Entirely Negative Experience - Caused Significant Loss and Stress We hired this company to manage our property and the experience was almost entirely negative. Their initial revenue estimate was wildly optimistic, overshooting reality by nearly 50%. Their operational model is fundamentally flawed; they rely almost entirely on "vetting" guests instead of conducting sufficient post-stay inspections to check for property damage. When our dining room table was badly burned and they did not catch it, they stated that was to be expected with a short-term rental property. One notable low point was a two-week booking where the guest encountered frozen pipes and left the property. She was entirely refunded for her stay. We were never notified. We only discovered the serious problem a month later when the company did not pay us for that booking. They lost us two weeks of revenue and left our property at risk without our knowledge. We ended up resuming the management of the property ourselves at first opportunity and found it far simpler and more effective despite us living ten time zones away. Revenues went up, peace of mind went up, time spent managing the property hardly changed. If you have a cleaner and a handyman you trust, just go that route. In short, do not use this company. If you must, demand: More realistic revenue estimates, and some sort of penalty on their fees if you do not meet 90% of their revenue estimates. A real post-stay inspection process, likely requiring the same trusted cleaner at the property after each stay. Far greater quality and professionalism at every single point of their service. One final note on how bad their approach is, and how much more customer-centric they need to be: at the end of each stay, they send a message to the guest requesting a positive review. But they do not want a positive review for your property (which is the life blood of a successful short term rental). No, they request a Google review for Great Dwellings. Incredible, basically cheating the property owners they are managing for on every single stay. It also explains how such a poorly run company has such a ridiculous number of positive Google Reviews. read more

we had a terrible experience with GD-- stayed too long, kept giving them second chances when they grew and became understaffed and clearly more interested in their own bottom line than the tenants or owners experience --big mistake. Unit not cleaned before guests several times. Semen on the sheets was the final straw. See my google review. I agree with homeowner above. DO NOT list your property with these guys. read more

Sketchy company. elevator was out the entire long weekend. They made it seem like it would be repaired before our arrival. some other smaller issues I won't mention. They have a trick to lead you on with a partial refund until the 3-4 week after. From there they're safe and ghost you or tell you to contact someone else. Will rebook when I see great dwelling as a property manager ever again. read more

I booked an accommodation managed by Great Dwellings in Tulum Mexico from Mar 18-31 on Home To Go (https://www.hometogo.com/rental/c8b90fcd1e3dad91). I had been in regular communication with Great Dwellings in the week before the scheduled check-in. Then a few hours before the scheduled check-in Great Dwellings cancelled the booking with no explanation. When I landed in Mexico and saw the cancellation and made 2 calls and an email support request to Great Dwellings to find out what was going on and was assured a rep would get right back to me - but never heard anything back. My elderly in-laws were left stranded in the hot sun due to the last minute cancellation and ended up having to get an emergency hotel room while we struggled to find alternative accommodation. I requested that Great Dwellings cover our emergency expenses (hotel room and taxi ride) due to their last minute cancellation and they refused to respond. So in summary Great Dwellings seems like a very shady property management organization who should not be trusted. read more

we signed up with this company to manage our home. before we even had a client we decided to not go with them as the ickiness for what was needed was far too much. The company came into my home and took all my new bed linens and refuses to return them even though they never used and were told to not remove them from my home. Be careful who your trust. These people are thieves. read more

No start , first the code didn't work, the main bathroom was dirty smell like pee, then they toke a deposit without my authorization, and now they keep it saying it was a stain on the carpet, and it was 265dls . According to them . Very disappointed. read more

I own a luxury home - and Great Dwellings was the first company to onboard and manage it for short term rental. Zac presented me with a anticipated revenue proposal, which seemed slightly unrealistic. But, he and Great Dwelling knocked it out of the park. He made the revenues promised, and then some. Great Dwellings has a standard formula for their properties, and I nit picked it and thought I knew best. I then went the self-managed route, thinking I could do at least as well as Great Dwellings. I did - but, with stress and time I could not afford. I came back to Zac and Great Dwellings and humbly asked them to consider my property again. Instead of the "I told you so", Zac and team were gracious and professional. I am back with Great Dwellings and have learned my lesson to let the pros be pros. While their revenue share and other fees may seem high at first, the ultimate financial results make up for it. And the peace of mind that my home is managed and cared for properly has no price tag. I highly recommend Great Dwellings. read more

Great Dwellings is fantastic. If you're hesitating to use them to manage your Airbnb and VRBI, don't! From the initial onboarding and getting your home ready for short-term rentals, they are with you every step of the way, providing very helpful information, coming to your home to answer questions, and simply making the whole process easy and hassle-free. They take care of everything. They are incredibly responsive to me as a host but, equally important, they are very responsive to guests. Nearly all of my reviews mention how responsive and helpful they are, and Great Dwellings undoubtedly is the reason I have a 5-star rating on Airbnb. I'm grateful to Great Dwellings for making short-term renting so easy. read more

This company is now managing my townhome in Old Town, Alexandria. I called them after reading an article about The Hottest Vacation Rental in the US that they also manage. They're detailed, professional and so far they've generated a lot of bookings. Doing this on my own wa a lot to navigate. I manage my own property on the Eastern Shore and it's almost a full-time job. It was a good decision. read more

We have used Great Dwellings for over two years since we first listed our English basement apartment for short-term rentals. These guys are simply amazing. They take care of everything from booking to corresponding with guests (even in the middle of the night!) to managing the cleaning crew to managing guest reviews. If something breaks, they have a competitively priced handyman service that can fix things immediately. And, the staff is responsive, professional, and really cares about both the guest and host experience. I can't imagine renting our place any other way. If you have a short term rental space and are too busy to mange it yourself, give them a try and you'll also discover that Great Dwellings rocks! read more

I have been working with great dwellings for 9 months. They have been great to work with and I have recommended them to colleagues looking for a property management company. They have partnerships with designers, contractors and cleaners that have made all sides of the process seamless. I've been pleased with how responsive they are when I reach out. Guests are also very happy with their responsiveness. read more

The Great Dwellings team has managed one of our properties in the DC area and we could t be happier with their promptness, professionalism, and overall service. They are quick, on top of everything, and have a clearly well-run and well-thought our approach to management. Highly recommended! read more

Great Dwellings has been a terrific company to work with. I have a high-end property that I was considering renting on Airbnb, but I didn't have time to run it myself. Great Dwellings took over and made it very easy for me. They are quick to answer questions and handle any issues that come up with the guests staying in my place! They are also always available when I have a question or want to talk to them about something on my end. Highly recommend. read more

Do not book with VRBO. They prioritize home owners over the renters. I was treated very poorly and when asked for a refund, I was told to wait...and wait...and wait. read more

We could not have an AirBnb without Great Dwelling. Zac and the whole team are extremely responsive, helpful, and a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend working with Great Dwellings. We were referred to Great Dwellings from another client! read more

Great Dwellings is the premier Short term rental manager in the National Capital Region, DC, NOVA, MD. Karl, Zac and the GD team have been taking care of my property in Old Town Alexandria for the past year. They take care of all aspects of the short term rental. They communicate with guests, arrange cleanings, manage billing and coordinate maintenance flawlessly. Their web presence is second to none when searching for short term rentals in the DC area. They've been able to keep my place consistently rented at rates that I would not have been able to do on my own. I highly recommend at least reaching out to GD if you are considering a STR manager. I was on the fence about listing my property, and I'm glad I did. They have exceeded my expectations from the start. read more

We were looking for a property manager to help with all the details of operating our home for occasional short-term rentals: marketing, guest communication and pre-qualification, house cleaning, refreshing, security, landscaping, minor repairs/touchups, etc. Great Dwellings delivered all this and more. Guests always comment on the great communication from our Great Dwellings team, the cleanliness the team ensures, and our neighbors have been nothing but pleased with the respect they bring to the home and community. 100+ stays later, the Great Dwellings team has never dropped the ball and we've never had any guest needs or issues they couldn't address immediately and professionally. The team goes above and beyond all the time. I have to be careful not to take it for granted, I have so much trust and faith in my GD crew. I'm currently writing this review 3000 miles away from our home and I will sleep peacefully tonight knowing Karl, Sharon, Zac and team are all over it! If you need a local team to handle end to end property management for a short/medium term rental you'd be smart to pick Great Dwellings. read more

We booked a home in Cleveland Park through VRBO from Great Dwellings for our son's May 2021 DC wedding weekend. We paid in full several months prior, had several exchanges about the trip and the wedding, and received a confirmation two days prior to our stay with all check-in information. We had the photographer set to photograph the groom getting dressed at the house, and the shuttle set to pick us up to take us to the wedding. As we were driving to DC, we received an email, now just several hours before our check in time, telling us that they were unable to accommodate our reservation!!! We called Great Dwellings, in a panic, and they said they would check with the owner and get back to us. We never heard from them again. VRBO was able to step in and help us find alternate last minute accommodations. A very stressful experience to say the least, trying to find suitable lodging for groom photos, that was close by for the wedding shuttle route, on what turned out to be graduation weekend at Georgetown while there were still pandemic rules in place. We did receive a full refund, but I would not recommend using a Great Dwellings property. read more

Hi, I'm the first person I think that has reviewed from the Airbnb guest perspective. I booked an Airbnb stay in early March and I thought the host was the owner. Instead the host was someone from Great Dwellings. I didn't make the connection until about the 4th or 5th day of spam emails from Great Dwellings asking me to register on THEIR website in addition to Airbnb. When I arrived at the Airbnb, it was clear no one had been in there for several weeks. The first thing I noticed was that the toilet was running--loudly. It also wouldn't fill with water rendering it inoperable, unless I poured a pasta-size pot over water in the bowl. I let "Jayme" the host, know, and then proceeded to get locked out. The electronic lock on the front door had ran out of battery. The "Property Manager" (Sharon?) then apparently called the owners to help find an extra key. I got to meet them and their daughter (which is one of the things I normally love about an Airbnb experience). They found a back door key, David looked at the toilet but couldn't fix it and said he wouldn't charge me for my first night. Great Dwellings struggled to get a plumber for the next 24 hours, and while David offered for me to use his bathroom upstairs, I didn't want to disturb their privacy and more than I wanted a plumber disturbing mine. David, the owner, told me he had no idea I was coming, even though Jayme made it sound as though they had to "check". Also, there was trash out front in the sitting area the whole time I was there (cigarette packet, chip/cooke packs, crumpled up paper towels, a bottle of vodka even appeared on the table the last night I was there). The sitting area was definitely not as advertised on Airbnb. I told the host about it twice and they never cleaned it up!! Jayme, the host, never acknowledged my Airbnb generated request for a refund (per the owner see above) for the first night. Just totally brushed me off. I stayed there 9 days total. Apart from the porch and toilet, the Airbnb was nice and the owners were sweet. The Great Dwellings staff, on the other hand, were like customer service robots. They should have checked the apartment more thoroughly before I had arrived, and come up with back-up entry options so that they didn't have to get THEIR client involved when the dead battery locked me out. I'm never staying in a Great Dwellings managed property again if I can help it. The thing is, I can't really tell, because they don't tell you they're managing the property until after you book the Airbnb. Airbnb owners, pick another company. read more

I highly recommend Zac and the Great Dwellings team. I used to self-manage my short term rental in DC from out of state but it started becoming overwhelming. A friend introduced me to Zac, and I am so thankful for how easy he and the GD team made it - from managing bookings to managing contractors. At first I was hands on, but they proved that they had it all under control so I was able to let go and passively receive rental income. Most importantly, they took good care of my property, and were responsive to both guests and me. read more

Great Dwellings has managed my Airbnb rental since June 2018. Since signing on with them I have been nothing but impressed with their people and their service. It is not only top-notch, it is beyond every expectation that I had. When we decided to list our apartment on Airbnb, Great Dwellings came in and advised us on what amenities renters would want. Then they took photographs and wrote up the listing. The photographs are superior to the photos on competing listings in the area. As a result of this professionalism, our apartment is rented almost every single night and all the reviews are 5 stars. They handle every aspect of check-in and check-out and the comments we get from renters are "They are lightning fast in responding to any issue". On top of that, they send suggestions for activities and local events to each renter which I know is greatly appreciated. They are superb managers, handling every single detail so that I have complete peace of mind that our renters will be well taken care of even when we are out of town. read more