Awning Property Management Review: Services, Costs, and Terms

In this Awning property management review, we will focus on the vacation rental property management services that the company provides, what they include, where they are available, what property types they apply to, how much they cost, what hosts and guests think about them, and whether they are worth the cost. After reading this article, you should be able to decide whether Awning is the best option in the US short-term rental management industry for your specific property and investor needs.

Is Awning property management worth it? In brief, Yes. Awning charges an industry-low fee of 15% of revenue for full-service property management, providing the best value for money amongst top Airbnb management companies in the US market. Awning reviews are overwhelmingly positive, showing that the company delivers on its promises and commitments. You can achieve truly passive income while maximizing profit if you work with Awning. 

What Awning Is

Awning is a one-stop-shop for real estate investors in long term and short-term rental properties, with a focus on the latter as the more profitable investment strategy. The company helps both beginner and experienced investors find the highest earning rental properties for sale, purchase them at the best possible terms, and operate a vacation rental business in an effort-free manner.

Awning was founded in 2020 by Shri Ganeshram and Danaus Chang. While the headquarters are in San Francisco, CA, the company provides services in the entire US market.

Awning was established with the mission to make investing in real estate simple and accessible for everyone, and it fulfills this goal through a combination of the latest real estate technology and the best real estate teams across the nation.

The high-level services which Awning provides to property investors include:

• Buying long-term rentals
• Buying short-term rentals
• Vacation rental furnishing
• Vacation rental management

What Awning Property Management Is

Awning is a full-service short-term rental property management company. This means that the company takes care of all aspects of owning, managing, renting out, and maintaining an investment property as an Airbnb rental. With a team that brings over 10 years of experience in the short-term rental industry, Awning can boost gross rental revenue by 10-30%.

From an investor’s point of view, hiring a full-service Airbnb property management is the easiest and most straightforward way to turn real estate into a source of passive income without compromising the quality of services offered to guests, risking more than normal wear and tear, and losing income. Many property owners worry their outcomes will be suboptimal unless they manage their rental business on their own. However, investor experiences show that Awning can outperform self-managed properties and other property management companies because of the high-quality services that they provide.

At the moment, Awning manages 100+ vacation rentals, which is significantly less than the portfolios of Vacasa, Evolve, and other popular names in the industry. This is mainly due to the fact that Awning was established in 2020 - that’s also when they took on property management services - which makes it a relatively new company. 

Instead of being focused on corporate growth, Awning aims at growing at a sustainable pace by assuring comprehensive, high-quality services to customers and not adding more properties to its portfolio than it can handle in the most professional way. That’s how the company has avoided negative customer reviews, unlike the many Vacasa complaints and AvantStay complaints available online.

Importantly, Awning only manages properties for investors and does not own properties itself. This ensures that the Awning property management team puts the interests of its investor customers first and does not create competition between investors’ properties and its own properties. While this practice is popular among some Awning competitors, it creates an unfair situation for vacation rental property owners as their interests are not prioritized.

Where Awning Property Management Is Available

Awning property management reviews reveal their services are available across the entire US market. Many top Airbnb management companies promise nationwide coverage, but only a few truly deliver on it. Awning is one of these exceptions. They manage various property types in every single US market, from all major cities to the most remote retreat destinations.

As a relatively new company, Awning can cover all markets by having teams across the country that are trained to handle day-to-day tasks and emergencies in the most professional and effective way. To do that, Awning lays the groundwork for new teams ahead of time, before they even take on properties in a particular market.

Awning manages vacation rentals of all types and sizes. They work with single-family homes, condos, apartments, townhomes, retreats, multi-family homes, and a mix of other units and property types. There are some rare exceptions. So in case you own or plan to buy a less standard investment property type, it’s best to connect with an Awning property manager to confirm eligibility through the online contact form.

How Awning Property Management Works

An Awning property management review shows that this is a truly full-service Airbnb management company. Awning provides all the vacation rental management services that are needed in order to assure an effort-free and stress-free experience for local and remote real estate investors.

Awning services include:

Getting Vacation Rentals Ready

While some companies - like Evolve - only work with properties that are booking- and guest-ready, Awning helps owners prepare their short-term rental to optimize results.

The company provides the following services:

• Airbnb licensing: Awning teams take care of collecting the paperwork, submitting applications for necessary licenses and permits, and renewing them on time to assure compliance with local short-term rental laws.
• Airbnb home automation: Awning can recommend smart home devices like smart locks, smart thermostats, and smart Wi-Fi routers to automate the temperature, check-ins and check-outs, and other processes while optimizing the security of guests and properties.
• Airbnb guide book: Awning prepares a tailor-made manual on how to use every single aspect, part, and amenity of a vacation rental for the benefit of guests.

Listing and Marketing

Awning also does everything related to creating optimized vacation rental listings and marketing them for maximum exposure, including:

• Airbnb listing optimization: A dedicated Awning team creates rental listings for the properties they manage which are optimized for the Airbnb ranking mechanism. Airbnb listing optimization includes the title, the description, the photos, and other aspects. This makes sure that your short-term rental ranks high in search results, driving more clicks and more bookings. Awning lists properties on Airbnb and VRBO.
• Airbnb marketing: After creating the initial listing, the Awning team continues to optimize the listing title, description, photos,and pricing to get it in front of as many interested eyes as possible.

Dynamic Pricing

Applying Airbnb dynamic pricing is the golden standard in the vacation rental property management industry. Daily rates need to be constantly supervised and adjusted for seasonality, weekdays vs. weekends, local events, vacancy, and other factors.

Unlike most competitors, Awning has taken a two-step approach to assuring optimal nightly rates, including:

• Technology: Awning has developed an institutional-technology based Airbnb pricing algorithm which relies on relevant data from rental comps to suggest the most appropriate price for your particular property.
• Human review and adjustments: Local experts review suggested daily rates to assess and refine as needed.

This combination of automated technology data collection and analysis with human review and adjustments assures the best Airbnb daily rates in the entire US market. This is crucially important for optimizing occupancy rate and Airbnb cap rates.

Managing Guests

Your Awning team would take care of everything related to guests, before, during, and after their stay, including:

• Airbnb messaging service: Through the use of automation, Awning responds to guest communication within 5-15 minutes from receiving an inquiry. This is significantly faster than the industry average of 1+ hour. In addition, human customer support is also available for situations which require a team member intervention. They optimize host communication using the same principle.
• Airbnb check-in and check-out management: Smart home technology allows Awning to provide contactless check-in and check-out for guests at all times of the day. The Awning team ensures that all keys, access codes, directions, and times are correct for a smooth process when guests come and leave.
• Airbnb calendar management: Awning provides hosts with access to a dynamic booking calendar which allows them to block the property for the days for which they want to use it. The Awning team takes care of all other calendar management processes to ensure a seamless experience for guests.

Cleaning and Restocking

Once you receive guests, there are many tasks that need to be performed between stays to provide the ultimate experience for guests.

The services which Awning offers include:

• Airbnb cleaning service: The Awning team provides complete short-term rental property cleaning between guests, no matter how little time is left. Each cleaning costs $100-$500, and guests pay cleaning fees utilized to pay for cleaning of the property.
• Airbnb supply restocking: Awning restocks vacation rentals between stays with coffee, spices, condiments, toilet paper, paper towels, and everything else required for a comfortable stay.
• Vacation rental linen service: Awning maintains property linen including bedding, sheets, pillows, pillowcases, towels, and other linen besides changing them between guests and replacing them when worn out or damaged.
• Airbnb laundry service: Awning local teams change all linens between stays and ensure that linens are clean and fresh.

Maintaining Properties and Amenities

The Awning property management company also takes care of your actual property and amenities to ensure usability by guests and optimal lifetime.

Related services include:

• Lawn maintenance service: This includes caring for lawns and backyards and landscaping to make sure that your property curb appeal is always pleasant for guests.
• Airbnb pool maintenance service: Properties with pools and hot tubs earn 15%-20% more Airbnb revenue, on average, but maintaining them requires significant effort. Managing pools includes ensuring chemical balance, cleanliness, and proper function. Swimming pool maintenance usually costs between $135 and $385 per month and it’s offered by Awning and can be rolled into the cleaning fee paid by the guest.
• Airbnb hot tub maintenance: Maintaining a hot tub implies changing the water, removing bacterial growth, and ensuring functionality. Normally this costs $25-$150/month and it’s offered by Awning and can be rolled into the cleaning fee paid by the guest.

Awning provides a couple of services that are not included in the single property management fee as they depend on the individual needs and preferences of the host.

These additional services include:

Vacation Rental Furnishing

The Awning team has created a superior vacation rental design and furnishing process which outperforms all competitors in the market. Their strategy includes a competitive analysis of the local market, tailor-made strategy consultation, design collaboration, furniture and amenities delivery, and assembly. Even if your property is completely empty and unfurnished, Awning can get it ready with a new listing live within 4-6 weeks, while it takes owners an average of 12-16 weeks to order all furniture and assemble it.

Importantly, Awning vacation rental furnishing can make properties perform 50% better than comps in the same market because they target the design to the area and the guests staying there. The ex Airbnb Head of Design manages this process.

Vacation Rental Insurance

The only other service which is not part of the standard short-term rental property management package provided by Awning is insurance. The Awning team can connect hosts with the most appropriate insurance companies based on the location, the property, and other factors. In addition, they are available to support property owners through choosing the best insurance and getting the best terms for your specific vacation rental investment property.

How Awning Onboarding Works

Hiring Awning guarantees a smooth, efficient, and trouble-free onboarding and launching, regardless of whether this is the first time you work with a property manager or your vacation rental is currently managed by another company. On average, it takes 48 hours for the Awning team to have your property prepared and listed for rent. This is in case it is furnished. In case your short-term rental needs furnishing, Awning can have it fully ready in 4-6 weeks, about a third of the time you’d need to complete the same amount of work on your own.

To get a property onboarded by Awning if it's:

• An existing Airbnb: It takes 48 hours to onboard the property and get it live
• Furnished but needs photos: It takes 3-5 daysdays to get the property live
• An empty property that needs furnishing and design: It takes 4-6 weeks to get it furnished, licensed, and live

In case you’re working with another Airbnb property manager at the moment, Awning can take over the bookings from them. If you’re facing troubles getting out of contract with your current manager, Awning can help as well.

Should you ever decide to switch away from Awning, you will get to keep all reviews you’ve received under their management. And keep in mind that Awning-managed vacation rentals get an average ranking of 4.8/5 stars on Airbnb and other marketplaces.

Meanwhile, it’s important to understand that if you switch from another property manager to Awning, the Awning team does not have the power to transfer your existing reviews. Most Airbnb property management companies make sure that you lose guest reviews when you move away in order to keep you under contract as long as possible.

Awning Property Management Costs and Fees

Awning charges a single short-term rental property management fee, starting at 15% of monthly revenue. The monthly fee is based on the individual property income, location and type.

This is an industry-low rate for full-service vacation rental management as the usual range is between 20% and 50% of monthly income. Also, if your property generates more revenue than Awning’s first-year estimate, your fee will be lowered.

Awning can charge the lowest full-service property management fee without sacrificing the quality of the services they deliver by automating many parts of the process, allowing their team to focus on your second home and your guests rather than on mundane day-to-day tasks.

Unlike other Airbnb property managers, Awning provides property owners with the entire revenue of the property, less the booking fee charged by the Airbnb and VRBO platforms, every month. It also sends property owners an invoice for the property management services monthly. Any expenses that are handled throughout the month are charged to the bank account or credit card provided by the host. Any expenses over $250 require host approval. This way you have complete transparency into your expenses, when they happen, no markup and no surprises.

In either case, investors can rely on a timely revenue receipt on a monthly basis.

It’s important to note that onboarding and leaving Awning do not incur any additional costs for vacation rental owners.

Awning Additional Property Management Fees

As mentioned above, Airbnb property interior design and furnishing are not included in the comprehensive monthly fee charged by Awning. The reason is that any furniture and amenities that Awning buys on your behalf remains your property, whether you continue to work with the company.

Should you hire the Awning design team to furnish your short-term rental, they will help you set up a budget that makes sense for your specific property. The total cost of furnishing a short-term rental varies between $15,000 and $45,000, which depends on the property size, level of finish, and amenities you choose to provide. This cost includes Awning’s fee for design, shopping for furniture and amenities, delivery, and assembly. Each property design is based on competitive market analysis to ensure that your vacation rental offers everything that guests are looking for in the area.

This fee is in line with the US market average, where the cost of furnishing an Airbnb ranges from $1,000-$2,000 for buying second-hand pieces for a very small and basic property, through $50,000 for an average property with good amenities, to $100,000 for a luxury short-term rental with top options.

The ex Head of Design at Airbnb manages the Awning design team. That’s one reason Airbnbs furnished by Awning generate 50% more revenue than comps in the local market.

Another cost that is not covered by Awning’s comprehensive property management fee is insurance. Once again, this depends on your location, property size, and amenities that need coverage.

Awning Property Management Terms and Requirements

To provide property owners with maximum flexibility and freedom, Awning manages vacation rentals for owners all over the country. Should property owners choose to commit to a one-year contract, they will benefit from a discount on the monthly management fee.

Based on the contract between Awning and property owners, the company commits to performing all the short-term rental property management services listed above. Meanwhile, the property owner commits to pay a single management fee starting at 15% of monthly revenue.

The host keeps the right to use their home as often as they want and for as long as they want. All they need to do is to block the days on their calendar.

Awning Property Management Reviews

As a relatively new vacation rental property management company, Awning has received fewer customer reviews than competitors.

You can find some Awning reviews here:

• TrustPilot: Currently 15+ 5-star reviews.
• BiggerPockets: Currently several 5-star reviews for Awning.

Awning-managed properties generate an average guest rating of 4.8/5 stars, which is impressive in the vacation rental industry.

Positive guest reviews highlight the well-maintained and stocked rentals, the excellent properties and locations, and the availability, friendliness, and expertise of local customer support team members.

Awning Competitors

The vacation rental property management industry has boomed since the establishment of Airbnb in 2008 and its incredible growth. That’s why there are many Awning alternatives which cover different property types and markets. Here we will look at the 3 major Awning competitors and see how they compare to Awning.

Below you can find a quick summary of the key features of Awning and its top competitors in the US market:

Vacasa vs Awning

As the largest Airbnb property manager in North America, Vacasa is a natural Awning competitor. Similar to Awning, Vacasa provides full-service short-term rental property management. They cover various property types but are limited to 35 US states only. Besides the US, Vacasa is available in a few markets in Canada, Mexico, Belize, and Costa Rica.

In terms of service coverage, Vacasa provides similar services to the ones offered by Awning. However, some core services like providing and taking care of linens are charged separately.

Unlike Awning, Vacasa does not publish fees on its website. What the website explains though is that the fee varies between markets and property types and sizes, so hosts need to contact them to get a quote. Property owner reviews reveal that they are usually charged a range between 25% and 35% of revenue, besides extra fees for additional services. This is significantly above the 15% fee charged by Awning, so investors will miss out on thousands of dollars of extra income each year.

There are many complaints by both property owners and guests who share unpleasant experiences with properties managed by Vacasa. Everything from poorly maintained and uncleaned vacation homes, to unexpected fees and unavailable customer support team.

Evolve vs Awning

Contrary to Awning and Vacasa, Evolve is only a half-service vacation rental property management company. This means that when hiring this company, you remain responsible for many day-to-day activities, so you cannot achieve passive Airbnb income.

Evolve offers the option to connect investors with local contractors to make up for the lack of comprehensive service coverage, but this will require extra coordination efforts on behalf of the property owner as well as paying extra fees.

Similar to Awning, Evolve manages most property types. However, their Airbnb property management services are available in 750 US markets, so they cannot cover all US states. They also operate in resorts in Mexico.

Evolve charges a monthly fee of only 10% of revenue, which is significantly lower than the fees of Awning and most other competitors. But this is standard for a half-service property manager because you get fewer services for this money.

Online Evolve reviews are a mix of positive and negative experiences by property owners and guests, revealing some major issues with the services they provide.

Takeaway

Our Awning property management review shows that this company provides all the services that owners need in order to make passive Airbnb income. Meanwhile, they receive more revenue than when self-managing or working with another property manager as Awning combines the best of latest technology and human touch to optimize all aspects of the short-term rental management process. Last but not least, the company charges an industry-low fee starting at 15% of revenue, boosting hosts’ income by thousands of dollars each year.