Educational only. Numbers reflect AirDNA, Rabbu, and Mashvisor 2025–2026 public reports. Your market and property will differ — model with your own comps and run any deal past your accountant before you sign.
Most prospective Airbnb hosts model the deal wrong twice: they overestimate occupancy and they ignore opex past cleaning. The AirDNA US median is 56% occupancy at $82 RevPAR — meaningfully below what the listing-site calculators show you on day one. Run your real numbers in the Airbnb Revenue Calculator as you read.
The three numbers that decide everything
ADR (average daily rate), occupancy, and RevPAR (ADR × occupancy). Top-quartile hosts beat the median not by raising price OR fill — they raise both at the same time through tighter dynamic pricing (PriceLabs, Beyond) and faster review velocity. A $250 ADR at 40% occupancy ($100 RevPAR) beats a $130 ADR at 65% ($85 RevPAR). Always optimize RevPAR.
What kills net (and isn't on the booking screen)
- Utilities: $150–$400/mo depending on climate. Hot tubs add $80–150 alone.
- PMS software: Hospitable, Hostfully, OwnerRez — $25–80/mo.
- Consumables: coffee, toiletries, paper goods — ~$8 per stay.
- Maintenance reserve: 10% of gross. A broken HVAC erases the year if you didn't bank it.
- Furnishing depreciation: $15–30K initial outlay; 5-year useful life.
Lodging tax — collect it correctly
Airbnb auto-collects in ~30,000 jurisdictions. For the rest, you remit. Even when Airbnb collects, your state Department of Revenue still wants quarterly returns acknowledging the activity. Keep a separate ledger. Cleaning fees are usually taxable too — many hosts miss this.
The 10% rule for new hosts
For your first 90 days, expect ~10–15% lower occupancy than market median because new listings without 5+ reviews are deranked on Airbnb search. Price 10% below market for the first ~10 stays to accelerate reviews, then climb back to comp pricing.
Cash-on-cash benchmarks (2026)
- Year 1: 0–6% (furnishing + ramp-up + review delay)
- Year 2+: 8–14% median, 12–18% top quartile
- Failed deals: -2 to 0% — almost always due to overpaying for the property