Your Flatmates tools
Using the co-managers feature
Flatmates lets you grant a trusted co-manager access to help run your listing directly through the platform, and setting this up properly through the actual feature, with the right permissions, makes delegating day-to-day tasks considerably smoother than trying to coordinate entirely outside the app.
Find the co-manager invitation option in your host settings
The co-manager feature is accessed through your host account settings, where you can send an invitation to someone you trust, linking their own account to your listing with a defined level of access.
Understand the different permission levels available
The platform typically offers tiered permissions, full access, messaging only, calendar only, so review each option carefully and choose the level that matches how much responsibility you're genuinely ready to delegate to this specific person.
Send the invitation and confirm it's been properly accepted
After sending a co-manager invitation, confirm it's actually been accepted and is showing as active in your settings, rather than assuming it went through correctly without verifying the connection is genuinely live.
Start with limited access and expand it as trust builds
Rather than granting full access immediately, consider starting a new co-manager with more limited permissions, messaging or calendar access specifically, and expanding their access once the working relationship has proven reliable over time.
Understand what a co-manager can and can't see or do
Review exactly what a co-manager's assigned permission level allows them to view and change, since a clear understanding here prevents any surprise about what they're actually able to access on your behalf.
Use the activity log to keep visibility into co-manager actions
If your account provides an activity log, check it periodically to see what actions a co-manager has taken, which maintains your own oversight without requiring you to be constantly, directly involved in every single decision.
Remove or adjust access promptly if the arrangement changes
If a co-manager relationship ends or needs to change, update or revoke their access through the same settings panel promptly, rather than leaving an outdated permission in place longer than it should genuinely remain active.
Coordinate notification settings so you're not duplicating effort
Configure notification settings thoughtfully between yourself and a co-manager, so both of you aren't redundantly alerted about every single event, while still making sure nothing important falls through a genuine gap between you.
This feature scales particularly well across multiple listings
If you manage more than one property, the co-manager feature can often be configured across your full portfolio, letting one trusted person help manage several listings through a single, consistent access setup.
Combine platform access with a clear off-platform understanding too
The feature itself handles technical access, but pair it with the kind of clear expectations and communication covered in managing the actual working relationship, since the tool alone doesn't replace a genuine, well-defined understanding between you both.
A properly configured co-manager setup is a genuine growth enabler
Used well, this feature is one of the more direct, practical tools available for scaling your hosting operation beyond what you can manage entirely solo, letting you extend your own reach without losing meaningful oversight of what's actually happening.
Walk a new co-manager through the interface directly, not just the concept
Beyond explaining what you'd like them to do, spend a few minutes actually walking a new co-manager through the specific screens and features they'll be using, since a quick, hands-on orientation prevents a considerable amount of early confusion and avoidable mistakes.
Understand whether co-manager actions are attributed clearly in guest view
Check whether messages or actions taken by a co-manager appear distinctly from your own to a guest, since understanding exactly how this is presented helps you decide how much to explain the arrangement to guests directly versus keeping it entirely behind the scenes.
Set clear expectations about when a co-manager should escalate to you
Even with full technical access granted, agree explicitly on which types of decisions a co-manager should still escalate to you directly, a serious complaint, a financial decision, so the platform access itself doesn't imply unlimited decision-making authority beyond what you've actually intended.
Revisit permission levels periodically rather than setting them once
As trust and experience build, or as your own needs change, periodically revisit whether a co-manager's current permission level still makes sense, rather than leaving the original settings untouched indefinitely regardless of how the working relationship has actually evolved.
Confirm how quickly a permission change actually takes effect
If you ever need to urgently adjust or revoke a co-manager's access, understand roughly how quickly that change actually takes effect once submitted, since knowing this in advance matters if you're ever making the change under genuine time pressure.
A second set of eyes through this feature often catches things you'd miss
Beyond the workload benefit, a co-manager with genuine platform access sometimes catches a small issue, an outdated calendar block, an unanswered message, that you'd have otherwise missed entirely, which is a real, if secondary, benefit of properly sharing access rather than managing everything alone.
Document your specific co-manager setup for your own future reference
Keep a simple personal note of exactly which permissions you've granted to whom and why, so if you ever need to review or explain your current setup, whether to the co-manager themselves or to a future co-manager, you have a clear, accurate record to refer back to.
Consider how the feature handles a temporary rather than permanent arrangement
If you only need co-manager coverage for a specific, limited period, a vacation, a busy season, check whether the platform supports a genuinely temporary access grant, which may be more appropriate than setting up and later needing to fully remove a permanent arrangement.
This feature works well alongside, not instead of, direct communication
Granting platform access is only one part of a good working arrangement - pair it with regular, direct conversation about how things are going, since the technical access itself doesn't replace the ongoing relationship-building that makes a co-manager arrangement genuinely successful.
A well-configured co-manager setup pays for itself quickly in saved time
The modest upfront time spent properly configuring permissions and training a co-manager on the actual interface is quickly repaid through the ongoing time saved across every future booking and guest interaction they're able to competently handle on your behalf.
Approach the first month of any new co-manager access as a genuine trial
Treat the first several weeks after granting access as a real trial period for the technical setup itself, not just the person, checking that the permission level you chose genuinely fits how they're actually using it in practice.
This feature ultimately exists to extend trust, not just save time
At its core, the co-manager feature is a mechanism for extending genuine trust to someone else in a structured, controllable way, which is worth remembering as you decide how much access to grant and to whom.
A brief closing note
Configure this feature carefully once, and it quietly continues supporting your hosting for as long as the working relationship it enables actually lasts, with only minor, occasional adjustment needed along the way as your circumstances gradually and naturally change over time.
