Villa management in Sanur, Bali

A villa manager runs the property as a rental business on the owner’s behalf. The usual scope is listing the villa on booking channels, taking bookings and payments, looking after guests, hiring and managing staff, housekeeping and maintenance, and monthly reporting to the owner. Some firms offer a narrower service, such as bookings only or upkeep only.

Two rules shape the business, whoever runs it:

• Regional hotel tax. Under UU 1/2022 the regional goods and services tax (PBJT) on hotel services covers villas and private homes used as hotels (Article 53(1)), at a rate of at most 10% (Article 58(1)). The rate in force is set by each regency or city; ask the manager which rate they apply and who files and pays it.
• Foreign-owned rental businesses. For a PT PMA in short or long-stay accommodation, BKPM Regulation 5/2025 counts land and buildings in the minimum investment value of more than IDR 10,000,000,000 (Article 26(2) and (5)). See PT PMA for property investors.

How fees work, and how to compare them: villa management fees explained.

• The fee basis, as the firm publishes it: a percentage of revenue (gross or net, and net of what), a fixed monthly fee, or both.
• Every other charge: set-up, listing and photography, channel commissions, card fees, staff salaries, utilities, repairs, linen, consumables. Who pays each.
• Which booking channels, and whose account the listings and reviews sit in.
• Whose licence and tax registration the rental runs under, and who files and pays the hotel tax.
• Reporting: how often, what it shows (bookings, rates, costs, occupancy), and access to the booking and bank records behind it.
• Owner’s use of the villa, and how it is blocked out.
• Notice period and what happens to listings, staff and deposits when the contract ends.

• The firm’s NIB and the business classifications it is licensed for, searchable on OSS.
• The licence the villa rents under. Ask whether rentals run under your company’s licences or the manager’s, and get copies.
• Hotel tax registration with the regency, and the filings made for your villa.
• The building’s SLF, the certificate that it is fit for use, which PP 16/2021 requires before a building is used (Article 1). See building permits: PBG and SLF.

• Listings and reviews held only in the manager’s own accounts, with no transfer on exit.
• Reports that show net payouts but not the bookings, rates and costs behind them.
• No clear answer on who collects and pays the hotel tax.
• Fees quoted as a percentage without saying what it is a percentage of.
• Long notice periods or exit fees that are not in the first quote.

We have no published sample yet. Ask how long from signing to the first bookings, how often payouts are made, and the notice period to end the contract.