Property Manager Fees -AirBnB

[Joe Kern]

Hello All - just finished setting up and putting my first short term rental live on Airbnb. I just rented out most of the previous month , and agreed to pay the property manager 18% of the booking fee host payout so net of any guest service fees or occupancy taxes airbnb takes.  Now - I just noticed they are taking 18% of that (total payout)  which is inclusive of cleaning fee + nightly room fee (which is fine). But  They are also taking the full cleaning fee as well separately …is this normal practice? I feel like now the effective rate is much higher than 18% (closer to 30% +)  we agreed on… since they are taking 18% of the net total AND the cleaning fee sum. Any guidance would be helpful thanks! 

[Tim Baldwin]

I can understand why you're frustrated with that. But if your agreement defines "income" from the guest as any monies received by the guest, including fees, cost reimbursement, etc., then that's what you have. If the agreement doesn't define "income" from the guest, I think you have good grounds to discuss this with them to state, "look, the agreement doesn't define this, and it seems reasonable for me to understand that your 18% is not for costs incurred, but only for the income received"--or something to that effect. Best wishes.