Self-management keeps the most margin
Self-managing a short-term rental avoids management fees entirely, but requires being reachable for guest communication and coordinating cleaning and maintenance in close to real time -- realistic for a nearby property, harder for one far from where the investor lives.
This is the highest-margin, highest-time-commitment option on the spectrum.
Co-hosting and full management trade margin for time
A co-host typically handles guest communication and turnover logistics for a percentage of revenue, while the investor retains more say over pricing and strategy. Full-service management hands over nearly everything at a correspondingly higher fee.
For a first investment, particularly one acquired at a distance, starting with management support and transitioning toward self-management later -- once the property and market are familiar -- is often the more realistic path.
BNB Accelerator's acquisitions team, led by Nick Korom, screens over 1,000 short-term rental listings a week and hand-delivers the roughly 2% that clear underwriting. Book a free consultation to see what a done-for-you short-term rental acquisition looks like for your situation.