Owner FAQs

The Team from Goodstays answered… A resource consent is usually required from the Council to use your property for short term accommodation. The Council's District Plan does allow for short term accommodation, and the rules have recently changed in 2019. Goodstays can assist with your application for resource consent and for general planning advice. Free information is also available for the specific requirements for your property is available from the Council's Duty Planner (Phone: 03 441 0499 Email: services@qldc.govt.nz).

Notes for consideration:

• In some cases you may be able to use the property in this manner without need for a consent, for a certain number of nights - but this will depend on the location of your property.
• The location of your property also determines how many nights per year the Council will be likely to approve for short-term use.
• When considering a resource consent application, the Council considers a wide range of matters including access, car parking, neighbours, the surrounding area, and the scale of the short term accommodation activity.
• Short term accommodation does have an impact on Council property rates and a one-off development contribution payment to the Council usually applies.

While the Council will usually only provide high-level information, Richard Kemp from Pragmatic Planning is an independent Town Planning Consultant will provide free and no-obligation advice on the short-term accommodation potential of a property - including whether or not a resource consent is required, an opinion on the likelihood of resource consent being granted by Council, the number of nights per year and more.

With experience in securing 120+ short term accommodation consents from the Council, he is happy to provide this initial information free of charge, including if you are considering purchasing

The Team from Goodstays answered…

The Team from Goodstays answered… Goodstays uses dynamic pricing software to list and adjust your nightly rates depending on the market. This is a move away from the historic two sets of rates – off peak and peak. Our dynamic software is a yield management tool that optimises our pricing specific to each home and each night of the year, with the ultimate goal of achieving maximum annual revenue and occupancy for you.

What is dynamic pricing?

Similar to the yield management tools that power hotels and airline pricing, dynamic pricing sets and manages your rates based on an algorithm that tracks supply and demand for every night of the year. The algorithm automatically adjusts your nightly rates based on factors that change demand in the local market like seasons, the day of the week, public and school holidays, and local events such as the Queenstown Marathon and Warbirds Over Wanaka.

What does this mean for you?

As a homeowner, this means your rates fluctuate more significantly for upcoming bookings. When you receive a reservation notification or view reservations through your owner portal, you will see reservations confirmed at rates that differ from the set rates in your management agreement. Rates for any given time in the future may also change day to day, based on the algorithm powering the pricing tool.

Below is an example of a property with a 5-night reservation that used to have a set rate of $450.00 per night for this period.

• Previous set rates for 5 x nights @ $450.00 = $2250.00
• Dynamic Pricing = $2,309.00 (+$59.00)

As you can see from the above example, two nights were below the previous set rate, but the other three nights are much higher due to the market demand which has resulted in an increase of $59.00 for one reservation.

The Team from Goodstays answered… Within our pricing system, we set 2 rates – your minimum price and your base price. Your minimum is the lowest rate you’d be willing to accept for a night before preferring your property sits empty. This is completely up to you. We recommend setting it as low as you can and keep in mind that a high minimum will result in fewer bookings during off peak periods and last-minute booking situations.

Your base price is the starting point for our pricing algorithm. Think of it as your median nightly rate for the year. We’ll go above it during periods of high demand and below it during the quiet periods. During your onboarding, we’ll set an introductory price to get the ball rolling. It’s important to start low to gain reviews and occupancy that will lead to good rankings across all the platforms. This is the key to success for your holiday home business. Once you start to gain a steady flow of occupancy, we can slowly increase your base price until you hit that perfect cross point between a good return and steady occupancy.

If you ask us to reduce your base price at any stage, we may also have to reduce your minimum to allow for our pricing algorithm to fluctuate. We will tell you what this new minimum will be should you wish to lower your base.

Below is a graph highlighting the base price and minimum price, and it shows how the algorithm works throughout the calendar year. You can also see that it is very rare, if at all, that the algorithm will ever hit the minimum price. It is important to let the algorithm work by having a decent gap between your base price and minimum. Too many manual changes to your pricing will have a negative effect on its ability to generate the best rates/occupancy for your home.

The Team from Goodstays answered… Making constant changes to your rates is not recommended primarily because it makes the algorithm less effective. Once a month, we sit down and analyse each property’s performance. We may then tweak your base price up or down by 5 to 10%. This is the most effective way of managing your rates but should you wish to make any manual changes, you can email support@goodstays.co.nz. Please be aware that changing rates is a timely process and may incur admin fees.

The Team from Goodstays answered… Goodstays manages your holiday home business. This includes organising your reservations, looking after your guests, informing you what maintenance needs to be done and promoting your home on the world stage. As the owner, you are responsible for the cost of maintaining your home. Like any other business asset, your holiday home will incur expenses, and may encounter damage or wear and tear. The following information is provided to help you understand who pays for what in this partnership.

What happens when a guest damages your property?

Once a guest departs your property, our housekeeping team will complete a Guest Departure Report (GDR). Our team scans your property for anything that might be missing or damaged, or if additional cleaning or rubbish removal is required. If anything is uncovered during the GDR, our accounts team is informed, and the report is sent through to the guest with time/date stamped photos and descriptions.

Goodstays takes a bond from the guest providing they has booked through a Goodstays website, the HomeAway network, booking.com or Holiday Houses. Once our accounts team have received the GDR, they will place the guest’s bond on hold and inform them of this. When the costs to fix the damage are determined, accounts will deduct this from the guest’s bond.

As we’ve touched on before in previous communication pieces, Airbnb is the merchant of record. The rules are quite different when bookings are made through this platform. Airbnb holds the security bond, not us. This can make it difficult for Goodstays as a business to make claims for damages on your behalf. Airbnb’s policy is that your guest has to admit fault and agree to pay. If they don’t, Airbnb will not compensate you, so it pays to have a good insurance policy specifically designed for short term accommodation.

Claiming compensation from Airbnb has a success rate of less than 10%. We have never succeeded in claiming extra cleaning and extra rubbish. We are successful at claiming for stains to soft furnishings and damage to the property, only when the guest admits fault and authorises Airbnb to charge their credit card. We will always do our utmost best to obtain compensation from Airbnb, but in event that they decline, be prepared to put an insurance claim in.

Bear in mind that we are only human and if our housekeeping staff don’t pick up on a missing item or damage created by your guests, Goodstays not liable for repairs or replacements.

What if the damage is more than the guest’s bond?

If the cost of damage is more than the bond we are holding, it then becomes an insurance matter. You will need to make sure your insurance policy covers all expenses associated with your claim. Should repairs or replacements be required, make sure your insurance policy covers not only the repairs, but also for relocating future guests, administrative fees and loss of income. Goodstays will always assist you with the paperwork you require to make a claim.

Wear and tear

As with all assets, your holiday home will encounter a reasonable amount of wear and tear. It is important that you keep your property well maintained for guest use and understand that items do wear down over time. You are responsible for the cost of replacement chattels and the upkeep of your asset. You may notice small items such as light bulbs and kitchen chattels on your monthly statement which is part of this. However, if an item needs replacing and the cost is significant (over $300), you will be informed prior to purchase.

Utilities

You are responsible for the cost of the power, gas and WIFI your guests use. Goodstays asks guests to be power/gas conscientious via our arrival information, but we can’t police their power consumption for you. Many of our guests come from countries where power is inexpensive, so be prepared for high power bills during the winter. This is an alpine region of New Zealand and even the locals feel the pinch during the cooler months. If your power bill is high, your holiday home is full and that’s a good thing. We recommend you look at ways you can keep your home as energy efficient as possible.

Linen and exit cleans

Linen and exit cleaning are additional fees charged to the guest by Goodstays. It does not come out of your nightly rate. Goodstays commands the best housekeeping staff in the district by paying them above market rate. We also factor in cleaning supplies, uniforms and vehicles, as well as managing and coordinating housekeeping for over 200 other houses in the district.

It is important to note that when you use a property management company, these additional fees may be more than someone down the road who might be listing and cleaning their holiday home for a mere few dollars. They simply don’t charge for their own time and effort. Our linen and cleaning fees are an arrangement between Goodstays and the guest. On-charging the linen and cleaning also helps keeps your profit transparent.

The Team from Goodstays answered… If for any reason, there comes a time where you need to relocate your guests, there are processes that need to be followed and fees that apply. You may need to relocate your guests due to unforeseen maintenance required, or if you intend to stay in the property and a guest has booked before you’ve made your owner booking. To avoid issues with the latter, we recommend putting your owner bookings in 12-18 months in advance – even if they are tentative. You can delete or change them closer to the time.

If you have forgotten to create an owner booking and you are within 3 months of the date you want to stay, we can’t relocate guests due to the work involved in a move and the detrimental effect it will have on your guests’ holiday plans. Should you need us to relocate your guests, you will be liable for any additional rent increase due to the relocation, plus admin fees.

Relocating HomeAway or Goodstays reservations.

There is a $150 admin fee if the guest reservation originated from the HomeAway network, Holiday Houses or Goodstays. In addition to this admin fee, you will also need to pay the difference in rent (if any).

Below is an example:

Our Reservations Team have put together the best options for relocating your guests to the nearest three properties to Sunshine Rise based on size and cost:

The other option is to cancel the reservation, this however will have a negative effect on your progress to become a premier partner on the HomeAway network which is currently tracking well.
Should you wish to cancel the reservation, there is also an administration fee of $150. Alternatively, please advise if you are happy for us to offer the relocation options and we will present these to the guests?

Relocating a booking.com (BDC) reservation

If the reservation was originally made in booking.com, they will relocate the guests to another available property within their platform. Therefore, you will be charged the $150 admin fee plus any rent increase that booking.com charge us. There is no option to cancel the reservation with this platform.

Relocating an AirBNB reservation

If the reservation originated from Airbnb, we can’t relocate, we can only cancel. You will be charged the $150 admin fee together with Airbnb’s cancellation fee which can vary anywhere from $75 upwards. And if you cancel three or more reservations within a year, Airbnb may deactivate your listing.
Your calendar on Airbnb will remain blocked and you won’t be able to accept another reservation for the same dates of the cancelled reservation. An automated review will also appear on your listing stating that the host has cancelled the booking. This will have a negative impact on any future guests looking to book.