How much should we pay for a Co Host

We are in the process of finding a co host for our central London 4 bedroom property and want to pay our co host a fair rate for their services but not over the top. The nightly rate is going to be circa £395 per night. The main duties will be meet and greet guests, coordinate with the cleaners/linen service, deal with guest issues during stay, writing guest reviews and damage/loss checking at the end of guest stay. Is a flat rate per booking the usual arrangement or is a % fee of the total booking and if the latter is this usually fixed or lower for longer term bookings? Any indication of prices or %'s would be really helpful. Thanks Derek

Hello @derek

Have you had a look at the co-host information on Airbnb’s website?

They suggest up to 20% but if you are asking people to handle check in/check out personally you are likely to need to pay more.

It’s up to you to negotiate a deal that works for both of you.

Perhaps a retainer and then a percentage or fixed fee per booking.

Some look at a bonus scheme for five stars/superhost.

You would need to be flexible if your guests didn’t arrive on time or there were problems to be addressed during the booking you may want to consider an hourly rate for this.

1 Like

Hello @derek ,
So as for you to have an idea, I recently started a company in London that manages properties in order to let them short-term.

What we do is charge a 12% of the revenue the property generates each month.This 12% management fee includes the following:

-Guest communication( including pre-stay, during and after).
-Manage all reservations/bookings.
-Arranging for professional Cleaning.
-Arranging for maintenance company to go in case something breaks down.
-Meet & Greet(Check in and check out of guests).
-Price optimization(The right nightly price at the right time guarantees the highest occupancy rate and income possible).
-Verify identification of guests(The safety of the home is a priority so we put in place several safety measures when accepting guests).
-Creation and management of listings on several online platforms(Airbnb,etc.).
-Essentials and gifts(A complete welcome pack is provided to all guests at arrival).
-You keep complete control of your property( Flexibility. It´s your home.You are in charge.You set the exact dates when your home is available to receive bookings).
-Extra Guest Services( Airport transfers,grocery shopping,anything they might need help with!)

The only things that we charge separately are the cleaning and linen(hire or laundry) costs.

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

12%? That seems very low. Basically you’re doing everything. Surely you charge for the Extra Guest Services? I’m looking to co-host/manage but 12% seems hardly worth my while for doing all these tasks.

1 Like

Hello @Santiago

12% is far too low.

Take this example;

If someone offers a room for the night at 60 pounds - you would be making less than a tenner for all your work that would take many hours.

Considering you could be waiting for a guest for two or three hours for check in plus all the other work you offer this is far below the minimum wage. Then you could have additional time travelling across London.

What experience do you have of running an Airbnb?

How would you verify guests?

By the way this is a forum for hosts. Not for commercial companies to promote their services.

It is a crazy low price.

Airbnb suggests up to 25% and invites superhosts to join it’s scheme as co-hosts…

I’ve signed up for it but most of the hosts requesting support have unrealistic expectations of what they need to pay, so I haven’t taken any request forward to proposal stage.

I think it depends on how much ons site services are needed. I only pay a 5% co-host fee, but I have self-checkin. The majority of the work is just responding to messages and the occasional visit for problems. I also pay market rate for cleaning and linens on top of this. Majority of bookings there are no visits to the property for the stay.

Would be more work if needed to do check-ins.

This is my experience too. Latest request was someone who charges guests £25 per night and wanted me to do a full turn-over and meet & greet. Seriously??

edit So, for a two-night stay I would work approx two hours, say, to clean and prepare and then hang around for guests to arrive (probably around an hour) and then spend 15 minutes giving them a house tour, not to mention any email/text exchange. At 12% I would make £1.94 an hour. No thanks.

2 Likes

::giggling:: And you are worth EVERY, single pence.

2 Likes

Ha ha ha!! :rofl:

20 20 20

Round here property management companies charge 30% (this doesn’t include extra costs like cleaning, laundry and provision of toiletries etc).

1 Like

For 12%, it says they ‘arrange’ cleaning, so is the cleaning fee all part of the 12%, or a separate fee?

Essentially a co-host is a substitute host who is managing the property as well as the guests’ experience at the property. I know quite a few Airbnb hosts and none of them would ever co-host for the ridiculously low 10-20% rate that Airbnb recommends for co-hosting. As I’m sure everyone’s aware, good reviews are your most important contributor to success on the Airbnb platform. So a co-host is an investment in maintaining good reviews for your property. This is why my co-hosting fee is higher than Airbnb’s recommended percentage. I ask and receive 50%. Half of most hosts’ nightly rate might cover the cost of a cleaning service – but certainly not a manager.

I think it really depends what you include @Dia as a co-host as to what rate you can charge.

Do the hosts you provide a service for have to pay for a cleaner ?

Do you provide a personal check in/check out service?