Short-term rental management fees: what co-hosts and managers charge

Airbnb management fees are what a co-host or property manager charges to run a short-term rental for its owner. There is no standard rate. Published prices start at 10% of bookings for a service that handles marketing and guests, and full-service managers quote each home.

The number matters less than two questions. What is the percentage taken from, and what does it cover? This guide answers both, for owners comparing quotes and for managers setting a fee.

Fee models at a glance

Model	How it works	Watch for
Percentage of bookings	A share of each booking, taken as it is paid out	Whether it is a share of gross bookings or of the payout
Flat monthly fee	The same amount every month	You pay it in empty months too
Per-booking fee	A fixed amount for each reservation	Short stays cost more per night to manage
Percentage plus pass-through costs	A share, with supplies and repairs billed on top	The extras can add up to more than the share

The first and the last need the closest reading, because the base and the extras decide the real cost.

Published prices you can check

Few management companies publish a rate. These are from the companies’ own pages on November 10, 2026.

Company	Published fee	Notes from the same page
Evolve	10% on the Core plan, 15% on Plus, custom on Pro	One-time $250 onboarding fee, $25 for each extra property
Vacasa	No rate published	Describes “one straightforward vacation rental management fee” and quotes each home

Co-hosting has no published rate at all. Airbnb does not set what a co-host earns.

The owner and the co-host agree it, and Airbnb gives the owner four ways to pay it out: the cleaning fee, a percentage, both, or a fixed amount per booking. The guide to co-hosting explains each option.

If you are searching for how much do Airbnb property managers charge, that is the honest state of things. I have not found a public data set of manager fees that I could check, so I am not going to quote an average. Get three written quotes in your own market.

What the percentage is taken from

A percentage means nothing until you know its base. There are two common ones.

Gross bookings is everything guests pay for the stay. The payout is what arrives after the platform keeps its host fee. On Airbnb that fee is 15.5% for most hosts, and on Vrbo it is 12% for most US hosts.

Here is one year on a home with $50,000 of gross bookings on Airbnb. The 20% share is an example for the arithmetic, not a market rate.

Line	20% of gross bookings	20% of the payout
Gross bookings	$50,000	$50,000
Platform fee at 15.5%	$7,750	$7,750
Payout	$42,250	$42,250
Management fee	$10,000	$8,450
Left for the owner	$32,250	$33,800

Same percentage, $1,550 apart. Neither base is wrong. A contract that does not say which one it uses is.

What the fee covers

The same percentage can buy very different amounts of work. Compare what two companies list on their own pages.

Evolve’s Core plan lists professional photos, distribution to the major booking sites, pricing, guest communication and 24/7 support. Its page does not say whether the owner still arranges cleaning and maintenance.

Vacasa lists more on the ground: cleaning, amenity stocking, inspections, maintenance and local staff, along with marketing and guest service.

So Airbnb property management cost depends on which job you are buying. A lower rate for marketing and messages can cost more in the end than a higher rate that includes the people who turn the home over.

Costs on top of the fee

Vacation rental management fees are rarely the whole bill. Ask about each of these.

• Onboarding or setup, charged once
• Cleaning. Guests usually pay a cleaning fee, but ask who keeps any difference between the fee and the cleaner’s invoice
• Supplies and restocking
• Repairs and maintenance, and whether the manager adds a margin
• Linen, if the manager supplies it
• Photography

The platform fee is separate from all of these. A manager cannot waive it, because the platform takes it before anyone is paid. The guide to Airbnb host fees explains what it is charged on.

For owners: questions to ask before you sign

1. What is your fee, and is it a share of gross bookings or of the payout?
2. Which tasks are included, and which are billed separately?
3. Who pays the cleaner, and who checks the clean?
4. Do you add a margin to repairs or supplies?
5. Can I see a sample monthly statement?
6. How long is the contract, and how does either of us end it?
7. Who owns the listing, the reviews and the direct booking website if we part ways?

Question 7 is the one owners forget. A listing created under a manager’s account, with years of reviews on it, may not come with you when you leave.

For co-hosts and managers: setting your fee

Set your fee from your costs, not from what a competitor’s website says.

Add up the hours a home takes in a month: messages, pricing, cleaner scheduling, inspections, owner reporting. Put a price on your time and add your software and insurance. That is your floor.

Then decide what to publish. Some managers put their rate on their site, and some quote each home.

Either can work. What does not work is an owner page that says nothing about how you are paid.

When owners ask about Airbnb property management fees, answer with the base, the inclusions and a sample statement. Owners trust a manager who shows the arithmetic. The guide to winning property management leads covers the rest of that conversation.

One wording rule. Airbnb’s trademark guidelines do not let a business call itself an Airbnb management company. Say you manage homes listed on the platforms.

Final Thought

Airbnb management fees only make sense once you know the base and the scope. Ten percent for marketing and messages is a different product from a full-service quote that includes the cleaner and the plumber. Ask what the percentage is taken from, get the inclusions in writing and read a sample statement.

If you are the manager, put those answers on your site. See property management website design for how I build an owner page that does it. Getting owners to that page is the job of property management SEO.