Owner services · Invermere & the Columbia Valley
Airbnb Property Management in Invermere & the Columbia Valley
We run short-term rentals across Invermere, Windermere and Radium — listing, pricing, guests, cleaning and the licensing that keeps you legal. Owners keep the asset. We handle everything else.
Listed everywhere guests book — and on our own commission-free engine
The numbers, from our own books
4.84 average across 296 guest reviews — every review for the homes we currently let, including 184 collected before we moved systems.
90.3% occupancy through July and August 2026 at Valley View Haven, and 87.1% at The Point Lodge across the same weeks.
$1,274 a night sustained at Backyard Oasis through peak season — more than four times what a two-bedroom condo holds in the same weeks.
754 reservations processed since April 2025, when the portfolio moved onto our current booking system.
Direct bookings on our own engine, so a share of every season avoids platform commission entirely.
Can you still run an Airbnb in Invermere?
Yes — and this is the single most misunderstood fact for owners here. British Columbia’s Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act restricts short-term rentals to a host’s principal residence across much of the province. Invermere sits below the population threshold and is exempt, so a property here does not have to be your home in order to be rented short term.
That exemption covers the principal residence rule only. You still need provincial registration — roughly $450 a year where you do not live on site — a District of Invermere business licence, and in most residential zones a Temporary Use Permit. Strata bylaws are a separate layer again, and can prohibit short-term renting no matter what the Province and District allow.
Registration in BC's short-term rental registry — mandatory even though Invermere is exempt from the principal-residence rule. About $450/year off-site.
An Invermere business licence, renewed annually — plus a Temporary Use Permit in most residential zones, with dedicated parking and noise monitoring as conditions.
Bylaws can prohibit short-term renting outright, whatever the Province and District allow. We read them before you commit, not after.
Satisfying two of the three still means you cannot legally operate. We track all three, because each renews on its own clock.
What that means in practice
An investment property in Invermere is still workable when much of British Columbia no longer is.
Three approvals on three renewal dates, and nothing stops working when one lapses — which is how owners find out at the worst possible moment.
A Temporary Use Permit requires dedicated off-street parking and an installed noise monitoring system, not a policy statement.
Communities under the threshold may opt in later. Invermere has not, but that is a council decision and worth watching if you are buying to rent.
What Airbnb management actually covers
A percentage on its own tells an owner very little. This is the work behind ours.
Listing and photography
Built and maintained across Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com, plus our own direct booking engine. Titles, descriptions and amenity data kept accurate — guests filter on amenities long before they read a description.
Dynamic pricing
Rates move with season, day of week, length of stay, local events and how far out the booking sits. A flat nightly rate leaves money on the table in February and empties the calendar in July.
Guest communication
Enquiries, arrival instructions, door codes, and the 2am problems. We are in the valley, so a lockout is a drive rather than a phone tree.
Turnover and linen
Cleaned between every stay rather than weekly, consumables restocked, and problems photographed and logged rather than mentioned in passing.
Compliance calendar
Provincial registration, District business licence, Temporary Use Permit and short-term-rental insurance all renew on separate clocks. We track the dates, because the failure mode is silent.
Maintenance and seasonal work
Hot tub servicing, snow removal, lawn care, and the callouts that arrive at 9am with a 5pm check-in.
The homes we run
How we maximize revenue
Occupancy is only half the equation. The other half is what each booked night earns — and which channel it arrives on.
Every channel, one calendar
Airbnb, Vrbo, HomeAway, Booking.com and the Expedia network, plus our own direct booking engine. One synced calendar, so a booking anywhere closes the night everywhere — and rates are tuned per channel to cover each platform’s fees.
Seasonal strategy
Lake weeks in July, Panorama’s ski season, the Whiteway in deep winter, and Alberta long weekends each price differently. Rates move with the event calendar and booking lead time, not a flat rate card.
Direct and repeat revenue
Bookings on our own engine carry no platform commission, and our rewards programme gives returning guests 4–8% off direct stays — so second visits book direct, and the margin stays with the owner.
Gap nights and stay rules
Orphan nights between bookings are priced to fill, and minimum-stay rules flex by season — strict across peak weeks, loose across shoulder gaps a two-night stay can rescue.
How an Invermere Airbnb becomes an elite-income home
Occupancy is the number owners fixate on. It is not the number that pays. Here is what our own portfolio shows.
Last 12 months · from our reservation ledger
The emptiest home commands four times the nightly rate.
Occupancy here is nights booked against every night on the calendar — owner stays and blocked dates included. It is the strict measure, and lower than the availability-based figure most tools quote.
Six bedrooms, hot tub, fire pit, games room and a private yard — the whole-group booking nobody else in town can take.
See Backyard OasisWhat actually moves the rate
Switch the levers a home has. The estimate starts from a two-bedroom condo at the $274 peak-season rate ours genuinely achieve.
Directional, not a quote — uplifts are drawn from the gaps between our own homes, and every property is its own case. Backyard Oasis averages $698 a night across the year with all six.
Estimate your homeThe operator's playbook
Where your home gets listed, every amenity worth considering, and the upgrades we build ourselves — with what each one actually does to your rate.
Self-manage, or hand it over?
Move the assumptions. Nothing here is weighted in our favour — the uplift starts at zero, which means self-managing wins on cash until you price your own time.
Your property
Your assumptions
Still starts at zero. No management fee can beat self-managing on fee alone — you pay us nothing to do it yourself. The comparison turns on two honest things: what your own hours are worth, and whether managed listings earn more. Set both to what you actually believe.
after $6,075 commission, $2,900 tools and trades, and $13,500 of your time
$18,563 management fee, $6,075 platform commission
$16,875 management fee, $13,500 booked direct with no commission
Net to you after commission, fees, tools and trades — before tax, insurance, utilities and mortgage, which are the same whoever runs it. Self-managed also subtracts your own hours at the rate you set. Not counted anywhere: a lapsed licence, a double booking, or the review a slow reply earns you.
What our fee actually includes
One percentage, no add-ons for the things below. The comparison that matters is not the headline rate — it is what gets billed on top of it.
Management fees in the Columbia Valley generally run 25–30%, and cleaning, linen, photography and maintenance are often billed separately on top. Our 25% sits at the bottom of that range with those inclusions covered — but do not take it on trust. Ask any manager, including us, to put their inclusions in writing.
From your first email to your first payout
Six steps, in the order they actually happen, with how long each one takes.
What you receive, every month
Ownership should be quiet, not opaque. These arrive without you asking.
Bookings, gross revenue, platform fees, our fee, maintenance spend and net to you. Sent, not requested.
Records organised for your accountant at year end, including the expense categories that matter for a rental property.
Occupancy, average nightly rate and revenue per property — the same figures we publish about our own portfolio on this page.
What was found, what was done, what it cost. Issues documented between stays rather than mentioned in passing.
What the year earned against projection, what the market did, and the specific changes worth making before next season.
You deal with someone who knows your property, based in the valley — not a ticket queue.
Seven questions to ask any manager in this valley
Including us. Take this list to every company you speak to — the answers separate an operator from a letting agent faster than any brochure.
We publish our answer to the first one further up this page — occupancy, nightly rate and revenue, per property, from the reservation ledger. Ask anyone else for the same and see what comes back.
The guest experience behind the reviews
A 4.84 across 296 reviews is not luck. It is the same machinery running before, during and after every stay.
Answers before the question
Every guest gets a digital handbook for their exact home — wifi, parking, hot tub rules, door codes and our valley guide — so the 9pm what’s-the-wifi message mostly never arrives.
A local team, around the clock
Enquiries, arrival help and the 2am lockout are handled from inside the valley. Response is a drive, not a call centre.
Rewards that bring guests back
Stays earn towards 4–8% lifetime discounts on direct bookings — so a great first visit becomes a repeat guest who books commission-free.
Turnovers that protect the rating
Cleaned between every stay with photographic checks, restocked consumables, and issues logged before the next guest ever sees them.
Short-term rental management across the Columbia Valley
Based in Invermere, working the whole valley. If your property is within a snow-tire drive of the lake, we can run it.
Invermere
Our home base, and where most of the portfolio sits — town-centre homes walkable to downtown and the lake, priced on genuine two-season demand.
Windermere
Lakeside and hillside homes minutes from the public beach, with the same Calgary weekend demand as Invermere at gentler acquisition prices.
Radium Hot Springs
Gateway to Kootenay National Park, with the hot pools driving year-round traffic. We managed a 42-review chalet here — the market books.
Fairmont Hot Springs
Resort-town demand around the hot springs and golf, with strong family bookings through summer and shoulder seasons.
Panorama
Ski-in, ski-out demand through winter, Greywolf golf through summer. Seasonal pricing matters more here than anywhere else in the valley.
Canal Flats
The quiet south end of the lake — value buys with genuine summer occupancy for owners priced out of Invermere proper.
Edgewater
Small-town homes north of Radium that trade on peace, price and Kootenay Park access for guests who want the valley without the crowds.
Why a local manager matters here
The District of Invermere runs a 24-hour complaint line, and complaints route to the District rather than to you. Your approved occupancy is published in a public register alongside your business licence number and permit expiry, so advertising more guests than you are permitted is trivially checkable.
A manager two valleys away cannot meet a locksmith at midnight, talk to the neighbour, or close out a noise complaint before it becomes a permit problem. Ask any manager where their team physically is, and what the realistic response time is at 2am.
Airbnb management in Invermere: common questions
Do I need a licence to Airbnb my property in Invermere?
Yes. You need provincial registration with British Columbia, a District of Invermere business licence, and in most residential zones a Temporary Use Permit. Your strata may impose its own prohibition on top of all three.
Is Invermere exempt from BC’s principal residence rule?
Yes. The principal residence requirement applies to communities above a population threshold, and Invermere sits below it. A property here does not have to be your home to be rented short term, though provincial registration is still mandatory.
Can I run an Airbnb in Invermere if I live in Calgary?
Yes. That is precisely what the exemption allows, and it is why Invermere remains workable for investment owners when much of British Columbia no longer is.
What occupancy can I expect in the Columbia Valley?
Our best-performing home ran 90.3% occupancy through July and August 2026, with The Point Lodge at 87.1% across the same weeks. Peak season is where the calendar fills; shoulder seasons are where pricing strategy earns its keep.
What does an Airbnb property manager cost?
Managers charge a percentage of revenue, but the headline rate is not the comparison that matters. Ask what sits inside it — cleaning, linen, restocking, maintenance callouts, photography, platform commission — then compare the total cost.
Can I still use the property myself?
Yes, and most owners do. Every week you block is a week that does not earn, and blocking Christmas, long weekends or mid-July has a disproportionate effect — worth deciding deliberately rather than by default.
Which amenities are actually worth adding?
In this valley a hot tub is close to table stakes and lifts winter occupancy more than anything else. After that: real sleeping capacity, parking that fits a boat, a kitchen a group can cook in, and fast wifi.
Find out what your property could earn
Our revenue estimator gives an instant figure from town, property type, bedrooms, capacity and amenities. Then we review it against the actual address, its zoning and its strata rules — and we will tell you if it does not work.
Call +1 (250) 409-4660 or email john@horizonproperties.ca.