Business Development Manager — UK Airbnb & Short-Let Management
About the role and the company hiring.
Business Development Manager — UK Airbnb & Short-Let Management (Remote, South Africa)
About us
Rich Property Management is a UK short-let and serviced accommodation management company. We manage residential Airbnb property on behalf of landlords across England and Wales, operating homes on Airbnb, Booking.com and through direct bookings. We handle everything for the owner: pricing, guest communication, cleaning, maintenance and compliance. They receive the income without any of the operation.
We manage 40 properties today. We are growing to 100 in the next 6 months.
The role
We are looking for a Business Development Manager to own the acquisition of new properties into our portfolio. This is a remote, full-time role based in South Africa, working United Kingdom business hours.
This role requires prior experience as a Business Development Manager, sales executive, or landlord acquisition specialist at an Airbnb management company, serviced accommodation operator, or short-let/vacation rental business. You need to already understand how this industry works — management fee structures, the landlord's objections, why a hands-off pitch matters, and how a co-hosting or full-management agreement actually gets sold. We do not have capacity to train someone into the fundamentals of this industry while also training them into our specific process. Applications without this specific background will not be considered.
You will be selling to UK property owners. Specifically, we are targeting owners of large houses and landlords holding multiple units, including whole blocks of flats. These are considered decisions involving valuable assets, so this is a consultative sale built on credibility and follow-through.
Roughly one third of your pipeline will be built by you through outbound relationship development. The remainder comes from inbound enquiries generated by our marketing.
This role has a lower base salary and uncapped, generous commission. If you are motivated primarily by a fixed monthly figure, this is not the right fit. If you would rather your earnings reflect what you actually bring in, read on.
What you will do
Build and own relationships with letting agents, commercial agents, block managers, developers and portfolio landlords across our operating regions
Run structured qualification calls with prospective landlords, establishing fit, motivation, timeline and any legal or lender restrictions on the property
Run 30-minute consultation calls where you present a property income analysis, walk the owner through how we operate, and secure a signed management agreement
Manage the full pipeline in our CRM with accurate, current records
Hand each signed property to our Managing Director for the in-person viewing, and to our operations team for onboarding
Report weekly on pipeline, conversion and forecast
What success looks like
Every inbound enquiry contacted within 5 minutes, up to 1 hour when in other meetings
A qualified pipeline built and maintained, with accurate forecasting
Eight or more units signed, launched and still with us ninety days later, per month, at target
Zero properties signed below our standard fee structure without prior written approval
Who this is for
Anyone without direct experience selling for an Airbnb management, serviced accommodation, or short-let business. Please do not apply hoping to be trained into the industry
Direct, provable experience as a BDM, sales executive, or landlord acquisition specialist at an Airbnb management company, serviced accommodation business, or short-let/vacation rental operator. This is non-negotiable.
A track record of signing landlords or property owners onto a management agreement, co-hosting arrangement, or comparable recurring-revenue service contract
Working knowledge of how short-let management fees are structured, and comfort explaining and defending a percentage-based fee against a landlord doing their own management
Genuinely excellent spoken and written English, and confidence speaking with UK property owners and professionals
Comfortable with longer sales cycles and multiple stakeholders. If your background is exclusively high-volume consumer sales, this will not suit you
Disciplined with CRM and follow-up. Most deals in this market are lost to poor follow-through rather than to a competitor
Numerate and comfortable presenting a financial analysis and defending the figures in it
Genuinely comfortable with a commission-weighted package. We want people who see that as an opportunity, not a risk
Who this is not for
Anyone who needs a full inbound lead list handed to them
Anyone uncomfortable being measured weekly on pipeline and conversion
Anyone looking for a role that finishes at 17:00 South African time
Anyone who wants most of their income guaranteed regardless of results
Requirements
Minimum one full sales cycle of direct experience selling landlord acquisition, co-hosting, or management agreements for a short-let or serviced accommodation business. You will be asked to name the company and describe the process on interview
Available to work 09:00 to 17:30 UK time, Monday to Friday. This is 11:00 to 19:30 South African time during UK winter, and 10:00 to 18:30 during UK summer
Fibre broadband with a minimum of 25 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload, plus a mobile data backup
Uninterruptible power supply or inverter capable of maintaining your workstation and connectivity through a loadshedding block. This is a phone-based role and dropped calls cost us deals
A quiet, private space to take calls from. No background noise
Right to work in South Africa
Package
Base salary of R35,000 per month
Commission of approximately R5,900 per property unit that goes live and remains with us for ninety days. There is no cap
On-target earnings of approximately R82,200 per month at eight units. Strong performers will earn considerably more — this role has no ceiling
Guaranteed minimum commission during months two and three while you build your pipeline
Monthly connectivity and power allowance
One-off equipment allowance for laptop, headset, backup power and connectivity
Full training on our sales process, our market and our operating model
How to apply
Submit your CV with the subject line "BDM Application — your name".
Your CV must clearly show the name of the Airbnb management, serviced accommodation, or short-let business where you gained your BDM or landlord acquisition experience, and your dates there. Applications where this is not clear will not be reviewed.
Include two things:
A short note, no more than 200 words, describing a landlord or property owner you personally sourced and signed at that company. Tell us how you found them, what the objection was, and how you closed it.
A voice note (link to a video or voice note recording is acceptable) of no more than two minutes, recorded on your phone, answering this question: a landlord who owns a block of six flats currently let on long tenancies tells you they are happy with their current arrangement and not looking to change. What do you say next?
Applications without both items, and without the company name and dates on the CV, will not be reviewed.
This is a direct company role. Apply with a short statement and resume. HireSava does not charge applicants or sit in the middle of your application.
How to apply
Hit Apply now. You will be asked for a short application statement, your resume, and answers to any screening questions the employer added for this role.