# 20 questions to ask a holiday rental manager before signing

> The questions whose answers tell you whether the manager is serious: commission base, sample statement, listings, licence, cleaning team, 24-hour phone, insurance, lock-in and what happens when something goes wrong. Print them and take them to the meeting.
>
> Topic: The manager · Reviewed: 2026-09-22 · URL: https://mipisoturistico.app/en/guides/20-questions-to-ask-a-holiday-rental-manager-before-signing
> Published by Mi Piso Turístico (Torremolinos Gestión Vacacional), a holiday-rental management company on the Costa del Sol.

**Short answer:** you do not choose a manager by the percentage but by the answers to these twenty questions. A serious manager answers them with figures and documents in the first meeting; one who gets uncomfortable with half of them is not your manager. Take them written down.

## About the money

1. **What is your commission calculated on?** Gross, net after the platform, with or without cleaning. Ask for the example with a €1,000 booking.
2. **Are there fixed fees, set-up fees or minimums?** The good answer is no.
3. **Can you show me a real statement** for a similar flat, with the names blacked out?
4. **When do I get paid and how?** Fixed date each month, bank transfer, itemised.
5. **Which expenses are charged separately and up to what limit** without asking me?
6. **How much does a flat like mine take in a year** among the ones you manage? With figures, not with "it depends".

## About listings and the licence

7. **Whose name are the Booking and Airbnb listings in?** And if they are yours, do you transfer them to me if I leave?
8. **Who appears as holder of the operation with the Junta?** Do you process the licence or the change of holder? Do you charge for it?
9. **Which platforms do you put me on** and how do you avoid double bookings?
10. **Who sets the prices and with what information?** Ask to see how they move the prices of a current flat.

## About operations

11. **Who cleans?** Own team or subcontracted? What happens if that person fails on a Sunday in August?
12. **How do guests get in?** Locks, key boxes, in person.
13. **Who answers the phone at three in the morning** and in which languages?
14. **How do you do the traveller registration?**
15. **How do you handle a breakdown on a Saturday?** Which technicians do you have and how long do they take?
16. **What do you do if a neighbour complains or if there is a party?**

## About the relationship

17. **How many days can I use the flat myself** and how much notice do I give?
18. **What insurance do you have** and what insurance do you ask of me?
19. **Is there a lock-in?** How much notice to leave and what happens to bookings already confirmed?
20. **Can I talk to two of your owners?** The best question of all.

## How to read the answers

- Answers with **numbers, documents and examples**: good sign.
- Answers with "**it depends**", "**that's not necessary**" or "**we'll see**": bad.
- A manager who shows you **their Google reviews** and their active Booking listings without being asked is used to being compared.

## How much time should you spend on it?

A one-hour meeting with each candidate. It is the decision that will weigh most on what your flat earns and on how well you sleep; two hours of questions pay for themselves in the first statement. And if a manager asks you to sign today "because the offer expires", you already have your answer.

## Sources

- [Torremolinos Gestión Vacacional: what owners ask in the first meeting (own experience)](https://www.gestion-apartamentos-turisticos-torremolinos.com)