The first thing you see when you start looking for a management company is a number: 15%, 20%, ¥80,000 a month. Lining those numbers up side by side is not a comparison, because what sits behind them differs by company, and because the model itself changes what you keep when revenue moves.
We run our own apartments in Tokyo and Sapporo, and manage a small number for other owners. What follows is written in the order we would check it if we were the ones signing.
Full service or task-only: decide this first
"Management" covers two different things. Full service means someone else prices the property, brings in bookings, answers guests, and arranges cleaning. Task-only means you keep doing the rest and hire out one piece, usually cleaning or guest messaging. Comparing a percentage before deciding which one you need is not a comparison.
Task-only work runs roughly ¥10,000 to ¥20,000 per cleaning turnover, or a flat ¥10,000 to ¥20,000 a month for guest messaging alone. It suits an owner who can price and market the property but wants the physical work handled.
Full service is the 15% to 25% or ¥50,000 to ¥100,000 range this article compares. It suits an owner who wants pricing, marketing, guest response and cleaning handed over together, with none of their own time going into it.
AG STAY only offers full service. We do not take on cleaning-only or messaging-only work.
Four models, and that is roughly all
| Model | Typical range | Works when | Hurts when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed monthly | ¥50,000 to ¥100,000 | Occupancy and rate are high and steady | Low season, or launch. You pay it on an empty month too |
| Revenue share | 15% to 25% of revenue | Seasonal properties, and anything being launched | A property that stays full at a high rate may pay more than a fixed fee |
| Hybrid | Small fixed plus ~10% | Covers the manager's floor while keeping upside shared | Two moving parts make the true total harder to see |
| KPI-linked | Base rate plus bonus | There is a specific occupancy or rating target | Everything depends on how the metric is defined. Read the contract |
The same 20% covers different work
Before comparing rates, write down what the rate buys. This is where companies differ most:
- Cleaning and linen: paid by the guest, by you, or inside the fee
- Consumables and restocking: at cost, or with a margin added
- Photography and listing copy: usually billed separately at setup
- Pricing: moved daily, or reviewed once a month
- Guest response hours: around the clock, or office hours
- Accommodation tax filing, health centre and fire department handling
- A monthly report: whether one exists, and what is in it
- Platform fees: Airbnb's host fee and the like come off separately
The full monthly breakdown
When you compare quotes, line up everything that leaves the account each month, not just the management rate. Here is the rough shape for a property doing ¥350,000 a month.
| Item | Ballpark | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Management fee | 15% to 25% of revenue (¥70,000 at 20%) | The subject of this article. Scope varies by company |
| Platform fees | 3% to 16% of revenue | What Airbnb or Booking.com deducts; depends on the site and fee setting |
| Cleaning and linen | A few thousand yen per turnover | Usually charged to the guest as a cleaning fee. Confirm who pays |
| Consumables and restocking | A few thousand to ¥10,000 a month | At cost, or with a margin added |
| Utilities and internet | ¥20,000 to ¥40,000 a month | Moves with occupancy and season. Winter heating in Sapporo is real money |
| Accommodation tax | Paid by the guest | The filing work sits with the operator. How it works: accommodation tax |
The two rows that differ most between companies are cleaning and consumables. "20% but you pay cleaning" can leave you with less than "25% with cleaning charged to the guest". Fill in who pays each row before comparing anything.
What changes between Tokyo and Sapporo
The same line items land differently depending on the city. Utilities in Sapporo are heaviest from December to March; heating alone can push past ¥30,000 in the coldest months. Tokyo stays closer to ¥20,000 year-round. Occupancy swings the other way too: Sapporo's rate spikes around the Snow Festival in February and drops harder in the quiet months, while Tokyo stays comparatively flat across the year. A revenue-share fee works in your favor more, the larger that seasonal swing is.
Compare on what you keep
The models separate as soon as revenue moves. Here is a month at ¥500,000 and a quiet month at ¥200,000, comparing only the management fee, with cleaning paid by the guest and platform fees set aside.
| Monthly revenue | Fixed ¥80,000 | Revenue share 20% | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| ¥500,000 | ¥80,000 (16%) | ¥100,000 (20%) | Fixed wins by ¥20,000 |
| ¥350,000 | ¥80,000 (23%) | ¥70,000 (20%) | Share wins by ¥10,000 |
| ¥200,000 | ¥80,000 (40%) | ¥40,000 (20%) | Share wins by ¥40,000 |
| ¥0 | ¥80,000 | ¥0 | Share wins by ¥80,000 |
A fixed fee rewards a property that stays full and punishes one that dips. Revenue share does the opposite: it costs more in a good month and nothing in an empty one. Neither is right in the abstract. The test is simple: look at your quietest month of the year and ask whether you would be comfortable paying that fixed fee in it. If the answer is no, a fixed fee is the wrong shape for that property.
The costs people forget
The last two carry no price tag and cost the most. If the management company holds the listing account, the review history you spent two years building does not travel with you. Ask whose name the accounts are in before you sign, not after.
- Setup: photography, listing build, smart lock, beds and everything guests need
- Getting licensed: agent fees, fire-safety equipment, drawings. Anywhere from a few hundred thousand yen upward
- Exit terms: notice period, penalties, how the final month is charged
- Who owns the listing accounts, and therefore who keeps the reviews
- Rights to the photos you paid for
What we charge, and why it is not the cheapest
AG STAY works on revenue share, from 20%, with no fixed fee in a month without bookings. Cleaning is normally paid by the guest; linen and consumables are billed at cost with nothing added. The rate depends on the property and whether we are launching it, so we quote after visiting.
That sits at the upper end of the market, so here is the reasoning. We run our own apartments the same way we would run yours: rates and listings move daily, every turnover is checked against photos, and the numbers come to you monthly. We hold five properties at a time, which means the hours per property cannot be squeezed. If the decision is being made on price, we are not the right fit.
What tends to show it
Numbers on a quote can look fine and still hide the real operation. Some of it is hard to see before signing, so check for it in reviews or by asking directly:
- A rate well below market with a vague explanation of what it includes
- Listings that clearly have not had their price moved in a long time (visible on the public calendar)
- A sample monthly report that does not exist, or takes a long time to produce
- No way to verify cleaning was done other than taking the company's word for it
- Nothing in the contract about who keeps the listing account and reviews if you leave
Five questions to ask before signing
The last one does most of the work. A company that cannot produce a sample report usually is not producing reports.
- What is not included in this rate? Answer in line items
- Whose name are the listing accounts in, and what happens to the reviews if I leave?
- How often does pricing move, and who moves it?
- What is the notice period and the penalty, and what happens to existing bookings?
- What is in the monthly report? Show me a real one