What Is an Airbnb Cohost? | The Airbnb Cohosting Guide

Are you a busy Airbnb host? Need a break from the daily grind? Our goal is to help you relieve some of the load!

There are times when managing multiple Airbnb listings becomes too much. The task of maintaining, cleaning, organizing reservations, and handling multiple guests at once across multiple properties is not easy. The struggle is real and it is for this reason that Airbnb now permits you to have a co-host (or co-hosts).

Airbnb Co-host: What it means

An Airbnb co-host is someone who you (as a host) can hire to manage a listing or multiple listings. Co-hosts take on responsibilities for maintaining the property on behalf of the Airbnb host. They assist with making sure your Airbnb runs smoothly by taking the pressure off of you. Isn't that great?

Who can be a Co-host?

Someone you know

The ideal situation would be to have a family member, friend, or neighbor assist you with your Airbnb listing. It's beneficial to have a co-host whom you know and trust.

Employ to Assist

If you intend to hire a property manager or company as an Airbnb co-host, ensuring you can afford to do so is important to facilitate the rental process. Tip: Verify the fees being charged are in line with industry standards, before hiring.

Airbnb’s Host Marketplace

The Airbnb website offers the option of a neighborhood co-host. With local co-hosts, you can benefit from their familiarity with the system and their ability to assist with your listing.

Extra Hands on Deck

Co-Hosts can do more than just lend a hand to the listing; they can act as the primary host too. The cohost can assist the listing owner(Host) in all aspects of what the job entails. Here are some of the key tasks they would perform on behalf of the host.

• Get “Guest Ready”

Once a reservation is confirmed, a cohost can visit your space and ensure everything is in order. Things such as cleaning the facility and ensuring that amenities are in order, setting out fresh towels, changing the linen, and re-stocking basic toiletries are all part of the job. In addition, inspecting appliances for functionality and ensuring that the WiFi is working as well as they could also set up a lockbox and create a home manual too! Check this Ultimate Checklist for more information.

• List your Space

Co-hosts can help you create an Airbnb listing for your space. They can write descriptions, upload photos, and help determine the optimal price.

• Manage Messages

Your co-host can communicate with guests using their own Airbnb account. They can get to know guests, answer questions and coordinate their arrival and departure. Co-hosts can also send messages on behalf of the listing owner's account.

• Handle Reservations

Your co-host can manage reservation requests by replying to inquiries and approving or rejecting reservation requests.

• Restock Essentials

Your co-host can assist you in stocking up on supplies depending on an agreed-upon hosting and buying frequency. This could be with essentials for guests, such as towels, toilet paper, and soap, if/when required.

• Property Maintenance & Housekeeping

You can have your co-host handle the repairs and general home maintenance for you. If something needs to be repaired, you and the cohost can decide how to get it fixed. Both parties should discuss and determine when, how, and how much expenses are to be included. If cleaning services or anything else is outsourced, your cohost can supervise this as well.

• Guest Services

You can request your co-host to greet your guests personally (or you can provide access to your home via alternative options) Co-hosts can interact with visitors and resolve any issues that arise. If a visitor gets locked out, their shower stops functioning, or their internet connection goes down, they may contact a co-host for assistance.

• Write Reviews

You can have your co-host leave reviews and ratings on your behalf of the guests you hosted.

• Update Calendar and Pricing

Co-hosts can update the pricing and calendar. Your listing must be updated with the latest availability so that guests can make reservations when they are ready. Depending on your co-host's preferences and experience level, you may set prices manually or rely on Airbnb's Smart Pricing tools.

• Get in touch with Airbnb

Your cohost can communicate with Airbnb to resolve or report an issue pertaining to the guest or reservation.

Discuss Details

Co-host assignments start with a meeting between the host and the aspiring co-host to hammer out some details. They may include things like what properties the co-host will be responsible for, or which aspects of the listing they will be in charge of. As part of the agreement, there will be a compensation amount agreed upon. Cohosts can decide how much responsibility they want to take on and discuss the details with listing owners beforehand.

Payment Plan

The monetization all depends on the duties and responsibilities a cohost must fulfill. How much you pay your cohost consists of three approaches.

1. If your cohost is fully managing the Airbnb listing with cleaning included then the average charges are between 20-30% of the nightly rate plus the cleaning fee.
2. Without cleaning the listing, the averages Airbnb cohost payout would average 10-20% of the nightly rate
3. Alternatively, you can negotiate a flat fee with the cohost. A cleaning fee may be paid in addition to the agreed payment plan. You can determine what is a fair cohost cleaning fee depending on the workload and the size of the property.

How to add-a-Cohost

1. Login to Airbnb
2. In Hosting mode, select Listings from the top navigation bar
3. Click on your listing
4. Click on Co-hosts from the menu at the top
5. Click the Invite a friend button under host with a friend

Is there anything Airbnb CoHosts can't do?

The answer is “Yes” there are a few restrictions

1 They cannot change the Airbnb host payout information 2 They do not have access to the taxpayer information 3 They cannot view the host's travel itinerary as a guest 4 They cannot review messages prior to the cohost being added to the account

Final Thoughts

Co-hosting is a wonderful feature that Airbnb has introduced. In the event that managing one or more of your properties is challenging, then hiring a co-host may be an effective solution to improve both your listing and revenue, as well as your reputation.

We hope that this article helped you decide whether you need help or not and provided a cohesive explanation of the process.

How can Hostaway help?

If you are new to Airbnb and don’t have family or friends who can help you out, why not contact us at Hostaway? The services we offer are tailored to meet your needs - we can arrange regular cleaners for your property, reply to guest emails, arrange regular cleaning, and manage all your Airbnb needs through our super integrated software platform.

Contact us to get started!