Airbnb co-host or management company: what's the difference?

An Airbnb co-host works inside your own Airbnb listing. You stay the listing owner, you choose what the co-host can access, and only you can set up their payouts. "Management company" is a looser term. Some companies co-host your listing in exactly that way; others take the listing on under their own arrangements. So the real question for a UK owner is not the label. It is who controls the listing, the money and the exit.

What is an Airbnb co-host?

Airbnb's Help Centre describes a co-host as someone who helps you host your place. It can be a family member, friend or neighbour, or an experienced local host you find through Airbnb's Co-Host Network, which Airbnb says is available in the United Kingdom. Co-hosts on the network can offer full-service support or individual services such as listing setup, guest messaging, pricing and availability, booking requests, onsite guest support and cleaning. Airbnb says co-hosts "can help you a little or a lot", from cleaning and turnover to welcoming and caring for guests.

The key point is that a co-host is added to your listing. You invite them, and you can invite up to 10 co-hosts per listing. They need an Airbnb account, and new co-hosts must complete identity verification before they can accept an invitation.

What can an Airbnb co-host do?

When you invite a co-host, Airbnb asks you to pick one of three permission levels:

• Full access. Message guests, update the calendar, manage the listing including pricing, accept or decline trip requests, handle changes and cancellations, write guest reviews, and manage damage reimbursement requests under host damage protection. A full-access co-host can also manage other co-hosts (but not add more full-access co-hosts) and set themselves as the primary host.
• Calendar and messaging access. Message guests and view, but not edit, the calendar.
• Calendar access. View, but not edit, the calendar, including check-in and checkout dates.

Airbnb also notes that permissions only control what a co-host can access on Airbnb. You still need to agree, outside Airbnb, what they will actually do for your place.

What can't a co-host do?

Some things stay with the listing owner, whatever permission you give:

• Payouts. Only the listing owner can set up or edit a co-host's payouts. Co-hosts can't view or change your payout method or taxpayer info.
• The single service fee adjustment. Airbnb's Resource Centre says co-hosts can't make the one-time price adjustment for Airbnb's single host service fee. The owner has to do it.
• Responsibility. Airbnb says that as the listing owner, you are responsible for your co-hosts, even those added by a full-access co-host.

How do co-host payouts work?

Airbnb lets the owner share part of each booking with a co-host, directly through Airbnb. The owner chooses one of four options:

• the cleaning fee
• the cleaning fee plus a percentage of each booking
• a percentage of each booking, with or without the cleaning fee
• a fixed amount per booking

The co-host has 14 days to confirm or decline. Once confirmed, co-hosts get payouts for bookings after guests check in. Shared payouts only cover guest stays on Airbnb. Host damage protection reimbursements and Resolution Centre payouts are not included.

Two details are worth knowing. First, Airbnb says listing owners receive a tax document on the full booking amount, while co-hosts receive one for the amounts they get. Second, owners can see co-host payout amounts in the Earnings dashboard, but not a co-host's own transaction history.

What is a management company?

There is no single Airbnb definition of a "management company". In practice the phrase covers a wide range. At one end is a business that co-hosts your listing in your account, using the tools above. At the other is a business that runs the listing day to day on its own terms, which can mean its own account, its own pricing rules and its own contract with you.

Neither model is wrong. They just put control in different places. If a company runs the listing outside your account, the Airbnb protections for listing owners described above (setting payouts, removing a co-host, choosing permissions) may not apply in the same way, because you are not the one holding the listing. The contract with the company is what matters then.

Co-host vs management company: side by side

What should you ask before you choose?

Whichever route you take, ask these questions in writing:

1. Will the listing stay in my Airbnb account, with me as the listing owner?
2. What permission level do you need, and what will you do with it?
3. How are you paid: through Airbnb co-host payouts or another way?
4. Who handles guest messages, cleaning and turnovers, and on-site problems?
5. Who files damage reimbursement requests, and how fast?
6. How do I end the arrangement, and what happens to the listing if I do?

Also agree who keeps on top of the rules for your home. GOV.UK's guidance on letting a self-catering holiday home in England covers planning permission, business rates, tax, fire safety, gas and carbon monoxide safety, electrical safety and Energy Performance Certificates. Cardiff owners should also read our guide to the Wales visitor accommodation register.

If you are still deciding whether to let on Airbnb at all, start with our guide to Airbnb vs a long-term let.

How Occupaid works

Occupaid co-hosts existing Airbnb listings in Bristol, Bath and Cardiff. For landlords moving from long lets, we set up and manage new listings. When we co-host, the listing stays in your Airbnb account, and you choose our permission level in Airbnb. There is no long-term lock-in.

We start with a free proposal for your home on a call. Book a call and we'll talk it through.

Related reading: Airbnb's single host fee in the UK and what Airbnb's AirCover does and doesn't cover.