Vacation rentals or temporary rentals are a booming business in Spain, a sector in which owners of real estate assets are investing more and more to increase profitability.
And, although short-term rentals can achieve a greater benefit than long-term rentals, managing them involves more intense and frequent tasks such as supply management.
In this regard, there are many challenges we face, especially when it comes to billing and paying for supplies. In addition, the coming and going of residents can lead to a lack of control over expenses, ignorance of the costs incurred in electricity, water or gas for each tenant, losing visibility of the margin. It also involves being attentive to the contracted rates for each supply and their changes, to ensure that you are not overpaying.
That's why, as a property manager, optimizing these processes not only improves your efficiency, but can also increase tenant satisfaction. Throughout this article, we present seven key strategies to achieve this, as well as some facts about the current situation of Spanish vacation rentals.
Temporary rental in Spain
According to INE data, in 2023, more than 300,000 tourist homes were registered in Spain. Specifically, this market grew to more than 306,136 tourist homes, which represented an increase of 16.4% compared to the previous period. In addition, and to respond to the growing demand for information on this subject, they have carried out experimental statistics using software programs for estimating the number of tourist accommodations.
Regarding the profile that rents this type of housing, most of them are foreigners who come to spend a season in Spain and want to enjoy their stay to be at home. In 2023, 9.18 million tourists chose the vacation rental option.
On the other hand, Holidu conducted a survey last year of more than 600 hosts from all over Spain with the objective of knowing their vision during summer season. 43% experienced an increase in bookings compared to the previous summer, and the same percentage of respondents believe that the sustainability is “very important” when you rent your property.
How to improve supply management in your rental flats
As a rental owner, there are many steps that can sometimes be cumbersome, but which, however, must be kept up to date to avoid future problems. Therefore, we give you 7 tips to improve the management of billing and the payment of bills for the supplies of a property dedicated to temporary rental:
1. Automate billing and payment for supplies:
Implementing automatic billing systems or centralizing and digitizing your invoices are effective solutions to reduce manual errors and save time. These will also allow you to manage recurring payments more efficiently.
Paying for supplies is a task that must be done regularly and on time to avoid power cuts and additional charges. To ensure that payment for supplies is made on time, it is advisable to establish an automated payment process.
There are different options for automating the payment of supplies, such as payment by direct debit or payment by credit card. In addition, it's important to set up a payment schedule and reminders to ensure that the payment is made on the due date.
2. Keep the rates and conditions of each supply up to date:
Periodically review supply rates and adjust rental agreements accordingly to ensure that prices reflect actual consumption.
It is important to be clear about the rates and conditions of the contracted supplies at each property. This involves knowing the current rates, billing deadlines and the processes for making changes or modifications to contracts with trading companies.
3. Negotiation with suppliers:
Establish strong relationships with supply suppliers to negotiate more favourable rates, especially for multiple properties under management. If you don't have time, there are solutions like Polaroo, which do this task on a recurring basis for you.
4. Establish consumption policies in rental contract:
Depending on the length of the rental and local legislation, managers and/or owners of rental properties may choose to include the cost of supplies in the rental rate or bill them separately. In the second case, it is essential to send clear and detailed invoices to tenants and to set deadlines for payment.
Defining clear policies on the consumption of supplies in the rental contract can be useful to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts. These policies may include a limit on water or electricity consumption and payment responsibilities for tenants.
5. Monitor the consumption of your rentals:
It is essential to keep an accurate record of the consumption of supplies at each property, such as the periodic reading of water and electricity meters. Not only will this make it possible to properly bill the consumption to the corresponding tenants, but it also makes it possible to detect possible leaks or misuse of the supplies and take measures to correct them.
It is essential that each guest's consumption is recorded and that separate invoices are issued for each supply.
La implementation of intelligent metering technologies can provide detailed consumption reports, facilitate the calculation of the costs associated with the tenant's period of stay and generate your invoices more efficiently.
6. Maintain direct communication with your tenants:
It's important to communicate clearly with tenants about how utility billing works.
Providing information on the responsible use of supplies and offering recommendations to save energy and water can contribute to more efficient management and avoid surprises in bills.
7. Resolve any dispute that may arise:
In the event of a dispute or discrepancy over a supply bill, it's critical to act promptly. Listening to tenants' concerns and resolving issues fairly and transparently can help maintain a positive relationship with customers.
Polaroo to make it easier for you to manage supplies in your vacation rentals
Polaroo is a solution that revolutionizes supply management in rental flats. Our service includes a software platform that automatically collects and centralizes invoices for the different supplies linked to each real estate asset, allowing accurate and transparent accounting. By eliminating the task of manually entering invoice data into your ERP, you significantly reduce the administrative burden associated with this task and eliminate digitization errors.
For both managers and owners, Polaroo makes it easy to cost monitoring of services such as electricity, water, gas and internet for multiple properties.
In addition, we provide, through a team of experts, continuous monitoring to detect incidents, identify savings opportunities due to the contracted power adjustment and optimize costs. All this by studying your contracts on a recurring basis while saving hundreds of hours of operational work.
Finally, access our report on vacation rentals in Spain and learn more about the growth opportunities you have as an owner and manager of your real estate assets.
