Airbnb Co-Host: Beginner’s Guide
Co-hosts help Airbnb listing owners take care of their rental property and guests. They're often a family member, neighbor, trusted friend, or someone the host has hired to help with the listing. Read this post to discover how to make Airbnb co-hosting effective and efficient.
Running an Airbnb property is time-consuming, and in today’s busy world, it’s pretty natural that some hosts are low on time. Sometimes, you, as a host, may need help, and that’s where the use of an Airbnb co-host comes in. Co-hosting is a unique partnership model that offers flexibility and growth opportunities for both new and seasoned hosts.
Co-hosts assist Airbnb listing owners in managing their rental properties and accommodating guests. They’re often a family member, neighbor, trusted friend, or someone the host has hired to help with the listing. In some countries, such as the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada, listing owners can utilize the Airbnb Co-Host Network to find experienced local co-hosts who can take care of their property and guests.
How to Add a Co-Host on Airbnb
Adding co-hosts is a simple way for someone to help you with hosting responsibilities from their account. With the 2023 Summer Release, Airbnb allows you to determine what co‑hosts can access your listing and share payouts on your bookings directly on the platform.
In the Co-Host tab, you can invite new co-hosts, access info about them, and manage their permissions and payouts. Co-hosts need an Airbnb account to accept your invitation.
When you invite someone you know as a co‑host, you’ll need to enter their email address and set their permissions. You can choose from the following options:
Full access—to manage your calendar, price settings, listing, permissions of other co‑hosts, message guests, review the Earnings dashboard, and view co-host payouts set by the listing owner.
Calendar and messaging access—to message guests and view, but not edit your calendar.
Calendar access—to view your calendar and get information about check-ins and check-outs.
After choosing what a co-host can access to help manage your listing, you can add a message to personalize your invite, then click or tap Send.
All your co-hosts will appear as co-hosts on your listing, except those with only calendar access. Besides, co-hosts with full access can set themselves as the primary host on the listing, or you can assign this role to them.
Airbnb allows you to add up to 10 co-hosts to each listing, making hosting easier. Still, relying on Airbnb as a single booking channel isn’t the best strategy if you want to build a sustainable business. You should consider listing your property on other major booking platforms, such as Booking.com, Vrbo, and Agoda, as well as creating a direct booking website.
Unfortunately, Airbnb is the only OTA platform that offers co-host functionality. However, if you opt for short-term rental software like Hospitable, you can assemble a team to assist with your workload and invite your co-hosts, cleaners, and manager to collaborate on a single platform.
With Hospitable, you can assign each of your team members a role, such as Manager, Concierge, Cleaning, etc., and give them access only to the features and properties they need to do their job across all channels.
It’s entirely up to you and your co-host when it comes to dividing the responsibilities and profits. You can share payouts with a co-host as a percentage of your earnings or a fixed amount for each booking. And you’ll also need to agree on how you’ll reimburse the co-host for expenses.
Once you set up a co-host payout on Airbnb, they will have 14 days to confirm it. After that, they will be able to receive payouts for bookings made after guests check in. To get paid, all co-hosts must set up at least one payout method and, where required, verify their identity and provide the necessary taxpayer information.
How to Become an Airbnb Co-Host
Want to be a part of a short-term rental business but don’t have a property? The most popular approaches are doing rental arbitrage and becoming an Airbnb co-host. Co-hosting requires a lot of work, as you would handle guest communication, manage listings on multiple platforms, and manage your cleaning and maintenance team. Still, this business model allows co-hosts to gain experience and potentially earn an income without the responsibilities of owning a vacation rental property.
But how to become an Airbnb co-host? There are some essential steps you shouldn’t skip.
Research the platform to get a good understanding of how it works and how to use the platform’s features to your advantage. You’ll need to learn many things about managing listings, messaging with guests, updating the calendar and pricing, dealing with Airbnb support, and even running promotions.
Our hosting guide is an excellent resource for learning how to become a successful host.
Create a resume to demonstrate to a prospective employer that you possess the relevant knowledge and skills necessary to manage STR properties on Airbnb. If you have previous hosting experience, be sure to include the URL of the listing you have managed and provide a detailed explanation of the tasks you performed. You can also share positive feedback from property owners or guests.
If you get hired, the owner of an Airbnb account will add you as a co-host. We have already explained how to add a co-host on Airbnb. You’ll receive an invitation to your email, and once you accept it, you’ll become an Airbnb co-host. You’ll be able to manage the listing from your personal Airbnb co-host account.
Airbnb Co-Host Agreement
Airbnb requires a co-host to sign the Terms of Service policy, but hosts and co-hosts can also write up their own specific agreement. A written agreement minimizes misunderstandings, but it’s essential to ensure that all terms and expectations are clearly stated.
Hosts and co-hosts need to determine their hosting responsibilities, be clear about who is responsible for what, specify the earnings of co-hosts, and decide how co-hosts will be reimbursed.
You can opt to use or alter a pre-made Airbnb co-host agreement (it’s possible to find templates on hosting forums). You can also hire a lawyer to draft a contract for you.
Airbnb Co-Host Fee
So how much does an Airbnb co-host make? Honestly, there is no set amount. Airbnb co-host fees can vary significantly depending on their responsibilities, the size of the property, and their location.
On average, Airbnb co-hosts charge 10-20% of the nightly rate without cleaning the rental property. So, for example, if you co-host an Airbnb that earns $30,000 per year, you can expect to earn roughly $3,000-$6,000.
However, if you’re responsible for everything from check-in and checkout to managing guest experience and cleaning, you could charge up to 25%.
Some co-hosts may receive a flat monthly fee that both parties agree upon. And some co-hosts charge an additional cleaning fee if they clean the property after each guest.
It’s up to you to enter into an Airbnb co-host agreement with the primary host for a fair price because the duties you perform as a co-host will determine your potential earnings. The more you do, the more you earn.
Airbnb Co-Host Responsibilities
What do Airbnb co-hosts do? They can help a listing owner with all aspects of vacation rental property management to ensure that everything runs smoothly, including caring for the space and the guests. Co-host permissions only determine what co-hosts can access on the Airbnb listing, so hosts need to set expectations about how co-hosts can help them.
The specific duties of a co-host can vary depending on the host's needs, so it’s essential to clearly define and document these responsibilities to ensure a successful partnership. Here are some of the typical Airbnb co-host responsibilities that you may be expected to perform on behalf of the host:
Manage the listing info—write titles and descriptions, upload photos, edit other details
Update pricing and calendar availability
Handle reservations—accept or decline trip requests and manage cancellations
Message with guests—answer questions and resolve issues
Get the space guest-ready
Coordinate check-ins and checkouts, and welcome guests in person
Help guests during their stay
Write guest reviews
Get support from Airbnb
Coordinate cleaning and maintenance
Restock essential supplies
Co-hosts who value their time can utilize automation to manage their listings and maintain personalized communication with guests.
Is there anything Airbnb co-hosts can’t do? Yes, there are a few restrictions. Only listing owners can set up or edit a co-host’s payouts. Airbnb co-hosts can’t view or change a listing owner’s or other co-host’s payout method or taxpayer information.
How to Make Airbnb Co-hosting More Efficient?
I think you've already guessed the correct answer by now. Use Hospitable to automate your routine and free up dozens of hours every month. More specifically, our team management feature can substitute for or enhance Airbnb co-hosting. These are the most common scenarios our users follow to improve their processes.
1. Create an additional manager account on Hospitable
If you are a property owner and want to delegate some of your tasks, you don’t need to create a co-hosting Airbnb account for your helper. Create a manager role on Hospitable instead and assign necessary access rights to your assistant.
2. Create an additional manager account on Hospitable for an existing co-host.
Let’s assume you have been using an Airbnb co-host for quite some time and just recently decided to use Hospitable for automation. You can easily grant your co-host a manager’s role on Hospitable. In this setup, you will allow your helper to use relevant tools on Hospitable without making any changes to your Airbnb accounts.
3. Be the only Hospitable user as a co-host.
Let’s assume you are a professional co-host helping many property owners. If it’s the case, you already know all the benefits of using short-term rental automation software. You can use Hospitable’s solution for co-hosts for all of your clients’ properties through the same account. At the same time, property owners can but don’t have to create Hospitable accounts for themselves.
How Hospitable Makes Co-Hosting Easier
Co-hosting offers a great way to earn a flexible income without needing to own a property, but whether managing one Airbnb or several listings, efficiency is key. That’s where the right tools make a real difference.
Co-hosting vacation rentals with Hospitable is easy because our STR super app enables you to automate 90% of repetitive tasks and manage all operations from a single dashboard. AI-powered automation frees up your time, allowing you to focus on other priorities, such as enhancing the guest experience or adding one more listing.
Timely communication. Hospitable enables you to automate guest messaging with the help of AI, ensuring fast and clear communication with your guests at every stage of their journey. You can use the Suggest with AI and Improve with AI tools available in your Inbox to draft and correct detailed, personalized responses when you message guests manually.
You can teach our AI about your properties, policies, and local area by uploading a property guidebook to the Knowledge Hub. Then our AI will use these bits of information automatically to create more accurate and relevant messages. Train the AI to draft responses for you, and once you feel confident, opt into a fully automated AI Inbox. Then the AI will automatically reply to your guests while you sleep or even 24/7 when you are too busy to respond.
Watch the video to learn more about Hospitable’s AI features.
Manage channels in one place. As a channel manager, Hospitable enables you to list on multiple channels, reaching more travelers and increasing your occupancy without the need to juggle multiple sites. You can easily manage numerous listings across your connected channels from a single dashboard. We’ll sync your listings’ calendars on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Agoda, Google Vacation Rentals, and your direct booking website to reflect real-time availability and protect you from double bookings.
Dynamic Pricing. Hospitable can help you automatically optimize your listing’s rates to maximize revenue and occupancy and maintain a consistent pricing strategy across all your platforms. Our system has a built-in Dynamic Pricing solution that is free for Hospitable users on Host, Professional, and Mogul subscription plans.
If you activate Dynamic Pricing for your properties, Hospitable will automatically adjust your nightly rates based on market demand, seasonality, and other factors to maximize revenue generation.
Smart lock management. Hospitable integrates with popular smart lock systems, helping you ensure a smooth self-check-in process, even for last-minute bookings. Our system will automatically create and send unique door codes to your reserved guests shortly before check-in, so you won’t need to enter a code for each guest manually.
Analytics and reporting. Hospitable allows you to assess the performance of your short-term rentals in the Metrics Dashboard and create reports based on the data fields you care about. You can also share reports, invoices, or owner statements with listing owners.
Copilot is a built-in AI assistant that can help you manage your properties and operations more efficiently. Just ask the Copilot questions, and it will analyze data in your Hospitable account to provide you with meaningful insights that can help you make strategic improvements.
Final Thought
If you’re unable to keep up with numerous responsibilities as a host, hiring an Airbnb co-host is a great way to optimize the running of your vacation rental property and have more spare time.
Co-hosts will take on hosting responsibilities for your listing and offer extra support whenever you welcome guests to your place for a percentage of your rental income.
Being a co-host is one of the best ways to break into the short-term rental market and make more money without owning an Airbnb property. This role gives you a chance to learn about vacation rental management from the inside out. By approaching the role professionally and working with multiple hosts in your community, you can build a successful Airbnb co-host business.
Continue reading
Table of contents
How to Add a Co-Host on Airbnb
How to Become an Airbnb Co-Host
Airbnb Co-Host Agreement
Airbnb Co-Host Fee
Airbnb Co-Host Responsibilities
How to Make Airbnb Co-hosting More Efficient?
How Hospitable Makes Co-Hosting Easier