Market · 6 min
How Much Do Property Managers Charge for Short-Term Rentals in LA?
By Nora Mihailovic, Founder · Published June 18, 2026
The quick answer
In Los Angeles in 2026, dedicated short-term-rental managers typically charge 20% to 30% of gross booking revenue, because nightly turnover is operationally heavy. Furnished mid-term and corporate managers charge far less, usually 10% to 15%, because 31-night-plus leases turn rarely and carry no STR compliance burden.
A 25% STR management fee on a home grossing $80,000 a year costs $20,000; a 12% mid-term fee on similar net revenue costs roughly $9,600, and the mid-term path carries no permit, no TOT, and no 120-night cap.
The gap is not arbitrary. STR fees are high because nightly rentals are a hospitality business with a guest every few days, and mid-term fees are lower because a furnished 31-night-plus lease behaves more like a calm furnished tenancy. Our own furnished rental management sits in the 10% to 20% band for exactly this reason.
Why short-term rental managers charge 20% to 30%
A short-term rental in LA is a high-frequency operation. Every stay is a few nights, which means constant guest messaging, dynamic nightly pricing, same-day turnovers, restocking, and 24/7 availability for lockouts and complaints. A full-service Airbnb property management operator is effectively running a small hotel inside your home, and the fee reflects that labor.
The compliance layer adds cost too. Legal nightly STR in the City of LA runs under the Home-Sharing Ordinance, which caps nightly stays at 120 nights per year and requires the home to be your primary residence. The manager has to track that night count, file Transient Occupancy Tax, and stay inside the rules, or you face fines that reach $2,060 per day per violation. That administrative weight is baked into the 20% to 30% number.
Is a 30% STR fee ever worth it?
Sometimes. For a true vacation property in a market where nightly rentals are clearly legal, such as a Malibu home or a property in unincorporated LA County, a high nightly rate can absorb a 30% fee and still beat a long lease. But for most LA homes that are not in a tourism micro-market, the fee plus the compliance ceiling erodes the advantage quickly.
Why furnished mid-term managers charge 10% to 15%
Mid-term means a 31-night-plus furnished lease: traveling nurses, relocating executives, insurance-displacement families, and film-and-production crews. One tenant stays one to six months, so there is one move-in, one furnishing setup, one cleaning at the end, and steady rent in between. The manager does far less recurring work per dollar collected, so the fee compresses to the 10% to 15% range.
Mid-term also sidesteps the STR rulebook entirely. Stays of 31 nights or more are exempt from the short-term ordinances, which means no permit, no nightly cap, and no Transient Occupancy Tax. A manager pricing this product is not paying for compliance overhead, and that savings flows into a lower fee. Our mid-term versus short-term rental breakdown for LA covers the net-income math in detail.
Does a lower fee mean less service?
No. A lower percentage on mid-term reflects lower turnover frequency, not a thinner service. Tenant screening, furnishing, lease drafting, rent collection, maintenance coordination, and accounting all still happen; they simply happen once per multi-month tenancy instead of every few nights.
Side-by-side: what each fee tier actually includes
The headline percentage hides the real story, which is how often the work repeats and what is bundled. Here is how the two models compare for a typical LA furnished home.
| Factor | Short-term rental management | Furnished mid-term management |
|---|---|---|
| Typical fee | 20% to 30% of gross | 10% to 15% of gross |
| Tenant turnover | Every 2 to 7 nights | Every 1 to 6 months |
| Cleaning frequency | After every stay | Once per tenancy |
| Dynamic pricing | Daily, required | Set per lease |
| Guest support | 24/7 hospitality | Standard tenancy support |
| STR permit + 120-night cap | Applies, primary residence only | Exempt (31+ nights) |
| Transient Occupancy Tax | Manager files | None |
| Fine exposure | Up to $2,060/day if non-compliant | Not applicable |
| Onboarding / setup fee | Common | None with us |
The takeaway is that a 25% STR fee and a 12% mid-term fee are not measuring the same job. One pays for a hotel-style operation with regulatory risk; the other pays for a furnished lease that runs quietly for months.
How our fee structure works
We price on a single clean principle: you pay a percentage of the revenue we actually manage, and nothing else. There are no onboarding fees, no setup charges, and no lock-in contract. Our three tiers map to how hands-on you want us to be.
| Tier | Fee | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | 10% | Owners who want core management on a stabilized furnished lease |
| Standard | 15% | Most owners; full-service furnishing, leasing, and operations |
| Premium | 20% | High-end homes wanting concierge-level guest and property care |
Even our Premium tier at 20% sits at the bottom of the typical STR fee range, while delivering the lower-risk mid-term product. For a deeper line-by-line comparison against other operators, see our Los Angeles property management fees comparison.
What is not included in the percentage?
The fee covers management labor. Pass-through costs that any owner would pay regardless, such as cleaning supplies, repairs, and furnishings, are billed at cost, transparently, and never marked up as hidden margin. You see what the work costs and what we charge to run it.
Run your own numbers before you sign anything
A fee percentage only matters relative to the net income it produces. A 12% fee on a steady mid-term lease can leave you with more cash in hand than a 25% fee on a nightly listing that sits half-empty between bookings and burns money on turnovers. The right question is never just the rate; it is the net.
Our furnished rental earnings guide for LA shows realistic net ranges by home size and neighborhood, and the income calculator lets you model your specific address in a few minutes. Owners in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Venice consistently see the mid-term path clear more net income once the full STR cost stack is counted.
What this means for your home
If you have been quoted 25% or 30% for short-term management, that number is not unusual for nightly rentals; it is the real cost of running a hotel-grade operation under LA ordinances. But for most owners, the lower-fee, lower-risk path wins. A furnished mid-term lease at our 10% to 20% range keeps you legal, keeps turnover low, and keeps more of the revenue in your pocket.
Compare the two models honestly: review our furnished rental management service and, if your home truly fits legal nightly use, our Airbnb property management service. Then run your address through the income calculator to see your projected net at each tier.
When you are ready for a real number on your specific home, list your property with us and we will return a tier recommendation, a net-income estimate, and a plain explanation of exactly what your fee covers. No onboarding cost, no lock-in, no pressure.