Questions from owners

We take the house on as a working rental and run all of it: presenting and listing it, setting and adjusting rates, handling every guest from the first message to the goodbye, cleaning and laundry between stays, routine upkeep and small repairs, and the accounts that come back to you. In practice it means you are not the one answering the phone at nine at night. Exactly where the line falls on larger works or specialised jobs is something we set out in writing before we start.

We do, from end to end — enquiries, the booking, arrival and keys, the questions during the stay, and whatever goes wrong at an inconvenient hour. Our office is in Sámara, next to the post office, and the people who meet your guests are our own team, not a call centre and not a subcontractor. You hear about the stay afterwards, in the statement, rather than during it.

Our housekeeping team prepares the house between stays and handles the laundry; pool and garden are looked after on a regular schedule where the house has them. Day-to-day maintenance and small repairs we deal with as they appear, before they turn expensive. Anything larger — a new appliance, a roof, a remodel — is quoted and approved with you first, and that cost belongs to the house, not to us.

We photograph and write up the house ourselves, then publish it on this site and on the booking platforms where guests actually search. This site works in English, Spanish, French and German, which matters here — the guests who come to Sámara do not all arrive in one language. Which channels suit a particular house depends on what the house is and who it is for, and we go through that with you.

A booking that comes through our own site is direct with us: there is no platform in the middle and no platform commission coming out of it. That is why we push traffic to the site, and why we would rather a returning guest write to us than go back through a listing. The platforms still bring real business and we use them — we simply do not want them to be the only door.

Both are possible. Short stays generally suit a house that is well presented, quick to turn around and close to the beach; a longer rental can make more sense for a house further out, or when an owner wants stability and less traffic through the property. Which one fits your house — or whether to mix them by season — is exactly the kind of thing to decide together, with the house in front of us.

Playa Sámara and the beaches around it: Carrillo, Buena Vista and Camaronal. We work where our own team can reach a house the same day, which is what keeps the service honest. If your house is nearby but outside that, tell us where it is and we will say plainly whether we can look after it properly.

You receive a regular statement for the house: the bookings for the period, what came in, what was spent and on what, and the balance that is yours — with the receipts behind the expenses. Owners who live abroad tend to want more detail than owners down the road, and we would rather send too much than too little. If you need it in a particular format for your accountant, ask and we will work with it.

Payment follows the statement: once the period is closed and the accounts for the house are settled, your balance is transferred to you. The schedule and the method — local account, international transfer, currency — are agreed with you at the start, because owners here bank in different countries. It goes into the written agreement so there is nothing left to interpret later.

Yes. It is your house, and you can block whatever dates you want for yourself, your family or your friends; we only need to know in advance so those dates never reach a guest. High season fills early, so the sooner you tell us, the less you give up. Plenty of the owners we work with come down every year and the house is simply held for them.

It needs to be safe, clean, working and complete: reliable water and power, air conditioning or good ventilation depending on the house, a kitchen someone can genuinely cook in, beds and linens in good order, decent internet, and a pool and garden that are maintained rather than rescued. Beyond that it varies enormously — some houses need almost nothing, others have a serious list in front of them. We would rather give you that list up front than put a house on the market that will disappoint the first guest.

It depends on the house — where it is, how big it is, how much work it takes to run, and how much you want us to take on. We do not have a single number we quote before seeing a property, and we would be wary of anyone who does. Once we know the house, you get the terms in writing: what we handle, what it costs, and how the money reaches you.

The company is run by Leonardo Ugalde, and Kimberly Guadamuz runs the day-to-day operation; between them and the team on the ground, you will be talking to the same small group of people rather than a rotating queue. The office is next to the post office in Sámara, and you are welcome to come by.

Call or write, and we arrange a visit to the house. We walk through it with you, look at what it has and what it lacks, and come back with an honest assessment: what it can realistically do as a rental, what we would fix first, and what it is not suited to. If that leads somewhere, we put the terms in writing; if it does not, you still end up with a clear picture of your own house. Write to reservations@samararentals.com, or call or WhatsApp +506 8387 9595, and we will come back to you within one business day.