responding to guest messages (often at inconvenient hours), coordinating cleaners and handling no-shows, managing maintenance issues, keeping up with pricing changes, and the stress of being always on-call.
Most self-managing hosts spend 8–16 hours per month on operational tasks. If your time is worth $50/hour, that's $400–$800/month in opportunity cost — often more than the cost of professional management.
The Case for Professional Management
Professional management offers several concrete advantages: optimized pricing that typically increases revenue by 10–30%, consistent guest experience that drives 4.8+ ratings, reliable turnover coordination, vendor management, compliance monitoring, and — perhaps most importantly — your time back.
The trade-off is the management fee, which typically ranges from a flat fee of $400–600/month to 20–25% of revenue for full-service management.
The ROI Math
Here's where it gets interesting. For a typical Hill Country property earning $26,000 annually with self-management, professional management might increase that to $36,000+ through better pricing, higher occupancy, and improved reviews. Even after a 20% management fee of approximately $7,200, the owner nets an additional ~$2,600/year — while saving 100–200 hours annually.
Put differently: you make more money AND get your time back.
When to Make the Switch
Professional management tends to make the most sense when you own more than one STR property, when you don't live close to your rental, when you're not achieving the occupancy and rates your market supports, when hosting stress is affecting your quality of life, or when you want your rental to perform like a business rather than a side project.
The question isn't whether you can self-manage — it's whether self-managing is the highest and best use of your time and your property's potential.
At Hill Country Concierge, we work with owners who have made this transition — and the most common feedback we hear is, "I wish I had done this sooner." Reach out to discuss whether professional management is right for your situation.