Questions owners ask us

Everything that keeps a villa earning and in good order while the owner is elsewhere. In our case that means the staff and their training and supervision, guest bookings and the marketing that produces them, guest care from arrival to departure, all maintenance and the contractors who carry it out, the garden and pool, bill payment, monthly financial reporting, and compliance including TM30 immigration reporting and tax. The short version: the owner should not have to think about the house unless they want to.

A rental agent finds guests and takes a commission on bookings. A manager runs the property. Once the rental agent books the villa for a client, they collect the funds and hand over the guest to the villa manager. A manager’s job is the whole asset, and revenue is one output of doing that properly rather than the only thing being measured. When an air conditioner breaks, or the roof leaks, or payroll needs to be run for the staff, or the chef needs someone to deliver ingredients for their upcoming banquet, the property manager handles all arrangements with staff and vendors. An absentee owner who doesn’t rent their villa at all often still wants a property manager to keep the villa in good repair between visits.

Yes, we look after villas across Phuket. We have reliable team members located throughout the island.

Yes. Some owners never rent and simply want the house properly cared for while they are away. That is a straightforward arrangement: full caretaking, staffing, maintenance and reporting, with no rental activity at all.

Yes. We maintain common areas, which covers gardens, pools, presentation and the arrival experience. Estate committees, juristic persons, and other interested parties are welcome to ask for a comparison against their current arrangement.

We manage luxury residences and common areas throughout Phuket and Phang Nga, specializing in luxury villa management. We have staff all across the island, and are minutes away from every property we care for.

We recognize each villa is different, with different size, location, and owner needs. Some require a full time managed staff of 4 with short term and long term rental marketing and support, while others are a quarter of the size and simply need daily pool cleaning or a hotel tax upgrade. At no cost to you, we will visit your home and discuss with you your needs. You receive an itemized proposal for your villa: what we charge, what it covers, and what is passed through at cost. We have total transparency with our owners. Whether you prefer a la carte services, or want it all inclusive monthly package, there are no hidden mark ups on suppliers or maintenance, and we welcome you comparing it line by line with any other offer.

It depends entirely on the scope. We price a la carte or as full service, so an owner who needs everything pays for everything and an owner who needs three specific things pays for three specific things. For long term rentals of one month or more our commission is 20 percent. Short term and holiday management is quoted per villa, because the work varies enormously with the size of the house, the staffing and how hard the calendar is being worked.

For long term rentals of one month or more our commission is 20 percent. Short term management is quoted per villa, because scope varies with the size of the house, the staff it carries and how hard it is worked. A full comparison of what the Phuket companies charge is on our property management in Phuket page. Maintenance is billed at cost with no mark up on suppliers or contractors, and where a broker introduces a booking the commission comes out of our fee rather than your rental income.

No manager can promise a figure without seeing the house, and any who does is guessing. Four things decide it, and Shibumi Services is built around all four.

How many places is the villa listed? We distribute through more than one hundred brokers, agents and booking platforms, and where a broker introduces a booking the commission comes out of our fee rather than your rental income.

How is the rate set? We price each house individually and continuously, date by date, using current market data alongside that house’s own season pattern, its returning guests and its condition, rather than applying one model across a portfolio.

What comes off the top? Our commission is 20 percent on long term rentals of a month or more, and short term management is quoted per villa. Maintenance is billed at cost with no mark up on suppliers or contractors. Ask any manager whether their percentage is taken on the gross or on the net payout after the booking platform has taken its own fee, because those are very different numbers.

Does the house keep earning? Guest reviews across the villas in our care average 4.9 out of 5 across roughly 130 Google reviews, rising to 4.94 over the past year, and peak season occupancy runs above 85 percent. A villa that reviews badly stops earning whatever the pricing does.

Yes. If another luxury villa management company in Phuket publishes a lower rate for the same scope of service, we will match it.

We strongly believe we offer the strongest value proposition in Phuket for our management services. But should you somehow find another manager on the market at a lower cost, we will match any published rate for the same scope. What we will not do is quote a low number and then recover it through marked up maintenance, opaque expenses or a service that quietly does less.

No. Work is billed at cost. Making a margin on a plumber would pit our interests directly against the owner’s, which is the single most common complaint about property management in this market. We review all significant costs and get owner approval before moving forward, and where possible we submit to our owners multiple bids from different contractors.

Every invoice is backed by a receipt. On larger jobs we obtain multiple bids and show them to the owner before anything proceeds. Monthly maintenance reports include before and after photographs, so the owner can see the work that was paid for.

Monthly, to your nominated bank account, together with a full statement. You see every booking and every expense as line items, so nothing needs decoding.

A monthly financial statement plus maintenance updates, and a direct line to our team whenever you want the current picture. Our standards are also publicly auditable: the guest reviews of the villas we care for are on Google for anyone to read.

We do not publish an occupancy estimate for a villa we have not seen. What we can tell you is how the villas already in our care perform in the season that decides the year: peak season occupancy across them runs above 85%. A number from a mature, well marketed villa tells you nothing about what yours will do in its first year versus its most recent year.

100% occupancy is NOT the goal. The goal is occupancy that maximizes revenues for the best possible price. Any broker can underprice a villa and fill it, while the owner asks, “Why am I not making any money?”

What we will do is look at your villa, its rates and its calendar, and tell you what we think is achievable and why based on our decades of experience and current market conditions.

What we will say is this: villas that come to us with unsold weeks in high season do not usually have them the following year.

Our management agreement includes a 60 day exit clause: either side may end it on 60 days notice. Terms are set for the individual villa and agreed upon in writing before anything begins.

We are appointed as the villa’s manager and rentals run through us, so the marketing sits in one pair of hands. What we do not do is close the door on everyone else. Brokers and agents are welcome to bring us bookings and we pay them a commission when they do, because a booking is a booking and an owner is better served by more routes to a guest rather than fewer. The thing we protect against is the same villa being marketed three different ways at three different rates, which damages the rate position and displeases guests. One consistent presentation, open to anyone who can fill the calendar.

Yes, absolutely they can, and are encouraged to. When a broker introduces a booking, the commission comes out of our management fee rather than your rental income. In other words it costs you nothing to have more people selling your villa.

Some managers lock other agents out entirely. That arrangement is good for the manager and bad for the owner, because every closed channel is a week that might have been booked and was not. As with all our terms, how this works for your villa is confirmed in writing before anything begins.

Of course. It is the owner’s house. Any dates that have not already been deposited and reserved by a guest in advance are available for the owner’s use. Owner stays are blocked out in the calendar on request, and the house is prepared for the owner exactly as it would be for a guest, which most owners find is the point of having staff in the first place.

You do. Routine care proceeds on schedule; anything beyond the routine is documented and sent to you for approval before money is spent. You are never surprised by your own statement.

A security deposit is collected from every guest before the rental begins. Stays are documented around check in and check out, and any damage is covered from the deposit and pursued with the guest promptly. We handle the awkward conversation; you receive the outcome in your report.

House rules and signed terms and conditions are generated before guest arrival, and our on the ground team personally welcomes every group. While some villa owners are happy to accept bachelor parties or commercial shoots for additional income, others prefer none of these take place in their home. We will gladly discuss your needs with you and help you decide which screening policies you may prefer to protect your asset, while maximizing your revenues.

We answer the call and fix the issue. There is a person on call 24 hours a day, and the guest or the house issue is dealt with immediately. The whole purpose of management is that a 2am problem is not the owner’s 2am problem.

We recruit, train and supervise the full villa team: manager, housekeeping, chef and garden or pool staff. Owners get one accountable point of contact instead of six separate employment relationships.

Good staff usually stay. We would rather keep people who know the house and train them to our standards than replace relationships that already work. Where someone is genuinely not suited to the role we would say so plainly, and it would be the owner’s decision.

Regularly, and reported on monthly with photographs. In this climate the things that destroy a house, damp, salt air, insects, pool chemistry, are all slow until they are sudden, so the point of routine inspection is catching them while they are still cheap. Staff in the house are always performing maintenance inspections, and senior management performs at least monthly inspections, in addition. Inspections are more frequent if work is being performed or when the house does not have guests.

Treat it as continuous rather than reactive. The tropical rainforest of Phuket, with all its flora and fauna, is always trying to enter each villa. Unlike a Manhattan apartment, which will be just a bit dusty if you return after a few seasons away, if you lock the door and come back in 6 months time in Phuket, a good third of the value of the house will have been destroyed. A full year away and in many cases you will have to perform major renovations to bring your home back to a livable state. Sea air corrodes fittings, monsoon finds every weakness in a roof, humidity ruins soft furnishings and electronics, and pools need constant chemistry. Preventative work on a schedule is significantly cheaper than repairs, and it is the difference between a house that ages well and one that is prohibitively expensive at year five.

Yes. Utilities, routine bills and applicable government fees can be paid on your behalf and itemised in your monthly statement.

Yes, in house. TM30 immigration reporting for guests, PP90 filing for VAT, and the tax obligations that come with rental income. Enforcement in Phuket has tightened considerably, and this is not an area where an owner wants to discover a gap after the fact.

Ask for the notice period and whether there is a fixed term. Ask directly whether they mark up maintenance, and ask to see an invoice with its receipt attached. Ask how many owners they act for and whether you can speak to two of them without the manager present. Ask what the reporting looks like, and ask to see a real statement. Ask who answers the phone at 2am. Any manager who is uncomfortable with those questions has answered them.

Yes. Directly, and without us in the room. An owner who has used us for years will tell you more that is useful than anything we could write here.

The villas in our care hold Google ratings between 4.9 and 5.0, and those listings are public and searchable. Our reviews page links to each one so they can be read at source rather than taken on our word. We have been operating since 2004 and the company registration is 0835547011986. We live in Phuket, love our work and love the team we have built. We encourage you to do your due diligence and we are confident you will be satisfied with the results.

Three steps: we visit and assess the villa, we agree terms and prepare it for guests, and we take over the day to day. If you have existing bookings or staff, the handover is coordinated so neither guests nor team feel the seam.

Absolutely minimally disruptive. You should have a sense of relief once you make the decision to switch. We have a highly professional team that is experienced in handovers that keeps your villa on the market and in regulatory compliance, with zero downtime.

Thailand regulates accommodations, and the rules depend on your villa and how it is rented. Compliance is part of our service: we operate within the regulatory framework and coordinate closely with your legal and tax advisors, or can assist you in bringing your villa, from whatever status it exists in now, into full legal compliance. We have an expert team with resources in Thailand and we can help you clean up any outstanding issues. We solve problems and give our owners peace of mind.