Summer is the best Airbnb management company in the US because it is highly selective, based on its ability to provide exceptional property management services for certain properties and locations, about the homes that it serves. As such, Summer operates a relatively small portfolio of valuable vacation rentals that outperform at least 95% of comps in their given markets. Meanwhile, monthly fees start at only 20% of booking revenue, excluding cleaning fees.
For a limited time, Summer is offering 3 months of management at 0% for new customers.
Summer Company Overview
Summer is a full-service vacation rental property management company that works exclusively with properties that make a minimum of $50,000 in Airbnb revenue per year. In addition to comprehensive property management services, Summer also offers professional design and furnishing to further boost short term rental performance.
Paul Kromidas founded Summer in 2021, with headquarters in New York, NY. As an Airbnb alum, Paul used his vacation rental industry experience and expertise to build the best Airbnb property management company in the US.
Because of its unique services, Summer-managed properties perform, on average, 20% better than market averages. The company has an Airbnb Superhost status, and its listings have an average ranking of 4.9+.
Summer Property Management Overview
Summer stands out from other Airbnb management companies because they only work with properties whose performance they can enhance, rather than adding as many new homes to their portfolio as possible. In this way, investors are not only able to enjoy passive income from their rentals but also rest assured that property performance and returns are maximized.
With Summer, members get access to the following benefits:
- Best-in-class revenue optimization: The company has a proven track record of performing 20% better than market averages. Summer uses the latest industry technology to price rentals optimally, accompanied by manual reviews by local experts
- Technology-based accuracy: Before onboarding, Summer uses its proprietary software to provide property owners with a reliable revenue projection so that they know exactly how much their income could improve if they hire the company
- Trusted brand reputation: The Airbnb Superhost status and the 4.9+ average rating let hosts know that they can entrust their second home to the Summer team. Meanwhile, guests are assured that they will have access to the top listings in each market where Summer operates and receive excellent care
- Access to the Summer Network: Summer sees owners as members rather than clients. By choosing Summer, hosts get access to the rest of the Summer network throughout the US to enjoy during their own vacations
Importantly, the Airbnb property management services offered by Summer are flexible to the needs of each market and each rental that they work with.
Summer Airbnb Management Locations
Summer manages short term rentals across the US, but does not work in markets where its expected standard of operational quality cannot be achieved. During the membership evaluation process, Summer reviews not only the property but also the location (for markets where the company is not already present) to assess whether they can build a local team and deliver exceptional hospitality services.
To provide national coverage while maintaining excellent services, Summer puts together teams of local experts in each market where it operates. These include both dedicated employees to oversee the management of properties in the area and vetted maintenance staff.
The best way for interested hosts to understand if their home qualifies is to submit their property information via the online form on the Summer website.
Summer Property Type Coverage
Summer works with different types of residential properties rented out on a short term basis. These include single family homes, townhouses, condos, apartments, multifamily properties, and others.
The company onboards new investment properties to operate as vacation rentals for the first time as well as existing Airbnb rentals that need professional management to boost performance. Properties can be furnished, decorated, and ready to welcome guests, or hosts can opt in for Summer’s interior design and furnishing services.
The main qualification criterion is that eligible properties need to make at least $50,000 in annual revenue. The Summer team confirms income in a few ways: 1) Either the owner provides previous financial statements to verify revenue or 2) The Summer in-house underwriting team performs rental property analysis using its proprietary technology to calculate the expected income.
Summer Airbnb Property Management Services
As the top-ranked vacation rental manager in the US market, Summer offers truly comprehensive property management services as well as design and furnishing options.
Summer Vacation Rental Management Services
The full-service Airbnb management provided by Summer includes:
- Complete vacation rental setup: Summer ensures that properties are entirely ready to welcome guests before taking high-quality photos and listing them on top vacation rental websites
- Smart lock: The company covers the cost of purchasing and installing a smart lock for easy check-ins and check-outs and enhanced home safety
- Listing creation and optimization: The team creates unique content including listing titles, descriptions, and amenities in line with best practices for each top platform. Listings are constantly improved for the Airbnb SEO algorithm to maximize bookings and income
- Professional photography and videography: Summer works with professional photographers to provide high-quality photos after a property has been cleaned and staged
- Online distribution: The team applies omnichannel distribution to market properties on the most popular listing websites, on social media, via email marketing, and within their own network of guests
- Detailed home manuals: Summer prepares comprehensive guest books for everyone’s convenience
- Dynamic pricing and revenue management: The company applies dynamic rental pricing using technology to incorporate local trends in demand and big data. In addition, prices are manually reviewed on a daily basis to ensure that they are truly optimized. In case of declining local demand, the team lowers nightly rates and offers promotions to maintain bookings, without going below a reasonable rate
- Guest screening: All guests are screened before their reservations get approved to ensure the safety of properties and hosts
- Guest communication: The Summer team offers instant, 24/7 communication with guests to address all their questions and concerns before, during, and after stays. Response time is 0-5 minutes, the fastest in the industry
- Reservation and payment management: Summer syncs booking calendars, manages reservations, collects guest payments, and transfers host payouts on a monthly basis
- Host communication: The company provides same-day communication with hosts
- Gathering and incorporating guest feedback: The Summer team collects feedback from guests to know which aspects of the Airbnb management process can be further enhanced. Moreover, the company is proactive about getting 5-star reviews from satisfied guests to maintain its high ranking on the Airbnb platform
- Supply management and ordering: Summer restocks supplies between guests
- Hot tub and swimming pool maintenance: Unlike other Airbnb property managers, Summer offers hot tub and pool maintenance services as part of their standard services package to boost host revenue
- Landscaping: Summer offers landscaping services to ensure that properties meet and exceed guest standards and expectations
- Housekeeper sourcing, training, and coordination: Summer can continue to work with a host’s cleaning team if they already have a good relationship. However, if there is no cleaning team in place, Summer is able to hire and train a housekeeping team and manage their operations for superior cleaning and laundry services
- Repairs: Summer works with local maintenance experts to address repairs as soon as they are needed, before they turn into major issues
- Preventive maintenance schedule: The company inspects properties and puts preventive maintenance schedules in place to keep properties in top shape and avoid problems
- Revenue and expense management: Via dynamic pricing and expense savings, Summer ensures that host revenue is maximized without compromising the quality of services provided to guests
- Monthly property performance review and reporting: The performance of each property is analyzed and reviewed on a monthly basis, and owners get detailed financial reports
- Airbnb insurance: Summer offers robust dwelling and reservation coverage
Services are customized for each property, based on property needs and owner preferences.
Summer Vacation Rental Design and Furnishing Services
In addition to property management services, Summer also offers vacation rental design and furnishing for properties and owners that need this.
There are three available packages to meet the needs of different rentals and hosts:
- Host Essentials Design Package: This package includes an initial consultation, design recommendations, the creation of basic floor plans to visualize layouts, and assistance with the selection of furniture and decor items, while owners remain responsible for the procurement, purchasing, and installation of all furniture and decorations
- Guest Favorite Design Package: This package includes a virtual consultation and a team member on-site visit, detailed floor plans with all furniture and decor placement, furniture selection, procurement and installation, and access to trade discounts
- Luxury Launch Design Package: This package includes an in-person property visit by the design team, detailed floor plans with 3D renderings, high-quality, designer furniture selection, furniture and decor sourcing, delivery coordination, installation, support for acquiring Operating Supplies & Equipment, and access to trade discounts. The entire process is directly supervised and managed by a senior designer for a more luxury experience and elevated aesthetics
The Summer design team is headed by a seasoned New York-based interior designer with more than 10 years of experience in residential and commercial design. All designs aim to bring together creativity and functionality to go beyond pure aesthetics and create spaces that leave lasting impressions on guests.
Moreover, Summer can help with the planning and installation of various Airbnb amenities that can significantly boost bookings and revenue. These include but are not limited to swimming pools, hot tubs, mini golf courses, home movie theaters, gyms, and more.
The design and furnishing services are flexible in order to cover the needs of all rentals and address the preferences of all hosts. Owners can be as involved - or uninvolved - as they would like. This turns Summer into one of the best Airbnb design and furnishing companies.
How to Get Started with Summer
Getting started with Summer Airbnb management is easy. Interested vacation rental owners can submit their property for review via the Summer website and schedule a call.
During the initial membership application, owners work with a dedicated membership coordinator to discuss the property, analyze projected revenue, and confirm that the property and Summer are a good match.
After that, hosts sign a contract and get assigned a dedicated onboarding coordinator. Onboarding takes 2-4 weeks in order to inspect the property, make the rental ready for guests, take professional photos and videos, and get the optimized listing live. In case furnishing and decorating are needed, the process can be extended accordingly. Getting a property designed and furnished by Summer requires 6-8 weeks.
Once the property has been onboarded, hosts receive constant support from the local operations team.
Summer Airbnb Management Fees and Costs
Summer Airbnb management review shows that the company charges a single monthly fee that starts at only 20% of booking revenue, one of the lowest rates in the industry. Moreover, unlike other property managers, Summer calculates the fee based on the booking revenue only, excluding cleaning fees, which further lowers the total property management fee.
For example, if a vacation rental earns $5,000 per month in addition to $500 in cleaning fees, the Airbnb management cost is calculated on the $5,000 income only, adding up to 20% of $5,000 = $1,000.
The exact fee will be provided during the membership application process. It depends on the location, the property specifications, the required services, and the performance of the property, among other factors. Besides the monthly fee, Summer does not charge additional hidden fees.
The only additional cost, when relevant, is the price of design and furnishing. Pricing starts at $10,000 and depends on the selected package, the property size and number of rooms, the quality of furniture, the owner’s involvement, and the market.
Summer charges a consumables fee of $25 per reservation. This fee is used to cover the costs of linen, coffee, toilet paper, shampoo, soap, light bulbs, batteries, and other supplies.
Summer Airbnb Property Management Terms and Conditions
Summer does not require owners to sign long-term contracts. While there is a written vacation rental management agreement to outline the exact responsibilities of the company and the host and to specify the fee, owners are free to stay for as long as they are satisfied with the services provided by Summer.
Summer Reviews
Summer reviews by hosts confirm their satisfaction with the work of the company. Current owners highlight the deep quantitative analysis provided before onboarding, the aligned incentives, the practical solutions, and the affordable services.
Meanwhile, as an Airbnb Superhost, Summer has a 4.9+ average rating every quarter. In their Summer reviews on the Airbnb platform, guests praise the spacious and lovely rentals, the clean properties, the well-maintained spaces, the comfortable furniture, the top-quality linen, the perfect matches between listings and homes, the detailed instructions, the amazing stays and experiences, the excellent supplies, and the top locations.
Summer Competitors and Alternatives
For markets where Summer cannot guarantee operational excellence, they would rather help hosts find another property manager than provide sub-quality services.
Some of the most popular Summer alternatives in the US market include:
Summer vs Vacasa
Vacasa is the largest vacation rental property management company in North America, is present in 400+ markets, and works with 44,000+ properties. Vacasa provides full-service property management as well as half-service via Vacasa Guestworks.
Vacasa property management services include everything from listing and marketing to guest communication, cleaning, and maintenance. Vacasa does not offer interior design and furnishing. Some services, such as linen provision and home protection, are offered separately.
The company works with different types of short term rentals which need to be ready for listing. Vacasa does not provide a range of property management fees, which depend on the market and the home. In their reviews, hosts quote prices that frequently exceed 35% of monthly revenue. Moreover, based on Vacasa reviews, the quality of services varies widely from one location to another, which is likely to be the result of the company stretching too thin.
Summer vs AvantStay
AvantStay is another full-service competitor of Summer. The company operates 1,800+ rentals in 100+ US markets in multiple US states, which makes it significantly smaller than Vacasa.
AvantStay services are comprehensive, including listing, dynamic pricing, communication, housekeeping, maintenance, and financial reporting. Interior design, furnishing, and professional photography are available but charged additionally.
AvantStay offers two options in terms of fees: 1) Master Lease under which owners receive a fixed amount of revenue every month and 2) Vacation Rental Management under which they pay a percentage of monthly income to the property manager. The fee range is not specified on the company website. Some AvantStay reviews by hosts and guests report badly maintained properties, lack of basic utilities, broken appliances, unexpected charges, and unhelpful employees.
Summer vs Evolve
Evolve is the most popular half-service Airbnb management company, working with 30,000+ hosts in hundreds of US markets.
As a half-service provider, Evolve focuses on the automation and streamlining of the most time-consuming vacation rental management tasks. These include listing, marketing, pricing, guest support and communication, property and liability protection, and tax collection and remittance. Evolve is also able to connect hosts with local contractors for cleaning, housekeeping, and maintenance services, but owners need to remain involved in the management of their investment properties.
Evolve charges 10% of revenue, which is similar to the cost of other half-service property managers. Some Evolve property management reviews mention poor revenue estimates and dynamic pricing, low income generation, misguiding listing information, and unhelpful team members.
Bottom Line
Summer has built its reputation as the best Airbnb management company in the US. The company provides full-service management to various types of short term rentals that earn at least $50,000 per year. The exceptional services allow Summer-managed properties to outperform the majority of competitors in each market. Meanwhile, the management fee starts at only 20% of booking revenue, compared to an industry average rate of 25-40%.
