
By Richard Vaughton, HCH Columnist
Airbnb transformed the hospitality industry when it coined the term ‘hosts', in the process elevating its brand to global recognition. While the broader short-term rental (STR) sector continues to use terms like ‘manager’ and ‘agency’, one must wonder: what’s behind Airbnb's host-centric strategy? Is it purely profit-driven, focused on quality and growth, or a deliberate attempt to reshape the narrative and deepen brand loyalty?
What defines a host?
By definition, a host is ‘a person who receives or entertains other people as guests'. However, there's a secondary definition: ‘an animal or plant on or in which a parasite or commensal organism lives'. The duality of this term is worth noting as Airbnb’s ‘co-host’ model evolves and professionalises.
The Airbnb co-host model: a hidden opportunity?
Many in the professional STR space remain unaware of Airbnb's co-host model, which allows individuals or companies to manage properties on behalf of others. According to industry insiders, the UK and Europe are lagging the US, which appears to have been Airbnb's testing ground for this model.
There are no official numbers of how many co-hosts there are, but we see reported figures of about 10,000 to 15,000 co-hosts working with between three and 300 properties. This is a relatively small percentage of the total on Airbnb and although many are quoted as co-hosts, they appear to be a mainstream agency or manager, using the same software tools, virtual assistants, and processes. There are differences but these become diluted as co-hosts become aspirational.
This is Airbnb’s 2024 winter release, where its marketing message quotes:
Co-hosts are experienced hosts with an exceptional track record on Airbnb. They have an average rating of 4.86, compared to 4.62 for large property management companies. 73% of co-hosts are ‘Superhosts’, and 84% help manage a ‘Guest Favourite’.
Your perfect co-host right in the app – with over 10,000 co-hosts across 10 countries, we’re making it easy to find the best co-host for you. Our personalised ranking algorithm recommends a list of co-hosts based on more than 80 factors, including your location, hosting experience, and type of home. You’ll see their profile and reviews and can connect with them right in the app.
Easily collaborate with your co-host – when you hire a co-host on Airbnb, everything you need to work together is built into the app. You can message your co-host directly, give them access to your calendar, share payouts, and more.
The following is a summary of the main points of the programme. As you would expect, there are many layers of administration and controls related to the model.
Key components of the Airbnb co-hosting model
Ownership and decision making: the property owner retains full ownership of the property and typically makes key decisions.
Profit sharing: the owner shares a percentage of the revenue with the co-host, which will not impact the amount reported to the listing owner for tax reporting purposes. Listing owners will receive a tax document on the entire booking amount, and co-hosts will receive a tax document for the amounts they receive as specified by the listing owner.
Role of the co-host: the co-host handles day-to-day tasks.
Compensation: co-hosts are typically paid a percentage of the booking revenue, ranging from 10% to 30%, depending on the services provided.
Eligibility (which might change): a co-host must have a guest rating of at least 4.8 stars and have hosted a minimum of 10 stays or 100+ nights within the past year, and maintained a cancellation rate under 3%.
How is Airbnb’s co-host model different from traditional agencies or professional managers?
The traditional property management model offers a hands-off service to owners, taking exclusive representation of a property and managing it from end to end. Here’s an overview of what this involves:
Provide estimates on income and expenses underpinned by local data, historical booking information, and market knowledge.
Provide information on compliance and property set-up.
Provide services, including photography, content writing, interior design, etc.
Liaise on pricing and continuously manage this over the booking periods to meet owners' requirements.
Onboard the property to all systems, including distribution to channels and OTAs.
Deal with all guest inquiries, questions, and complaints.
Take payments, deal with refunds, handle owner payouts, and more.
Organise cleaning, maintenance, and regular checks.
Deal with all aspects of the property and be responsible for liaising with the owner.
A commission is taken on the bookings, and upsell revenue may or may not be shared.
Essentially, this is a completely hands-off service, ideally suited to owners who are happy to entrust their properties to qualified companies. There are many variations of this, such as when owners clean the property themselves or directly subcontract this service, or where owners must approve pricing, either as a policy or by law.
At first glance, co-hosting assumes that a property is listed on Airbnb, and this presupposes that an owner or manager is actively booking properties. However, the business proposition leverages the desire to establish real estate businesses.
Pure co-hosts (read hobby managers) are similar to smaller vacation rental management companies but differ in some substantial ways:
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Co-hosts must use Airbnb and its systems to market the properties. Therefore, a single platform dependency will handle properties that don’t tend to get many direct bookings or have extra distribution.
The host has significant control and can stop working with the co-host any time.
The co-host size belies the apparent lack of portfolio data, scaled industry experience, third-party services, discounts, association support, business insurance, etc.
A single-use platform devolves marketing control to Airbnb and, depending on the experience of the host and co-host, may not have relevant data access or larger portfolio knowledge.
Airbnb handles the money movement and payments out, and there are no ‘trust accounting’ issues of separated accounts, third-party controls, or payment processing and website needs. This is a real bonus for co-hosts and allows easy entry, but it has other obvious questions.
And what of the ‘non-pure’ co-hosts?
Co-hosts are micro or hobby agencies or managers by any other name. This is attractive to Airbnb as it generally keeps the inventory exclusive. Operating one property is easy while 5-10 good properties are manageable without staff. Using subcontractors and virtual assistants or AI helps. Once larger numbers are reached, pressure builds, and familiar territory is broken.
Any manager reading this knows how the business scale can be challenging. At some point in the evolution, the visions of profit are often not realised due to the many challenges:
Cash flow in seasonal areas, in particular, especially as the business occupies more time.
Guests and owners occupy increasing amounts of time as the business scales.
Professionalising all aspects of the business requires more automation.
The minor time-sensitive problems grow, and big problems occupy much of the issues that affect guest reviews.
Market fluctuations, owner expectations, property issues, local oversupply, and lower margins require extra distribution and direct bookings, which means tech and a whole new finance and management model.
Awareness of capital value becomes a measure of success, which means branding, standardisation, local promotion, conferences, decent EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation), and more.
Lo and behold, a manager is born, and they still call themselves co-hosts even though they have fallen into the ‘manager’ well. They use many non-Airbnb tech tools, distribute to other OTAs more aggressively, take direct payments, and have websites. This is a cultural naming nuance, and the promise of the review is increasingly challenged. It also means Airbnb will lose the edge it is trying to create on quality and control.
Get rich quick hobbyists
Like many ‘new’ elements of the STR world, co-hosting has become trendy on social media, supported by the get-rich-quick proponents. Yes, I believe this can work in virgin rental territories where there is limited regulation. The problem, however, is there are few such destinations in the Western World, and new up-and-coming markets seem to hit local hurdles very quickly. I’m no economist, but the polarisation of wealth is not helping and will continue to cause friction.
Airbnb’s challenge
The current mantra is that private owners deliver better quality, experiences, and reviews when compared to traditional managers. And perhaps we should expect the 365 days a year, 24/7 inventory managers to adopt other less review focused channels due to this message.
Most of us agree that Airbnb needs to improve its quality of accommodation and remove more bad actors, but there are better ways of doing this.
Co-hosting may look like a great idea on the surface, and Airbnb’s PR machine will likely be exceptional at selling it. However, the reiteration of old plans combined with global headwinds in relation to tourism, legislation, taxes, and oversupply have dampened spirits. ‘Live like a local’ might not be very well received for much longer!
Airbnb’s strategy: leveraging co-hosts
Airbnb’s push for co-hosting is strategic. The model is designed to:
a. Keep reviews high by emphasising quality.
b. Retain inventory exclusively within Airbnb’s ecosystem.
c. Expand into new markets by fostering local hosting communities.
d. Centralise income management.
e. Accrue valuable data on hosts, guests, and operations.
f. Reduce owner churn by offering a middle ground between DIY hosting and professional management.
Although this will leverage opportunities with the purest co-hosts initially, it will sprout new management mushrooms in expanding regions. Others will play real estate arbitrage, and these individuals' psychology is likely to be more commercial than a neighbourly co-host approach due to higher personal risks and profit demands.
What happens to reviews, then? Welcome to the jungle, where hosts (read owners) sometimes start to consider that anyone or any company taking money from renting their property is a parasite, despite the need for the service. Defending this is a professional job and churn becomes a consideration too. It’s not always growth by numbers.
Booking.com
Why would we mention Booking.com in a co-host blog? Well, because Booking.com has been taking Airbnb's share in specific markets and growing its inventory (13% up in 2024). Hobby managers can grow into full-time managers – and that means the adoption of distribution, de-risking, and reducing dependency on Airbnb (and its challenging two-way review process).
Booking.com has probably not even heard of co-hosting yet, but those co-hosts using PMS systems (a lot already) can now promote those rentals on different OTAs. The winner here is Booking.com. No investment, more inventory, and a focus on professional management. Plus, Booking.com’s reviews are probably more honest to boot.
In addition, the industry’s professional managers can also tap into the potential inventory by marketing to Airbnb hosts. We do not know whether this will be successful – but plenty are trying.
Is co-hosting the future?
Airbnb’s co-host model has potential, especially in less mature markets with fewer regulations and lower barriers to entry. However, its long-term success depends on whether it can retain control over co-hosts as they scale into full-fledged managers. There is no doubt co-hosting is a breeding ground for developing a more professional, registered, and structured business – which Airbnb needs financially (a story for another time).
Is Airbnb hoping the word ‘co-host’ will replace ‘manager’ or ‘agency’? This is undoubtedly the case in some parts of the world as new and evolving communities discover arbitrage and some commit hari-kari, but in major income heartlands for vacation rentals, I would say no. There are 150,000 well established ‘managers’ with millions of properties – and though still fragmented as an industry – legislation will push them closer.
Will this push Airbnb’s share price upwards? Not unless they counter their competitors and move into greater upsells. This is not the incredibly hard-to-develop micro experience that Airbnb CEO and Co-Founder, Brian Chesky, keeps pushing.
The standard type of Airbnb inventory is undoubtedly not far away from plateauing in the highest income urban and leisure destinations, which are already being compromised. It looks like the time for Airbnb to ‘buy big’, diversify accommodation focus, and not adopt the NIH (not invented here) syndrome. One-trick ponies are few and far between in the OTA space, as we see with Booking.com and Expedia, and breaking new ground is expensive. If Airbnb wants to leave a genetic legacy the size of Genghis Khan’s, then more work is needed.

Richard Vaughton from Yes Consulting is a Holiday Cottage Handbook Columnist.
Richard founded rental technology business Rentivo, which was recently acquired by Situ. He also recently exited two property management companies with close to 1,000 rentals. Richard currently works as an advisor for a host of businesses in the short-term rentals world, helping them focus on expansion, mergers and acquisitions, and technology efficiencies.
Now based in the UK, Richard has worked in the Middle East, Italy, and Switzerland during his career, encompassing several industries. He was previously the CEO of a Finnish biotech, service, and diagnostic supply company.
Contact Richard via email: richard@yes.consulting.
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