What does Airbnb property management cost?

The dominant model in France is a commission as a percentage of the rental revenue collected. No subscription, no joining fee: if the property does not let, the manager invoices nothing. That is the model we apply, and it is the only one that genuinely aligns the provider’s interests with the owner’s.

The French market broadly sits between 15% and 25% of rental revenue, depending on what is included and on how dense the area is. National operators tend towards the upper end, with head-office costs to absorb; local managers tend towards the lower end.

A figure on its own, however, means nothing. A rate of 18% that excludes cleaning, linen and supplies costs more than an all-inclusive 22%. It is the scope that has to be compared, not the percentage.

Covered in most serious offers: creating and updating the listing, pricing, the guest relationship before, during and after the stay, check-in and check-out, coordinating the cleaning, handling incidents, following up reviews and synchronising calendars across platforms.

Often billed separately, and this is where offers diverge: the cleaning itself, supplying and laundering linen, the consumables restocked for each stay, and maintenance beyond routine call-outs.

Never covered, whatever the offer: the platform’s own commission, taken by Airbnb or Booking.com on every booking, the property’s running charges, property tax, and works. Those stay with you and belong in your yield calculation.

Cleaning is the line that moves the real cost most, because it depends on the number of turnovers rather than on revenue. Two properties generating the same annual revenue can have cleaning costs that differ twofold if one lets on two-night stays and the other on week-long ones.

There are two treatments. Either the cleaning fee is charged on to the guest — the norm on the platforms — and the line becomes neutral for the owner. Or it is taken out of revenue, in which case it adds to the commission.

So the question to ask is precise: is cleaning charged to the guest, at what amount, and does that amount cover the real cost? An underpriced cleaning fee always resurfaces somewhere.

Bring everything back to an estimated annual cost, not a percentage. Take an assumption for annual revenue and number of stays, then add up, for each offer: commission, cleans not charged on, linen, supplies, any fixed fees. The gaps between two apparently similar offers are often surprising.

Then add two non-financial criteria that weigh heavily on real revenue: the length of commitment, and the provider’s distance. A three-year contract for an untested service is a risk; a provider forty minutes away will not deliver a response within the hour.

Finally, be wary of revenue estimates given over the phone without a visit. A figure quoted without seeing the property, its real capacity and its condition commits no one — and mostly serves to secure a signature.

We deliberately sit at the lower end of the market range, because we are a local outfit with no head office and no sales network to fund. The exact rate depends on the property: its size, its condition, the expected number of turnovers and the services chosen.

We would rather give it after seeing the property than before. A rate quoted blind is either too high to be competitive or too low to be sustained — and in both cases it gets renegotiated later, which serves nobody.

The visit and the estimate are free and without obligation. They lead to a written proposal setting out the rate, its exact scope and how cleaning is handled.