Self-management vs management company
When you can rent out an apartment yourself, and when you can't manage from abroad without a property management company.
How to rent out an apartment in Batumi: choices for the owner
Before you rent out an apartment in Batumi, you need to make four decisions: short-term or long-term rental, doing it yourself or using a property management company, listing on Airbnb and Booking yourself or through an agency, and paying the manager a percentage or a flat fee. Below we go through each one. Start with the rental format, because the other answers depend on it.
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All pages in this section
Short-term vs long-term rental
The owner's workload, wear, empty months, your own visits and tax: how the two rental formats differ.
Airbnb vs agency
Listing on the platforms yourself or through an agency: the work on site, the account, the reviews and what is left for you.
Percentage vs flat fee
How to pay a property manager: the incentives of a percentage and a flat fee, the effect of the season and what to put in the…
There are many ways to rent out an apartment in Batumi, but owners almost always face the same choices. Which way suits you depends on where the apartment is, where you live and how much time you are willing to spend on it. The nightly rate your neighbours charge tells you little here.
It is easier to make the decisions in order, because each one builds on the one before. If you choose an agency first and the format second, you can easily end up signing a short-term rental contract for an apartment that would do better with a tenant on a one-year lease.
How to rent out an apartment in Batumi: four decisions in order
There are four decisions, and the table puts them side by side. For each one it shows what it depends on and what to prepare before you decide.
| Decision | What it depends on | What to prepare |
|---|---|---|
| Short-term or long-term | The area, the condition of the apartment, your own visits | A plan of your own dates for the year and an estimate for the renovation |
| On your own or through a property management company | Where you live and whether you have people in the city | A list of the tasks you are ready to do yourself |
| Listing it yourself or using an agency | Who will meet the guest and answer them in the evening | A decision on whose account the listing will be on |
| Percentage or flat fee | How much the apartment's income depends on the season | A month-by-month calculation for a strong and a weak season |
The first decision sets the amount of work. The second and third decide who does it and where the guests come from. The fourth is about money, and it is better left until last, when the format and the people doing the work are clear.
Rental format: start with the apartment and your own calendar
Short-term rental depends on tourists, and most of them come to Batumi between July and September. So start with the address and whether it suits someone who has come to the seaside for a week. Then look at your own visits. If you spend a month in the apartment every summer, a tenant for the whole year won't work, and with short-term rental your holiday will take up the peak weeks.
The third point is the pattern of income. A short-term rental earns unevenly, and in quiet months the bookings may not cover the bills. A tenant who rents for a year brings in less at the peak, but makes planning easier. Tax differs too. The rules are clearer for renting out a home for someone to live in, while sources interpret short-term rental in different ways, so we agree that regime with a tax adviser.
Who will be in Batumi: you, your helpers or a property management company
Renting out an apartment yourself is realistic if you live in Batumi or nearby and rent long term. Then there is not much work: find a tenant, draw up the lease and the inventory, and check the rent and the bills once a month. Short-term rental from abroad is different. Every stay needs keys, cleaning and a check of the apartment, and someone has to do this in person.
In that case the choice is between your own small team in the city and a property management company. Your own team costs no commission, but you have to find the people and check their work. And if the cleaner falls ill at the height of the season, you are the one looking for a replacement. A company takes this work on for a fee, and then the main question is how detailed its reports are.
Platforms or an agency: whose account, and who answers guests
Agencies also rent out apartments through Airbnb and Booking, so the choice between a platform and an agency comes down to two questions. First, who answers the guest, meets them and deals with a breakdown on a Saturday evening. Second, whose account the listing is on. Reviews build up on the listing, and Airbnb does not officially support moving a listing with its reviews to another account.
The listing can stay on your account. In that case we join as a co-host, the platform's payouts go to you, and you pay for our work against a monthly invoice. Or we run the listing, and once a month you get a report and a transfer of your share. The first option keeps the reviews with you if you decide to change manager. With the second, you never need to log in to the platform at all.
Percentage or flat fee for the manager
A percentage of income ties the manager's earnings to yours: a good month benefits both of you, and in a quiet one you pay less. A flat fee does not depend on bookings. It is easier to plan for, and everything the apartment earns in summer above it stays with you, but in winter you pay the flat fee even when the apartment is empty.
For short-term rental with a strong summer and a weak winter, a percentage is usually the more sensible choice. For a year-long tenant, or for looking after an empty apartment, where the work is the same every month, a flat fee makes more sense. With either model, check in the contract what the calculation is based on: which amount the percentage is taken from, what the flat fee includes and what is charged on top.
Test the decision on your own apartment
Other owners' income stories are of little help, because the apartment next door has a different view, a different renovation and different reviews. It is more useful to calculate your own year month by month in two scenarios, cautious and typical, and then look separately at the total for the year and at the worst month. If the income in the worst month does not cover the bills, you need to know that before you sign a contract.
Treat the first year as a trial. After the season, compare the calculation with what actually reached your account and decide whether to keep the format, the payment model and the manager. When the contract has clear terms for ending it and the keys are returned against a signed handover form, you can run this check calmly and change whatever did not work.
Questions and answers
Is it worth renting out an apartment short-term in a newly completed building?
It can work, but the first year is usually harder. In a new building the neighbours are still renovating, and during the day, from 08:00 to 23:00, the law does not ban noisy work unless the building has its own, narrower hours. A guest who has come to the sea for a week hears a hammer drill through the wall and mentions it in a review.
So for the first year it is often safer to rent such an apartment to a long-term or monthly tenant, and to start short-term rental once the building has filled up and the renovations have died down. Reviews about noise stay visible for a long time, and they make a poor start for a new listing.
Should you choose the rental format before or after the renovation?
Before. An apartment for short-term rental and one for a year-long tenant are finished differently. Guests need hard-wearing floors, a keypad lock, a storage cupboard for linen and the appliances people look for in the platform filters. A tenant cares more about roomy wardrobes, a proper kitchen and a workspace, and often brings their own decor.
If you renovate for yourself and then decide to rent short-term, some of the work will have to be redone. Send us photos and a floor plan, and the preliminary estimate will come within 24 hours on business days. We will prepare the detailed one after we measure on site.
Can I change the rental format after the first season?
Yes, and for many apartments this is the normal path. Stopping short-term rental is easy: you close the calendar after the last paid bookings and look for a tenant. Going the other way is harder, because the tenant is bound by the lease and can only leave early on its terms.
If you are unsure, sign the first long-term lease with a clear end date. And review the management agreement after the season: the payment model, the repair limits and the list of tasks change along with the format.
Can I rent out the apartment myself and give only part of the work to a manager?
Yes, if the boundaries are written into the contract. A common arrangement for an owner abroad looks like this: you run the listing, the prices and the messages yourself, and the manager does the work in Batumi. The manager checks guests in, organises cleaning and laundry, checks the apartment after check-out and calls out a tradesman when needed.
Put in writing who answers guests at night, who deals with damage and what the manager can spend without your approval. Otherwise, on the first difficult day it will turn out that each of you thought the task belonged to the other.
How can I tell if a rental income forecast is realistic?
Look at what it is built from. In an honest forecast the income is broken down by month, winter is calculated separately, and the platform commission, cleaning, linen, utilities, repairs, the manager's fee and tax are deducted from the bookings total. Next to the typical scenario there is a cautious one.
Be wary if the forecast has a single figure for the year, summer occupancy for all twelve months or no line for tax. Ask what the occupancy is based on and what nightly rate was used for winter.
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