The role
What an Airbnb co-host actually is
An Airbnb co-host is a person the listing owner invites onto a listing to help run it. Airbnb’s own description is broad on purpose: you can add “a family member, friend, or neighbor as a co-host”, or find an experienced local host through the Co-Host Network where it is available. Co-hosts “can help you a little or a lot”, and how much is set by two things: the permissions the owner grants and the payout the owner sets.
Two facts shape everything else. A listing can have up to 10 co-hosts. And the owner stays answerable for all of them: Airbnb says that as the listing owner, you are responsible for your co-hosts, even those added by full-access co-hosts. A co-host is not a separate business sitting between you and Airbnb. On the platform, they act for you.
That is why the search for an Airbnb co-host splits into two people with opposite questions. Owners want to know what they are handing over and what it costs. Would-be co-hosts want to know how to get the work and how they get paid. Airbnb’s help pages answer both, and the answers are more specific than most guides suggest.
The permissions
The three co-host permission levels
Every new co-host gets one of three permission levels, chosen when you invite them and changeable at any time. Co-hosts added before 3 May 2023 have full access by default, which is worth checking if your listing is older than that. Airbnb’s permissions table breaks it down line by line; the lines that matter most are these.
| Can the co-host | Full access | Calendar + messaging | Calendar only |
|---|---|---|---|
| View the calendar | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Message guests | Yes | Yes | No |
| Edit calendar and prices | Yes | No | No |
| Accept, decline, cancel trips | Yes | No | No |
| Edit title, photos, details | Yes | No | No |
| Add or remove co-hosts | Yes | No | No |
| Receive a co-host payout | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Full access is a lot of trust. Airbnb notes that a full-access co-host can invite or remove other co-hosts “without the listing owner’s approval”, can handle damage and Resolution Center requests, and can set the listing’s primary host. The one thing no co-host can touch is money set-up: only listing owners can set up or edit a co-host’s payouts, and co-hosts cannot see or change the owner’s payout method or taxpayer info.
The money
How Airbnb co-host payouts work
Airbnb lets the owner split the money inside the platform, so nobody has to send a transfer at the end of the month. Airbnb’s co-host payout page lists four ways to share it.
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i.
Cleaning fee
The co-host receives the cleaning fee you set in the listing. Suits a co-host whose job is turnovers.
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ii.
Cleaning fee plus a percentage
The cleaning fee plus a percentage of each booking, with the cleaning fee left out of the percentage.
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iii.
Percentage
A percentage per booking, with the cleaning fee either included in or excluded from the calculation.
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iv.
Fixed amount
The same sum on every booking, whatever the nightly rate.
The mechanics are strict. The owner proposes; the co-host has 14 days to confirm or decline. Changes only apply to bookings that start after the co-host confirms them. Payouts cover guest stays only, not Service or Experience bookings, host damage protection reimbursements or Resolution Center payouts. For most stays, both payouts go out by the end of the business day after check-in, and everyone needs their own payout method and, where required, verified identity and taxpayer details.
Where you live changes the rules. Outside the US and EU, and in Brazil, Canada and India, a host can share payouts with only one co-host per listing; in Brazil, Canada and India the two must also share a country of residence, and sharing payouts on listings in Mexico is not supported. Airbnb’s pages set the mechanism, not the rate. The percentage is for the two of you to agree, and the agreement is where most co-hosting arrangements succeed or fall apart.
Airbnb’s pages set the mechanism, not the rate.
Finding one
Finding a co-host on the Co-Host Network
If nobody you know can help, Airbnb runs a marketplace for it. The Co-Host Network is available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. From your listing, open Co-hosts, choose to find someone to help, pick full-service support or the individual services you need, describe the job and submit. Local co-hosts who are interested reply in Messages, and you review their profiles before agreeing anything.
Read those profiles carefully, because Airbnb is candid about their limits. A network profile shows guest ratings for the homes a co-host has hosted or co-hosted, and Airbnb warns that these “might not be representative of services that a co-host provides”, since several co-hosts can share one listing. The rating tells you the homes went well. It does not tell you which part of that was this person, so ask what they personally did on those listings.
Becoming one
How to become an Airbnb co-host without owning property
There are two doors, and they have very different thresholds. The first has none: any owner can invite you onto their listing as a co-host. The second is the Co-Host Network, where hosts find you, and its entry requirements are specific. You need an active listing as a host, full-access co-host, or calendar and messaging co-host; 10 or more stays, or 3 or more stays adding up to 100 or more nights, in the past 12 months; an average guest rating of 4.8 or more across the listings you support; a cancellation rate under 3%; and a verified identity, plus Airbnb’s name and photo rules.
Read the first requirement again, because it is the answer to the question most people are really asking. The active listing can be one you support as a co-host, and calendar and messaging access counts. So the route in without owning anything is the first door, then the second: co-host for a friend, neighbour or local owner who needs help with guests, build up the stays and the rating on their listing, and apply to the network once the numbers are there.
What gets you that first invitation is reliability, not a certificate. Quick replies, clean handovers and a calendar that never double-books are what owners hand listings over for, and they are also what produces the 4.8 rating the network asks for. Our Airbnb checklist templates cover the turnover side, and the Airbnb host fees guide explains the service fee coming out before any split.
The agreement
Write it down before you add anyone
Airbnb is clear that the platform does not define the job. Co-host permissions only decide what a co-host can access on the listing, so Airbnb tells owners they will still want to set expectations about how the co-host helps. Its Co-Host Additional Terms put it more formally: hosts and co-hosts “shall agree among themselves” on the services provided.
So agree five things in writing; a message thread is enough. Who answers guests, and how fast. Who handles turnovers and restocking, and who pays for supplies. Who can change prices, and within what range. What the payout is and which bookings it starts with. And how either of you ends it, since a co-host can remove themselves at any time. The permission level then follows from the answers rather than the other way round.
Everything you hand a guest, matched and priced to move together.
An Airbnb co-host works best when the permission, the payout and the job description were all decided on purpose. If you co-host, or you are working your way toward the Co-Host Network, tell us in the comments what got you your first listing, because that first door is the one most people ask about.
FAQ
Common questions, answered briefly
How many co-hosts can an Airbnb listing have?
How does an Airbnb co-host get paid?
Can I become an Airbnb co-host without owning property?
What can’t an Airbnb co-host do?
People also ask
