Frequently Asked Questions

We take care of everything from advertising the listing, to checking in the guests, to coordinating the cleaning and taking care of small maintenance items. Just tell us when your away dates are, and we cover the rest. More details below.

Ongoing:

• Creation & continual maintenance of your Airbnb listing.
• Optimization of pricing based on seasonality, events, weekday, and patterns in local demand.
• Coordination with building inspectors, insurance inspectors, and maintenance workers.

Before each visit:

• Response to all guest inquiries within 8 hours to earn or maintain super host status.
• Guest identity verification to ensure security of the home.
• Coordination of cleaner visits, following our 5-star cleaning guidelines.
• Inspect the home for changes/damages.
• Provide toiletries, bathroom essentials, laundry soaps, and kitchen essentials for your guests.

At check-in:

• We check guests in in-person or automatically, depending on their preference and your standards.
• HeartHomes provides a tour of the apartment, reviews host rules and provides personalized event & local recommendations.

During stay:

• 24/7 emergency support in event of lockout, leak, broken window, heating issue, etc.
• Serve as point of contact — answer guest questions and provide local recommendations.
• Manage check-out & next check-in time to allow same day reservations.
• For longer stays, coordinate interim cleaning, plant watering, replacement of soaps & essentials, etc.

After stay:

• As requested, coordinate and provide cleaning of before host return.
• In the event of damage or theft, contact & coordinate with Airbnb host insurance and deal with claims.
• Write guest review and respond to guest review of host.

There is no fee to get started, but you are responsible for the costs of photography, a deep clean of your property prior to the first guests arriving, copying keys as needed, purchasing sufficient linens and any other items required to provide guests with a quality experience.

For many hosts, short-term rentals make up a substantial portion of their income. Of course, earnings vary widely based on your location, local competition, number of bedrooms, home amenities, guest reviews and season (particularly in Vancouver). Contact us for a free estimate today.

Our services are limited to prime neighbourhoods in Vancouver, Whistler, and other tourist destinations in B.C. In Vancouver, please refer to our map for information on the neighbourhoods we service.

There is a lot we can do to separate the good from the bad — most helpful is filtering for guests with verified identities who have stayed at other properties and received positive reviews. We also reach out to meet guests and understand their travel plans. We take the safety and security of your home seriously, and don’t take risks.

Airbnb provides complete primary insurance for home damage, injury or theft for up to $1 million through their Host Guarantee Program. Still, it benefits owners to have insurance beyond that 1 million, especially 3rd party liability insurance for a case in which a guests is injured in the home. We have partnered with the only Vacation Rental Insurance company available, called CertiStay. Their coverage will cost you less than $30 per month, and we’ll coordinate with them to inspect your home upon sign-up.

To offer the highest degree of service, we operate year round, including weekends and holidays.

Yes. Airbnb rentals in Vancouver are licensed and taxed by the city as of April 1st, 2018. Read our recent article on Airbnb taxation in Vancouver here.

You can go straight to the City Of Vancouver’s Short Term Rental Licensing page here.

For all the information you’ll need on Airbnb taxation in Vancouver, read our recent article here. We also wrote a Q & A article about taxation and enforcement here.

Overall, short term renting your property can be the ideal solution for someone looking to spend a significant time away from their property while still gaining income from that property. With the Empty Homes Tax in place, it has never been more important to get your home occupied as soon as possible.