Frequently Asked Questions
Renting a vacation home requires time and effort to be successful. You will have to handle advertising, responding to inquiries, taking payments, collecting, and filing hotel /sales tax, handling guest emergencies, complaints, and requests, and providing housekeepers and maintenance. If you do not have the time, desire, or resources to handle these services, then you should hire a Booking Agency.
We are equipped to manage all aspects of your vacation rental home. We schedule a professional photographer, and advertise, promote, and market to potential guests. We manage the entire guest experience including the first inquiry to the reservation process, taking payments, check-in/out, 24/7 guest emergency line, housekeeping, maintenance, periodic inspections, and guest follow-up and reviews. We collect and file hotel taxes on your behalf, provide you with detailed owner statements, make monthly owner payments directly into your bank account, and provide you with year-end reports and 1099 rental income statements.
The monthly fee for owners is a 25% commission on the gross rental income less any hosting or processing fee, the sign-on fee is $999, and $500 annual renewal.
The guest pays for housekeeping, so this does not come out of your rental income. When you or your personal guests stay at the house, we will also arrange for cleaning and bill you on your monthly statement or your guests can leave a check for the cleaning made payable direct to the housekeeping service.
We provide you with checklists, W9, Direct Deposit Form, and will propare the paperwork to be signed in person or digitally. We walk the property with you to go over anything that you may need to do to ready the home for rentals. Then once we have all the paperwork filled out, we arrange for photos to be taken and get our checklist started. The checklist process can take about 2 weeks.
Aggieland Vacation Rentals has a one-year contract; however, we believe that if you are unsatisfied at any time, you may provide a 30-day notice and we ask you to honor all reservations on the books if we are unable to move the guests to another property.
Owners can use their homes whenever they like. You are required to block dates ahead of time as we will not cancel a reservation that is already in place. We provide a link to fill out the Owner Block form with your requested dates and will promptly process the request.
We accept houses, condos, townhomes, and ranches. We expect homes to be in good condition and tastefully furnished and decorated, to accommodate our upscale clientele.
We require homes to be fully furnished and have kitchens fully equipped with cookware, dishware, silverware, appliances, etc. You must have Internet and Cable or Internet Enabled devices such as an Amazon Firestick, Roku, or Smart TV.
Yes, this will give you the opportunity to provide linens that go with your décor and personal preference for your home theme. We suggest white sheets, and towels so they can be bleached and sanitized.
Many of our bookings come directly through our own website and various internet platforms we use. We have a team that focuses on staying active on social media and spreading the word about the different properties we offer. Our past guests are also our best advertisers – we love referrals!! Another great resource is Carla’s real estate company, Aggieland Realtors, and her 25 years of connections, relationships, and other real estate agents that refer her for all their vacation rental clients. Texas A&M University also books or refers visiting professors, contractors, and various contacts for us as we are on their approved housing list.
Guest will fill out the guest information form then we will send an invoice fee via PayPal and alternate payment sources when booking directly through our website. The reservation are not confirmed until the invoice has been paid in full so your property will not be blocked unless paid in full.
Aggieland Vacation Rentals collects and files all hotel and venue taxes for you. State, City, County.
Owners get paid once a month for all bookings that occurred in the previous month. Detailed owner statements are emailed with payment confirmation by the 5th of each month. We offer direct deposit and desire all owners to take advantage of this time-saving feature.
We have a list of local contractors we work with and can refer you to unless you already have service provider relationships. Please give us a list.
We can coordinate lawn care needs; however, you control the scope of the work and the schedule. Ask for details.
We suggest monthly or quarterly pest control, pool service if applicable, and HVAC cleaning and service in spring and fall. We can help you coordinate these services for you, just ask for details. We will provide reminders and important weather notices to all owners via Memos throughout the year.
We ask owners to purchase a Yale/Nest Keyless Lock to eliminate keys for guests, increase security, and improve the overall guest experience. Guests are issued a PIN (personal identification number) that is active only for the period of their reservation. Contractors are assigned special codes as well as owners and staff, so you know who is coming and going. The Nest App and Google Home make it easy for you to monitor and know who is always in your home.
Guests pay a deposit when booking direct and are refunded after the property has been cleaned and inspected. If anything needs attention the deposit is used to cover the costs of any damages. Note: we do not consider normal wear and tear to be damaged.