← Straight Answers Part of: Hiring an Airbnb manager
Running a unit · 4 min read
Before you sign an Airbnb manager, check every home it runs
Don't judge an Airbnb manager in Johor Bahru by its website, which shows its best homes. Open its Airbnb host profile, count the homes under 4.8 stars, and check its homes in your building. Then ask every manager the same 4 questions in writing.
In short
- A website shows a manager's best homes. Its Airbnb host profile shows the score on every home.
- Count the homes under 4.8, Airbnb's own bar for its top hosts. A good average can hide many.
- Look for its homes in your building, and see how a home like yours scores.
- Ask every manager the same 4 questions, in writing, and compare side by side.
In this article
A manager's website shows the homes it's proud of. It can't show you which manager will look after yours well.
This guide gives you 2 checks for any Airbnb manager in Johor Bahru (JB). You can run them from your phone, before you sign anything.
It's step 2 of our 3 guides to hiring an Airbnb manager.
Where we stand: we're RoomGuru, one of those managers, and we earn a fee when an owner hires us. We ran the first check on our own 19 homes too.
| Check | Look at | Good sign | Red flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every home | Look at: The score on each home in its Airbnb host profile | Good sign: Few or no homes under 4.8 | Red flag: Many under 4.8, or no profile link to share |
| Your building | Look at: Its homes in your building, and their scores | Good sign: Homes like yours score well | Red flag: Won't show you a home like yours |
| 4 questions | Look at: Fee, slow months, leaving, spending | Good sign: Every answer in writing | Red flag: A fixed income promised |
| Your listing | Look at: Whose Airbnb account it goes on | Good sign: You know what happens to the reviews if you leave | Red flag: No clear answer |
Will your home be a weak one? Count homes under 4.8
A website picks a manager's best homes. Its Airbnb host profile lists every home under that account, each with a score out of 5 from real guests.
Here's the check:
- Ask the manager for the link to its Airbnb host profile. Or open any of its homes on Airbnb and tap the host's name.
- Open the full list of its homes.
- Look at the score on every home, not just the first few.
- Count the homes under 4.8.
Why 4.8? It's the score Airbnb asks of a Superhost, its badge for top hosts. So a home under 4.8 is below Airbnb's own bar.
On 22 Oct 2026 we ran it on 3 managers that Google shows for "airbnb management johor bahru". Then we ran it on us.
Every home, not the average
Same check, 4 managers. How many homes score under 4.8?
Manager A4.82
400+ homes
37of every 100 homes under 4.8162 of 433 homes with a score
Manager B4.63
400+ homes
81of every 100 homes under 4.8306 of 379
Manager C4.57
Under 50 homes
79of every 100 homes under 4.815 of 19
RoomGuru4.92
19 homes
Us
5of every 100 homes under 4.81 of 19
Average: 0.19 apart
3781Under 4.8: 44 more per 100
You get 1 home, not the average.
Public Airbnb host profiles, read 22 Oct 2026. Homes with 3 or more reviews, when Airbnb shows a score. 4.8 is Airbnb's Superhost bar. Average = each home's score counted once per review. Homes outside JB counted too.
Manager A's average was 4.82, a strong score. Yet 37 of every 100 of its homes scored under 4.8.
How? 8 in 10 of the homes we counted score between 4.5 and 5, so averages look alike. A gap of 0.19 in the average was 44 more homes under 4.8, in every 100.
Ours: 4.92, with 1 of our 19 homes under 4.8. Check it on our Airbnb host profile. We've left the other names out, so run the check on any manager you're thinking of.
Do they run homes in your building? Ask to see them
On the same profile, look for homes in your building. The building's name is usually in the listing title, or ask the manager for the links.
That tells you 2 things. Your building already has short stays. And you see how a home like yours scores with this team.
No homes in your building? Ask which of their homes is most like yours, and check that one.
4 questions to ask an Airbnb manager before you sign
Good scores don't fix a bad contract. Ask every manager the same 4 questions before you hire, and get the answers in writing:
- What is the management fee taken from?
- What happens in a slow month?
- How do you leave?
- Who can spend your money, and when do you get paid?
A 5th question matters most on the day you leave. Whose Airbnb account will your listing be on? Airbnb has no way to hand an account to another host, and booked stays can't move either.
Our reading: a listing on the manager's account stays with the manager, reviews and all.
Ours: your listing goes on our account, so the reviews stay with us if you leave.
Most of these answers show up later on your monthly statement.
Which Airbnb manager is best for your home? Score 2 or 3
Our advice: the one whose homes like yours score well, and who answers in writing. To find it, run the 2 checks on 2 or 3 managers and ask them the same questions.
Score each one as you go, then copy or screenshot the result.
Score your managers side by side
Ask each manager the same things. Mark each answer as it comes in.
| Manager 1 | Manager 2 | Manager 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Checks | |||
| Homes under 4.8 on Airbnb Good sign: few or none. | |||
| Homes in my building Good sign: they showed me one like mine, and it scores well. | |||
| The 4 questions | |||
| What the fee is taken from Good sign: they worked through 1 real booking with me. | |||
| A slow month Good sign: a monthly target, and what happens if a month falls short. | |||
| How I leave Good sign: notice and any exit fee, in writing. | |||
| Who can spend my money, and when I get paid Good sign: a spending limit in RM, receipts, a fixed pay date. | |||
| Plus 1 | |||
| Whose Airbnb account my listing is on Good sign: I know, and I’m OK with what happens to the reviews if I leave. | |||
Print this, or turn on JavaScript to tap and score.
How we know this
- Which managers: 3 on Google's first page for "airbnb management johor bahru" on 22 Oct 2026, in Malaysia or Singapore. We took those whose Airbnb host profile we could confirm, before we looked at any score.
- The counts: under 4.8, Manager A had 162 of 433 homes, B 306 of 379, C 15 of 19, and us 1 of 19.
- The scores: we read their public host profiles, and ours, home by home. Each listing counts as 1 home, and homes outside JB count too.
- Which homes count: only homes with 3 or more reviews. That's when Airbnb shows a score. Counting only homes with 10 or more reviews gives nearly the same result.
- The averages: our own sum, so a profile may show a slightly different number. Each home's score counts once for each of its reviews.
Scores change as new reviews come in.
Questions owners ask
Is a bigger Airbnb manager safer?
Not by itself. Size tells you how many homes a manager runs, not how well it runs yours. Check the scores of its homes, then ask who will look after yours day to day.
Is Airbnb legal in Johor Bahru?
As of October 2026, we found no Johor rule or licence written for Airbnb in homes. But your building's by-laws can still ban short stays. Our guide to Airbnb rules in Johor has the details.
How much does an Airbnb manager cost?
It depends on the fee, and on what the fee is taken from. Ours is 30% of what's left after platform fees, tax and cleaning. Our guide to hiring a manager shows how to compare fees.
Can I switch managers later?
Yes, after the notice your contract asks for. Airbnb can't move booked stays to a new host, so ask what happens to stays already booked.
Sources: When a home's score shows: Airbnb Help Centre. Superhost needs a 4.8 overall rating: Airbnb Help Centre. Accounts and bookings can't move to another host: Airbnb Help Centre. Scores: our count from the public Airbnb host profiles of 3 managers on Google's first page for "airbnb management johor bahru", and our own, read on 22 Oct 2026.