Reviewed August 2026
Fees and contracts across the vacation rental management market
Two numbers decide most of this: the percentage, and the notice period. The percentage is quoted everywhere and understood almost nowhere, because it covers a different scope of work at every company quoting it. The notice period is quoted almost nowhere and is the term that determines how expensive a mistake is.
The percentage is not a price until the scope is fixed
Across the 19 companies tracked here, the rates on record span 3.9% to a reported 35%. That is a tenfold spread, and almost none of it is a discount. It is a scope difference. Evolve's 10% Core tier buys marketing, booking and guest communication, with cleaning, maintenance, guest access and turnovers left with the owner. A traditional full-service manager at 25–35% employs or contracts the people who do all of that. Air Concierge's 12% Offsite tier is explicit that the owner hires and pays the vendors while the company coordinates them. RedAwning's 18% "Full Service" coordinates local vendors rather than employing local staff, which is what separates it from a staffed manager charging 25–30% — a different product, not a cheaper one.
The practical consequence is that a fee column sorted ascending is a ranking of scope, and reading it as a ranking of value is the most expensive mistake available on this page.
Companies with a rate on record
Seven of the 19 entries have a percentage that can be cited. Not all seven publish it: the 25–35% attributed to Vacasa is a widely reported range that Vacasa has never published, and it is in any case now set by whichever franchisee holds the market. The other six publish their rates on their own sites, which is a meaningful signal in a category where most do not.
| Company | Rate on record | What is actually stated | Contract and exit |
|---|---|---|---|
| TIDY | 3.9% | 3.9% of gross bookings, $39/month minimum. Dedicated human account manager included. No setup fee. | No long-term commitment, cancel anytime; fee still applies to reservations already in progress or starting within 30 days of cancellation |
| Awning | 10–18% | From 10% of revenue for marketing-only up to 18% for full service, mirroring RedAwning's 10/15/18 tiers. Furnishing packages from $3,000. | Not published |
| Evolve | 10–15% | Core 10%, Plus 15%, Pro custom — plus a $250 one-time onboarding fee ($25 per additional property). Published pricing. | No long-term contract, effectively month-to-month; "Risk-Free Guarantee" refunds management fees inside the first six months |
| RedAwning | 10–18% | Essential 10%, Essential Plus 15%, Full Service 18% of booking revenue (published on host.redawning.com; corroborated via secondary sources) | Not published |
| Air Concierge | 12–25% | End-to-End full service averages about 20% of gross bookings (roughly 15–25% by market); the nationwide "Offsite" remote tier is 12% of gross bookings excluding taxes | Offsite tier is explicitly a 1-year contract; End-to-End terms are not published |
| Houst | 12–20% | From 12% of rental revenue for full management; from 18–20% for the flexible/part-time tier. Varies by property type and location. | Not published |
| Vacasa | 25–35% | Never published — a single "comprehensive fee", widely reported at 25–35% of gross revenue. Now set by the independent franchisee in each market. | Cancel any time with 90 days' written notice; bookings checking out before termination must be honoured. No standard early-termination fee. |
Companies with no percentage on record
The remaining twelve split into two very different silences. Four are software priced per listing rather than as a share of revenue — Guesty from $9 per listing per month on Lite, Hospitable from free with published tiers to $99 a month, Turno free to $10 a month plus a 12% upcharge on call jobs, and Hostaway, which publishes nothing at all and gates quotes by listing count. The other 8 are service companies that charge a percentage and decline to say what it is: AvantStay, Casago, iTrip, Grand Welcome, VTrips, Natural Retreats, Portoro and SkyRun.
Third-party figures exist for most of them — roughly 25% for iTrip, up to about 30% plus a reported 10% supervisory markup on maintenance for VTrips, 20–35% owner-reported for AvantStay, 18% to 20–30% for Casago, 20–30% and about 15% for co-management at SkyRun. Every one of those is reported or estimated by someone other than the company. None is a quote, none is binding, and none should be entered into a spreadsheet as though it were a rate.
| Company | What is actually stated | Contract and exit | Time to live |
|---|---|---|---|
| AvantStay | Not published — an all-inclusive percentage of gross booking revenue, quoted per property; owner-reported at 20–35%. A master-lease alternative pays a fixed monthly amount instead. | Typically a 12-month term with "mutually agreeable termination clauses" (notice period not published); master leases are reported to run longer with early-termination fees | 2–4 weeks from signing; company claims a first booking within about 6 days |
| Casago | Not published and genuinely variable — each franchisee sets its own rate. Reported figures range from about 18% all-in to 20–30% of gross revenue. | Casago's site claims "no long-term contracts", but the agreement is with an independent franchisee — confirm the terms in your own market | Not published |
| Grand Welcome | Not published; set locally by each franchise office and quoted on request | Month-to-month with 30 days' advance notice to withdraw (stated in the homeowner FAQ) | About 2–3 weeks — onboarding manager, walk-through, photography, listing creation, then owner approval before publishing |
| Guesty | Guesty Lite (1–3 listings) from $9/listing/month; Guesty Pro (4–199 listings) custom quote; Enterprise (200+) custom. Monthly or annual, annual discounted. | 14-day free trial on Lite. Upgrades any time, but downgrades require waiting until the contract ends — which implies a term commitment on paid tiers. | Not published; Lite is self-serve, Pro and Enterprise include onboarding |
| Hospitable | Essentials $0 forever; Host $29/month (1 property, $10 each additional, max 2); Professional $59/month (2 included, $15 each additional); Mogul $99/month (3 included, $30 each additional). 12% discount on annual billing. | 14-day free trial with no credit card, cancel any time, monthly or annual | Not published; self-serve signup, generally same day |
| Hostaway | Not published — quote-gated by listing count. Operator reports put it near $40/listing/month at small portfolios, compressing toward the high teens at scale, plus a one-time onboarding fee commonly $300–$1,000+. Treat all of those as unverified. | Annual contracts reported as the default with 10–20% savings versus month-to-month; not confirmed on Hostaway's own site | Not published; onboarding and migration are assisted |
| iTrip Vacations | Not published; third-party sources cite roughly 25% of booking revenue, but each franchisee sets its own rate | Not published; set by each local franchisee | Not published |
| Natural Retreats | Not published — the company states the fee is "variable by destination and revenue potential" and must be discussed directly | Not published | Not published |
| Portoro | Not published — the company's FAQ says fees "vary by home and market, with clear, upfront pricing shared as part of a custom proposal" | Not published; negotiated per custom proposal | Not published |
| SkyRun Vacation Rentals | Not published centrally; set by each franchisee. Reported at roughly 20–30% for full service and about 15% for co-management. | Not published; set by each franchisee | Not published |
| Turno | Single-property account free; free for unlimited properties if you use Turno marketplace cleaners only; $10/month to bring your own cleaners. Payment processing and per-clean marketplace fees apply on top, including a 12% upcharge on call jobs. | Free tier and free trial, no credit card required, no lock-in indicated | Not published; self-serve and generally immediate |
| VTrips | Not published; third-party reports cite up to about 30% of rental revenue plus a reported ~10% supervisory markup on maintenance work | Not published — a management agreement is required but term length, cancellation and penalties are only available from the local office | Not published |
Why opacity is itself a term
A company that will not publish a rate has decided the rate should be set after it knows the property, the market and the owner's alternatives. That is a legitimate commercial strategy and it is also, unavoidably, a negotiating position. An owner collecting three quotes from non-publishers is running a price discovery process, not a comparison, and should quote each one the same property specification in writing.
What sits outside the percentage
The headline rate is the beginning of the cost stack, not the end of it. From the disclosures in this data set, the recurring additions are:
- Onboarding and setup. Evolve charges $250 once, plus $25 per additional property. Hostaway's one-time onboarding fee is reported at $300 to well over $1,000, though the company publishes nothing. Awning sells furnishing packages from $3,000.
- Cleaning and maintenance billed on top. AvantStay bills both above its all-inclusive percentage. TIDY's 3.9% includes the operational stack — turnovers, maintenance, guests, pricing — with a $39 monthly minimum.
- Markups on vendor work. VTrips is reported to apply roughly a 10% supervisory markup on maintenance. This is the least visible line in any management statement, because it is charged per incident rather than per month.
- Transaction and platform surcharges. Turno layers a 12% upcharge on call jobs, plus payment processing and per-clean marketplace fees, over its $10 headline. That is the line that makes it pricey. Hostaway is reported to add payment and booking-engine surcharges.
- Minimums. TIDY's 3.9% carries a $39 per month floor, which matters on a low-revenue property where a pure percentage would be trivial.
Contract terms, ranked by how cheap a mistake is
Exit terms vary more than fees do, and unlike fees they are frequently published. Ordered from most to least owner-friendly on what each company discloses:
- Grand Welcome — month-to-month with thirty days' advance notice, stated in its homeowner FAQ. The most owner-friendly exit term of any full-service manager here.
- Evolve — no long-term contract, effectively month-to-month, with a Risk-Free Guarantee refunding management fees inside the first six months.
- TIDY — no long-term commitment, cancel any time, though the fee still applies to reservations already in progress or starting within thirty days of cancellation. Hospitable and Turno are comparable: free trials, cancel any time.
- Vacasa — ninety days' written notice, bookings checking out before termination honoured, no standard early-termination fee. Note that the counterparty is now usually a franchisee whose own agreement may differ.
- Guesty — upgrades any time, but downgrades are blocked until the contract term ends, which is a term commitment described as a feature.
- Air Concierge — the 12% Offsite tier is an explicit one-year contract. The End-to-End tier's terms are not published.
- AvantStay — typically twelve months with "mutually agreeable termination clauses" whose notice period is not published; master leases are reported to run longer with early-termination fees.
- Hostaway — annual contracts reported as the default, with 10–20% savings against month-to-month. Not confirmed on Hostaway's own site.
- Casago — claims no long-term contracts, but the agreement is signed with an independent franchisee, so the claim describes the brand rather than the contract.
- Not published at all — Awning, RedAwning, iTrip, SkyRun, VTrips, Natural Retreats, Portoro and Houst disclose no contract terms publicly. For franchise networks the terms are set office by office in any case.
What the owner takes with them
The exit clause governs the date. A separate and rarely negotiated set of questions governs what is left afterwards, and this is where the account-ownership column on the main comparison stops being a curiosity.
Only 5 of 19 entries leave the channel accounts in the owner's name, and all 5 are software: TIDY, Hostaway, Guesty, Hospitable and Turno. Every one of the 14 service companies lists under its own accounts. On departure that means the listing does not transfer, the review history does not transfer, and Superhost or equivalent status does not transfer. Grand Welcome is the only company here that says so directly, noting that VRBO reviews can sometimes move while Airbnb has no review-transfer process. Evolve owners report they cannot even see or leave guest reviews while the agreement is live. RedAwning goes furthest, appending "by RedAwning" to listing titles, so the brand equity in the listing is explicitly the company's.
Four things should be settled in writing before signing, because none of them is standard:
- The listings. Whether they are deleted, transferred or retained by the company, and whether the owner may create their own listings for the same property afterwards.
- The direct-booking site and domain. If the manager built it, the manager usually owns it. A domain registered in the owner's name is the cheapest insurance available in this entire process.
- Guest data. Past-guest contact records are the only durable marketing asset a vacation rental generates. Ask explicitly whether they are provided at termination.
- Forward bookings. Vacasa's published position — honour bookings checking out before termination — is a reasonable template. Absent an equivalent clause, an owner can end up with a calendar of reservations they cannot service and cannot cancel without penalty.
TIDY appears in the tables above on the same terms as everyone else: 3.9% of bookings, $39 monthly minimum, founded 2013.
A short diligence sequence
- Fix the scope first, in writing, then ask for the percentage. Not the other way round.
- Ask for the total cost on a specified twelve-month revenue figure, including onboarding, cleaning, linen, maintenance markups and any platform surcharge.
- Ask for the notice period and whether it is calendar days or business days.
- Ask who holds each channel account and what happens to it on the termination date.
- For a franchise brand, confirm every answer above with the local office. The national FAQ is not the contract.
Related
- The full comparison table — 19 companies by channel, fee, account ownership and market.
- Multi-channel distribution — what the fee is buying on the marketing side, and who owns the channel relationship.
- National vs local — why five of these brands cannot quote a fee centrally.