Airbnb co-host fees: what managers charge in Belgium and the Netherlands, and what’s left

Managers who publish their prices put full short-term rental management at roughly 15% to 40% of rental revenue. BnB Assist, a Belgian management company, wrote in 2024 that most commission-based managers ask 20 to 40% of the booking amount, and BetterStays, a Dutch booking management company, put the usual commission at 15 to 30% of gross rental income in August 2026.⁷⁸ The percentage is only half the answer. What it is calculated on, what is billed on top, and Airbnb’s 15.5% fee plus VAT move the euros the owner and you each keep as much as the rate does.¹³

In this guide

1. What managers charge in Belgium and the Netherlands
2. Four ways to charge
3. The commission base changes everything
4. The 15.5% host-only fee, in short
5. How co-hosts get paid
6. VAT and invoicing your commission
7. A worked example: one unit, one month
8. What a co-host earns per month
9. How to set your own fee
10. Questions people ask
11. Sources

If you are the owner, read four guides in this order: this one on what managers charge, then a revenue projection you can check, the clauses to discuss before you sign an agreement and what damage cover and insurance do.

What managers charge in Belgium and the Netherlands

No regulator publishes a rate, and we found no independent Belgian or Dutch study. The figures below come from companies that sell management or advise owners, so read them as the trade describing itself, not as a survey.

BetterStays says full management sits at the higher end of its range, and both French sources warn that a low headline rate often comes with more charges on the side.⁸⁹¹⁰

What’s usually included, and what’s billed separately

According to BetterStays, the fee usually covers reservations, guest communication, placing the listing on platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com, and basic reporting.⁸ It lists these as often charged separately:⁸

• professional photography and styling advice
• cleaning and linen
• small repairs and maintenance
• dynamic pricing software
• onboarding or set-up costs

Rentaplus shows how extras add up: in its example the guest pays an €80 cleaning fee, the cleaner gets €45 and the manager keeps €35. It also warns that a rate quoted without VAT is higher once VAT is added.¹⁰ Extras are fine when agreed in writing; the problem is an owner comparing your 20% with someone else’s 18% without seeing the rest.

Four ways to charge

Most managers use a percentage, a fixed fee or a mix of both.⁸⁹ Each model puts the risk of a quiet month on a different side of the table.

A minimum suits seasonal units, because a quiet February still needs messages and checks. A plain percentage is usually the easier first offer when you have no track record; see finding your first client.

The commission base changes everything

The commission base is the amount your percentage is taken from. Every step to a narrower base moves money from you to the owner.

• Gross booking value: everything the guest pays for the stay, cleaning fee included. Easiest to check, but it includes money that goes to the cleaner and to Airbnb.
• Accommodation revenue: the nightly revenue without the cleaning fee.
• After platform fees: accommodation revenue minus Airbnb’s fee and VAT on it. This is close to Airbnb’s own payout sharing, which calculates a percentage on the host’s earnings after its host service fee, with the cleaning fee excluded if the owner chooses.⁴
• Net: what is left after platform fees, VAT, cleaning and agreed costs. It protects the owner most, but every disputed cost becomes a dispute about your fee.

The 15.5% host-only fee, in short

Airbnb is moving hosts to a single host-only fee that comes entirely off the host’s payout: most hosts pay 15.5% and the rest typically 14 to 16%, charged on the nightly price and on fees the host adds, such as the cleaning fee.¹² Hosts who live in the European Economic Area or Switzerland have until 13 October 2026 to adjust their prices, and a co-host cannot make that one-time adjustment for the owner.¹ The full fee comparison with Booking.com is in Airbnb vs Booking.com for hosts.

For a co-host, the part that matters is VAT. Airbnb charges VAT on its host service fee, at 21% for Belgium and for the Netherlands; a host who is registered for VAT may not be charged it but may have to self-assess it instead.³ For an owner who is not VAT-registered, the fee therefore costs 15.5% plus 21% of that 15.5%, which is 18.755% of the subtotal.¹³

On the screen above, nights plus cleaning minus a rate adjustment leave €1,434.00. The host fee of €268.95 is exactly 18.755% of that, so it was charged on the cleaning fee too, with 21% VAT on top.¹³ A commission after platform fees starts from the €1,165.05 at the bottom, not from the €1,655 of nights.

How co-hosts get paid

You have two routes: Airbnb splits the payout for you, or you invoice the owner.

Airbnb’s co-host payouts

Only the listing owner can set up a co-host payout, and the co-host then has 14 days to confirm or decline the proposal.⁴ The owner can choose from four options:⁴

• Cleaning fee: you receive the cleaning fee set in the listing.
• Cleaning fee plus percentage: the cleaning fee plus a percentage of each booking that excludes the cleaning fee.
• Percentage: a percentage of each booking, with the cleaning fee excluded or included.
• Fixed amount: a set amount per booking.

The percentage is calculated on the host’s potential earnings: nightly price times nights, plus fees such as cleaning, minus the host service fee and any applicable taxes and fees.⁴ For most stays, host and co-host payouts are sent by the end of the business day after check-in, and when the host’s earnings cover every co-host payout, co-hosts are paid first and the host receives the rest.⁴⁶

Know the limits before you rely on it:

• Payouts only cover guest stays on Airbnb, not service or experience bookings, damage protection reimbursements or Resolution Center payouts.⁴
• If a guest cancels, your share is worked out on the host’s reduced earnings. If the host or a full-access co-host cancels after payouts were sent, Airbnb deducts the refund from future payouts, which can leave you with less or nothing.⁶
• If the host’s earnings on a booking do not cover the co-host payouts set up, you may receive less than agreed or no payout.⁶
• The owner receives tax documents on the full booking amount, and you receive them for the amounts paid to you.⁴
• Outside the US and the EU, a host can share payouts with only one co-host per listing, and listings in Mexico are not supported. On 15 September 2026 Airbnb listed no extra limit for hosts in the EU.⁵ Check the page again before you promise an owner this route.

Invoicing the owner

The alternative is a monthly invoice to the owner. It covers every channel, including Booking.com and direct bookings, and any base you agreed, including a net base that Airbnb’s options do not offer.⁴ The cost is admin and chasing payment. Send the invoice with the owner report so the numbers behind it are in the same email.

VAT and invoicing your commission

This section is about VAT on your own service. It is separate from VAT on the accommodation, which depends on how the letting itself is taxed and is covered in Airbnb rules in Belgium and the Netherlands. This is general information, not tax advice.

Belgium

A business established in Belgium can opt for the small business exemption if its annual turnover is no more than €25,000 excluding VAT, whatever its legal form.¹¹ Under it you charge no VAT and file no periodic returns, but you still need a VAT number, cannot deduct VAT on costs, and must report the previous year’s turnover by 31 March.¹¹

Watch the edges. If you start during the year, the €25,000 is reduced in proportion to the days already passed.¹¹ If you go over it by no more than 10% you keep the exemption for that year and move to the normal scheme the next year; go over by more than 10% and the normal scheme applies from the transaction that crossed the limit.¹¹ Under the normal scheme, Belgium’s standard VAT rate is 21%.¹²

The Netherlands

The Dutch small business scheme, the KOR, is open to businesses established in the Netherlands with a turnover of no more than €20,000 per calendar year, and you have to register for it.¹³ Inside the KOR you charge no VAT, file no VAT returns and cannot reclaim VAT on costs and investments.¹³ Outside it, the general rate is 21%, and services are taxed unless they fall under the 9% rate, the 0% rate or an exemption.¹⁴

What it means for your price

Say whether your commission includes VAT: 20% plus 21% VAT costs an owner who cannot reclaim VAT 24.2% of the base.¹²¹⁴ An owner who is VAT-registered for the letting may be able to deduct it. Ask an accountant which case applies before your first quote, and remember that a few units can take your turnover past either threshold.

A worked example: one unit, one month

The same flat, followed through to what each side keeps. The owner is not VAT-registered, the letting is assumed to carry no VAT, and the co-host takes 20% of accommodation revenue without cleaning.

To try your own unit, open the revenue calculator with similar numbers filled in, and switch the commission base to see both sides move. Before you show an owner a monthly figure, build it from real comparable listings as explained in how to estimate what a property will earn.

What a co-host earns per month

Your income is the commission from each unit, added up, minus what it costs you to earn it. We found no reliable published average for Belgium or the Netherlands, so distrust any figure without a base and a source.

As an illustration, five flats like the one above bring in €2,100 of commission in a month like that one, before costs, VAT and income tax. A quiet month brings in much less, while the work does not shrink. Before you call it income, take off software, travel for inspections and handovers, liability insurance, backup for when you are away, and the unpaid time spent on onboarding and owner reports.

Growth changes the maths again once you pay others for work you did yourself; see scaling a management business past 10 units.

How to set your own fee

1. Check what local managers publish. Note each rate, base and extra, with the date you checked. The table above is a starting point, not your market.⁷⁸
2. List your services. Split them into included and extra.⁸
3. Pick a base and write it down. Choose gross, accommodation revenue, after platform fees or net, and put one euro example for a realistic month in the offer.
4. Decide on a floor. If the unit is seasonal, consider a monthly minimum or a set-up fee so the low season and the start-up work are paid.
5. Decide how you get paid. Airbnb payout sharing is automatic but only covers Airbnb stays; invoicing covers every channel but adds admin.⁴
6. Settle VAT before you quote. Check whether you are under the exemption threshold and state whether your price includes VAT.¹¹¹³
7. Review at renewal, with a year of real numbers in front of you. Pricing the unit itself is covered in dynamic pricing for Airbnb.

If you are still deciding whether to offer management at all, how to start an Airbnb co-hosting business covers the steps before the first quote; the glossary explains management commission.

Questions people ask

Sources

All sources checked 15 September 2026.

1. Airbnb Resource Center, “Simplifying service fees on Airbnb”, Published 7 July 2026, updated 24 August 2026
2. Airbnb Help Centre, “Airbnb service fees”
3. Airbnb Help Centre, “Value Added Tax (VAT) and how it applies to you”
4. Airbnb Help Centre, “How co-host payouts work”
5. Airbnb Help Centre, “Regional limitations for co-host payouts”
6. Airbnb Help Centre, “Co-host payout exceptions”
7. BnB Assist, “Een Airbnb management: voor- en nadelen uitgelicht”, Belgian management company, trade source, dated 10 January 2024, in Dutch
8. BetterStays, “Wat kost het om je accommodatie te laten beheren?”, Dutch booking management company, trade source, 30 August 2026, in Dutch
9. Jedéclaremonmeublé, “Conciergerie Airbnb : combien ça coûte vraiment en 2026 ?”, French accounting service for furnished lets, trade source, in French
10. Rentaplus, “Vraie commission conciergerie Airbnb : décryptage 2026”, French management company, trade source, 12 June 2026, in French
11. FOD Financiën, “Btw-vrijstellingsregeling kleine ondernemingen”, In Dutch
12. FOD Financiën, “Btw-tarieven”, In Dutch
13. Belastingdienst, “Kleineondernemersregeling (KOR)”, In Dutch
14. Belastingdienst, “Tarieven en vrijstellingen”, In Dutch

We check every figure against the sources above. Spotted something out of date? Email systemen@hostproacademy.com with the guide title.