Owner comparison · Updated 19 August 2026
AvantStay vs Fairly: fully hands‑off management, or staying in the driver’s seat
Both companies manage vacation homes. They disagree about who should be making the decisions. This page lays out the fees, the operating models, the markets and the public review record for each, with every figure sourced and dated.
AvantStay publishes this page. Every claim about Fairly below is drawn from Fairly’s own website and press materials, cited at the bottom.
The short answer
AvantStay runs your home end to end: in‑house local teams, a dedicated account manager, and distribution across 50+ channels in 60+ US markets, built for large, group‑friendly properties. Fairly publishes a flat 20% fee and assigns one independent local caretaker, leaving pricing and strategy decisions with you.
The question is not which is cheaper. It is whether you want to run your rental or have it run for you, and whether you are comfortable handing a season to a company that launched twenty months ago with no independent review record to check it against.
Choose AvantStay if
- You want genuinely passive income, with pricing, guests, housekeeping and maintenance handled for you
- Your home is large, design‑forward or built for groups and events, where both the rates and the operational load are higher
- You want distribution across 50+ channels including Homes & Villas by Marriott International, plus a direct booking base
- You want a dedicated account manager and one company standard behind nine years of operating history
Choose Fairly if
- A published fee matters more to you than the breadth of what it covers
- You want to set your own nightly rates and are prepared to own that decision every week
- Material participation for the short‑term rental tax treatment is central to your investment case, and your CPA has confirmed it
- You want one named local caretaker rather than an experienced company team and a dedicated account manager
- You are comfortable being an early customer, with no independent reviews and no completed multi-season track record to check before you sign
Operating models
Two genuinely different structures
This is the part that actually decides the comparison. Everything else, fees included, follows from it.
In‑house teams, one standard, fully delegated
AvantStay employs its own local teams. The people pricing your home, messaging guests and coordinating maintenance all work for AvantStay, and the same playbook applies whether the property sits in Scottsdale or the Smoky Mountains. Onboarding takes two to four weeks and covers a property audit, smart home technology, professional photography, then listing across 50+ channels.
The trade you are making is real: you hand over pricing and day‑to‑day decisions in exchange for not having to make them.
One local caretaker, owner keeps the decisions
Fairly recruits experienced local cleaning and care professionals and equips them with software to act as the on‑the‑ground manager for nearby homes. You select your caretaker from Fairly’s marketplace with help from a Vacation Rental Expert, and Fairly’s AI recommends nightly rates that you can override. A backup team covers guest inquiries when your caretaker is unavailable.
The trade here is a single point of failure. When that one caretaker is stretched, overloaded or moves on, that is your guest experience for the season.
On track record, the gap is wide. AvantStay was founded in 2017 by Sean Breuner and Reuben Doetsch, is headquartered in Los Angeles, and has spent nine years building in‑house teams in the markets it serves. Fairly launched publicly in December 2024 with a $10.1 million round, founded by Eric Breon, Jeff Flitton and Subechya Person, and is employee‑owned. It is roughly twenty months into building an operating network. This is an untested model, and you are handing over a property for a season you cannot get back.
Diligence
What you cannot check about Fairly yet
Fairly is a real company doing real work, and is growing, so it is early days for them.
| The usual check | AvantStay | Fairly |
|---|---|---|
| Years of operating history | Nine, since 2017 | Roughly twenty months |
| Full seasons completed | Multiple, across 60+ markets and every kind of demand cycle | Its first, in most markets it serves |
| Independent review platform | Trustpilot 4.7 from 2,635 reviews | Profile unclaimed, 0 reviews as of July 2026 |
| A second independent source | Apple App Store 4.8 from 1,075 ratings | No G2 listing located |
| A third, including critical feedback | Yelp 3.7 from 442 reviews | No Yelp profile located |
| Basis for the published guest rating | 4.8, against a public record you can read yourself | 4.9, self‑reported, with no independent base to test it |
| Owner testimonials | First‑party, on our own site | First‑party, on their own site |
Why the gap is structural, not just a matter of time
Some of the above is simply what twenty months looks like, and it will fill in. Four things will not resolve on their own, and they are the ones worth weighing.
The first is that the network is being recruited rather than deployed. Fairly publishes twenty market pages across ten states. It is separately running 761 caretaker job adverts across roughly 45 states. That gap is the clearest available picture of how much of the map is aspiration rather than operation, so confirm a caretaker is in place for your market today rather than that your market appears on a list.
The second is that your local contact does not work for the company you are signing with. Fairly’s own caretaker pages describe independent operators who create a profile, choose which clients to take, and set their own cleaning fee. That produces the continuity owners like. It also means nobody has a contractual obligation to keep serving your home, and a property that is demanding relative to its cleaning fee is a business decision for someone who is not Fairly.
The third is that the headline guarantee is narrower than it reads. Fairly’s owner terms cap any payment at the total platform fees you paid during the guarantee period, require you to file documented prior‑year performance before the period starts, exclude stays of thirty days or longer from that baseline, and condition eligibility on following platform best practices including pricing configuration. It is a real commitment, written into a contract, and it is not a $5,000 floor.
The fourth is the one no amount of marketing can shortcut. Nobody at a twenty‑month‑old company has yet run your home through a hurricane season, a licensing change, a bad demand year, or a caretaker walking away in July. Those are the weeks you are actually paying a manager for, and the only way to know how a company handles them is to have watched it do so.
If you are considering Fairly anyway, and there are good reasons to, ask for owner references in your specific market who have completed a full season, and interview the caretaker rather than the salesperson and their motivating sales tactics.
Fees and contracts
What each one costs
Fairly publishes its rate. AvantStay does not, as it quotes per property after review, since each home has unique aspects, revenue potential and market potential.
| Cost item | AvantStay | Fairly |
|---|---|---|
| Management fee | Quoted per property, after a review of your home, market and revenue potential. | 20% of nightly revenue, before cleaning fees. Published. |
| What the fee covers | Full service: pricing, marketing, guest communication, housekeeping, proactive maintenance, concierge, permitting support, damage protection. | Platform, distribution, pricing tools, accounting and a local caretaker. The caretaker receives 5% of revenue out of the 20%, plus the cleaning fees. |
| Onboarding fee | Confirmed in your written proposal. Onboarding covers a property audit, smart home installation and professional photography. | None, per Fairly. Listing setup is handled by you and your caretaker. |
| Cancellation or exit fee | Confirmed in your written proposal. Agreements run 12 months. | None, per Fairly. |
| Lodging tax filing | Handled as part of full service. | Handled automatically by Fairly. |
| Damage protection | Built in on every booking at no separate charge. | Optional add‑on at $10 per booked night, roughly $2,000 a year at 200 booked nights. |
| Revenue guarantee | None offered. Every proposal includes a revenue projection for your specific property instead. | $5,000 advertised, but the owner terms cap any payment at the total platform fees you paid that year. On a home producing $20,000 of qualified rent the real ceiling is closer to $4,000, and eligibility requires a documented prior‑year baseline plus adherence to platform best practices. |
The honest comparison is never the fee line, it is projected net income after every cost. A manager with stronger pricing, broader distribution and higher guest satisfaction can out‑earn a cheaper one by more than the fee difference, and the reverse is also true. Ask both companies for a written revenue projection on your specific property, ask what is billed on top of the commission, and ask what happens financially when a guest cancels. If the two proposals land close on net income, the fee argument decides it.
Side by side
AvantStay and Fairly compared
| Criterion | AvantStay | Fairly |
|---|---|---|
| Model and track record | ||
| Operating model | Full service, in‑house local teams employed by AvantStay | Distributed, independent local caretakers selected by the owner |
| Operating since | 2017, nine years and multiple full seasons | Public since December 2024, roughly twenty months |
| Local contact is employed by the company | Yes. In‑house teams on the payroll, with cover built in | No. Independent contractors who choose their own clients and can stop choosing yours |
| Market network | Established across 60+ markets | Still being recruited. 20 published markets against caretaker job adverts in roughly 45 states |
| Who sets nightly rates | AvantStay’s revenue team, using dynamic pricing informed by demand across 60+ markets | Owner decides. Fairly’s AI recommends, you approve. |
| Owner involvement required | None. Designed to be fully passive. | Ongoing. Pricing and strategy decisions stay on your desk. |
| Supports material participation for STR tax treatment | No. Management is fully delegated. | Yes. The model is explicitly built around it. |
| Coverage and portfolio | ||
| Markets served | 60+ US markets, from Malibu and Aspen to the Smoky Mountains and the Outer Banks | 20 published market pages across 10 states, concentrated in Oregon, Texas, California and Colorado |
| Owners served | 2,500+ homeowners | Not published. 1,954 individual listing pages live as of August 2026. |
| Expansion footprint | Established market network | Actively recruiting caretakers in roughly 45 states, well ahead of served markets |
| Large group and event homes | Purpose‑built specialty, including company retreats and special occasions | Not a stated focus. Single‑caretaker model suits standard homes. |
| Design and furnishing services | In‑house design team, from light refresh to full furnishing | Not offered |
| Distribution and revenue | ||
| Distribution channels | 50+ channels including Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, Homes & Villas by Marriott International and Plum Guide | Airbnb and Vrbo, plus fairly.com |
| Direct booking channel | avantstay.com, with a repeat guest base and a membership program | fairly.com |
| Smart home technology | Installed at onboarding, with 24/7 monitoring | Unique guest access codes and home automation |
| Dedicated owner account manager | Yes. A named account manager for your property, backed by the local team | No. A Vacation Rental Expert advises at setup; your caretaker is the day‑to‑day contact |
| Owner reporting | Lighthouse platform: live revenue, occupancy, channel breakdown, statements, maintenance orders and owner stays | Platform reporting |
| Guest experience and public record | ||
| Average guest rating | 4.8 across managed homes, against a public review record you can check | 4.9, self‑reported across Airbnb‑managed listings, with no independent base to corroborate it |
| Independent review base | Trustpilot 4.7 from 2,635 reviews; Apple App Store 4.8 from 1,075; Yelp 3.7 from 442. Not all of it flattering, all of it public. | None located. Trustpilot profile unclaimed with 0 reviews as of July 2026, and no G2 or Yelp profile found. Testimonials on its site are first‑party. |
| What backs the headline guarantee | No guarantee offered, so nothing to check | Capped at the platform fees you paid, conditioned on a documented baseline and on following platform best practices |
| Guest support | In‑house team, 24/7, plus concierge services | Your caretaker, with a Fairly backup team when they are unavailable |
| Damage protection | Built in on all bookings | Not published |
AvantStay leads on operating history, market coverage, distribution breadth, group‑home specialization, design services, dedicated account management and the depth of its independent review record. Fairly leads on fee transparency and tax structure, and it offers a first‑year earnings guarantee that AvantStay does not. Fairly self‑reports a 4.9 average guest rating against AvantStay’s 4.8, but has no independent review base to check it against, while AvantStay’s 4.7 Trustpilot score rests on 2,635 public reviews. The asymmetry that matters most is not any single row. It is that AvantStay’s claims can be checked against nine years of public record, including the unflattering parts, and Fairly’s largely cannot be checked at all yet.
The honest part
Where Fairly may fit better
Four situations where Fairly is worth a look, and what each one costs you.
The tax case is central to your investment
Fairly’s model is designed to preserve material participation, which is what the short‑term rental tax treatment requires in order to offset ordinary income with bonus depreciation. Full‑service management is the opposite structure by definition. If that deduction is doing heavy lifting in your model, that is a structural point in Fairly’s favor, and one to take to your CPA rather than to either sales team. Worth weighing honestly: the same structure that earns the deduction is the one that keeps you making decisions every week of the year, and the hours have to be real.
You want to keep setting your own rates
Some owners have a view on their market and want to act on it, or prefer to protect rate integrity over chasing occupancy. Fairly recommends prices and leaves the decision with you. AvantStay’s revenue team sets pricing against live demand data across 60+ markets, which is precisely why most of our owners hand that decision over. If you would rather hold the pen, Fairly is built for you.
A published fee matters more than breadth
Fairly puts 20% on its website with no onboarding or cancellation fee. AvantStay quotes per property, so you cannot compare us until you have talked to us. If you want to run numbers before a sales conversation, that is a real advantage for Fairly. What a published percentage cannot tell you is net income, which is the number that decides this, and that takes a projection on your specific home from both sides.
Your market is theirs and not ours
AvantStay serves 60+ markets, and there are plenty of good vacation rental markets outside that list. If your home sits in one of them and Fairly has a strong caretaker nearby, the map settles the question. Interview that specific caretaker before you sign, because with Fairly’s model that person is your experience. Confirm they are in place today: Fairly currently publishes 20 market pages but is running caretaker job adverts across roughly 45 states, so ask whether your market is staffed or still being recruited.
AvantStay at a glance
The numbers behind the service
Owner platform
Lighthouse, where you check our work
Every AvantStay owner gets access to Lighthouse. It shows live revenue and occupancy, a channel breakdown of where bookings came from, detailed financial statements, open maintenance orders and a booking tool for your own stays.
The reason this matters in a comparison: with a fully delegated manager, the dashboard is how you verify the work without picking up the phone. Ask to see a live demo of either platform, with real numbers, before you sign anything.
Owner voices
What AvantStay owners say
What really impressed me was how transparent AvantStay is with numbers. I get monthly reports that actually make sense, and revenue has gone up steadily since switching from my old manager. It feels like they treat my property like a real business, not just another listing.
RobertProperty owner in California
AvantStay is honestly the best management company we’ve worked with in Port A. They’re always chasing 5‑star reviews, but more importantly, they actually fix things fast. Last time the A/C broke in the middle of summer, they had a tech out the same day.
JennyProperty owner in Texas
Before, my house felt underpriced and underused. Now AvantStay highlights the luxury side, better photos, small upgrades, premium amenities, and suddenly I’m getting higher nightly rates without losing bookings.
PatriciaProperty owner in Colorado
Questions owners ask
AvantStay vs Fairly: common questions
Is Fairly too new to trust with my home?
That is the right question, and the honest answer is that you cannot yet check. Fairly launched publicly in December 2024. Its Trustpilot profile was unclaimed with zero reviews as of July 2026, and no G2 or Yelp profile could be located, so the owner testimonials on its site are first‑party and its 4.9 guest rating is self‑reported. None of that means the service is poor. It means the verification route you would normally use is closed, and you would be an early customer. If you proceed, ask for owner references in your own market who have completed a full season.
What is the difference between AvantStay and Fairly?
AvantStay is a full‑service manager that runs your home end to end with in‑house local teams, a dedicated account manager and distribution across 50+ channels in 60+ US markets, and specializes in large, group‑friendly homes. Fairly assigns one independent local caretaker, publishes a flat 20% fee, and leaves pricing decisions with you. The choice is whether you want the work delegated or want to stay in it.
How do AvantStay and Fairly fees compare?
Fairly publishes a single 20% fee on nightly revenue before cleaning fees, with no onboarding or cancellation fee, and 5% of that goes to your local caretaker. AvantStay prices per property and does not publish a rate card, so you get a quote after a property review. Compare the two on projected net income after every cost, not on the headline percentage.
Who founded Fairly?
Fairly was founded by Eric Breon, Jeff Flitton and Subechya Person, and launched publicly in December 2024 with a $10.1 million funding round. Breon previously founded Vacasa. The company is employee‑owned and roughly twenty months into building its operating network, against AvantStay’s nine years.
Does AvantStay or Fairly qualify me for the short‑term rental tax loophole?
Fairly is explicitly designed around it. Because you keep decision‑making authority over pricing and strategy, its model is built to support the material participation test. AvantStay is fully delegated management, which is the opposite structure. If bonus depreciation against ordinary income is central to your investment case, speak to your CPA before choosing either one.
Which is better for a large group or event‑friendly home?
AvantStay. Its portfolio is purpose‑built for larger, design‑forward homes that sleep eight or more, with in‑house teams, concierge services and distribution on luxury channels including Homes & Villas by Marriott International. Fairly’s model puts one local caretaker at the center of each home, which suits standard properties better than a ten‑sleeper in peak season.
Which company has better public reviews?
AvantStay, on the evidence available. AvantStay has a deep public record you can check yourself: 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 2,635 reviews, 4.8 on the Apple App Store from 1,075 ratings, and 3.7 on Yelp from 442 reviews. Fairly self‑reports a 4.9 average on its Airbnb‑managed listings, but its Trustpilot profile was unclaimed with zero reviews as of July 2026, so there is no independent record to verify it against.
Where does each company operate?
AvantStay operates in 60+ US markets. Fairly publishes 20 market pages across 10 states as of August 2026, concentrated in Oregon, Texas, California and Colorado, and is actively recruiting caretakers in roughly 45 states. Check whether your specific market is genuinely served today rather than on a roadmap.
Can I switch from Fairly to AvantStay, or the other way?
Yes, in both directions. Check your current agreement’s notice period first, since management contracts commonly run 30, 60 or 90 days. Get the handover plan for existing reservations in writing from both sides before you give notice, and time the move for your slow season if you can.
How we compared
Methodology and sources
AvantStay publishes this page and has an obvious interest in the outcome, so here is exactly where each figure came from. Facts about Fairly are taken from Fairly’s own website, sitemaps and press page rather than from third‑party summaries. Where a figure is Fairly’s own claim rather than an independently verified number, we say so. Where AvantStay does not publish something, we say that too.
- Fairly fee structure, caretaker share, absence of onboarding and cancellation fees: fairly.com, “AvantStay Review: Is It Worth It for Hosts?”, published 23 June 2026.
- Fairly $5,000 first‑year earnings guarantee, 4.9 average Airbnb rating, automated lodging tax filing, Airbnb and Vrbo distribution: fairly.com homepage, retrieved 19 August 2026.
- Fairly founders, December 2024 launch, $10.1 million funding round: fairly.com/about and fairly.com/press, retrieved 19 August 2026.
- Fairly market coverage of 20 published market pages across 10 states, 1,954 live listing pages, and caretaker recruitment across roughly 45 states: fairly.com local, direct and marketing sitemaps, retrieved 19 August 2026.
- Fairly Trustpilot profile unclaimed with zero reviews: checked 15 July 2026. No G2 or Yelp profile located as of 19 August 2026. Absence of a profile is not evidence of a problem, only of a record that does not exist yet.
- Revenue guarantee terms, including the cap at total platform fees paid, the documented baseline requirement, the exclusion of stays of thirty days or longer, and the platform best-practices eligibility condition: Fairly Owner Terms of Service, fairly.com/owner-terms-of-service, retrieved 19 August 2026.
- Optional guest damage protection at $10 per booked night: fairly.com, retrieved 19 August 2026.
- Caretakers as independent operators who create a profile, choose their clients and set their own cleaning fee: fairly.com/caretakers, retrieved 19 August 2026.
- AvantStay homeowner count and market count: avantstay.com, 2026, corroborated by Fairly’s own June 2026 research.
- AvantStay founding date, founders and headquarters: avantstay.com/about.
- AvantStay public ratings, Trustpilot 4.7 from 2,635 reviews: pulled 15 July 2026. Apple App Store 4.8 from 1,075 ratings and Yelp 3.7 from 442 reviews: reported June 2026.
- AvantStay distribution channels, onboarding timeline, damage protection and design services: avantstay.com/vacation-rental-management.
Published 19 August 2026. Pricing, coverage and ratings change. If you are reading this well after that date, ask both companies to confirm their current terms in writing.
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