All right, I think there are basically two types of property managers. There is the traditional type and there is the AI type. There is also a third thing that gets mixed into this comparison, which is tools. A tool helps you do the work and saves you some time. It is not actually the property manager.
The two managers
Traditional property manager
18–35%
A predominantly human business providing broad service.
AI property manager
3.9%
Broad service at a lower price because AI runs much of the routine work.
The traditional type
Traditional property managers may use some AI in their business, but they are predominantly human businesses. They are going to have people doing the marketing, pricing, guest communication, cleaning coordination, and maintenance coordination. They are typically going to charge 18% to 35% of booking revenue. That is the normal range.
Vacasa fits here. Vacasa uses AI, but that alone does not make it an AI property manager in the sense we mean. You can tell it is still a human operator because the service is priced the same way human property management has always been priced.
That can be the right service for someone who wants a local team to take over everything and is comfortable paying for it. I am not saying the service has no value. I am saying it is a traditional manager even if the company has added AI to parts of the operation.
The AI type
Then there is what we would call an AI property manager. It offers the service of a traditional property manager but uses a significant amount of AI to offer that service at a much lower price.
Whether something is an AI property manager really comes down to price and service. It is an AI property manager if it is offering a lot of service at a low price. If it has a few features that use AI, it is more like a PMS or another tool. If it is charging more than 10%, I would put it in the traditional-manager category. The typical traditional range is still 18% to 35%.
TIDY manages the broad set of work people hire a traditional manager to handle: rental strategy, marketing, pricing, turnovers, cleaning, maintenance, guest communication, and risk and compliance workflows. It does that for 3.9% of gross bookings, with a $39 monthly minimum.
TIDY uses AI heavily, but there are humans available when they are needed. Owners keep their listing, bank account, and existing pros. The point is not that there are zero people involved. The point is that AI does enough of the routine management work to change the price of the service.
The tools are a different category
The PMS systems are great if you want to manage things yourself and you just want to be organized to do that. If you really want a hands-on approach, those are good.
Of course, the problem with them is that they are very much designed around human operations. They have been incorporating more AI, but fundamentally they were built from the ground up for human operations. The AI helps the person operating the PMS. It does not replace the need for that operator.
The same thing is true of a guest-messaging product or a pricing product. Those can be useful. They can save a lot of time. They are still doing one part of property management rather than taking responsibility for the whole job.
So which one should you use?
The bottom line
Traditional managers provide a lot of service and usually charge 18% to 35%. Most AI products provide a narrower tool and leave the owner in charge. TIDY provides the broad service at 3.9%. That is the distinction I would use.
TIDY publishes this comparison, so you should take our point of view into account. You should also use the same price-and-service test on every company in the category.