Casago Property Management Review: Is Casago Worth It?

While Casago is not among the most frequently heard names in the short-term rental property management business, the services that it provides might match the needs of certain investors. Since the company has a relatively limited online presence, we’ve compiled this Casago property management review to give you everything you need to know about the company to make an informed decision.

We will answer the question: Does Casago provide the best value for money? The short answer is no! Casago charges a relatively low management fee, but it doesn’t cover as many services as other full-service providers.

On our list of the best Airbnb property management companies we ranked Awning above Casago for its better pricing, more complete service offering, and nationwide footprint.

What Casago Is

Casago is a full-service rental property management company present in some of the best cities to buy rental property in the US and Mexico. Steve Schwab found the company in 1996 with the mission to serve rental properties with a high-quality service. It’s headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ. Casago has been on the market for significantly longer than alternatives like Vacasa, Evolve, Air Concierge, and others. The company prides itself in being a veteran owned business.

Our Casago property management review shows that this is the top choice for various rental types. Unlike most of its competitors, Casago manages vacation rentals, furnished long-term rentals, unfurnished long-term rentals, corporate housing, entire resorts, and more.

Another aspect that distinguishes Casago is the owner-centric approach. The company was founded with the idea that property owners are their number one priority and should be at the center of everything they do. To achieve this, Casago puts each team member through an intensive training process so that they become the owner’s advocate and the property’s steward.

What Casago Property Management Is

Casago promotes itself as a full-service property management provider working with different rentals. However, our Casago property management review reveals that its services do not provide an entirely passive process for rental investors.

Vacation rental property management is the core business of the company, which was introduced with the company establishment in 1996. This makes Casago a very experienced Airbnb property manager.

The company claims that its properties perform 30% - on average - better than traditionally managed rentals, regarding revenue. This is more than what most Casago competitors promise.

Despite its long history, Casago hasn’t grown to the size of Vacasa and Evolve. One reason is the relatively limited geographical coverage of the company and their focus on more luxury and exclusive properties and experiences.

At the moment, Casago manages 3,000+ condos and beachfront houses plus eight resorts in eight communities. They also manage some long-term rentals and corporate housing properties.

All homes managed by Casago are owned by investors and not the company itself. This is good as it shows that the team will really seek to serve the interests of property owners rather than compete with its own interests.

Where Casago Property Management Is Available

Casago property management services are available in cities and resorts in 21 US states and DC and locations in Mexico. The company falls behind Awning which provides nationwide coverage.

Casago manages different rental properties including vacation rentals, furnished and unfurnished long-term rentals, corporate housing, and resorts. Property types include condos, houses, single-family homes, and multi-family homes.

Casago offers tailored service packages covering single-unit management, multi-unit management, and full property management (like condo resort management).

Unlike Awning, AvantStay, and Air Concierge, Casago does not help real estate investors with the design and furnishing of their vacation rental properties. So, in order to qualify, you need to supply your rental with furniture, appliances, cookware, and dinnerware.

How Casago Property Management Works

As a full-service rental property manager, they expect Casago to take care of everything necessary for starting and running a rental business. The company delivers on a big part of this but still cannot provide some important services.

Core Casago Property Management Services

Casago states it charges a single, universal property management fee for these services:

• Getting short-term rental permits: Casago supports investors in obtaining the vacation rental permits and licenses. This is important as most local short-term rental laws require special permits or licenses that need to be renewed annually.
• Providing some supplies: Casago provides linen for beds, towels, a Wi-Fi router, light bulbs, batteries, and other everyday items. However, it’s not clear how often they replace linen after the initial setup.
• Rental listing: Casago creates optimized rental listings for better rankings, clicks, bookings, and revenue.
• Securing professional property photos: Casago makes sure listings are accompanied with professional-grade photos.
• Innovative marketing: Casago lists rentals on their brand website and about 100 top booking platforms like Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and others. In addition, they connect with local real estate agents and list properties as short-term housing options on Zillow, Rent.com, and others. This is a major difference between the approach adopted by Casago and its competitors which can cause boosted bookings.
• Dynamic pricing: Casago implements a competitive dynamic pricing strategy - a standard in the short-term rental industry - based on real-time data, market trends, and competitors’ prices to strike the right rate for both hosts and guests.
• Professional tenant screening: Casago property management services include in-depth check on all renters before accepting reservations.
• Coordinating guests and stays: Casago communicates with guests before, during, and after stays to ensure everything goes smoothly and guests are satisfied.
• In-person check-ins and check-outs: Unlike many alternatives, Casago meets guests at check-in and check-out. On check-out, they review the property with the guest to avoid disputes over damages.
• Offering concierge services: Casago offers concierge services to guests, but it’s not clear what these include and how they are charged.
• Providing 24/7 guest support: The Casago local team is available to help guests at all times.
• Property cleaning: Casago cleans rentals promptly upon check-out to prepare them for the next guest.
• Restocking supplies: Casago restocks properties between guests with all necessities.
• Quality housekeeping: The Casago professional housekeepers perform all the tasks required between stays to have short-term rentals ready for guests.
• Maintaining swimming pools: Casago works with local reputable vendors to take care of pools.
• Collecting and remitting taxes: Casago collects necessary taxes from guests, puts them in an escrow account, and remits them to the relevant authorities on behalf of Airbnb hosts. This is an important benefit over some Casago competitors as it helps investors save time and avoid legal troubles.
• Maintaining property: Casago coordinates necessary repairs and fixes after documenting them, sharing photos with owners, and getting their approval.
• Collecting reviews: The Casago team works on generating positive reviews from guests which helps boost bookings. However, since properties are listed under the name of Casago, property owners will lose these reviews and rankings once they decide to leave Casago. This is a standard practice in the vacation rental property management industry to ensure that investors stay with the same company in the long term. Awning lists properties under the owner’s name so that the owner gets to keep the reviews should they ever decide to cancel.

Casago property management review shows they provide the coverage expected from a full-service vacation rental manager.

Casago Property Management Onboarding

Getting started with Casago requires a few steps:

1. Owners meet with the General Manager for the market.
2. The General Manager collects property information, inspects the property, photographs the home, and writes the listing.
3. The team shoots photos, creates an attractive listing, and activates the listing.
4. If a property is rent ready, reservations come in a few weeks.

To speed up the process, investors should have their properties ready for renting. The Casago website says that the company can help with upgrades, rental permits, and other aspects of turning a home into a vacation rental, but it doesn’t specify how. So, in case your property is not prepared, ask the local Casago General Manager how they can help or choose another alternative that provides interior design and furnishing services.

Casago does not mention explicitly if and how they can help in transferring a short-term rental from another manager to them.

Casago Property Management Benefits for Owners

Hiring Casago as your Airbnb property manager brings the following advantages, as stated on the company website. Note that real estate investors have had mixed experiences with the company, as shown in customer reviews below.

• Stress-free property management
• More bookings
• High-quality guest experiences
• Tailored guest experience via interactive mobile apps
• Boost in revenue
• Transparent terms with no hidden and unexpected charges
• Long-term deal with top sales experts
• Better property management services at a lower cost

Casago Property Management Costs and Fees

Casago charges a property management fee of 18% of booking revenue. This is a universal fee which does not change across markets and property types. This universal fee makes Casago comparable to Awning and Evolve and different from Vacasa, Air Concierge, and Rabbu property management. The rate is relatively low as most Airbnb management companies in the US charge between 25% and 50% of income.

• ‍Extra Casago Property Management Fees: The Casago property management company does not charge separate fees for additional services. All services provided by the Airbnb property manager are included in the basic package and charged at a monthly rate. This makes Casago different from some competitors who ask for extra payments for certain services. Importantly, Casago reviews by property owners do not report unexpected fees.
• ‍Onboarding Casago Property Management Costs: Casago requires investors to sign an agreement. There are no costs associated with the onboarding process, which is the standard in the vacation rental management industry. One exception is Air Concierge, which charges a $300 onboarding fee.
• ‍Leaving Casago Property Management Costs: As long as short-term rental property owners provide Casago with a 30-day notice, there is no fee for leaving. Once again, this is in line with industry standards except for Air Concierge which asks for an early termination fee ranging between $3,500 and $7,500.
• ‍Casago Property Finances Management: Casago collects booking fees from guests on behalf of hosts. Then it charges its monthly property management fee before transferring the due revenue to property owners.

It’s important to highlight that Casago provides help with the collection and remittance of transient occupancy taxes required in most US markets. They collect all necessary taxes from guest fees and put them in an escrow account before remitting them to the respective authorities. This means that the company does not expect additional payments from hosts to cover taxes.

Casago Property Management Terms and Requirements

In order to work with Casago, property owners are required to sign a rental property management agreement. This is a positive practice as it guarantees that investors know exactly what to expect from the property manager and what they expect from them. 

According to this contract, Casago needs to provide full-service rental property management services, as listed above. This includes supplying linens for the beds, towels, a Wi-Fi internet router, and everyday items like light bulbs and batteries.

Meanwhile, hosts need to provide furniture, appliances, cookware, and dinnerware.

Casago does not require long-term commitment from property owners, who remain free to opt out of the agreement. The only condition is a 30-day notice before the property gets unlisted.

With regards to pets in properties, investors can decide whether or not to allow them. The only exception is service animals that cannot be legally prohibited. In case owners allow pets in their property, Casago will charge guests an additional non-refundable fee for up to 2 pets. The fee is used to clean the home properly, while they will subtract property damage caused by the pet from the deposit paid by guests.

Casago Property Management Reviews

Despite its 26-year history, Casago does not have a strong online presence. Casago property management reviews are absent from major websites.

Here are a few places where you can find Casago customer reviews:

• Facebook: Currently 4.6/5 stars based on 197 reviews
• Yelp: Currently 3.0/5 stars based on 35 reviews
• BBB.org: Currently 4.2/5 stars based on 15 reviews
• Airbnb: Currently 2,362 reviews

Excellent reviews by Casago guests praise the beautiful rentals, the amazing views, the top locations, the smooth booking process, and the friendly and professional team. Meanwhile, negative Casago reviews by guests discuss false information, double booking prices compared to alternatives, no response from the customer support team, and last-minute cancellations with no or poor replacement.

Meanwhile, dissatisfied property owners complain about poorly managed properties which have suffered significant damage that went unnoticed by the Casago team. They report broken and missing items and no proper follow-up on behalf of the property management company.

Casago Competitors

Some Casago reviews by property owners and guests raise major red flags, making it a must for investors to check out Casago alternatives. There are many property managers operating in the US, so it’s impossible for hosts to research all of them. That’s why we’ve put together reviews of the 3 major Casago competitors in the US market.

Awning vs Casago

Awning is a full-service short-term rental property management company in the true sense. It does everything on behalf of investors: from preparing properties for listing and guests to managing all day-to-day activities. 

The Awning interior design program is managed by the ex-Head of Design at Airbnb, so properties that undergo Awning interior design and vacation rental furnishing get 50% more in revenue than competitors. Meanwhile, Casago cannot provide adequate support in getting properties ready.

Awning property management reviews shows that services are available across the entire US market, with no exceptions. The company succeeds in this by vetting and setting up local teams in each location before even taking on rentals there.

In terms of property types, Awning manages the vast majority of property types but does not manage entire resorts, unlike Casago. The former focuses only on short-term rentals in order to achieve the highest quality of services.

The Casago competitor charges a single monthly property management fee of 15% of revenue, which is the lowest rate among full-service providers. Awning can provide this by automating tasks and processes that can be automated and allowing the expert team to focus their time and effort on the things that require human intervention.

With regards to additional charges, the Awning property design and furnishing cost is not included in the monthly fee. Before getting started, property owners set up a budget with the help of the Awning team, usually ranging between $15,000 and $45,000, depending on the property size and desired finishing. The Awning team fee is included in this budget.

In sum, Awning is considered the top overall vacation rental property manager in the US market because it offers the best value for money.

Evolve vs Casago

Unlike Casago, Evolve is only a half-service Airbnb property management company. This means that they provide a limited selection of services which do not allow investors to benefit from passive income.

Evolve property management services focus on listing, optimization, marketing, dynamic pricing, and insurance, while they offer to connect owners with local vetted vendors for the implementation of day-to-day tasks. However, this means that hosts will need to coordinate and supervise the work of local vendors, which is suboptimal.

Similar to Casago, Evolve operates in many US markets plus Mexico. Most property types are eligible, but Evolve specializes in vacation rentals only. The company manages 24,000+ properties, significantly more than Casago.

The Evolve property management fee is equivalent to 10% of monthly income, which is lower than the 18% charged by Casago. However, Evolve property management is not cheap, considering that it doesn’t cover all required services.

Overall, Evolve could be a good choice for short-term rental property investors who’d like to keep some control over the management of their properties and who are located locally.

Vacasa vs Casago

Vacasa is the largest Casago competitor as it currently manages 35,000+ rentals. It is a full-service property manager focusing on vacation rentals. The company has a wider geographical coverage than Casago, being present in 35 US states, Canada, Mexico, Belize, and Costa Rica.

Vacasa provides services comparable to those offered by Casago. One major additional service is interior design which can be guided or curated. This is an important difference as furnishing a property in line with local trends and demand can help boost performance.

Contrary to Casago fees, Vacasa fees are not publicized on the company website. The company just clarifies that it cannot charge a single fee as conditions vary between markets and properties. To get a quote, owners need to contact a Vacasa representative. Meanwhile, Vacasa reviews by hosts show that typical management fees range between 25% and 35% of Airbnb revenue. Services like interior design, linen program, and rental insurance are paid separately. In addition, property owners report unexpected charges.

All in all, Vacasa’s position as the biggest and best-known short-term rental property management company in North America does not translate in the best business model and value for money.

Takeaway

In conclusion, our Casago property management review reveals that this company might be a good choice for investors in different rental types in a few US markets. However, despite the relatively low management fee, Casago does not provide the best value for money for investors. Also, some complaints by property owners and guests make it hard for hosts to choose the company over Casago competitors with better customer reviews and better online reputation.