Guide
How to write a co-host agreement: 6 points to settle
Before a co-host touches your listing, write down six things. Agree what they handle, how much they can spend without asking, who pays for what, how emergencies are handled, how either of you can end it, and who keeps the listing and its reviews. One page is enough.
Examples on this page use made-up homes and numbers to show the method. They are not client results.
This is a practical checklist, not legal advice. For anything with real money at stake, have a lawyer in your province or state read the final version.
Why you need one
Adding a co-host on Airbnb sets what they can see and change. It does not say who answers at midnight, who pays for a broken kettle, or what happens when you part ways. Those are the things people fall out over.
1. Scope: what the co-host handles, and what they do not
List the tasks. Then list what is excluded. Anything not on the first list stays with the owner.
An arrangement without on-site work might read: prices, calendar, guest messages, booking requests, reviews and listing upkeep are handled by the co-host. Cleaning, repairs, supplies and on-site visits are not. See what a co-host does.
2. Spending limit
Name the amount the co-host can spend or refund without asking you first. It can be zero. Above that, they contact you. Say how, and how quickly you will answer.
3. Who pays for what
- Cleaning and laundry
- Supplies and replacements
- Repairs
- Software, such as a pricing tool
- Refunds and goodwill gestures to guests
For each one, say who pays, and how the other is reimbursed if they paid first.
4. Emergencies and response times
- The hours the co-host answers guests.
- What counts as urgent: a lockout, no heat, a leak, a safety issue.
- Who is the local contact who can go to the property.
- Who the co-host calls first, second and third.
5. Fee, term and notice
- The fee, and what it is calculated on. If it is a percentage, say whether cleaning fees are included.
- When and how it is paid. Airbnb can pay a co-host from each booking; only the owner can set that up.
- The length of the arrangement, and how much notice either side gives to end it. Thirty days is common.
- What happens to bookings already made when it ends.
For the choice between fee types, see flat fee or percentage.
6. Who keeps the listing
Say plainly that the listing, its photos, its text and its reviews belong to the owner, and that the co-host’s access ends when the agreement does. If the co-host created the listing on their own account, sort this out before you start, not after. Reviews generally cannot be moved between accounts.
Three more lines worth adding
- Access level. Which Airbnb permission the co-host has, and that the owner can change it.
- Guest data. The co-host uses guest details only to run the stay.
- Licences, tax and insurance. These stay the owner’s responsibility unless you agree otherwise in writing.
Keep it short
One or two pages in plain language beat ten pages nobody reads. Both sign, both keep a copy, and you review it after the first three months, when you know how the arrangement works in practice.
When we take on a Co-Hosting client, these six points are in the proposal before anything else happens.
Sources
- Airbnb Help Centre: What co-hosts can do
- Airbnb Help Centre: How co-host payouts work
Want this done for you?
With Co-Hosting, we run the booking side of your listing and are paid through Airbnb, only when you are booked. Or start with a free listing check.
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