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THE GUEST MAN

For property owners

Everything owners ask before they hand over the keys

The fee, what it's calculated on, who pays for what, how often we're in your property, and how you get out if we're no good. Written down, in one place, so you don't have to ask for it.

Get an income projection Call 0447 979 674

Licensed Queensland real estate agent · Family-run, based in Cairns

What does it cost?

18% including GST of net reservation income

Calculated on what actually lands in your account after the booking platform takes its commission — not on the bigger headline figure the guest paid.

Cleaning, linen and consumables are billed separately at our standard rates, itemised on your monthly statement. That is the entire fee. There is no GST to add at the end.

A booking, in full

Guest pays for the stay$1,200.00
Platform commission (varies by channel)−$180.00
Net reservation income$1,020.00
Management fee, 18% incl GST−$183.60
Cleaning & linen for the changeoverquoted to your property

Getting started — one-off costs

Onboarding and listing setup
Title verification, professional photography, floorplans, social media reels and listing build across every platform		 $750 incl GST
Pre-launch deep clean
Arranged by you before the first guest. We quote it separately because it depends entirely on the size and condition of the property		 quoted
Deep clean, twice a year
Early November and early to mid March. Quoted to the property, same as the pre-launch clean		 quoted

The onboarding fee and the pre-launch clean are once, at the start. After that the ongoing charges are the management fee, the changeover costs and the two deep cleans a year.

Why the property is deep cleaned twice a year

Early November, straight after the busy season. The property has been turned over back to back for months. This one resets it, and it means the place goes into the Christmas and New Year run freshly done rather than tired.

Early to mid March, straight after the wet. This is the one that matters in the tropics. Months of humidity get into grout, seals, soft furnishings and wardrobes, and air conditioners that have run hard through a Cairns wet need more than a filter rinse. We get on top of mould here, before the season starts — rather than reading about it in a review with a photograph attached.

Both are quoted to your property before they happen. Staying ahead of mould is considerably cheaper than removing it, and far cheaper than replacing a mattress or a lounge that was left to it.

What is not charged

Managing more than one property? Rates are negotiable on a portfolio — talk to us.

What will my property earn?

Nobody can answer that from a web page, and you should be sceptical of anyone who tries. What we can tell you is how we work it out, so you can judge the number when you get it.

Nightly rate and occupancy

These are the two numbers every owner asks for, and the two most often quoted irresponsibly. Neither is a property of the suburb — they are properties of your specific place. Bedrooms, whether there is a pool, how far it really is to the beach, the quality of the fit-out, parking, and whether the building allows short stays at all will move both figures further than location alone.

They also trade against each other. Pushing occupancy means dropping the rate, and the highest-occupancy property in a street is rarely the one earning most. What we manage to is the product of the two, month by month, adjusted as demand moves.

Your estimate carries real figures for your property, built from comparable places nearby and what they actually achieved — not an average for the postcode.

Build a projection for your property

What's included in the management fee?

Our housekeeping is in-house

Most agencies broker your cleans out to whoever is available. Ours is our own team, trained to one standard. It matters on the day something goes wrong: there is no third party to blame, no scheduling conflict with someone else's portfolio, and one person accountable for how your property is presented.

Consumables, customised to your property

Toilet paper, hand soap, shampoo and conditioner, dishwashing liquid, laundry powder, tea, coffee, sugar and bin liners as standard — adjusted to suit your property and your guests. Charged at our quoted rates and itemised line by line on your statement, so you can see exactly what went into the property and what it cost.

What do my guests actually get?

This is the part most owners never see, because it happens after the booking. It is also the part that decides your reviews.

A guest guide, built for your property, free with every listing

Every property we manage gets its own digital guest guide. It is not a template with your address dropped in, and it is not an optional extra we charge for — it is built for your property and it is included.

The Guest Man app

Every guest gets the app with their check-in instructions before they arrive. The guide lives in it, their door code lives in it, and so does something very few Cairns managers can offer.

We run our own airport shuttle

Guests book their airport transfer straight from the app. It is our own vehicle and our own driver — not a booking we pass to someone else and hope turns up. For your listing it means the arrival is handled end to end, from the terminal to the front door, and it is a genuine point of difference in the listing copy. For guests it is one less thing to organise in a city where the taxi rank at 11pm is not a fun experience.

The shuttle, the tours and the reef trips are ours. Guests book and pay for them with us directly, so they sit alongside your booking income rather than forming part of it — and they cost you nothing to have on offer.

What they do for your property is make the stay work end to end. A guest who was collected at the terminal, knew how to run the air conditioner, had the reef trip booked and got dropped back for their flight writes a different review to one who sorted all of it alone. That review is worth more to you than any of it.

Self check-in, 24 hours a day

Guests let themselves in whenever they arrive. No meeting anyone, no key handover, no driving across town at midnight because a flight was delayed — which is most of the reason Cairns properties lose late-arriving bookings in the first place.

We recommend McGrath smart locks. Every guest gets their own unique code. It switches on at 3pm on their arrival day and switches off at 10am on checkout day, automatically. Nobody shares a permanent code, nobody keeps working access after they leave, and there is no key in a box outside your property that half of Cairns has had the number for.

That is a security decision before it is a convenience one. A code that expires on its own is the difference between knowing exactly who can open your door this week and hoping.

Where a smart lock is not practical — a body corporate that will not allow a hardware change, a door that will not take one, a heritage fitting — we use a smart keysafe with the same Bluetooth function. Same unique per-guest codes, same automatic start and expiry, same audit of who opened it and when. Which one suits your property is something we work out on the walkthrough, not something you have to decide now.

How quickly can you have it live?

Five to ten days, if the property is ready.

If it is furnished and fully equipped — everything on the list below already in the cupboards — then all that is left is the deep clean, the photography and the listing build. Five to ten days from a signed appointment to bookings arriving.

If the property still needs furnishing or fitting out, allow two to three weeks. What sets the pace is the property, not us: photography needs the place finished and styled, and the deep clean has to happen before the camera does.

How the five to ten days run

Five days is the fast end, and it happens — a tidy, fully equipped property and a photography slot that lines up. Ten is the number to plan around. What moves it is almost always the deep clean and the shoot, because the camera cannot go in until the property is finished.

If you are buying

Everything except entering the property can happen before settlement — the appointment, the projection, the inventory list and the launch plan. Start a few weeks out and a furnished property can be earning inside a fortnight of the keys changing hands, rather than a month or two later.

What does the property need before it can be listed?

This is the list owners most want and least often get. Below is what a Cairns short-stay property needs to be guest-ready and review-proof. Get this right before photography and you launch at a higher rate, because the photos are better and the first reviews are kinder.

Quantities work off maximum occupancy, not bedrooms. If the place sleeps eight, it needs eight of everything a person uses — eight dining chairs, eight lounge seats, eight of every plate, glass and mug.

Bedrooms

You do not need doona covers

We triple sheet every bed. A fitted sheet goes on the mattress, then a flat sheet, then the doona, then a second flat sheet over the top — the doona is sandwiched between two sheets and the top sheet is folded back over it to form the cover.

It is the hotel method, and it does two things. Every surface a guest touches is fresh linen replaced at every changeover, which is more hygienic than a cover that gets washed when someone remembers. And the doona itself never goes through the wash between stays, so it lasts longer, dries properly in the Cairns humidity, and never holds up a changeover. The spare doona is there for the day one does get stained.

One lockable owner's cupboard

Every property needs one dedicated cupboard that locks. Spare pillows, the spare doona, spare remotes, batteries, lightbulbs, cleaning gear, tools and anything of yours you would rather guests did not help themselves to all live in there. Without it the spares go walking within a season, and you replace them at your cost rather than ours.

Remotes, batteries, bulbs and spares

Bathrooms

Kitchen

Living and dining

Laundry

Outdoors — where Cairns guests actually spend their time

Safety and compliance

What we bring

Linen and towels are supplied and laundered by us, charged per changeover, so you never buy, wash or store them. Bath mats and kitchen tea towels are ours too, included in the changeover rather than charged on top. Consumables are restocked by us at our quoted rates. The guest guide, access system and welcome setup are ours. Everything above is the owner's — it stays with the property.

What a linen pack contains

Priced per bed, per changeover — not per property, so a studio is never subsidising a five-bedroom house.

Also supplied, included in the changeover rather than charged on top: two bath mats per bathroom, and tea towels for the kitchen. Simple items, replaced as they wear.

What stays, and what comes and goes

Bed linen and towels travel with the changeover. Fresh sets in, used sets out, every single time. Nothing is stored at the property and nothing is rewashed on site.

Bath mats and tea towels live at the property, with spares kept on hand, so they are always there without waiting on a delivery.

Towels are a set number per changeover, matched to the beds. That is deliberate: towels are what walk out of a property, and an open-ended supply is an open-ended cost to you. If a guest needs more, we bring more — it is recorded, not rationed.

Three sheets per bed is the triple sheeting described above — fitted, flat, doona, flat. The pillowcase count matches the pillow count we ask you to supply: four on a king, queen or double, two on a single. Pool towels are counted separately from bath towels because guests will take them to the beach whether or not you provide them, and a bath towel full of sand is a towel you replace.

Not sure where you stand? Send us photos and we will tell you what is missing before you spend anything. It is a twenty-minute job for us and it saves owners buying the wrong things twice.

Where will my property be listed?

Every extra channel is extra exposure, but they are not equal. A platform takes its cut before the money reaches you; a direct booking does not. Because our fee is calculated on what lands, a direct booking is worth more to you than the same guest arriving through Airbnb — and we have every reason to chase them.

What happens if a guest damages my property?

Cover depends on how the booking arrived, so here it is honestly, channel by channel.

Booking source Protection
Airbnb AirCover host damage protection, administered by Airbnb.
Booking.com Their damage programme. Guests see the maximum they could be charged before they book. If damage occurs we report it within 14 days of checkout and Booking.com pursues the guest; funds come through on the next payout.
Direct bookings Damage protection of up to $5 million through our direct booking system, covering accidental and deliberate damage, theft, smoke damage, unauthorised parties and excessive cleaning. Claims are lodged within 30 days of checkout.
All channels Security deposits can be collected and held where appropriate.

What none of it covers

Ordinary wear and tear, anything reported outside the claim window, and anything beyond the limits of your own insurance. Damage protection is not a substitute for a landlord policy — see the checklist further down.

How and when do I get paid?

Your own owner portal

Every owner gets a private portal at their own web address. You do not request anything, wait for anything or chase anyone — it is there, it is current, and it holds three things.

There is also a restock request in there, so if you want something added to the property you ask for it in the portal rather than trying to remember it in a phone call.

See a sample portal →

Why the photographs matter more than they sound

Most owners never see their property once it is let. They find out something is wrong when a guest complains about it, which is the most expensive possible moment. A photographic record at every changeover means you watch the condition of your own asset over time — and when something does get damaged, there is a dated set of images from the clean before and the clean after. That is what turns a damage claim from an argument into a formality.

Who pays for repairs, and do you mark them up?

We do not mark up maintenance. Ever.

You pay what the tradesperson charges. You see the invoice. We make nothing on it. This is the single most common place a management agreement quietly costs an owner money, and we have taken it off the table.

Both figures are ceilings, not budgets. We do not spend them because they are there, and every invoice reaches you at cost like any other. The emergency limit is the higher of the two for one reason: an after-hours plumber in Cairns starts around $300 before parts, so a limit that cannot cover one is a limit that leaves your guests with no water while we try to reach you.

Both are set in your management agreement and both are yours to move. Raise them, lower them, or take them to zero and we will never lift a finger without asking — some owners prefer exactly that, and it is a perfectly reasonable way to run it.

Why we push you to use your own trades

Because you should never have to wonder. A manager who only ever sends their own people leaves an owner quietly asking whether the price was fair, whether the job needed doing at all, and what the arrangement is between the two of them. Even when the answer is nothing, the question sits there.

The cleanest way to remove it is for the trades to be yours. Someone you already use, already trust and already know the rates of. We ring them, we let them in, we chase them, we send you the invoice — and the invoice comes from a business with no relationship to us at all.

If you do not have anyone, or would rather not manage it, we use our own tradespeople and you still see every invoice at cost with nothing added. Plenty of owners go this way and it works perfectly well. The point is that it is your choice, made up front, and not a default you discovered after the fact.

How often is the property inspected, and can I still use it?

Inspections

Every changeover. Our housekeeper is inside your property between every single guest, checking condition, reporting damage and photographing anything that needs attention. A long-term tenancy gets inspected twice a year; a short-stay property managed properly gets looked at dozens of times. It is one of the genuine advantages of this model, and it is how small problems get caught before they become expensive ones.

Your own stays

It is your property and you are welcome in it. What we ask is notice, so we are not cancelling a paid booking to make room — and that you cover the changeover clean and linen for your stay, the same as any other guest would. The specifics are set out in your management agreement, and we would rather agree them with you up front than surprise you at Christmas.

How long am I locked in?

You are not. The appointment is continuing rather than fixed-term, and either of us can end it with 30 days' written notice. No minimum term, no lock-in, no exit fee.

Bookings already confirmed are honoured. Guests who have paid keep their stay, and we hand over the calendar, the guest details and the listings. If you sell, the buyer takes the property subject to the bookings already in place — something worth raising with your solicitor early, because it belongs in the contract of sale.

We would rather earn the next month than trap you in the next year.

Do I need special insurance?

Yes — and it is a condition of us managing your property.

Every owner we act for must hold insurance that expressly covers short-term rental letting, including public liability cover of at least $10 million. We will ask to see it before your first guest arrives.

Why your existing policy probably isn't enough

This is the single thing owners most often get wrong, and they find out at the worst possible moment — at claim time.

If you are keeping your current insurer, ask them in writing whether the policy covers paid short-stay guests. A verbal yes from a call centre is worth very little eighteen months later.

Where owners tend to look

Several of our owners use ShareCover, which is built specifically for Australian short-stay hosts and underwritten by Insurance Australia Limited, part of IAG. It covers building, contents and liability for properties let on Airbnb, Stayz and similar platforms — which is exactly the gap a standard landlord policy leaves. They have spoken well of it; we have no arrangement with them and receive nothing if you go there.

They are one option among several, and we are not recommending them over anyone else. We are letting agents, not insurance advisers: we do not arrange cover, we cannot tell you whether a policy suits your circumstances, and you should read the Product Disclosure Statement and compare before you buy. Any insurer is fine by us, provided the policy genuinely covers short-term letting and carries the $10 million liability.

Take a look at ShareCover

What do I need in place before we start?

We check all of this with you before your first guest. Most of it is quick; one or two catch people out.

Worth a conversation with your accountant

Short-stay income can change your GST position once turnover passes the registration threshold, and it can affect land tax and capital gains treatment compared with owner occupation or a long-term rental. We are letting agents, not accountants — we raise it because owners are often surprised by it, not because we can advise on it.

Your property, specifically

What's in a personal estimate

This page covers what's true for everyone. Your estimate covers your property — three revenue scenarios month by month, the comparable properties behind them, your actual cleaning and linen quote, what reaches you after every cost, and what we would change before launch.

Get your income projection Talk it through — 0447 979 674

Ian Muir · Licensed Queensland real estate agent · The Guest Man, Cairns

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