Signs of a bad holiday rental manager (before signing and after)
Statements you cannot understand, listings that are not yours, expenses without invoices, fixed prices, falling reviews and a phone nobody answers. Ten signs, and what to do about each one.
Reviewed on 22 September 2026 · By the team at Torremolinos Gestión Vacacional, more than ten years managing holiday rentals · Markdown version · Versión en español
Short answer: a bad manager does not show in the percentage: they show in statements that do not add up or do not arrive, listings that are not yours, expenses without invoices, prices that never move, falling reviews and a phone nobody answers. Any one of these signs alone deserves a conversation; three together, a change.
Before signing
- They do not show you a real statement or explain what the commission is calculated on. If you do not understand it in the meeting, you will not understand it on the statement.
- The listings are in their name and "we'll see" what happens if you leave. What you will see is that you leave without reviews.
- Long lock-in with a penalty. They keep you by contract because they do not trust they can keep you by service.
- They have no Google reviews, or only from guests and none from owners. Search their name and the company's.
- They promise specific occupancy or income ("90 % all year") without showing you the data of a similar flat.
After signing
- The statement arrives late, changes format or does not match what you see on the platforms (if you have access). Ask for the booking-by-booking breakdown; a serious manager has it.
- Expenses without invoices or fixed monthly "maintenance". Every expense has a receipt from the supplier.
- The price does not change between February and August, or is always below the neighbours'. Look at your listing as if you were a guest on a Tuesday in November and a Saturday in August.
- Reviews are falling and talk about cleanliness, about nobody answering or about the flat "not being like the photos". It is the most reliable thermometer.
- They do not answer. Not you and, judging by the reviews, not the guests either. A manager who does not reply to an owner within 24 hours does not answer a guest at three in the morning.
What to do about each sign?
- Ask: itemised statement, invoices, access to the platforms (as the owner you have the right to know what is charged for your flat).
- Check: your listing on Booking and Airbnb (prices, photos, reviews), the Tourism Registry search (who appears as holder), your bank account against the statements.
- Talk: in writing, with what you have seen, and with a deadline to fix it.
- Change: if it is not fixed. See How to change manager.
And the signs of a good one?
The opposite: statement on the same day every month with every booking itemised, listings in your name, invoices for everything, prices you see moving, reviews stable or rising, replies within hours. And one people forget: that they say no to you about something (to more places than fit, to accepting a suspicious booking, to lowering the price in August). A manager who only says yes is managing their commission, not your flat.