Guest Experience Executive — UK Airbnb & Serviced Accommodation Management

Guest Experience Executive — UK Airbnb & Serviced Accommodation Management (Remote, South Africa)

About us

Rich Property Management is a UK short-let and serviced accommodation management company. We manage 40 residential properties on behalf of landlords across England and Wales, operating them on Airbnb, Booking.com and through direct bookings. Guests stay in our properties every night of the year, and someone needs to be there when something goes wrong.

The role

You are the person guests deal with. You answer their questions before they arrive, sort out problems while they are staying, make sure every property is ready and every guest gets in — and when something goes wrong that affects our reviews or our money, you are the one who puts it right.

This role requires at least two full years of experience in a guest-facing operational role at an Airbnb management company, serviced accommodation operator, or short-let/vacation rental business. That company must have managed at least 50 Airbnb properties at the time — we need someone who has worked with the systems, processes and volume that come with operating at scale, not a small operation running a handful of listings manually. You need to already understand how Airbnb and Booking.com actually work — their review systems, their resolution and escalation processes, how a damage claim is built and evidenced, and what a guest complaint that could turn into a bad review actually requires. 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.

This is a remote, full-time role based in South Africa, working United Kingdom hours on a shift pattern that includes both weekend days. Weekends are our busiest arrival days and they are the shift we most need covered, so this is not a Monday to Friday role and we will not change that after you start.

What you will do

• Handle guest messages across Airbnb, Booking.com, WhatsApp and email, to a fifteen-minute response standard during your shift

• Chase guest verification and check-in details ahead of every arrival on your shift

• Confirm every cleaning job for the following day and resolve anything that has not been accepted

• Handle problems as they arise: access failures, maintenance faults, complaints, noise, late arrivals

• Manage the full damage claim process: evidencing damage, filing through the correct platform, and following it through to a resolved outcome

• Handle Airbnb and Booking.com escalations, including AirCover claims, guest disputes and formal complaints raised through the platforms

• Submit and pursue formal review removal requests where a review breaches platform policy, and follow the correct process through to a decision

• Proactively encourage positive reviews through compliant post-stay guest communication, within Airbnb's own guidelines. We do not incentivise, pressure or manipulate reviews, and we do not want anyone who has done that elsewhere

• Capture upsell requests such as early check-in, late check-out and extra guests

• Escalate correctly and quickly when something is beyond your authority, using our documented five-line escalation format

• Write an end-of-day handover report every shift, without exception

What success looks like

• Guest messages answered within fifteen minutes during your shift, verified by sampling

• Zero arrivals on your shift where a guest cannot get into the property

• Zero cleaning jobs unconfirmed going into the following day

• Damage claims filed with complete evidence within 48 hours of the damage being reported

• Review removal requests submitted correctly and followed through, with a clear log of outcomes

• Portfolio review scores maintained or improved

• Every shift closed with a complete written handover

Who this is for

• At least two years of direct experience in a guest-facing role — guest experience, reservations, guest relations, or customer service — specifically at an Airbnb management company, serviced accommodation operator, or short-let/vacation rental business managing 50 or more properties. This is non-negotiable

• Hands-on experience with Airbnb and Booking.com's resolution centres, AirCover claims process, and review systems

• Excellent written English. Most of this job is typing, and our guests are paying UK short-let rates and expect the writing to match

• Calm under pressure. A guest standing outside a door at 22:00 needs someone steady, not someone flustered

• Genuinely organised. This role runs on checklists and you will be trusted to work them without supervision

• Comfortable working alone for part of your shift, and comfortable saying clearly when something needs escalating

• Comfortable holding two different kinds of work in the same shift: fast-turnaround guest messaging, and slower, evidence-based claims and review work. You will need to know when to switch between them

Who this is not for

• Anyone without direct experience working guest operations at an Airbnb management, serviced accommodation, or short-let business. Please do not apply hoping to be trained into the industry

• Anyone who needs a weekday-only pattern

• Anyone who wants to be told what to do next all day

• Anyone who leaves a problem for the next shift rather than closing it

• Anyone who has previously used incentivised or manipulated reviews to hit targets elsewhere

Requirements

• Minimum two years of direct experience in a guest-facing operational role at a short-let, serviced accommodation, or Airbnb management business that managed at least 50 properties. You will be asked to name the company, confirm their portfolio size, and describe your process on interview

• Available to work Wednesday to Sunday, 14:00 to 22:00 UK time. This is 16:00 to 00:00 South African time during UK winter, and 15:00 to 23:00 during UK summer. Please only apply if this genuinely works for you long term

• 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

• A quiet space to take guest calls from

• Right to work in South Africa

Package

• R28,000 per month salary

• Monthly connectivity and power allowance

• One-off equipment allowance for laptop, headset, backup power and connectivity

• Structured training programme and a documented operations manual. You will not be guessing

• Genuine progression. We are growing from 40 properties to 100, and the people who join now will lead teams

How to apply

Submit your CV with the subject line "Guest Experience Application — your name".

Your CV must clearly show the name of the Airbnb management, serviced accommodation, or short-let business where you gained this experience, your dates there, and the approximate size of their managed portfolio. Applications where this is not clear will not be reviewed.

Include two things:

1. A short note, no more than 200 words, describing a damage claim or review removal you personally handled at that company. Tell us what happened, what evidence you gathered, and the outcome.

2. Your written response to this situation: A guest checked in two hours ago at one of our properties. They have messaged to say the flat is clean but the shower is only running cold water. They have a dinner reservation in ninety minutes. It is 18:30 on a Saturday. Write the message you would send them, and then, separately, list what you would do next and in what order.

Applications without both items, and without the company name and dates on the CV, will not be reviewed.