Everything owners ask us — including the questions other managers' FAQ pages carefully avoid: what happens to your money, what happens in a bad season, and what happens if you want to leave.
Cohosting means you keep ownership of everything — your Airbnb/VRBO accounts, your guest relationships, your money flow — and we run the operation inside them. Traditional managers hold the accounts and the money and rent you the results. Structurally, Baylake is a hospitality and marketing agent: no leases, no rent collection, no held deposits.
Everything except income taxes and the decisions that are yours to make: listing creation and weekly optimization, dynamic pricing, marketing, 24/7 guest communication, cleaning and turnover management, supplies and linens, the StayReady preventive maintenance layer, contractor management, automation, business reviews, and monthly financial reporting. The complete scope table is on the How It Works page.
StayReady is our maintenance and readiness brand — the 200-point quarterly inspections, routine fixes, seasonal upkeep, and the Property Fresh annual service. Every Baylake property includes it ("Powered by StayReady"), and self-managing owners can subscribe to it standalone without cohosting.
Quality Door County cottages and homes capable of grossing $60,000+ a year under active management, within about 30 minutes of Sturgeon Bay. The book is capped at ten properties, with five founding slots open for 2027. If your property is below the line, we'll say so and suggest a StayReady subscription instead.
The property needs to meet the standard its comp set demands — that's part of what the Revenue X-Ray assesses. Where gaps exist, we recommend specific amenities with the revenue math attached, at 20%+ trade discounts, and in some cases Baylake co-funds amenities the data show will pay for themselves.
This is the biggest structural difference from traditional management: the platforms pay you directly, typically within days of guest check-in. Traditional managers collect guest money themselves and remit it to owners 30–40 days later. With Baylake there is no float, because we never touch the money.
22% of gross rents plus a $299/month retainer. "Gross rents" is every dollar the guest pays in, including cleaning and fees — a clean definition with no exclusions to argue about. On-site work beyond the included scope bills at $45/hour. The full math on a $100,000 reference property is on the Pricing page.
It funds the StayReady maintenance layer — quarterly inspections, routine fixes, the Property Fresh annual service, and year-round readiness — whether or not the calendar books. It's the owner's insurance policy, and it's the one thing we never discount or waive.
We invoice monthly by the 5th through QuickBooks, with the platform payout report attached so every number reconciles against money you already received. You can audit every dollar, every month.
You do. Pet fees, like every other guest charge, are part of your gross rents — we take our 22% like anything else, and the rest is yours. (Some managers quietly keep pet-fee revenue entirely. We think that's worth asking any manager about.)
For the Founding Five: $0 up front — the $1,500 setup fee is waived and invested in your property, and the Baseline Readiness Assessment is inside the stack. Outside a founding slot, setup is $1,500 plus the Baseline Assessment priced by property size.
The opposite — that fear is why the Property of One exists. Your home gets its own brand, its own photography direction, its own competitive set, and its own direct booking site. See rockyshoresretreat.com and sawyerharborretreat.com: two nearly identical cottages, two deliberately different brands. The full argument →
Of course — it's your home. You block your dates like any owner. Where the revenue guarantee is in place, personal-use blocks during peak season are capped at an agreed number of nights (blocks beyond the cap adjust the guarantee baseline, not your right to use the home). Cleaning after personal stays is arranged at cost. [Policy details confirmed in your service agreement.]
You do, above a $500 threshold — with photos and written estimates before anything billable starts. Below it, we handle routine items without bothering you. Enhancement recommendations come through your business reviews with the revenue case attached, never as surprise invoices.
The automation stack (smart lock, StayFi router, thermostat, cameras, noise monitor) is installed at your property and addressed in the service agreement — our default is that owner-paid hardware is yours, period. [Ownership terms confirmed in your service agreement.]
Rates follow your comp set, reviewed weekly — not a hope and not a formula left running unattended. Our own cottages run average nightly booking values of $457–$556 in a ~$346 market while holding ~200 booked nights a season. Price and occupancy aren't enemies when the listing earns the rate.
We do — 24/7, from inquiry through post-stay, in your property's voice. You'll never field a 2 a.m. "the Wi-Fi is down" message again. A real person is never more than a call or click away for the guest, and everything is logged.
Platform verification plus our own screening judgment on inquiries, minimum-stay rules that filter one-night party risk, and automated noise monitoring at every property (privacy-safe decibel sensing, no audio recording) with same-evening intervention. Exterior cameras are disclosed in listings per platform rules.
Platform damage protection and/or a damage waiver is configured per property, documented move-in-condition photos exist for every stay via inspection records, and issues are documented within 24 hours with photos for claims. [Damage program specifics confirmed in your service agreement.]
By removing the reasons for four-star ones. Most non-five-star reviews cite small preventable issues — the loose faucet, the dead remote batteries. The StayReady layer exists to find those before guests do; the digital guest journey removes friction everywhere else; and the post-stay sequence asks for the review while the stay is fresh.
A 200-point inspection every quarter across safety systems, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, kitchen, baths, and guest experience; routine fixes handled during the visit; seasonal readiness (spring opening, winterization, freeze monitoring via the thermostat); and the Property Fresh annual service — paint touch-ups, lock and detector batteries, safety checkup. Every visit produces a timestamped photo report within 24 hours.
It would be, without structure. So: routine fixes are included in the retainer (we make nothing finding them), anything beyond $500 needs your written approval with photos and an estimate, our rates are published, and you can route any major repair to your own contractor. The model profits from your property needing fewer repairs — that's what "preventive" means.
Yes. StayReady covers the systematic layer — inspections, prevention, documentation, guest-priority response. Your handyman remains a fine choice for projects and bigger repairs, and our documentation actually makes his work easier to scope.
Guest reports come to us, response is prioritized by guest impact, and most issues resolve same-day from the parts and spares standard we keep at each property. You hear about it in your report — usually after it's fixed — unless it crosses the approval threshold.
Every Wisconsin short-term rental needs a Tourist Rooming House license from DATCP, which involves an inspection and runs on a multi-year term. Baylake tracks licensing status and renewal for every property under management — compliance is part of the offer, not your homework.
Properties in the Door County Tourism Zone need a lodging permit and monthly room tax reporting to the Tourism Zone Commission, alongside Wisconsin sales tax. Where engaged, we handle the room and sales tax filings as part of the financial service; where your accountant prefers to file, we provide the numbers.
Many do, and the differences are enormous — municipal permit costs range from roughly $100 in Sturgeon Bay to around $1,500 in Sister Bay, with different renewal cycles and rules. We track the requirements for your specific municipality as part of onboarding.
Often yes — POWTS (septic) capacity can cap legal occupancy regardless of how many beds fit. We verify capacity against your listed guest count during onboarding, because an over-capacity listing is a license risk no revenue is worth.
Twenty-one days from signed agreement to relaunched listings, in three phases: foundation (assessment + automation + pricing), rebuild (photography, copy, direct booking site), launch (relaunch + weekly cadence). The full timeline is here.
After Labor Day and before the spring booking window. Owners change management in fall and winter so the rebuilt listing is live before guests plan summer — which is why Founding Five onboarding closes March 1. A mid-season switch is possible but leaves peak-season revenue on the table during the rebuild.
Honest answer: if your current listing lives in your manager's account, those reviews stay with the manager's account no matter who you hire next — us or anyone. If the listing is in your own account, everything transfers cleanly. It's one of the strongest reasons the Baylake structure keeps everything in your name from day one.
Thirty days' written notice, no termination fee, no clawbacks. You keep your accounts, your reviews, your guest email list, your direct booking site. We'd rather earn the renewal every month than write a contract that traps you — that's not generosity, it's the business model.
We hand over documented playbook items for your property (codes, vendor contacts, inspection history), transfer any credentials we administer, and leave the calendar and pricing in a clean state. The goal is that firing us is easy and never necessary.
Where an answer references the service agreement, the agreement's language controls. Regulatory notes summarize Wisconsin and Door County requirements as of mid-2026 and can change — part of what we track for managed properties.
Ask directly — or start with the number, and ask everything else at the delivery meeting.
Contact Dana Get the free Revenue X-Ray