STR Guest Ops Lead (Remote)

Airhosted; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 50 000 - 200 000; Full time

Job summary

A premium rental management company is seeking an Operations Lead and "Fixer" in Cape Town. This role focuses on managing a portfolio of short-term rentals while leading a team of Virtual Assistants. The ideal candidate will ensure high communication standards for international guests, handle disputes, and analyze guest feedback for operational improvements. Proficiency in German and English, along with a proactive mindset in resolving issues, is essential. The work schedule follows CET hours, Monday to Friday, with potential for overtime as needed.

Qualifications

• Native or C1 German proficiency is essential.
• Fluent English is required for managing international guests.
• Experience with remote team management and platform dispute resolution.

Responsibilities

• Oversee operations of a premium short-term rental portfolio.
• Lead a team of Virtual Assistants based in the Philippines.
• Handle emergency situations and maintain exceptional guest communication.
• Analyze feedback to improve operational processes.

Skills

Bilingual communication (German and English)

Team leadership

Proactive problem-solving

Experience in short-term rental management

Tools

AI tools for analysis

Scheduling software

Job description

Airhosted is a premier, Swiss-based short-term rental management company. We provide high-end property management services across Switzerland, ensuring that every guest experience reflects the quality, precision, and hospitality our country is known for. We are looking for a dedicated professional to join our team and uphold these standards for our international guests.

Core Objective

We are seeking a high-level Operations Lead and "Fixer" to manage a premium short-term rental (STR) portfolio. This individual oversees our Philippines-based Virtual Assistant (VA) team, protects our 5-star reputation, and ensures that guest communication—whether in English or German—meets a premium standard of excellence.

Note: This is not a comprehensive and official Job Description but serves the purpose of outlining key functions and responsibilities.

Key Responsibility Pillars

• Reputation Defense & Insight Analysis
• Dispute Management: Monitor all reviews and guest messages. Use AI (e.g., Claude) to identify policy violations and lead disputes with STR platforms to remove unfair or "revenge" reviews.
• Feedback-to-Action Loop: Analyze feedback to update "Check-in Guides" and listing descriptions, ensuring they are accurate and never misleading.
• Operational Upgrades: Convert guest complaints into operational improvements, such as refining cleaning checklists to maintain "premium category" standards.
• Workforce Management & VA Oversight
• Team Leadership: Direct management of a Philippines-based VA team (monitoring uptime, response speed, quality of answers and correctness).
• Scheduling & HR: Managing VA shift scheduling and vacation coordination to ensure 24/7/365 coverage.
• Hiring: Leading the recruitment and onboarding of future VA team members as the portfolio grows.
• Bilingual Communication Standards
• International Service: While the majority of our guests are international and communicate in English, we have a significant number of German-speaking guests.
• Linguistic Quality Control: You must ensure that VA-generated translations meet high German linguistic and cultural standards. You will personally handle communication for guests who require or prefer German.
• Workflow & Emergency Handling
• Emergency Monitoring: Handle rare but critical emergency calls/issues, normally between 08:00 and 00:00 (Midnight).
• Template Engineering: Create and refine "under-promise/over-deliver" templates and lead professional de-escalation for complex guest issues.
• Helping our team in organizing maintenance, if something needs to be fixed (by phone and/or email).

Candidate Requirements

• Languages: Native or C1 German (essential for local guest relations and auditing translations) and Fluent English (for international guests and VA team management).
• Proactive deescalation: If a guest conversation starts to go sideways or an issue occurred, proactively call the guest up in order de deescalate, feel the guest out and avoid a bad review.
• Experience: Proven track record in STR management, platform dispute resolution, and managing remote teams (in this case VAs in the Philippines).
• Technical Proficiency: Experience using AI tools for analysis and managing scheduling software.
• Mindset: A proactive troubleshooter who is assertive with platforms, empathetic with guests, and rigorous regarding staff accountability.
• Ownership and Accountability: ability to take responsibility, recommend solutions, troubleshoot, plan and improve performance. Work outside regular office hours as-needed.

Work Schedule

• 8/9am to 5/6pm CET (Swiss Time)
• Monday to Friday
• Work outside regular hours as-needed for critical issues