Great Stays review

★★★★☆ 4.1 · 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. In scale, we file it as 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 southern Idaho.

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Because Great Stays keeps this unpublished, you cannot line it up against One Fine BnB, which states 20% for hands-off full service, or 10% if you keep your own local crew, plus a one-time onboarding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.

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. 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 remote owner. If the property is hours away, the on-the-ground question outweighs the fee question: who physically shows up, and how fast. Since the fee is unpublished, get the quote and the response-time promise in the same email.
• 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. Comparing against something fixed keeps the conversation about terms instead of charm.

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

Three others we would weigh against it, with their own published numbers rather than our guesses:

• 5 Star STR — Not published (flat, perf clause).
• Checkmate Rentals — From 15% (nightly rate only).
• StayDuvet — 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.

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