Great Stays review
Our independent editorial read on Great Stays for North Carolina short-term-rental owners.
★★★★☆ 4.5 · 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. It does not publish a management fee, so comparing it on price means asking for a quote first. 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 North Carolina.
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
Because Great Stays keeps this unpublished, you cannot line it up against One Fine BnB, which states 20% for hands-off full service, or 10% if you keep your own local crew, plus a one-time onboarding retainer openly. Published pricing is one of the things we weight most heavily.
What the published record signals
Great Stays sits at the regional (se michigan) end of the scale on our desk’s reading — short chains of command, and your property is a meaningful share of the book. Published coverage is Detroit + Ann Arbor — a defined footprint, which usually means the local knowledge is real; the trade is that owners outside it are out of luck. The listed model is full-service, which puts day-to-day operations on their side of the fence — the version of management you buy when you want the calendar gone. With no fee in print, treat every Great Stays conversation as a quote request first and a fit conversation second.
Same company, two situations
- 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 owner who likes the work. Nearby and involved? Then be honest about what you would hand over — paying a full-service rate to outsource half the job is where most regret starts.
Either way, judge the paperwork, not the pitch — extras, exits and escalation are where the two scenarios converge.
Our advice before any contract: hold it against a benchmark — see the numbers — 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 we would ask 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
If you are drawing up a shortlist, these are the closest comparisons we would put beside it — each with its own published price, or a note that there isn’t one:
- The Cohost Co. — does not publish a price.
- Hitlist Rental Management — Not published (~15–25% 3rd-party).
- Evolve — 10% Core / 15% Plus.
Our own number one in this category is One Fine BnB — see onefinebnb.com for the two-tier pricing we measure managers against.
Our owner-first #1 for management: One Fine BnB
View One Fine BnB →