Co-hosting business model: how to manage other people's properties for profit

Category: Multi-Property & Scaling

By: Brittany Simmons

Posted: 2025-12-16T07:34:03.683Z

I'm a great STR operator (4.9 rating, 2 years experience, systems in place) and several homeowner friends have asked me to manage their properties. I'm considering starting a co-hosting business. How does the co-hosting business model actually work? What do you charge? And what legal/financial setup do I need?

Reply by Camille Dubois:

Co-hosting is an excellent way to scale revenue without capital investment. Here's the full business model: **Revenue model:** - Standard co-host fee: 15-25% of gross booking revenue - Higher fee (25-30%) if you handle EVERYTHING including furnishing setup - Lower fee (10-15%) if you only handle messaging and coordination - Some co-hosts charge a flat monthly fee instead (e.g., $500/month/property) **What you provide:** - Listing optimization (photos, description, pricing) - Dynamic pricing management via PriceLabs (https://pricelabs.co) - Guest communication and screening - Cleaning coordination via Turno (https://turno.com) - Maintenance coordination - Review management - Monthly performance reports to property owner **What the property owner provides:** - The property (furnished and ready) - Mortgage, insurance, utilities - Capital for major repairs/replacements - Final approval on major decisions **Legal setup:** 1. **LLC** — Form an LLC for your co-hosting business 2. **Co-hosting agreement** — A contract between you and each property owner covering: - Commission structure and payment terms - Responsibilities (who handles what) - Liability and insurance requirements - Termination terms (usually 30-60 day notice) - Decision-making authority (what can you do without owner approval?) 3. **Insurance** — Get a general liability policy for your co-hosting business ($500-1K/year) 4. **Separate bank account** — Owner revenue goes into a trust account, your commission gets dispersed monthly **Tools needed:** - Hostaway (https://hostaway.com) or Guesty (https://guesty.com) — multi-owner PMS with owner reporting - PriceLabs for pricing - Turno for cleaning - QuickBooks for financials **The math at scale:** 5 properties × $4,000/month average revenue × 20% commission = $4,000/month 10 properties: $8,000/month With a VA handling messaging ($700/month) and tools ($300/month), your profit margin on co-hosted properties is 70-80%.

Reply by Megan O'Connor:

Two critical lessons from running a co-hosting business: 1. **Screen property owners as carefully as you screen guests.** Some owners are nightmare clients — they micromanage, question every decision, and call you at midnight. Set expectations in your contract: "I will provide monthly reports and be available for emergency decisions. Day-to-day operational decisions are delegated to me." 2. **Don't co-host a bad property.** If the property is poorly located, outdated, or has fundamental issues, no amount of great management will make it successful. Your reputation as a co-host depends on results — only take properties you're confident can perform.