In this guide
- The calculator shows how many booked nights a month a short let needs to match your long let rent.
- It takes off the booking site’s fee, our 15% plus VAT and the bills you pay on a short let, and any letting agent fee on the long let.
- Slide the nights to see how a quieter or a busier month compares. For figures for your own home, ask for a free earnings report.
Work out your break even
Start with what a tenant would pay you, then what a short let would cost to run. The answer updates as you type.
Your long let
Your short let
Each booked night
- A guest pays
- £110.00
- Booking site fee at 18.6%
- £20.46
- Our fee, 15% plus VAT
- £16.12
- You keep
- £73.42
Your month with 21 nights
- 21 nights at £73.42
- £1,542
- Bills
- £350
- Short let take home
- £1,192
- Long let, after the agent fee
- £1,080
- Difference
- £112 more
These are example figures to start with. Change them to your own. Our fee, 15% plus VAT (18%), is taken from what the booking site pays out, and the calculator takes it off for you.
How the calculator works
A long let pays you the rent, less any letting agent fee, and the tenant pays the bills. A short let pays you what guests pay for each night, less the booking site’s fee and ours, and you pay the bills.
So the calculator works out what one booked night leaves you after both fees, adds your monthly bills to the long let income you would give up, and divides. The result is the number of nights you need booked each month to come out even. Every night above that is ahead of the long let.
Our fee is 15% plus VAT, worked out on what the booking site pays out, and only from bookings. A month with no bookings costs you no fee. Our fees page sets out every charge.
What to put in for bills
On a short let the bills stay with you, as they would for any home you own. Add up a typical month of:
- Energy and water, which run higher than for the same home lived in, because guests use more and the heating runs between stays.
- Broadband and a TV licence if guests can watch live TV.
- Council tax or business rates. In England a home becomes liable for business rates if it was available to let for 140 nights and let for 70 in the past 12 months, in short stays.
- Insurance that covers paying guests, which a standard home policy often does not.
- Supplies such as toiletries, tea and coffee.
Our guide to short let running costs goes through each one, and the guide to council tax or business rates explains which applies.
What the numbers leave out
- Cleaning. Guests pay a cleaning fee that covers cleaning and washing the linen.
- The months change. Busy summers and quiet winters average out over a year, so try a quiet month and a busy one with the slider.
- Your own use. With a short let you can block dates and stay there yourself.
- Getting set up. A short let needs furnishing and a one off setup, agreed before you sign. A long let can bring empty months between tenants and arrears.
- The rules for long lets have changed. Our guide to the Renters’ Rights Act covers what it means if you are thinking of switching.
Questions owners ask
How many nights does a short let need to beat a long let?
It depends on your rent, your nightly rate and the bills you take on with a short let. Put your own figures into the calculator above and it shows the booked nights a month you need to match your long let, after the booking site’s fee and ours.
What does the calculator take off?
The booking site’s fee (18.6% for Airbnb’s 15.5% host fee plus VAT, which you can change), our fee of 15% plus VAT on what the booking site pays out, and the monthly bills you enter. On the long let side it takes off any letting agent fee.
Does a short let earn more than a long let?
Over a full 12 months, with the busier seasons included, our owners earn more on average than they would with a long let. It still depends on the home and where it is, which is what the free earnings report checks for yours.
Why does the calculator leave out cleaning?
Guests pay a cleaning fee with each booking, which covers cleaning and washing the linen, so it does not come out of your income.
