The model and getting started
Short-term rental management means running someone else’s holiday let for a share of what it earns. These guides explain the model, the alternatives and the first steps.
In short
What this topic covers
There are three common ways to earn from short-term rentals without inheriting a flat. You can buy a property and let it, which needs capital and a mortgage. You can lease a home long-term and let it short-term at a profit, known as rental arbitrage, which needs the landlord’s consent and leaves you paying rent in empty months. Or you can manage a property that someone else owns, as a co-host or manager, and take a commission on what it earns.
The third model needs the least money up front, but it asks for other things: an owner who trusts you, clear agreements, and systems for pricing, cleaning and guests that work when you are not there. On Airbnb, the owner stays the host of the listing and adds you as a co-host with the permissions you need. On Booking.com the setup is different, and outside the platforms the agreement between you and the owner does the work. Either way, the owner carries the property risk and you carry the operational work, so your income depends on the unit earning well.
The two guides in this topic walk through how to start a co-hosting business step by step, and compare co-hosting, arbitrage and buying on money needed, risk, rules and time, so you can pick the model that fits your situation before you spend anything.
Guides
Start with the first guide
- GuideGetting started
How to start an Airbnb co-hosting business in Europe (2026)
What a co-host is and does, what Airbnb lets a co-host do, how co-hosts get paid, the European rules to check, and the first six steps.
- Airbnb allows up to 10 co-hosts per listing, with three access levels: full access, calendar and messaging, or calendar only.
- Only the listing owner can set up co-host payouts, with four options: cleaning fee, cleaning fee plus a percentage, a percentage, or a fixed amount.
- Airbnb’s Co-Host Network, which matches owners with local co-hosts, does not list Belgium or the Netherlands, so you find owners yourself.
- GuideGetting started
Co-hosting vs arbitrage vs buying
Who owns what, who pays when the calendar is empty, what each model needs in capital, and what Belgian and Dutch law says about subletting a rented home.
Terms and tools
Terms you’ll meet in this topic
- Co-host
- Host
- Short-term rental management
- Rental arbitrage
- Business host
- Management commission
- Principal residence
About HostPro Academy
The team behind this guide
These guides are written by the team behind HostPro Academy, a training programme for building a short-term rental management business. The model and getting started part of that programme is covered in levels 1 and 2.