PROPERTY GUIDE

Short-Term Rental Costs Owners Often Miss

A realistic short-term rental projection should include turnover, platform, operating, compliance and downtime costs.

Begin with available nights, expected occupancy and the average nightly rate. Occupancy should reflect seasonality and blocked owner-use days. Average stay length affects the number of cleanings and therefore cleaning cost, linen use and consumable supplies.

Variable booking costs

Include platform fees, payment processing, cleaning, laundry, guest supplies and management fees. Some charges are percentages of booking revenue while others occur per stay. Treat cleaning fees collected from guests as income and cleaning invoices as a separate expense so the true margin remains visible.

Fixed and irregular costs

Include utilities, internet, insurance, property tax, licensing, association fees, maintenance reserves, furniture replacement and mortgage payments. Allow for refunds, discounts and nights unavailable for repairs. Local short-term-rental licensing and tax rules can materially change the result, so confirm that the use is permitted before relying on projected revenue.

Open the short-term rental calculator Download the monthly tracker