How to Choose Property Management in the Riviera Maya: 12 Questions + the Minimum KPIs You Should Expect
In the Riviera Maya, property management isn’t just about guest messages and cleanings. It’s operational control in a coastal environment—where humidity, turnover, and maintenance cycles can quietly erode returns if nobody is measuring performance.
Most companies can sell you a service. Fewer can show you a system. This guide is the system-check: the questions that reveal how a manager actually operates, plus the minimum KPIs you should expect if you want transparency and consistent performance.
What “Good PM” Really Means Here
A strong property manager protects four things:
Revenue quality (pricing, channel mix, calendar strategy)
Review stability (cleaning standards, response time, issue resolution)
Asset integrity (preventive maintenance, humidity control, inventory)
Owner clarity (reporting you can understand and verify)
If any one of those is missing, the “headline occupancy” numbers won’t matter.
The 12 Questions That Separate Marketing From Operations
1) What is your pricing strategy—and who owns it?
Listen for a real process (seasonality, event calendars, competitor sets, min-stay rules), not “we use dynamic pricing” with no detail.
2) Which booking channels do you prioritize, and why?
You want a reasoned approach to channel mix, fee impact, and guest quality—not just “we list everywhere.”
3) What are your minimum standards for cleaning?
Ask for:
cleaning checklist
inspection process
how they handle re-cleans
who signs off and how often they audit
4) What is your guest response-time standard?
A serious operator can state a target (and show it). Vague answers here usually mean reviews will suffer.
5) How do you handle maintenance requests—triage and escalation?
Look for:
severity levels
service level targets
vendor dispatch process
owner approval thresholds
6) Do you run preventive maintenance? What’s the schedule?
In coastal markets, “we fix when it breaks” is expensive.
Ask about A/C servicing frequency, humidity checks, drain line care, and inspections.
7) What inventory controls do you use?
How do they track linens, towels, small appliances, and consumables?
What happens when items disappear between stays?
8) What are your vendor standards and pricing controls?
Do they mark up maintenance?
How do they quote jobs?
Can they provide before/after photos and invoices?
9) How do you protect against owner surprises in utilities and wear-and-tear?
Ask how they monitor A/C misuse, water leaks, and high-consumption patterns.
10) What is your cancellation, damage, and chargeback process?
You want clarity on deposits, evidence collection, platform claims, and timelines.
11) What do you report—and how often?
If they can’t show you a sample owner statement and dashboard structure, that’s a problem.
12) What exactly is included, and what triggers extra fees?
Make them define:
admin fees
coordination fees
after-hours calls
maintenance oversight
“project management” for repairs
The Minimum KPIs You Should Expect (Owner-Visible)
You don’t need a 40-metric dashboard. You need the metrics that show whether performance is healthy—and whether problems are being caught early.
Revenue & demand
Occupancy rate (monthly + trailing 3-month)
ADR (Average Daily Rate)
RevPAR (a better single measure than occupancy alone)
Booking lead time (helps plan pricing and maintenance windows)
Channel mix (with fees separated)
Operations & guest experience
Response time (messages + emergency calls)
Cleaning re-do rate (or a proxy metric: post-clean inspection fail rate)
Maintenance tickets per month + average resolution time
Top issue categories (A/C, plumbing, Wi-Fi, access, noise)
Asset protection
Preventive maintenance completion rate
A/C service log compliance
Inventory variance (missing/broken items per period)
Owner clarity
Owner statement cycle time (how quickly reports are delivered)
Variance notes (why income or expenses changed, not just the numbers)
If they refuse to share KPIs because “it’s proprietary,” you’re not hiring a manager—you’re handing over control.
Red Flags to Watch For
No inspection process after cleaning
No preventive maintenance plan
No sample reporting or owner statement examples
“We’ll figure it out as we go” contracts
Unclear maintenance markup and approval thresholds
No documentation culture (photos, logs, invoices)
A Simple Way to Compare Two PM Options
Ask both companies for:
a sample owner report
a preventive maintenance schedule
a cleaning checklist
their KPI list (even if basic)
The one that can show you a system usually performs better than the one with the best sales pitch.
Aarón is a born and raised "chilango". After finishing his university studies, what started as a social service trip became his new home and where he started a family in Playa del Carmen. He enjoys the delicious food and culture of the Yucatan peninsula with his wife, daughter, and son. As a professional, he has made a career as a specialist in social networks and electronic media, helping the companies he has worked for to efficiently achieve all their objectives in the medium.