STR Select tracked 116 manager fee records across 11 markets, and 14 (12%) publish a rate. Where a rate is quoted, full service management runs 18 to 30% of gross rental revenue. Checked 2026-10-08.
Most of what is written about management fees is a range with no receipts. This guide uses published rates only: what companies print on their own pricing pages, computed from our fee transparency index of 115 managers and recorded with dates and sources.
Full service STR management runs 18 to 30% of gross rental revenue in the published and quoted rates we have tracked. Hands on owners can pay less through online management tiers, the published example is 12% plus a $1,000 signing fee. Dedicated revenue management runs $125 to $350 per property per month on published rates. Among national brands, the published range runs 10 to 18%. Across our full fee index of 115 managers, only 14 publish a rate at all, roughly 12%, which is why we keep this index. On a mid-size $60,000 gross-revenue home, that spread is the difference between a $4,350 flat revenue-management bill and an $18,000 full-service bill in the same calendar year, for very different amounts of work and included services. The worked examples below show the math for all four models on that same property so you can compare a real dollar figure, not just a percentage.
Every management fee we have found, local or national, published or quoted privately, reduces to one of these four structures. Knowing which one you are being offered, before you hear a number, tells you more than the number itself, because the same percentage can mean very different amounts of work depending on which structure it is attached to.
The standard model, and the one most owners picture when they hear "property management." The manager runs everything, listing, pricing, guest communication, cleaning coordination and maintenance dispatch, and takes a share of gross rents, typically 18 to 30%. The published Poconos example is 25% of gross rental income at Galvanized Management. The appeal is incentive alignment: the manager only makes more when your home earns more. The drawback is the same mechanism works in reverse during a strong year, when the dollar cost of a percentage fee compounds right alongside your revenue.
On a $60,000 gross revenue home at 25%: the fee is $15,000 a year, leaving $45,000 before cleaning pass-throughs, maintenance and taxes. A 30% rate on the same revenue runs $18,000, and an 18% rate runs $10,800, the width of the typical full-service band on a single property.
Listings, pricing and guest messaging handled remotely while you cover the ground game: turnovers, local maintenance calls, and sometimes guest check-in. This model trades a lower percentage for owner labor, and it is the structure several tech-enabled national platforms on our national ranking are built around. Published example: 12% of gross revenue plus a $1,000 one time signing fee at Pocono Pads' online management tier.
On the same $60,000 home at 12% plus $1,000: the fee is $8,200 in year one ($7,200 ongoing in later years), the cheapest percentage of the four models, with the most owner labor. Against the 25% full-service example above, that is a $6,800 first-year gap, which only makes sense if you are willing and able to handle what the lower fee leaves out.
Common for revenue management rather than full management: $125 to $350 per property per month on published rates, sometimes with onboarding fees. This model covers pricing strategy and channel distribution only, not cleaning, guest messaging or maintenance, and it is predictable because it does not scale against you as revenue grows. A strong season costs the same flat amount as a weak one.
On the same $60,000 home at $350 per month plus $150 onboarding: the fee is $4,350 in year one ($4,200 ongoing), the lowest dollar cost of the four, but it does not include full management, only revenue and pricing. Pair it with a separate co-host or your own operations labor to get the rest of what a full-service fee would have covered.
The market default, and the one hardest to plan around. Across our index, 98 of 115 companies publish no rate at all, and 3 more disclose only partially or through a third party, never confirmed by the company itself. Quote only is not a red flag by itself; pricing one property at a time can reflect real differences in size, season and condition. But a manager who will not put a number in writing before a walkthrough is telling you something about how that first call is designed to go.
On the same $60,000 home: there is no worked example, because there is no published number. Push every quote-only candidate for a figure in writing before a walkthrough, and compare whatever they offer against the published rates on this page, local and national, so you walk into that call already knowing the real range.
From our national manager research for the best management companies ranking. 3 of 10 national brands we checked publish a fee figure: the rest, including the largest name on that page by property count, require a consultation before you learn a number. The pattern holds across both our local index and this national research: publishing a rate is still the exception, not the rule, in vacation rental management.
| Company | Published rate | Extra charges | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evolve | 10% management fee on Core, 15% on Plus, and a custom fee on Pro, per evolve | com/owner/vacation-rental-management. A $250 one time onboarding fee applies (plus $25 per additional property), and a Mid-Term Rental Add-On runs $249 per listing per year. | evolve.com |
| Awning | Management fees "start at 10%," described on the site as "about half the industry average, with no lock-in | " Furnishing services start at $3,000. Brokerage carries no fee premium over a traditional agent, per awning.com. | awning.com |
| RedAwning | The Manage tier for homeowners is "priced at 10-18% | Not published | redawning.com |
From our fee transparency index, quoting each company's own wording. This table grows as we index more markets.
| Company | Market | Model | Published rate | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galvanized Management | The Poconos, PA | Full service | 25% of gross rental income | Sept 28 2026 |
| Pocono Pads | The Poconos, PA | Online management tier | 12% of gross revenue plus $1,000 one time signing fee | Sept 28 2026 |
| Cabins For You | Smoky Mountains, TN | Full service | 10% management fee | Sept 26 2026 |
| Short Term Coops | Smoky Mountains, TN | Full service, in-house | Flat 20% of net rental revenue plus a $75 monthly technology fee | Sept 26 2026 |
| BnB My Place | North Myrtle Beach, SC | Full service | 20% of net rental proceeds | Oct 9 2026 |
| 1st Class Vacation Rental Management | North Myrtle Beach, SC | Full service | 20% flat fee on the nightly rental rate only; cleaning, pet and other guest fees are never shared with the company | Oct 9 2026 |
| Short Term Rentals Tucson | North Myrtle Beach, SC | Full service | 20 to 25% commission; 20% for owners who list multiple properties | Oct 9 2026 |
| The Bear Cabins | North Myrtle Beach, SC | Full service | 20% commission on rent for full service; 15% for its co-hosting tier | Oct 19 2026 |
| SkyRun Broken Bow | North Myrtle Beach, SC | Full service | 20% commission on average, per its own site; no onboarding or startup fees | Oct 19 2026 |
| DesertHosts | North Myrtle Beach, SC | Full service | 15 to 25% management fee; optional permit application service at $400 | Oct 19 2026 |
| Open Air Homes | North Myrtle Beach, SC | Full service | 20% commission on the accommodation fare plus a $125 monthly platform fee; no setup fees and no binding multi-year contracts, per its Joshua Tree management page | Oct 19 2026 |
| Savvy VRM | North Myrtle Beach, SC | Full service | 20 to 30% of the earnings; no hidden fees or long term contracts, and it limits the number of contracts it takes on, per its Joshua Tree page | Oct 19 2026 |
| BeenStay | North Myrtle Beach, SC | Hybrid | 5 to 8% of revenue across its Standard and Premium tiers for Joshua Tree, with its full service tier stated for other cities only | Oct 19 2026 |
| Destination Big Bear | North Myrtle Beach, SC | Full service | 27% management fee; the owner FAQ answers “What is your management fee?” with “27%” | Oct 24 2026 |
Before you compare quotes, run the seven checks in how to vet a short term rental property manager. Every row quotes the company's own published page. The contract terms table prints the notice period and minimum term each manager states. The fee table by market puts the low, high and median side by side. See the full per market index, including who does not publish, at the Poconos fee index, the Smoky Mountains fee index and the North Myrtle Beach fee index. For Arizona, the Sedona fee index sits beside the Sedona manager ranking.
This gap causes most surprise invoices. An owner compares two quoted percentages, picks the lower one, and then learns months later that cleaning, restocking and a signing fee were never part of either number. Get the full inclusion list in writing, not the fee percentage alone. Among the national brands in our research, Vacasa's own owners page is unusually specific about this, listing cleaning, guest screening, damage coverage and local maintenance as included under one fee. Evolve's published pages, by contrast, list marketing, pricing and support in detail but do not state whether cleaning or on-site maintenance are included or billed separately. That is the main open question an owner evaluating Evolve should ask directly before signing.
The spread between a 10% national starting rate and a 30% full-service local rate comes down to scope, market type and plain disclosure, not one company simply being better or worse than another.
A 10% platform fee and a 25% full-service fee are not the same product. The lower number usually means you are still doing cleaning coordination, maintenance calls, or guest check-in yourself. Compare the full inclusion list, not the headline percentage, before assuming one offer beats another.
Dense, high-turnover coastal markets can support a lower percentage on more bookings. A rural cabin market with a shorter season, like the Poconos or the Smoky Mountains, often needs a higher percentage to cover the same fixed local labor across fewer booked nights.
The third factor is simply disclosure. A company with a published rate has already decided to compete on price in the open; 14 of 115 local managers in our index have made that choice, and 3 of 10 national brands we researched have too. Everyone else prices after a conversation, which is a different kind of competition entirely, one that depends on what you ask and when you ask it, and how many other quotes you already have in hand before you take the call.
This is the clause that moves the real cost most after the percentage itself. Gross means every booking dollar before Airbnb takes its fee. Net means what is left after the platform fee. Airbnb states on its service fee help page that most hosts pay 15.5% on its single fee structure, and that structure is mandatory for hosts who use property management software.
| On a $60,000 year of bookings | Fee on gross | Fee on net after Airbnb |
|---|---|---|
| Airbnb fee at 15.5% | $9,300 | $9,300 |
| Revenue the manager’s fee is figured on | $60,000 | $50,700 |
| Manager at 20% | $12,000 | $10,140 |
| Manager at 25% | $15,000 | $12,675 |
The arithmetic is ours and uses the 15.5% rate from Airbnb’s page above. Your own rate can differ, so read the line on your payout statement. The gap at 20% is $1,860 a year. Short Term Coops explains the gross versus net clause on its fee page.
A $60,000 home books about $5,000 a month on average. Season moves the real number, but the average shows the scale of each model.
| Model | Rate | Per month on $5,000 | Per year on $60,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half service or online tier | 10% | $500 | $6,000 |
| Evolve Plus | 15% | $750 | $9,000 |
| Low end of full service | 18% | $900 | $10,800 |
| Poconos full service | 25% | $1,250 | $15,000 |
| High end of full service | 30% | $1,500 | $18,000 |
Rates are the published ones named elsewhere in this guide. Onboarding fees, cleaning and maintenance are extra, see the included versus billed extra section above.
Published tiers are the nearest thing to a negotiation. Evolve lists Core at 10%, Plus at 15% and Pro as a custom fee per evolve.com, and the difference is scope, not discount. Where a company publishes no number, five terms are worth pressing in writing.
A manager sells time. Software sells tools. The fair comparison is dollars against hours, on your own home.
| Option | Published cost | On a $60,000 home | What you still do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full service manager | 25% (Poconos example) | $15,000 a year | Owner approvals |
| Half service tier | 10 to 15% (Evolve Core, Plus) | $6,000 to $9,000 a year | Cleaning and on site tasks |
| Pricing software only | $19.99 per listing per month (PriceLabs, single US listing) | $239.88 a year | Everything else |
The software figure is from hello.pricelabs.co/pricing, checked the day this section was written, and covers dynamic pricing only. It is not a substitute for messaging, turnovers or maintenance, which are the work a manager’s percentage pays for.
IRS Publication 527 lists management fees among the most common rental expenses. The same publication says Schedule C is generally used when you provide substantial services with the property, so which form your short term rental uses depends on the services and the stay length. Confirm with a tax professional before you file.
Every one of these came directly out of a gap we found on a company's own pricing or FAQ page while building this guide and the national ranking. If a company's website does not answer it, the sales call is where you find out, so ask before you sign, not after the first invoice.
Answered from published rates, not vibes.
Full service managers typically take 18 to 30% of gross rental revenue in US vacation markets. Among the 115 managers in our fee transparency index, only 14 publish a rate, and the published examples sit inside that band: 25% for full service in the Poconos and a flat 20% of net revenue plus a $75 monthly technology fee in the Smoky Mountains. Among national brands, Evolve and Awning both start at 10%, and RedAwning's Manage tier runs 10 to 18%.
Full service usually covers listing management, dynamic pricing, guest messaging, turnover coordination and maintenance dispatch. Co-hosting and online tiers cut the on the ground work and cost less, and several national brands do not state on their own sites whether cleaning and maintenance are included at all. Always get the inclusion list in writing, especially for linens, consumables and maintenance markups.
Often. Watch for onboarding or signing fees, published examples in our index and research run from $250 (Evolve) to $1,000 (Pocono Pads online tier), plus cleaning handled outside the fee, maintenance markups and channel fees. The percentage is the headline, not the whole bill.
It can be. Dedicated revenue services run $125 to $350 per property per month on published rates, or 1 to 1.25% of bookings on software tiers, and some owners pair them with a cheaper co-host instead of full service. Our revenue management ranking compares them.
Ask every candidate for the rate in writing before a walkthrough, ask what their December occupancy was against the market, and use our fee index to see who publishes rates. Across the 11 markets we have indexed, only 14 of 115 companies do.
Evolve publishes 10% on its Core tier, 15% on Plus, and a custom rate on Pro, plus a $250 one time onboarding fee (plus $25 per additional property), per evolve.com. That makes Evolve one of the few companies on this page, national or local, with a published tiered percentage.
No. Nothing on vacasa.com states a percentage or flat fee; the pricing page says a consultant will outline it. Vacasa's owners page also states its management services are transitioning to parent company Casago, which may change pricing and terms during 2026. Our Vacasa vs Casago comparison sets the $1 million in damage protection Vacasa prints beside Casago's published terms, and Awning vs Casago shows that Awning prints a 10% starting fee where Casago prints none.
No. The fee decides less than the revenue. A manager charging more who lifts occupancy and nightly rates can net you more than a cheap one. Use this guide to know the price, then push every candidate on what they would change about your listing.
Published examples range from $250 (Evolve's one time onboarding fee) to $1,000 (Pocono Pads' online management tier signing fee). Not every company charges one, and most that do charge it once, at signing, rather than annually.
Every full-service and hybrid company in our national research describes some form of software-driven dynamic pricing, Vacasa, Evolve, Awning, AvantStay and RedAwning all state it plainly. Whether you can set your own floor and ceiling rates is rarely detailed on the same pages, so ask directly.
It depends entirely on the model. At a 25% full-service rate, the fee is $15,000 a year. At a 12% online tier plus a $1,000 signing fee, it is $8,200 in year one and $7,200 after. At a flat $350 per property per month revenue service, it is $4,350 in year one regardless of revenue. See the worked examples below for the full math on each model.
Ask for the fee in writing before a walkthrough, exactly what is included versus billed separately, the contract term and cancellation notice, whether you keep any owner-use nights, and who legally holds the listing once it goes live. See the full question list below.
We checked evolve.com's owner pricing page and FAQ directly for this guide. Neither page states whether cleaning or on-site maintenance are covered by the management fee or billed separately; the closest reference is a "vetted on-the-ground support network" with no stated cost allocation. This is worth asking Evolve directly before signing, since it is the biggest scope question their own marketing pages leave open.
Usually in dollar terms on a mid-size property, but it buys less. Our worked example above shows a $350 per month flat revenue-management fee costing $4,350 in year one on a $60,000 home, well under the $15,000 a 25% full-service fee would cost on the same revenue. The flat fee only covers pricing and distribution, though, not cleaning, guest messaging or maintenance, so the real comparison is dollars against scope, not dollars alone.
The contract sets it, so ask. Airbnb states on airbnb.com/help/article/63 that most hosts on its single fee structure pay 15.5% of the booking, and that structure is mandatory for hosts who use property management software. On a $60,000 year of bookings that fee is $9,300, so a 20% management fee is $12,000 on gross and $10,140 on the $50,700 left after Airbnb, a $1,860 gap. Short Term Coops publishes a page on gross versus net fees, listed under Sources.
Divide the annual figure by 12. A $60,000 home books $5,000 a month on average, so a 10% fee is $500 a month, 18% is $900, 25% is $1,250 and 30% is $1,500. Monthly bookings swing with season, so a percentage fee costs more in July than in February.
The higher the revenue, the more a percentage fee costs for the same work. At $120,000 of bookings a 25% fee is $30,000 a year, double the $15,000 it costs on a $60,000 home, while a flat monthly fee stays the same. A flat fee only wins if it covers the scope you need.
Some terms move more than others. Evolve publishes a tier ladder you can change between, Core at 10%, Plus at 15% and Pro custom, and its owner page says you can switch plans. Where a company publishes only a quote, the percentage, onboarding fee, term and cancellation notice are all worth asking about in writing. Our fee index shows which companies publish a number you can compare against.
In dollars, yes, in hours, no. PriceLabs publishes $19.99 per listing per month for a single US listing on hello.pricelabs.co/pricing, which covers pricing only, not messaging, cleaning or maintenance. A manager at 25% costs $15,000 on a $60,000 home, so the saving is real if you will do the on the ground work yourself.
Often yes, but check how your rental is reported. IRS Publication 527 lists management fees among the common rental expenses, and says Schedule C is generally used when you provide substantial services with the property. Whether a given short term rental sits on Schedule E or Schedule C depends on the services and stays, so confirm with a tax professional before you file.
Half service, also called co-hosting or an online tier, covers listing, pricing and guest messaging while you handle the physical work, and the published percentages we track start at 10%. Full service adds cleaning coordination, maintenance dispatch and local staff, and the ranges we track sit at 18 to 30%. The Evolve Core tier at 10% and Pocono Pads online tier at 12% are the published half service examples in this guide.