Hiring a co-host — or pricing your own co-hosting services? Benchmark the percentage against typical ranges for the actual scope of work, and see what it means in dollars per month and per year.
Ranges reflect typical published co-host and small property-manager rates by service scope as of 2026 — they are honest industry benchmarks, not market-by-market data. Individual markets, luxury properties, and unusual scopes legitimately price outside them. Percentages here are applied to rental revenue; agreements should state explicitly whether the base is gross booking revenue or the host payout after Airbnb's fee.
Renegotiating soon anyway? From September 15, 2026, Airbnb's 15.5% host-only fee comes out of the same revenue most co-host percentages are calculated on. If the host doesn't reprice, the payout shrinks while a gross-based co-host cut stays flat — the host eats the entire change. Run the 15.5% fee calculator first, then agree on the base (gross vs. payout) in writing.
Know what your property actually nets before you give up 20% of it. Black Cat tracks revenue, expenses, and true profit per property.
Track your real profit free →Owner statements, cleaner scheduling, and per-property reporting — the back office that makes your percentage defensible.
Run your co-host business free →Co-hosting fees are quoted as a percentage of rental revenue, and the honest answer to "what's normal?" depends almost entirely on scope. Published co-host and small property-manager rates cluster in three bands: 15–25% for full-service (guest communication, cleaner scheduling and turnover checks, pricing and calendar management, maintenance coordination), 10–15% for standard arrangements (guests plus turnovers, but the owner keeps pricing and maintenance), and 8–12% for messaging-only help. Portfolios of five or more units usually negotiate a few points below these bands, because the co-host's fixed effort spreads across more revenue.
Two structural questions matter as much as the number. First, what base does the percentage apply to — gross booking revenue (nightly rate plus cleaning fees) or the host's payout after Airbnb's cut? On $70,000 of annual revenue that ambiguity is worth over $2,000, and it becomes sharper after September 2026 when Airbnb's host-side fee jumps to 15.5%. Second, who pays for cleaning — a 20% fee where the host also pays cleaners directly is a very different deal from 25% with cleaning included.
Once you know what management costs, see what it does to the whole picture: the free Airbnb profit calculator models your nightly rate, occupancy, cleaning, and fees alongside the co-host cut.
Ask exactly which of the four pillars (guests, turnovers, pricing, maintenance) the fee covers, what response times they commit to, whether the percentage applies to gross or payout, who holds the platform login, and how either side exits. A quote above the typical band isn't automatically wrong — but the co-host should be able to name what justifies the premium (higher review scores, dynamic pricing gains, a market they know cold). And insist on monthly numbers you can verify: revenue, fees, expenses, per property.
Underpricing is the classic new-co-host mistake — 10% for full-service work is a fast route to resentment and churn. Price the scope honestly against the bands above, put the revenue base in writing, and send owners a clean monthly statement they don't have to question. The co-hosts who defend 20%+ aren't the ones who message fastest; they're the ones whose owners see exactly what they earned, spent, and netted every month without asking.