The property
A 4-bedroom, 3-bath pool home in north Scottsdale. Sleeps 8. Walking distance to old town. Ideal short-term rental geometry, but Marcus had bought it new and didn’t want to lose six months learning how to operate.
He looked at three managers before us. Evolve was the closest competitor on price, but the 10% was just the floor — guest comms cost extra, dynamic pricing was a separate package, and the cleaning markup wasn’t explicit. The “all-in” fee math came out to roughly 16%.
What we did differently
Honest pricing isn’t a feature — it’s an obligation. Every line item on Marcus’ monthly statement is either gross bookings or our 10%. That’s it.
- Listing build (week 1): Local photographer (whom we know personally), copy, listing setup on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and our own direct-book site.
- Pricing strategy: Daily algorithmic adjustments supervised by a real human who knows the Scottsdale comp set. Spring training season, F1 weekend, golf events — all priced in.
- Operations: Vetted local cleaning team, on-call HVAC vendor (this matters in July), 24/7 guest comms.
The numbers
| Metric | Year 1 |
|---|---|
| Gross bookings | $94,200 |
| Occupancy | 76% |
| ADR | $338 |
| Avg review rating | 4.92★ |
| Our 10% | $9,420 |
| Pass-through cleaning, taxes, platform fees | actual cost |
| Owner net | $77,640 |
That’s the entire statement summary. The detailed monthly reports break out each booking, each pass-through, each payout. Nothing hidden.
“I expected to get nickel-and-dimed somewhere. Fourteen months in, I haven’t been. That’s the headline.”
What we’d say to other owners
Scottsdale is one of the most competitive STR markets in the country. Owners get pitched constantly. The right manager isn’t the one with the loudest promise — it’s the one whose statement makes sense at a glance. If yours doesn’t, that’s a tell.