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Free Online ConsultationAmong owners who outsource the operation of their minpaku (short-term rental) properties to a management company, many quietly harbor dissatisfaction or doubts about day-to-day service but struggle to voice them. They don’t want to damage the relationship, worry about the contract being terminated, or simply aren’t sure what to say or how to say it. In practice, this psychological hurdle often causes problems to drag on far longer than they should.
This article takes a close look at three common topics that minpaku owners find difficult to bring up with their management company, exploring the background behind each and how to address them. Because the gap in annual profit and loss can amount to hundreds of thousands of yen, we encourage anyone who recognizes these situations to read through to the end.
Many owners end up switching to a different management company only after revenue has already deteriorated as a result of leaving unspoken issues unresolved. Before things reach that point, the first step toward improvement is simply organizing what exactly is hard to say—and why.
Why It’s So Hard for Minpaku Owners to Speak Up to Their Management Company
Minpaku management services typically bundle together a wide range of tasks—cleaning, guest communication, pricing, and review management—into a single outsourced package. Because owners are essentially “leaving it all in someone else’s hands,” they naturally feel reluctant to raise detailed concerns. This is especially true for individual owners who lack confidence in real estate or hospitality expertise and end up hesitating out of a fear that “maybe my understanding is simply wrong.”
On top of that, management contracts often include a minimum term of three months to a year, and fear of damaging the relationship—and risking contract termination—can lead owners to stay silent. However, with management fees typically running around 20% of revenue, letting doubts go unaddressed translates directly into financial loss. For a property generating 3 million yen in annual sales, that’s 600,000 yen in management fees alone. It’s essential to calmly assess whether the service you’re receiving actually justifies that cost.
Hard-to-Say Issue #1: “Are We Really Getting Results That Justify the Fees?”
Not Tracking Occupancy and Revenue Trends
When operations are outsourced, many owners keep an eye on the monthly payout they receive but fail to closely track trends in occupancy rate or average daily rate (ADR). For example, a property with 50% occupancy and an average rate of 8,000 yen will actually generate roughly 50,000 yen less in monthly revenue than one with 70% occupancy and an average rate of 7,000 yen. Asking your management company about their pricing strategy—and whether it’s appropriately positioned against competing listings—is a completely legitimate request.
In reality, though, most owners hesitate, worrying that “asking too many detailed questions might make me seem like a difficult client.” A good solution is to require monthly reports as part of the contract, or at minimum, arrange for quarterly sharing of occupancy, revenue, and expense breakdowns. Conversations grounded in numbers are far less likely to turn into emotional confrontations.
Hesitating to Bring Up Comparisons With Other Companies
If a fellow owner in the same area, using a different management company, mentions occupancy rates above 80%, it’s natural to start questioning your own property’s performance. Yet many owners feel uncomfortable saying “I heard another company does it this way,” since it can come across as an overt expression of distrust toward their current provider.
In such cases, it’s far more effective to anchor the conversation in “market data” rather than “other companies’ examples.” Tools like AirDNA let you objectively check average occupancy rates and average daily rates for your specific area. If, for instance, the area average occupancy is 75% but your property sits at 55%, you can open the conversation with something like, “I’d like to discuss ways to close the gap with the market average.” Concrete figures make it much easier for the management company to treat this as an operational improvement opportunity rather than an emotional accusation.
Hard-to-Say Issue #2: Dissatisfaction With Cleaning or Guest Service Quality
Recurring Complaints in Guest Reviews
On platforms like Airbnb, cleanliness ratings are displayed as a separate category score. Even if the overall rating is 4.5 or higher, a cleanliness score below 4.0 signals that guest dissatisfaction is quietly building up. Two or three comments about “hair left behind” or “stained towels” can lead to a drop in search ranking or even loss of Superhost status.
Even so, raising a direct complaint about cleaning quality can feel like a high psychological hurdle. The better the relationship with the management company’s staff, the harder it becomes to say, “please change the cleaning crew” or “please tighten up the inspection process.” One effective approach is to share screenshots of reviews and present the issue factually: “Several guests have mentioned this.” Framing it as relaying guest feedback—rather than your own personal opinion—helps keep the conversation from feeling confrontational.
Slow Response Times to Guest Inquiries
It’s not uncommon for a management company to take more than 30 minutes to respond when a guest messages on check-in day about issues like “the lock won’t open” or “the Wi-Fi isn’t working.” Under Airbnb’s host performance standards, message response rate and response time are heavily weighted, and a first-response rate below 90% within one hour is known to negatively affect search ranking.
Still, many owners find it hard to say “your response time is too slow,” since it feels like an outright criticism of someone’s work. A more effective approach when requesting improvement is to frame it as a proposal: “I’d like to set target response times to help improve guest satisfaction.” For example, spelling out a rule such as “initial response within 15 minutes for urgent matters, and within 1 hour for general inquiries” in the contract or operations manual removes ambiguity and establishes a fair standard for both sides.
Hard-to-Say Issue #3: Lack of Transparency Around Contract Terms and Costs
Not Understanding the Breakdown of Additional Fees
Management fee structures typically fall somewhere between 10% and 30% of revenue (varying by company and scope of service), but on top of that, costs such as cleaning, linens, consumables, and emergency response are often billed separately. Say monthly revenue is 200,000 yen with a 20% fee rate—that’s 40,000 yen in management fees. Add cleaning costs of 4,000 yen per visit for 15 visits (60,000 yen) plus 5,000 yen for consumables, and a total of 105,000 yen gets deducted, leaving just 95,000 yen in hand. That means more than half of revenue is being eaten up by expenses.
Even when owners notice such cost structures, many feel they can’t speak up, thinking, “I should have understood this at the time of signing, so it’s too late to ask now” or “I don’t want to come across as nitpicky.” But unclear costs can lead to significant losses over time. As a concrete example, if the cleaning rate is just 1,000 yen higher than the market rate, that adds up to 180,000 yen a year at 15 cleanings a month. The first step is to review every line item on estimates and invoices and confirm the basis for each charge.
Vague Explanations of Cancellation Terms and Penalty Fees
Even if you want to switch management companies, unclear cancellation terms can make it hard to take action. Some owners, upon requesting to cancel, have been told things like “three months’ advance notice is required” or “a penalty equal to three months of management fees will be charged”—resulting in an unexpected expense. If the monthly management fee is 50,000 yen, that penalty could reach 150,000 yen.
It’s essential to go back and re-read the contract carefully to clearly understand the cancellation terms, notice period, and any penalty clauses. If the contract language is vague, requesting clarification in writing is entirely reasonable as an owner. Framing it as, “I’d like to re-confirm the contract terms as part of planning my future business strategy,” typically allows the management company to respond without becoming defensive.
Three Practical Techniques for Bringing Up Difficult Topics
Lead With Facts and Data
By leading with objective data—occupancy rates, review scores, response times, cost breakdowns—rather than feelings or impressions, you shift the conversation from “a clash of opinions” to “a shared problem to solve.” For example, saying, “Last month’s occupancy was 52%, a 21-point gap from the area average of 73%. What measures could we consider to improve this?” opens the door to a constructive discussion.
Set Up Regular Check-In Meetings
If frustrations are allowed to build up before finally being voiced all at once, the conversation is bound to become emotionally charged. Setting up even a brief, 30-minute online meeting once a month gives you a regular opportunity to share small concerns or improvement requests as they arise. Sending the agenda in advance by email also allows the management company to prepare, leading to a more substantive conversation. In a relationship built on regular communication, the hurdle of bringing up difficult topics drops significantly.
Draw on Third-Party Insights
Sharing information gathered from minpaku owner communities or seminars, framed as “general industry standards,” can also be effective. Saying something like, “I heard at a seminar that introducing a cleaning checklist raised average review scores by 0.3 points—I’d like to try that here too,” comes across not as criticism of the management company, but as a forward-looking suggestion.
Have Questions About Managing Your Minpaku? Talk to Stay Buddy Inc.
Stay Buddy Inc. is a minpaku management company built around a core commitment to transparent communication with owners. As a standard part of our service, we provide detailed monthly reports covering occupancy rates, revenue, and expenses—thoroughly designed so that owners never have to feel that something is “hard to ask” or “hard to say.”
Our fee structure is fully disclosed before any contract is signed, and additional costs such as cleaning, consumables, and emergency response fees are explained in writing in advance as well. To make sure no one is ever caught off guard by unexpected charges after signing, we create a detailed cost simulation and only begin work once you’re fully satisfied and confident in the numbers.
If you’re feeling uneasy about your current management relationship, or suspect there’s room to improve your property’s profitability, we’re happy to offer a second opinion as well. Simply share your property details with us, and we’ll provide a free analysis of your current finances along with improvement recommendations.
Please feel free to reach out through the Stay Buddy Inc. official website. As a partner you can trust with confidence, we’re committed to supporting you with honesty and care.
