Airbnb Income Calculator UK — What You Actually Keep

Last updated: July 2026

This UK Airbnb income calculator estimates monthly and annual net profit after all costs — based on your property location, bedroom count, and realistic occupancy assumptions.

It's built for two groups: UK landlords weighing up whether to switch from a long-term tenancy, and buyers who want honest income figures before committing to a property purchase.

The figure that matters is not the peak month — it's what the property earns across a full year, including January and February.

Use the calculator below for an instant regional estimate, then use the worked examples and deal analysis sections further down the page to pressure-test the result before making any decision.

How to calculate Airbnb income — including the costs most estimates leave out

Whether you use this calculator or model the numbers yourself, the logic is the same — and understanding the logic is what prevents you from trusting an unrealistic estimate.

1. Estimate your nightly rate (ADR) — based on comparable properties in your area at current market rates, not your ideal price.
2. Estimate occupancy — how many nights per month will actually be booked, across peak and off-peak months, not peak only.
3. Calculate gross revenue — nightly rate multiplied by booked nights.
4. Subtract platform fees — 15.5% on Airbnb (host-only model, 2026); different rates apply on Booking.com.
5. Subtract all running costs — cleaning, utilities, insurance, maintenance, and management fee if applicable. What remains is net profit — the only figure that matters.

The biggest levers are nightly rate, occupancy, and cleaning frequency — a small change in any of these moves profit more than most people expect.

If you want to understand running costs in detail before modelling profit, the costs of running a holiday let guide breaks down every line item with UK price ranges.

What a realistic result looks like — and what to do when the figure falls outside this range

These are illustrative ranges based on Stayful's managed portfolio and enquiry data across 189 UK properties — not best-case projections.

Your actual figures depend on location, listing quality, availability, and how well the operation is run.

If your calculator result sits far outside these ranges, the most common reasons are unrealistic ADR assumptions, occupancy modelled at peak-season levels year-round, or cleaning frequency not properly accounted for.

How to use the calculator for deal analysis — three scenarios, one honest test

If you are evaluating whether to purchase a property for short-term letting, or deciding whether to switch from a long-term tenancy, run the calculator three times with different assumptions.

What most Airbnb calculators do not tell you

Most calculators show gross revenue or revenue minus platform fees — they do not show what you actually keep after all running costs.

The gap between gross revenue and net profit is typically 25–40% for self-managing hosts and 40–55% with professional management — but professionally managed properties usually earn higher gross revenue through better pricing, multi-platform reach, and a direct booking channel.

The Stayful income estimate shows net income — what lands in your account each month after the management fee and all running costs are deducted — including the quieter months, not just the peak figure.

No STL provider can honestly guarantee a fixed monthly income — including Stayful.

What we can show you is the realistic range, including quieter months, based on comparable properties in your postcode — and even in a slower year, the net figure from our managed portfolio typically exceeds what a long-term tenancy would pay.

For a full breakdown of every running cost with UK price ranges, see the costs of running a holiday let guide.

For cleaning costs specifically — including who pays and how to set the guest cleaning fee — see the cleaning prices guide.

Revenue, earnings, profit — the three figures that get confused, and which one actually matters

Here is the same property carried through all three stages, using a two-bedroom UK property at a £120 average nightly rate and 67% occupancy.

Illustrative worked example at £120 average nightly rate and 67% occupancy — not a projection for any specific property.

Cleaning does not appear as a deduction because Stayful charges it directly to guests at cost rather than taking it from your income.

Mortgage interest is deliberately excluded from the table above, because it varies too widely between owners to model usefully.

If you have a mortgage on the property, deduct your monthly interest from the net profit figure to reach your true position — and note that since April 2025 mortgage interest is relieved only at the 20% basic rate as a tax credit, not deducted in full.

Holiday let, serviced accommodation, short let, Airbnb — does the calculator work for all of them?

The terminology in UK short-term letting is inconsistent, and it causes owners to search four different things looking for one answer.

Holiday let usually describes a property in a leisure destination — a cottage, a coastal apartment, a rural conversion — let to guests on holiday, with pronounced summer peaks and quieter winters.

Serviced accommodation usually describes a property let to working guests — contractors, relocating professionals, NHS locums, project teams — often on stays of a week or longer, with steadier midweek demand and far less seasonality.

Short let is the broadest term and simply means any letting shorter than an assured shorthold tenancy.

Airbnb is a booking platform, not a letting model — although it is used colloquially to mean the whole category.

If your property sits in a leisure area, expect a wider gap between peak and trough months, and pay closer attention to the quieter-month figure than the average.

If your property sits near an employer, hospital, university or transport hub, expect a flatter year and a stronger winter floor.

The estimate reflects whichever pattern applies to your postcode, because it is built from comparable properties in your area rather than a national average.

What reaches 65–70% occupancy when the market sits at 55% — and why it matters for your estimate

The market average occupancy for UK short-term lets is 55% according to AirDNA.

Stayful-managed properties average 65–70% — and the difference is structural, not circumstantial.

• Multi-platform listing — Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO, Google, and Stayful direct, each individually optimised for that platform's algorithm
• Dynamic pricing — rates adjusted daily based on local demand, events, day of week, and seasonality, not set-and-forget
• Direct booking channel — 40% of Stayful bookings come direct, reducing platform fee drag and improving income stability across the year
• 24/7 guest communication — faster response times improve search ranking on Airbnb and conversion rate from views to bookings
• Professional photography and listing optimisation — the two highest-ROI factors for click-through and booking conversion on any platform

These are not add-ons — they are included in the 15% + VAT management fee (plus a £42/month + VAT software fee), with no setup fee, a 6-month fixed term and no exit fee.

For the full breakdown of what the fee covers, see the management fees page.

For a side-by-side comparison of full-service management against the alternatives, see the management company page.

The questions UK landlords ask before they run the numbers

• How much can I make on Airbnb in the UK?

  It depends entirely on your property's location, size, condition, and how it is managed.

  A well-managed two-bedroom property in a UK city typically nets £1,400–£2,200 per month after all costs — but the range is wide and the slow months matter as much as the peak.

  The calculator above gives you a conservative regional estimate based on postcode data from Stayful's enquiry pool.

• What if I have a really bad month?

  January and February are typically the quietest months — a well-managed property on the Stayful portfolio earns approximately 40–55% of its peak month income in the slowest period.

  Even at that level, the net figure typically remains above the long-let equivalent for the same property in the same location.

  The structural reason is the direct booking channel: 40% of Stayful bookings come through direct routes rather than Airbnb's algorithm, which significantly reduces the income volatility that self-managing landlords experience.

• Can you guarantee how much I'll earn?

  No — and we'd be cautious of any company that does.

  What we show you is the realistic range, including quieter months, based on comparable properties in your postcode.

  Providers who offer income guarantees typically build them into inflated projections or fee structures that erode the benefit.

  Even in a slower year, the net figure from properties in our managed portfolio typically exceeds what a long-term tenancy would have paid — but no projection is a guarantee.

• What's the difference between revenue, earnings, and profit?

  Revenue is total booking income before any deductions.

  Earnings — or payout — is what you receive after platform fees are deducted.

  Profit is what remains after all running costs — cleaning, utilities, insurance, maintenance, and management — are subtracted from earnings.

  Profit is the only figure that matters for decision-making, and it's the figure the Stayful income estimate shows.

• What fees should I include when calculating profit?

  At minimum: platform fees (15.5% on Airbnb), changeover cleaning (£50–£120 per stay), and management fees if applicable (15% + VAT with Stayful).

  For a realistic picture, also include utilities (£150–£350/month), insurance (£200–£500/year), maintenance (£50–£150/month), and consumables (£20–£50/month).

  The full breakdown is in the running costs guide.

• Will I earn more than with a long-term tenant?

  In most well-located UK properties with professional management, yes — annual net income from short-term letting typically exceeds a long-term tenancy by a significant margin.

  But not in every individual month — January and February may net less than the long-let equivalent for that month alone.

  The comparison that matters is the annual total, and the income estimate shows this alongside the long-let benchmark for your postcode.

• Can I still use my own property if I short-let it?

  Yes — you block dates you want to use the property in your owner calendar.

  No permission is needed, no approval process, no notice period.

  Unlike a long-term tenancy, no guest has exclusive possession of your property — every booking ends, and you remain in control of what happens next.

• What if the numbers don't work for my property?

  Then a long-term tenancy may be the better option — and we would rather you know that before spending on setup than discover it after.

  Not every property is right for short-term letting, and honest numbers are how trust is built.

• Does Stayful charge for the income estimate?

  No — the income estimate is free, no obligation, and takes 2 minutes.

  There is no setup fee and no commitment — the 15% + VAT management fee only applies if you proceed and your property earns.

  Monthly income is paid directly to you between the 1st and 5th of each month.

• Does it cost anything to run a full property analysis?

  Your first 5 reports through Stayful Intelligence are free, with no card required.

  After that, unlimited reports cost £39.99/month, or £360/year paid annually.

  This is separate from Stayful's property management service, which charges 15% + VAT only if you choose full management.

• How do you make sure guests don't damage the property?

  Every guest is ID-verified before check-in, and every booking is covered by £100,000 insurance alongside a £200 security deposit.

  Property inspections between stays catch issues early.

• Is there a holiday let profit calculator, or does this cover it?

  This covers it. A holiday let profit calculator and an Airbnb income calculator perform the same calculation — nightly rate multiplied by occupied nights, minus platform fees, management fee and running costs.

  The only meaningful difference is seasonality: a leisure-led holiday let concentrates its earnings into fewer months, so the quieter-month figure matters more than the annual average when you are judging whether the property works.

• Does this work as a serviced accommodation income calculator?

  Yes. Serviced accommodation is short-term letting aimed at working guests rather than holidaymakers — contractors, relocating professionals, NHS locums and project teams, usually on stays of a week or more.

  The calculation is identical. What differs is the demand pattern: serviced accommodation typically shows a flatter year with stronger midweek occupancy and a higher winter floor than a leisure-led property, because demand is driven by employment rather than holidays.

• Why do other Airbnb calculators show a much higher number?

  Because most show gross revenue and label it income. On a typical two-bedroom UK property the gap between gross revenue and net profit is around 38% — roughly £900 a month on a £2,400 headline figure.

  Many also assume occupancy well above the UK market average of 55%, and apply peak-season nightly rates across all twelve months.

• How do I work out yield or ROI rather than monthly income?

  Monthly net income is the input to a yield or ROI calculation, not a substitute for it. Once you have the net monthly figure, yield and cash-on-cash return depend on your purchase price, deposit, stamp duty and refurbishment spend.

  The Airbnb investment calculator handles that side — gross and net yield, cash-on-cash return, and the acquisition costs most projections leave out.

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Other calculators

• Airbnb calculators hub — payout, fees, profit, yield
• Holiday let income calculator
• Holiday let profit calculator
• Airbnb investment calculator
• Airbnb host fees calculator

Cost and setup guides

• Costs of running a holiday let — full breakdown with £ figures
• Airbnb setup costs UK
• Holiday let cleaning prices
• Airbnb management fees UK
• Allowable expenses guide

Management

• Airbnb management company UK
• All management locations

The other calculators — and which question each one answers

This page answers what a property will net per month.

Three other Stayful calculators answer different questions, and reaching for the wrong one is the most common reason owners end up with a figure that does not match reality.