Home Owner, Are You Looking For A “Chef” Or “Cook” When Deciding On A Cape Town Airbnb Agency? 

Owners with unique needs may require a Cape Town Airbnb agency; mostly because they cannot manage their properties themselves. That’s why you have to choose this long term relationship carefully. 

Our job, as an Airbnb Management agency, is to ensure the accommodation is 5 star at all times, providing guests with Superhost hospitality, and maximising owner income. 

But before we get there… 

We Must Qualify The Owner Before They Agree To Our Mutual “Playing” Rules

As a Superhosts Cape Town Airbnb agency, we need to qualify the owner and the accommodation. The fact that the place must be remarkable is obvious. But we prefer to work with likeable owners as well. And it’s more difficult to know what they are like initially than it is to like their home. 

That’s why our motto is:

We Rather Turn You Down Today Than Disappoint You Tomorrow! 

Let me say why I am writing this article:

I want to assist new owners in disqualifying themselves well in advance; so that they know what we expect as they may not like our attitude. In other words, we want to share what kind of owners will not gel well with us. 

The Chef vs Cook analogy will help me explain.

You Appoint A Chef But You Actually Want A Cook. 

Well, we have to quickly look at the difference between a chef and a cook? 

Firstly, a quote on how the culinary world defines it then we can apply it to an owner looking for a Cape Town Airbnb agency. 

… a chef is an individual who is trained to understand flavors, cooking techniques, create recipes from scratch with fresh ingredients, and have a high level of responsibility.

 

A cook is an individual who follows established recipes to prepare food. Ref

Applying It To A Cape Town Airbnb Management Agency 

 

• … an Airbnb Superhost Agency is trained, has specialised experience and dedication; understanding hospitality, pricing techniques, creating 5-star happiness experiences from scratch, maximising occupancy, and having a high level of responsibility.

 

• An ordinary host is an individual who follows established recipes to keep guests and owners happy. 

In other words… 

Attributes Of The HEAD Chef

• … is independent within broad guidelines. 
• gets it done. 
• takes responsibility. 
• is a leader running it. 
• is the only chef. 
• is creative. 

Attributes Of Cooks

• follows the chef. 
• is amongst other cooks. 
• is not yet independent. 
• has limited responsibility.
• is not supposed to be overly creative. 

The differences are obvious. 

But the problem starts when there are two head chefs in the same kitchen. By design, they become nothing more than two headless cooks. 

What Is The Problem With Two Head Chefs? 

Emily Roux (daughter of Michel Roux Jr) says, 

Two head chefs in a kitchen are one too many. 

In our terms: the owner is looking for a head chef (agent) but the owner wants to be the second chef. 

Intentionally or not the owner loves to cross the t’s and dot the i’s. Becoming critical and not allowing the chef freedom to create, and adapt to the situation at hand. 

This means that the owner interferes with a proven recipe and stifles progress. 

Let’s look at the details… 

What Are The Consequences Of Two Head Chefs?

Unfortunately, the owner is demoralising her Cape Town Airbnb agency (chef). And the agent is relegated to being an ordinary cook. 

And no longer has the responsibility to meet objectives. Because the owner is applying her own “knowledge” to the recipe. 

And what the agent intended as a beautiful, and successful 5-star Superhost home has become just another average performing Airbnb. 

Examples Of Where Owner’s Interfere With Their Cape Town Airbnb agency. 

Let’s assume that the owners and their Cape Town Airbnb Agency agreed on an annual income to aim at the start. All rosy at the time. 

This was supposed to give the agency freedom to adjust rates for seasonality, low and high demand periods. 

Unfortunately… 

Some owners get confused by their egos. It’s real. For example, they would stay in a fancy hotel, locally or abroad. In a small but nice room and pay an arm and leg for it.

Owners using hotel rates are using a useless base to assume profitability. 

Today, these hotels are threatened by Airbnb. They cannot compete on price and occupancy. 

These owners apply this crooked logic to their homes. 

“My home is much better. I want a high rate!” And instruct the agent what the Airbnb rates would be. 

This Owner Wants To Be The Head Chef He Is Not Aware That….

• An Airbnb is not a hotel. 
• The price you see or pay is not an indication of profit. 
• You don’t see occupancy. It’s invisible to the oblivious amateur observer. 

A good Cape Town Airbnb agency, running at competitive rates makes miles more with invisible high occupancy than a useless Airbnb host (or hotel) with high rates and no occupancy. 

Two chefs are in conflict. 

The one is an amateur and the other a professional Superhost. 

It Can Be Detrimental If You MUST Be Right! 

More so if you are a know-it-all. But the owner is the owner. And if the ego is powerful these owners will sacrifice income for the right to be RIGHT! It’s detrimental to their bank account. 

But when being right is the rule, who cares about being sensible? 

I Like To Dot The Is And Cross The T’s

Some owners pay great attention to every small detail. This can annoy the head chef because such detailed work, such second-guessing is mostly irrelevant, and only adds extra work and aggregation when the agent tries to justify these criticisms. 

In most cases, these petty interferences seem to be an attempt to show who is the real one in charge. 

I remember an owner who was never ever happy with the display photo sequence on Airbnb we had. And continuously wanted to edit the description. Irrelevant. 

The Kind Of Owners This Cape Town Airbnb Agency Love And Trust

The owners, we love to work with, give us freedom; within boundaries of reasonableness and our agreed T&Cs. 

What we appreciate is their trust; we can do our “recipe” better than they can ever do it. They respect that. 

It’s such a pleasure that they don’t get involved in the nitty-gritty of what we do best. 

This does not mean they are quiet bystanders. No. If they have constructive advice they offer it. But never in an authoritarian way; “I am actually the main chef here!” way.

>> See the ideal owner persona here.

Going forward…

Choose A Head Chef! Trust! And Count The Money. 

Yes. Do your homework. Decide on a good Cape Town Airbnb Agency and let go of your fear. 

You do this by monitoring the broad guidelines and occupancy levels, doing everything reasonable to encourage the agent and watching the 5-star reviews and trends for achieving annual income goals, you agree upon. 

And you will not only make money, no, but you’ll also have a pleasant relationship with your short term rental agency. 

But if you want to be in control, be right, get involved in details, keep ongoing. We can suggest another agency for you. 😳

As I said, we would rather turn you down today than disappoint you tomorrow. 

Have fun 

Johan Horak. 

CapeHolidays is a Superhost Cape Town Airbnb Agency where we create 5-star experiences for guests staying and owners who trust us. Without trust and clear boundaries to take action we will not be able to provide 5 Star Experiences.