Every manager quotes a percentage. Almost none of them mean the same thing by it — because "revenue" isn't a standard word. Here's how the same headline rate can quietly cost you very differently — and what most Myrtle Beach property management companies don't show you.
When two managers both say "20%," you'd assume you'd pay the same. You won't. The percentage is only half the story — what matters is the number it's multiplied by. And that number, what managers call "revenue," is defined however each company chooses. Some charge on your rental income alone. Others pad it with the cleaning fee and even the accommodations taxes that pass straight through to the state — then quietly deduct those same taxes as an expense. Same headline rate. A noticeably bigger check to your manager.
A guest pays $2,888 for a week at your condo — but those line items aren't equal, and only one of them is your actual rental revenue.
Of these, only the $2,000 accommodation fare is rental revenue. The cleaning fee offsets a cost, the tax passes straight through to the state, and the booking channel takes its own cut — yet some managers calculate their fee on the cleaning and taxes too, not just the fare.
Three managers, each charging a 20% fee. The only difference is what they call "revenue."
Same 20%. Same booking. Same work. Manager C's fee is $510 — 28% higher than Manager A's $400 — and $60 of it is commission on tax dollars you're only passing through to the state.
$110 on a single booking is easy to wave off. But it repeats on every reservation. A unit that turns roughly 30 bookings a year pays about $3,300 more annually under Manager C than under Manager A — for management that is, line for line, identical. Over a few years of ownership, that's real money quietly leaving your account.
We charge our management fee on your accommodation fare — your rental revenue. Not on the cleaning fee. Not on the accommodations taxes that pass through to the state. We base our fee on the smallest, fairest number — your actual rental revenue — rather than the inflated "revenue" some competitors quietly use. That's the point.
Illustrative example with round numbers; actual fares, cleaning fees, and accommodations-tax rates vary by property, booking, and jurisdiction. The "20%" rate here is hypothetical and used only to compare fee bases — what matters is the base each manager applies their rate to. This is general information, not tax or financial advice.
The answers tell you more than the headline rate ever will.
A free, no-obligation owner analysis — with a clear, honest breakdown of how your fee is calculated and what lands in your account.
