Guide
How to estimate short-term rental revenue
Team RE Underwrite Lab
A revenue sketch, not a calendar
A short-term revenue estimate starts with how many nights you think will book and the nightly rate you think guests will pay. Occupancy is that guess written as a percent of the nights in the month. RE Underwrite Lab does not connect to a booking site, and it does not know local rules that limit nights.
RE Underwrite Lab is not affiliated with Airbnb or any booking platform. Many cities require short-term rental permits and collect lodging taxes, and some ban short stays; check local rules before you count this income.
The short-term rental calculator takes a monthly income figure you type and then subtracts the operating lines in its sample. This article shows one way to build that income figure before you type it.
Formula
Gross = booked nights × nightly rate. Cleaning = cleaning fee × turns. Platform fee = gross × the fee percent you choose. Revenue after those two items = gross − cleaning − platform fee.
Taxes, insurance, utilities, supplies, and the loan are not in that remainder. The short-term calculator is where a monthly income meets those costs. A city rule that bans short stays is not in either formula.
Example
Illustrative example. Sixteen booked nights at $214 a night is $3,424 of gross. Five turns at $125 of cleaning is $625. The fee your platform charges, shown here as $103, comes off next. Revenue after cleaning and that fee is $2,696. These figures are made up. They are not booked nights and not a listing this company operates.
If only nine nights book, gross falls to $1,926 before you touch the rate. The calculator will not notice a slow month unless you type a lower monthly income.
Common pitfalls
Multiplying a peak nightly rate by every night in the month treats empty nights as paid nights. Booked nights, not calendar nights, belong in the gross.
Charging cleaning once per night, instead of once per stay, overstates the cleaning bill when guests stay several nights. Turns and nights are different counts.
Steps
Pick booked nights and a nightly rate
Gross revenue in this sketch is booked nights times the nightly rate. The page does not look up a calendar.
Subtract cleaning
Cleaning is the fee you type times the number of turns, not times every night.
Subtract a platform fee
A percent of gross comes off next. What remains is still before taxes, utilities, the loan, and supplies.
Questions
Does this look up other listings' nightly rates?
No. You type the rate and the nights. Nothing on the page reads a booking site.
Is 16 nights a recommended occupancy?
No. It is a sample count so the multiplication has a number. A slow season needs a smaller count.
Where do linens and coffee sit?
Not in this sketch. Supplies belong in the operating costs you type on the short-term rental calculator, or inside a monthly income you have already reduced.
Can a local rule make this income illegal?
Yes. Permit caps and bans are outside the arithmetic. A calculated remainder is not permission to operate.
Should I paste this remainder into the long-term rental page?
No. Nightly stays, cleaning, and platform fees are a different shape from a monthly lease. Use the short-term calculator for this income.
Example only. Not financial, investment, legal, tax, lending, or appraisal advice.
Estimates only. Not financial, legal, tax, or investment advice. RE Underwrite Lab calculators and PDF reports provide educational estimates based on the numbers you enter. Actual purchase costs, rents, expenses, financing terms, taxes, insurance, vacancy, rehab costs, refinance eligibility, and returns vary by property, market, lender, and local law (including short-term rental rules). We do not guarantee any outcome, profit, cash flow, or appraisal. Some content and tools may be generated or assisted by artificial intelligence and can contain errors. Always verify assumptions with licensed professionals and your own due diligence before making decisions.