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Airbnb Profit Calculator: what one door really nets

Enter the rate, occupancy and your costs. See net operating income, cash flow after the mortgage, margin and the occupancy you need to break even.

No account neededFree PDF report

Examples computed by this calculator on sample inputs. Not market data.

Your property in four numbers

  • No account needed
  • Airbnb fees per Help Center article 1857
  • Every formula shown, sources dated
  • Free PDF report with every chart
How it works

Three steps. About a minute.

  1. Step 1: Enter rate and costs

    Nightly rate, occupancy, cleaning and the mortgage or rent. The other cost lines start on a sample you can edit.

  2. Step 2: See three bottom lines

    Net operating income before debt, cash flow after it, and pre-tax profit, with margin and break-even occupancy.

  3. Step 3: Keep the PDF

    Download the full P&L, the month-by-month view and a grid of cash flow at other rates and occupancies.

Your report

What you'll get

Annual cash flow after debtFrom the sample
THE HEADLINE

What the door pays you after the mortgage

Annual cash flow after debt, with NOI and pre-tax profit beside it. If cash flow is negative while NOI is healthy, the operation is fine and the financing or the rate is the problem.

  • Annual cash flow after debt
  • Net operating income
  • Pre-tax profit

Showing part 1 of 5: Cash flow

  • A full annual P&L from gross to cash
  • Operating margin, cash flow and pre-tax profit
  • The lowest profitable nightly rate for each month
  • What a longer average stay saves on cleaning
  • Month-by-month NOI and cash flow

From gross bookings to cash in hand

Gross to cashFrom the sample

Start with gross booking revenue: nightly revenue plus the cleaning fees guests pay. Airbnb takes its host fee from all of it. Then come the costs each booking creates (cleaner, supplies, repairs, a capex reserve) and the costs that arrive every month regardless (property tax, insurance, utilities, software).

What is left is net operating income. Take off the mortgage or rent and you have cash flow, the number that decides whether the door pays you or you pay it.

Profit mistakes this calculator catches

Most doors that lose money look fine on gross. These are the gaps between gross and cash that the report spells out.

  1. 01Netting cleaning fees against the cleaner

    Airbnb's fee is charged on the cleaning fee too. Net the two together and a $150 fee hides $23.25 of platform fee per stay at 15.5%.

  2. 02Judging the operation after debt

    A door can run a 40% operating margin and still lose cash because of the mortgage. Compare doors on margin before debt and deals on cash flow after it.

  3. 03Letting a pricing tool go below the floor

    Dynamic pricing will sell a quiet Tuesday at any rate. The floor-rate table shows the lowest ADR for each month that does not lose money.

  4. 04Calling principal a cost

    Cash flow subtracts the full payment, principal included. Pre-tax profit counts interest only. Mixing the two makes a good door look bad or the reverse.

Where each booking dollar goes

Where the money goesFrom the sample

Most hosts can name their mortgage to the dollar and guess at everything else. The split is worth seeing once, because the platform fee and the cleaner together often take more than the utilities, insurance and software combined.

Cleaning fees count as revenue. The guest pays them, Airbnb charges its fee on them, and they land in your payout. What you pay the cleaner is a separate cost. Netting the two together hides the fee on the cleaning fee.

What good looks like

Judge the operation before debt and the deal after it.

OutputWeakOkayGood
Operating margin (NOI over gross)Rule of thumb used by this calculator's verdict.Under 30%30% to 40%40% or more
Occupancy cushion above break-evenRule of thumb used by this calculator's verdict.Under 5 points5 to 15 points15 points or more
Annual cash flow after debtSet the target yourself. There is no published STR benchmark.NegativePositive but under your targetAt or above your target

Healthy before debt, losing money after it

Operating margin before debtFrom the sample

Read the margin before debt to judge the operation, and the cash flow after debt to judge the deal. The sample property runs a reasonable operating margin and still loses money once the mortgage comes out, so its problem is the financing or the rate, not the cleaning.

MagicBNB's Profitability & P&L view puts that margin on every property side by side, with filters for doors at a loss or running thin.

How operators use it

  1. Operator with 20 doors

    Suspects two arbitrage units are losing money but the PMS only shows revenue.

    Runs each one, finds one under the floor rate for four winter months, and raises its minimum price.

  2. Owner reviewing a manager's proposal

    Needs to see whether a 20% management fee leaves any cash flow.

    Adds the fee as a cost line and reads cash flow and margin before agreeing.

  3. Host after a rate change

    Cut rates 10% to lift occupancy last quarter.

    Uses the grid to see how many extra points of occupancy the cut needed, and whether it got them.

Airbnb profit, worked through

Why does my Airbnb lose money when the margin looks fine?

Because margin is measured before the mortgage and cash flow after it. The sample runs a 39.3% operating margin and still loses $250 a year once the loan is paid.

An operation can be well run and badly financed at the same time. The sample earns $26,233 of NOI on $66,805 of gross. Its mortgage costs $26,484. Nothing about the cleaning, the utilities or the pricing tool will close a gap that size quickly; the rate, the occupancy or the loan has to move.

Pre-tax profit shows a third view: $6,086, because principal repayment is equity rather than a cost and the unspent capex reserve is added back. It is the closest of the three to what an accountant will see before depreciation.

Sample property, three results
  • Gross booking revenue$66,805
  • NOI before debt$26,233 (39.3% operating margin)
  • Mortgage, principal and interest-$26,484
  • Cash flow after debt-$250
  • Pre-tax profit (interest only, reserve added back)$6,086

What is the lowest nightly rate I can charge on Airbnb?

The rate at which that month's bookings cover that month's costs and debt. On the sample, February needs $391 a night at its 42% occupancy, nearly double the $208 it gets.

A floor rate is not one number for the year. In a slow month there are fewer nights to spread fixed costs over, so each one has to carry more. The sample's July floor is $177 at 88% occupancy; its February floor is $391.

Before debt the picture is different: February's floor falls to $139, under the $208 the door actually charges. So the mortgage is what sinks the winter months; the rate already covers running the property. Set your pricing tool's minimum at least at the before-debt floor, and know which months the loan will need topping up.

Floor rates from the sample, three months
  • February42% occupancy, $208 ADR, floor $391 after debt, $139 before
  • May70% occupancy, $245 ADR, floor $218 after debt
  • July88% occupancy, $318 ADR, floor $177 after debt

How much does a longer average stay add to Airbnb profit?

On the sample, moving the average stay from 3.2 to 5 nights turns a $250 annual loss into a $13 profit, a $264 swing. Fewer turnovers save cleaning, but you also collect fewer cleaning fees.

Most hosts overestimate this. The sample charges $160 per stay and pays $130, so each turnover is a small earner rather than a cost. Cutting turnovers cuts that margin along with the cleaner's bill.

Where a longer minimum stay does pay is a door whose cleaning fee is below its turn cost. Check that first with the cleaning fee calculator.

Sample cash flow at other average stays
  • 2 nights109 stays, -$690 cash flow
  • 3.2 nights (yours)68 stays, -$250
  • 5 nights43 stays, +$13
  • 7 nights31 stays, +$147

How much do I need to raise my Airbnb rate to make a profit?

Read it off the cash flow grid. On the sample, a 5% rate rise at the same occupancy moves cash flow from -$250 to +$1,834 a year.

Most of a rate rise reaches cash flow, because costs per booking barely change. The catch is occupancy: if 5% more on the rate costs you 5 points of occupancy, the grid shows a $1,657 loss instead.

So test a rise in your shoulder season first, when demand can absorb it, and read occupancy for four weeks before deciding.

Where it fits in your month

  1. When a door feels off

    Enter last month's real rate, occupancy and costs. Read cash flow after debt, then margin before it, to see which side the problem sits on.

  2. Before the next pricing change

    Check the floor-rate table and set your pricing tool's minimum at or above the highest month you plan to sell into.

  3. Every month after that

    Stop retyping costs. MagicBNB's Recurring rules assign repeat bills to the right property automatically, so each door's P&L stays current.

Terms on this page

NOI
Net operating income: what the door earns before the mortgage or rent.
Cash flow
NOI minus the full mortgage or rent payment. The money that actually stays.
Pre-tax profit
NOI minus interest only, with the unspent capex reserve added back.
Operating margin
NOI divided by gross booking revenue.
Floor rate
The lowest nightly rate at which a month still breaks even.
Capex reserve
Money set aside per booking for big replacements like a roof or a sofa.

Questions

How do you calculate Airbnb profit?

Start with gross booking revenue: nightly revenue plus the cleaning fees you charge. Take off the platform fee, the costs each booking creates (cleaning, supplies, repairs, a capex reserve, management) and the fixed costs (property tax, insurance, utilities, software). That is net operating income. Take off the mortgage or rent and you have cash flow.

What is a good profit margin for an Airbnb?

Measured as operating margin, NOI divided by gross before debt, this calculator reads 40% or more as good, 30% to 40% as okay and under 30% as weak. Margin after debt depends on how the property was financed, so compare doors on the before-debt figure.

Is Airbnb still profitable in 2026?

It depends on the door. The fee most professional hosts pay is now Airbnb's 15.5% host-only fee on the whole booking, cleaning fee included, so a door that worked on the 3% split fee needs a fresh look. The sample above shows how a door can be healthy before debt and still lose money after it.

Should cleaning fees count as Airbnb revenue?

Yes. The guest pays the cleaning fee, Airbnb charges its fee on it, and it lands in your payout, so it is revenue. What you pay the cleaner is a separate cost. Netting the two together hides the platform fee on the cleaning fee.

Can I use this for rental arbitrage?

Yes. Enter the monthly rent as the payment and the same amount as the interest, since rent is all cost. Set the capex reserve to 0 if the landlord replaces the big items and the furniture is the only capital you carry.

What is the difference between cash flow and pre-tax profit?

Cash flow takes off the full mortgage payment, principal included, because that money leaves the account. Pre-tax profit takes off only the interest, since principal builds equity, and adds back a capex reserve you have not spent. Depreciation is left for the tax calculator.

Is a capex reserve an expense?

In this calculator it is a cost in NOI and cash flow, because furniture and appliances wear out on a schedule. It is added back for pre-tax profit, since money you have set aside but not spent is not deductible.

Should I count my own time as an Airbnb cost?

If you would pay someone to do it at scale, yes. Enter it as a management fee percentage. Leaving it out makes a self-managed door look more profitable than it would be to sell or hand over.

What is contribution per booked night?

What one booked night leaves after the platform fee, cleaning, supplies and per-booking reserves. On the sample it is $181.69. Fixed costs and the loan are paid from it.

How do I work out profit for one door in a portfolio?

Run each door on its own costs and its own mortgage or rent. Shared costs like software can be split per door. The portfolio profitability calculator ranks them once you have each one.

Why is Airbnb profit lower than my payout minus my mortgage?

Because payout is before the cleaner, supplies, utilities, insurance, property tax and repairs. On the sample those take $30,217 a year out of a $56,450 payout.

See all 20 free calculators

Formulas last checked .

Recurring rules

Real costs, tied to the right door automatically

This calculator works on costs you type once. MagicBNB's Recurring rules tie every future transaction from the same merchant to the same property split, and backfill past matches, so utilities and insurance land on the right door's P&L without a monthly pass.

Two more places this shows up in MagicBNB

  • Profitability & P&LPer-property P&L with filters for doors at a loss or running a low margin, any day of the week.
  • Property Health GridA health dot on every property card, derived from margin, so the red doors are the first thing you see.
See real profit per door
Go deeper

The in-depth version of this, in real time

This calculator is the quick look at one door. MagicBNB runs the same numbers in depth and in real time, property by property, in its Property Health Grid.

Run the numbers in depthBack to the calculator