What are the costs and fees of property management in Marbella?

Key facts

• Our management fee is 20% of the daily booking rate. Your first cost is our first booking, nothing changes hands before that.
• No setup fees. No annual retainers. No charge for platform listings.
• Owners retain full control: you set minimum stay durations, approve the pricing strategy, and block dates for personal use whenever you want them.
• Our all-inclusive service handles everything day to day. Marketing, advertising, check-in, scheduling, property care between stays. Owners don’t lift a finger.

What exactly does the 20% fee cover?

The 20% covers the end-to-end rental management of your property. That means, listings across all major booking platforms, seasonal pricing strategy, guest screening, check-in coordination, and 24/7 support while guests are in residence. Between bookings it covers scheduling, supplier liaison, maintenance coordination, and post-stay walkthroughs. Nothing in that list is billed separately. The fee is a percentage of what each booking earns, so when the villa earns more, peak summer, long weekend bookings, we earn more alongside you. When it sits empty, neither of us pays anything.

Are there any fees I pay before the first booking comes in?

No. This is fundamental to how we work, and it is the clearest possible difference from agencies that charge a setup fee or annual retainer regardless of whether your property gets booked. We only charge a percentage of your daily booking rate, so you’ll have nothing to pay until we have secured your bookings. The free consultation, the property assessment, the platform setup, all of that happens before a penny changes hands. Your first cost is our first booking.

How does the damage deposit service work, and what does it cost?

We collect a damage deposit from guests on your behalf and take video after every changeover, so there is a timestamped, documented record of the property’s condition after each stay. That evidence matters if anything is ever disputed. This service is included as part of our management offering; there is no additional annual charge on top of the 20% fee. For owners who want the reassurance of knowing every guest has skin in the game before they walk through the door, it is the detail that makes a real difference.

What does the all-inclusive service include, and is it priced differently?

Our service is an all-inclusive option, dedicated marketing and advertising, guest check-in, scheduling, supplier coordination, and property care between stays, all handled without the owner needing to do anything day to day. You can sit back with total peace of mind that your property is being cared for by El Rey as if it were our own.

Do I have any say over pricing strategy, or does El Rey set the rates?

Owners stay in control. You review and approve the pricing strategy before anything goes live. You set the minimum and maximum holiday duration you will accept. You can block dates for personal use whenever you want them. Some owners pre-approve all marketing and pricing schedules; others prefer to take a back seat and trust the team entirely. Both approaches work, we calibrate the level of involvement to what suits you. Trust and transparency is at the heart of everything we do, and that extends to making sure you are never surprised by a rate your property was let at.

What costs sit outside the management fee, what should I budget for separately?

The main costs outside our fee are the property’s running costs: utilities between stays, pool and garden maintenance, cleaning and linen changeovers, and any maintenance or repairs that come up. These are coordinated by our locally based team but paid by the owner as they arise, we do not mark them up. Tourist licence fees, where applicable, are a one-off legal cost handled through a specialist solicitor we work closely with. Everything else, platform listings, pricing management, sits inside the 20%. There are no hidden extras. The structure is designed so you know what you are agreeing to before anyone signs anything.

Isn’t a percentage fee more expensive than a flat monthly retainer?

It sounds that way on paper, but the maths rarely works in favour of the retainer. A flat monthly fee accrues whether your villa earns anything or not, twelve months of payments before a single guest arrives is a real cost many owners don’t factor in at the outset. A percentage model means the management company’s income rises and falls with yours. When the villa is fully booked through June, July and August, both parties do well. When it sits empty in January, neither of us loses anything beyond the opportunity. For a luxury villa in the Golden Triangle generating anywhere between €30,000 and €100,000 in annual rental income, a 20% fee on actual bookings is straightforward to model and straightforward to audit. What you see is what you pay.

Does this fee structure suit your situation?

If your villa is currently unoccupied and generating no rental income, the percentage model costs you nothing to start. If you want to retain approval over pricing and minimum stays rather than hand everything over blindly, our structure is built for that.  The one situation where a flat-fee model might suit an owner better is a property with consistently very high occupancy all year round, where a capped monthly cost would save money on the margin. That is worth modelling honestly. Our ROI calculator makes the comparison straightforward.