How Much Should an Airbnb Co-Host Charge? Fees, Examples and a Free Calculator

If you're starting to co-host short-term rentals for other owners, the first real question is money: what percentage should you charge? Charge too little and you end up working for less than minimum wage. Charge too much and the owner walks.

This guide covers the typical ranges, what changes the right number, and a simple way to calculate a fee you can defend — with a worked example you can copy.

Short on time? Our free online Co-Host Fee Calculator works it out in your browser — no download, no sign-up.

Typical co-host fee ranges

Co-host fees are usually a percentage of the booking revenue. The range depends mostly on how much of the work you take on:

• Partial co-hosting — about 10–25%. For example guest messaging, reviews and coordinating a cleaner, while the owner handles pricing, restocking and repairs.
• Full-service management — about 25–40%. You run everything: listing, pricing, guest communication, cleaners, supplies, maintenance and monthly owner reporting.

Those ranges are a starting point, not an answer. Two properties that both "need full service" can be very different amounts of work.

What actually changes the right fee

1. Revenue per night. 20% of a $350/night cabin is very different money from 20% of an $85/night studio, even though the turnovers take similar effort.
2. Number of turnovers. Short stays mean more check-ins, more cleaner coordination and more messages. A property averaging 2-night stays is far more work than one averaging 6-night stays.
3. Gross vs. net. Is your percentage taken from gross nightly revenue, or from the payout after platform fees? Put this in writing — it's one of the most common disputes between co-hosts and owners.
4. Who keeps the cleaning fee. If you pay the cleaner, the guest cleaning fee should come to you. If the owner pays the cleaner, it stays with the owner.
5. Your own costs. Pricing tools, smart-lock software and a property management system all eat into your fee.

A simple way to calculate your fee

Instead of guessing a percentage, work backwards from the hourly rate you want to earn:

1. Estimate monthly revenue: nightly rate × nights booked.
2. Estimate your hours: turnovers per month × hours per turnover, plus fixed monthly hours (pricing, listing updates, owner reporting).
3. Required fee = (target hourly rate × hours + your monthly tool costs) ÷ commissionable revenue.

Worked example

A 2-bedroom property in a mid-size market:

• Nightly rate: $185, occupancy 68% → about 20.7 nights and $3,826 in rental revenue per month
• Average stay 3.2 nights → about 6.5 turnovers per month
• Your time: 1.5 hours per turnover + 4 fixed hours → about 13.7 hours per month
• Your tools: $25 per month
• Target: $45 per hour

Required fee = ($45 × 13.7 + $25) ÷ $3,826 ≈ 16.8% of gross rent.

At a 20% fee you'd earn about $740 per month from this property — roughly $54 per hour. That's a healthy rate for partial co-hosting, and it's a number you can explain to the owner.

How many properties do you need?

Using the same example, $740 of profit per property means you'd need about 7 similar properties to reach $5,000 per month — at roughly 22 hours of work per week. Run this math before you commit to a growth goal; it tells you whether you need more properties or higher-value ones.

Put it in writing

Whatever you charge, write down: the percentage, whether it's on gross or net, any fixed monthly or onboarding fee, who keeps the cleaning fee, and what happens to fees on bookings made before the relationship ends. A clear co-host management agreement prevents most disputes before they start.

Run your own numbers

Every market is different. Plug your property's rate, occupancy and costs into our free online Co-Host Fee Calculator to see the monthly revenue, the owner's net cash flow, your real hourly rate and the fee you'd need to hit your target — right in the browser. Prefer a spreadsheet? Grab the free Quick Quote Calculator (Excel/Google Sheets).

Want conservative and optimistic scenarios, a 10–35% commission comparison, an income goal planner and a revenue projection you can send to owners? That's the Pricing & Commission Calculator.

Figures above are an illustrative example, not a guarantee of results. Always use local market data.