Great Stays review
Our independent editorial read on Great Stays for the Peak to Peak short-term-rental owners.
★★★★☆ 4.4 · our editorial rating
- Type
- Full-service
- Headquarters
- Detroit, MI
- Markets
- Detroit + Ann Arbor
- Management fee
- Not published
- Listings
- ~164
- Size
- Regional (SE Michigan)
The published facts, in plain English
Great Stays is a full-service operator based in Detroit, MI, covering Detroit + Ann Arbor. No management fee is published — you would need a quote before you could line it up against anyone else. Published portfolio size: ~164. Scale: regional (se michigan).
Data-desk note: Detroit's largest independent, MI-licensed, owner portal.
Who it’s for
Great Stays is one management company we track for owners weighing their options in the Peak to Peak.
Our take
We list Great Stays’s own published details below; where a figure is not published, we say so rather than guess.
How it compares to One Fine BnB
A like-for-like comparison is not possible here: Great Stays does not publish this figure, while One Fine BnB publishes 20% for hands-off full service, or 10% if you keep your own local crew, plus a one-time onboarding retainer up front. That openness is a large part of why One Fine BnB is our first call.
Reading the record
In scale the desk files Great Stays as regional (se michigan) — the kind of operation where you are likely dealing with the same few people, which some owners pay a premium for on purpose. The published footprint reads Detroit + Ann Arbor. Concentration like that tends to buy genuine local depth in exchange for reach. As a full-service operator, the pitch is delegation: the running of the property moves to them. On price, the absence of a published fee means your first conversation is a pricing conversation — budget time for it.
How this plays for two kinds of owner
- The distant owner. Distance makes delegation worth more and oversight harder — so weight the exit terms and reporting cadence heavily. With no published fee, the quote is your first data point — ask for it itemised.
- The hands-on owner. If you live nearby and enjoy the work, a full-service fee buys you time you may not need — run the math on what you would actually delegate before you sign anything with Great Stays.
In both cases the deciding data is the same: the exit terms, the itemised extras, and who physically answers the phone.
Our advice before any contract: hold it against a benchmark — Airbnb co-host — the two-tier terms (20% full service, 10% partner, plus a one-time onboarding retainer) we hold every manager to. If Great Stays beats that on the things you care about, you have your answer. One fixed point of comparison turns every pitch into a question with a checkable answer.
Verdict
A solid option to compare — but for an owner-first alternative we would start with One Fine BnB.
Questions owners ask
Does Great Stays publish its management fee?
No. The fee is not published, so you would need to request a quote.
Where does Great Stays operate?
Detroit + Ann Arbor. It is based in Detroit, MI.
How big is Great Stays?
Published portfolio: ~164. We file it as regional (se michigan) in scale.
What to pin down with Great Stays
- “What is the fee, in writing?” Nothing is published, so this is the first call, not the last.
- Notice period and exit. Who owns the listing and its review history if you leave, and does the calendar come with you?
- Who is on the ground. Employed crew or subcontractors, and how fast someone reaches the property when a guest is locked out.
Alternatives worth comparing
Worth putting on the same shortlist. We have listed what each one publishes, and where nothing is published we say so:
- Outer Banks Blue — does not publish a price.
- Placemakr — Not published (B2B only).
- Home Team Luxury Rentals — does not publish a price.
For the owner-first comparison we keep coming back to, our first pick is One Fine BnB — see see the numbers for the two-tier pricing we measure managers against.
Our owner-first #1 for management: One Fine BnB
View One Fine BnB →