What should you check in a Bali villa management agreement?

Management fees in Bali typically run 15–25%. Owners negotiate that number hard and sign everything around it without reading.

The percentage is rarely where the money goes.

What the fee is charged on

A 20% fee on gross revenue and a 20% fee on net room revenue after platform commission are materially different numbers. On a villa grossing USD 42,000 with 16% platform commission, that difference is roughly USD 1,350 a year.

Establish the base in writing, with a worked example attached to the contract.

What is inside the fee and what is billed on top

Ask for the list, explicitly:

• Staff wages, and whether they are your cost or theirs
• Utilities, pool and garden maintenance
• Linen, amenities, consumables
• Listing photography and channel management
• Maintenance call-outs, and the threshold above which they need your approval
• Marketing contributions

An attractive percentage with everything billed separately is not attractive.

The clauses that matter more than the fee

Term and exit. How long are you locked in, what notice is required, and can you leave for underperformance? A three-year term with no performance exit is a long time to be wrong.

Reporting. Monthly statements showing gross revenue, each deduction, and occupancy — with access to the underlying booking data. If you cannot see the platform account, you cannot verify the revenue you are being paid a share of.

Who holds the money. Do guest payments land in your account or theirs? If theirs, when do they remit, and what happens on insolvency?

Rate control. Can they discount without your consent? Aggressive discounting raises occupancy, which flatters their performance while lowering your net.

Owner use. How many nights can you use your own villa, in which seasons, and with what notice?

Maintenance and reserves. Who funds the refurbishment a rental property needs every few years? This is routinely absent, and it is a real annual cost — the calculator treats it as one.

Guaranteed returns

Some agreements offer a fixed return regardless of occupancy.

Ask what backs the guarantee. If it is funded from your own sale proceeds or from new buyers' deposits, it is not a return. Ask what happens to the guarantee if the operator's licence lapses, and whether the guaranteeing entity has assets.

The licensing question underneath all of it

A management agreement does not create the right to operate short-term accommodation. That comes from zoning, the business classification and the permits.

If the operator holds the accommodation licence and you hold the property, the relationship must be a genuine, documented, arm's-length arrangement — a real lease or a real management contract with a properly licensed operator.

What it cannot be is a local name on a licence while a foreign owner directs the business. Since Perda Bali 4/2026 that is a nominee arrangement, and facilitating one is prohibited in its own right.

Ask to see the operator's NIB, confirm the classification covers this location rather than only their company domicile, and confirm the codes have been migrated to KBLI 2025.