Ask most Airbnb hosts what their rental earns, and they’ll quote you their gross revenue. Ask what it costs to run, and things get murkier. The gap between what a short-term rental brings in and what it actually keeps is where hosts most often get surprised — and where most of the financial planning mistakes happen.
This guide breaks down the real costs of running an Airbnb: the obvious ones, the frequently overlooked ones, and the ones that tend to creep up on even experienced operators.
The Obvious Costs (That Still Get Miscalculated)
Most hosts account for these, but often imprecisely.
Platform Fees
Airbnb charges hosts a service fee on every booking — typically 3% of the subtotal for hosts using the simplified pricing model. On a $200/night booking, that’s $6. Over the course of 200 booked nights per year, that’s $1,200 gone before anything else.
If you list on multiple platforms (VRBO, Booking.com, your own direct booking site), each has its own fee structure. VRBO’s annual subscription or per-booking model can add up differently depending on your volume. Run the math for each platform you use.
Cleaning Costs
Cleaning is almost always the largest recurring operational expense for short-term rentals. Depending on your market and property size, professional turnovers can run anywhere from $80 to $300+ per cleaning. If you’re turning over 15 times per month, that’s $1,200 to $4,500 in cleaning costs alone — every month.
Many hosts pass the cleaning fee on to guests, but that strategy has limits. High cleaning fees deter bookings, especially for shorter stays. Find the right balance for your market, and make sure what you charge actually covers your real costs.
Mortgage, Rent, or Carrying Costs
If you’re paying a mortgage, HOA fees, or rent on the property, those are fixed costs that exist whether the property is booked or not. They should be factored into your break-even analysis before you ever calculate “profit.”
The Frequently Overlooked Costs
These are the ones that quietly erode margins.
Supplies and Restocking
Toilet paper, shampoo, dish soap, trash bags, coffee pods, paper towels — the consumables that make a guest stay comfortable add up fast. For a busy property with 15-20 turnovers per month, supplies can run $150 to $400 per month depending on what you stock and how premium your offerings are.
Most hosts budget for these loosely or not at all, then wonder why their bank balance doesn’t match their revenue numbers.
Laundry Costs
If you’re washing linens on-site, you’re paying for electricity, water, and your own time. If you’re using a laundry service, that’s a direct cost per pound or per item that accumulates with every turnover. For a three-bedroom property with multiple bed sets, towel sets, and bath mats, laundry can add $50 to $150 per turnover through a commercial service.
Utilities
Short-term rental guests generally use more utilities than long-term tenants — more hot water, more air conditioning or heat, more electricity. Depending on your property and market, utilities can run $200 to $600 per month or more. In warm climates during summer or cold climates during winter, HVAC costs spike further.
Internet and Streaming Services
Guests expect fast, reliable WiFi. A quality internet plan runs $60 to $120 per month. Many hosts also add streaming service subscriptions (Netflix, Hulu, etc.) — another $15 to $50 per month. Small numbers individually, but they belong in your cost model.
The Costs Most Hosts Don’t Track At All
These are where the real financial surprises come from.
Maintenance and Repairs
Short-term rentals experience higher wear and tear than owner-occupied homes or long-term rentals. Guests aren’t incentivized to treat your property the way they’d treat their own home. Over the course of a year, expect to spend on:
- Minor repairs: broken blinds, stuck drawers, burned-out light fixtures, worn weatherstripping — $50 to $200 per incident
- Appliance maintenance or replacement: short-term use accelerates appliance wear
- Seasonal maintenance: HVAC servicing, gutter cleaning, pest control
A reasonable estimate for maintenance on an active STR is 1% to 2% of the property’s value per year. On a $400,000 property, that’s $4,000 to $8,000 annually — or $333 to $667 per month.
Many hosts treat maintenance as a surprise rather than a planned cost. The hosts who run profitable operations treat it as a fixed line item.
Furniture and Décor Replacement
A $40 throw pillow lasts years in a private home. In a rental with 200 different guests per year, it may need replacing every 12 to 18 months. Furniture, linens, kitchen items, and décor all depreciate faster in short-term rentals. Budget for replacement cycles from day one.
Insurance
Standard homeowner’s or renter’s insurance almost never covers short-term rental activity. You need either a dedicated STR insurance policy or a commercial landlord policy with STR endorsements. These run $1,500 to $4,000+ per year depending on your property, market, and coverage level. Airbnb’s AirCover provides some protection, but it is not a substitute for real insurance.
Property Taxes
In many jurisdictions, renting your property short-term changes how it’s assessed for property tax purposes. In some markets, short-term rentals are taxed at a higher commercial rate. Check your local rules — this can be a meaningful line item.
Occupancy and Lodging Taxes
Most cities and counties where Airbnb is legal require hosts to collect and remit occupancy taxes, also called lodging or transient occupancy taxes (TOT). Airbnb collects and remits these automatically in many markets, but not all. If you’re responsible for remitting them yourself, the rate can range from 5% to 15%+ of gross rental revenue. This is revenue you collect but don’t keep — it needs to be excluded from your profit calculations.
Your Time
This one is rarely calculated honestly. Managing a short-term rental — responding to guest inquiries, coordinating cleaners, handling maintenance, restocking supplies, adjusting pricing — takes real time. If you’re doing it yourself, that time has a cost, even if it doesn’t appear on a bank statement.
Estimate the hours you spend per week on your rental and assign them an hourly value. That’s the invisible labor cost in your P&L.
What a Realistic P&L Looks Like
For a mid-range property generating $4,000 in gross revenue per month, a realistic cost breakdown might look like:
| Expense | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|
| Platform fees (3%) | $120 |
| Cleaning (15 turnovers × $120) | $1,800 |
| Supplies | $250 |
| Utilities | $350 |
| Internet + streaming | $100 |
| Maintenance reserve (1.5% annual / 12) | $500 |
| Insurance | $200 |
| Mortgage / carrying costs | $1,200 |
| Total Expenses | $4,520 |
In this scenario, the property is operating at a loss before occupancy taxes, furniture replacement, or owner labor. That’s not unusual — it’s what happens when costs aren’t tracked rigorously from the start.
The Takeaway
Gross revenue is vanity. Net operating income is the number that matters, and you can’t calculate it accurately without knowing your real costs.
The hosts who build sustainable, profitable short-term rental operations are the ones who treat their rental like a business — with a complete P&L, a maintenance reserve, and a clear view of every expense. The ones who treat it like passive income tend to find out, often too late, that the math never quite worked.
StayReady gives short-term rental operators the tools to track costs, manage operations, and understand the real profitability of every property in their portfolio.