Updated 6 November 2026
In short
Most managers charge a percentage of booking income. Among the Italian operators we found that publish their prices online, the range is 10% to 25%, depending on the service.
The same percentage costs differently if it is calculated on the gross paid by guests or on the net after Airbnb and Booking.com commissions. On Airbnb, most hosts now pay a single host-only fee of 15.5%.
Often excluded: platform commissions, cleaning and linen, repairs, photos and set-up, consumables, VAT on the fee.
With Italy’s flat tax (cedolare secca), the manager’s fee does not reduce your tax: it is calculated on the gross rent. If the manager collects the money for you, they must withhold 21% as an advance on your tax.
In the contract, read length, exit terms, exclusivity, who collects payments, statements and your own use of the home.
“What do you charge?” is the first question owners ask a management company. If you live abroad it is also the most important one, because you will rely on the manager for almost everything. But two quotes at 20% can leave you different amounts, and 23% can cost less than 20%. For the basics of letting in Italy, start with how short-term rentals work on Lake Como.
How managers charge
A percentage of income
This is the most common model among operators that publish their terms: the manager keeps a share of what the home earns, and earns nothing if it stays empty. CleanBnB, for example, describes its model as paid “on success”, on income, with an initial set-up cost, but does not publish the percentage. What it really costs depends on which figure it is calculated on (gross or net, cleaning included or not) and whether it is including or excluding VAT (Italian IVA).
Fixed fee or guaranteed minimum
With a fixed fee you pay a set amount per month or year regardless of income: predictable, but the risk of empty months stays with you. We found no public fixed-fee price lists for full management, so we give no figures. With a guaranteed minimum the manager promises you a minimum annual income: check how it is calculated, who pays the gap if it is not reached and what happens if you block dates for yourself.
Guaranteed rent or sublet
The manager rents the home from you, pays you a fixed rent and re-lets it to tourists at their own risk. The Agenzia delle Entrate, Italy’s tax agency, expressly includes the sublessor among those who can make short-term rentals (Circular 24/E of 2017). You get certain income, but give up the gains of good months and tie the home to a lease, which must allow subletting. Compare the rent offered with a realistic estimate of what the home would earn under management. How your rent is taxed depends on the type of contract and on who the tenant is (a person or a company): have it checked by a commercialista (Italian accountant) before signing.
What managers that publish their prices charge
Several large operators (CleanBnB, Italianway, Halldis) do not publish their percentages online. Here are those we found on other operators’ official websites, when we checked them on 22 October 2026.
Operator (area) | What it publishes | On which base |
|---|---|---|
Hostmate (Milan) | 10% to 20% | “only on the net you receive” |
Ajo (Cagliari) | 10% online service, 20% full service | gross turnover |
Futura Case Vacanze (Rome) | 17%, full management | income net of Airbnb’s deductions |
Italian Homing (Desenzano del Garda) | 25% + VAT, full management | not stated on the page |
Propertize (Sardinia and Milan) | 25% | net rent, after platform commissions and cleaning with linen |
This is a sample, not a market average, and the percentages cannot be compared until you know the base and what is included. An online-only service costs less, but guest welcome, cleaning and repairs stay with you, which is hard to arrange from abroad. On Lake Como we found no manager that publishes a price list.
Gross or net: the same percentage does not cost the same
Example. In a year guests pay €10,000 for stays (cleaning excluded, to keep it simple). Assume platform commissions of 15%, that is €1,500. The net after platforms is €8,500.
Quote | Manager’s fee | Left to you, before tax |
|---|---|---|
A: 20% of gross | €2,000 | 10,000 − 1,500 − 2,000 = €6,500 |
B: 20% of net after platforms | €1,700 | 10,000 − 1,500 − 1,700 = €6,800 |
C: 23% of net after platforms | €1,955 | 10,000 − 1,500 − 1,955 = €6,545 |
Quote C has the highest percentage, but leaves you more than quote A. And if a percentage is “+ VAT”, add the VAT.
What is usually included, and what is not
The full-management packages of the operators above usually include listings, pricing and calendar, guest messages, check-in, coordinating cleaning and repairs, paperwork and statements. The differences are here.
Item | What often happens | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
Cleaning and linen | May be covered by the cleaning fee paid by guests; some operators split it with the owner | If the cleaning fee does not cover laundry, who pays the gap? |
Repairs | The manager coordinates; technicians and materials are extra | Up to what amount can they spend without your approval? |
Photos, furnishing, set-up | Sometimes included, sometimes extra | One-off cost? Refunded if you leave? |
Welcome kit and consumables | Vary widely | Included or recharged? |
Tourist tax | Where the Comune (municipality) applies it, it is collected from guests and paid to the Comune | Who handles it? |
Paperwork | CIN, CIR in Lombardy (guide), Alloggiati Web police reporting, ISTAT statistics | Included or invoiced separately? |
Some examples from operators’ websites. Ajo lists photos and video separately (from €50 an hour plus expenses) and a website (from €500). Propertize writes that platform and cleaning costs “we split” and that it provides consumables. In Italianway’s Smart Owner formula, presented as co-management, the day-to-day handling of cleaning, linen and repairs stays with the owner, and the cleaning fee paid by guests is credited in the monthly report.
Airbnb and Booking.com commissions
Airbnb. According to Airbnb’s help centre and resource pages, most hosts now pay a single host-only fee of 15.5%, deducted from the payout. It applies to the nightly price and to extra fees such as cleaning. Under the old split-fee model, which is being phased out, most hosts paid 3% and guests paid their own fee on top.
Booking.com. The commission is the percentage in your contract and varies by country, property type and location. It can be higher if you join programmes such as Genius, Preferred Partner or Visibility Booster. With Payments by Booking.com and payout by bank transfer there is an extra cost of 1.1% to 3.1%, depending on location.
Tax: what changes with a manager
Rent from a home in Italy is taxed in Italy, also if you live abroad. The details, including which return non-residents file, are in Italy’s flat tax on short-term rentals.
With the flat tax, the manager’s fee is not deductible
With the cedolare secca you pay a fixed tax on the rent: for short-term rentals 21% on one home you choose and 26% on the others. As the Department of Finance of the Italian Ministry of Economy writes, “no reduction can be applied to the rent set by contract”: expenses are not subtracted, and neither is the manager’s fee.
The Agenzia delle Entrate’s Circular 24/E of 2017 adds that the gross amount taxed also includes:
the commission kept by the intermediary from the rent due to the owner;
extra charges billed to the guest as a flat fee, such as a fixed cleaning fee.
In the example, if the €10,000 is the gross amount and 21% applies, the flat tax is €2,100 in all three cases: it is calculated on what guests pay, not on what reaches you. After tax you keep €4,400 with A, €4,700 with B and €4,445 with C, before utilities, repairs and other costs of the home.
A manager who collects the money withholds 21%
If the manager collects guests’ money (or takes part in the payment) and then pays you the net, for the tax office they are an intermediary: they must withhold 21% and pay it by the 16th of the following month. It is an advance payment, whatever your tax regime: the final calculation is made in your return. The manager must then certify the withholdings to you and send the contract data to the Agenzia delle Entrate by 30 June of the following year.
Your statement should show gross income, platform commissions, the fee, the withholding and the net transfer. If the money reaches you directly from the platforms, the platform applies the withholding, if it takes part in the payment.
If you let more than two homes
The flat tax is for private owners. From 2026, if you let short-term more than two apartments, the activity is presumed to be a business (Law 199/2025, art. 1, par. 17) and the tax regime changes.
The 2027 budget bill (A.C. 3174, presented to the Chamber of Deputies on 30 October 2026 and now continuing as A.C. 3174-bis) is not yet law. In the official summary of its measures and in its flat-tax articles we found no changes to short-term rental tax; it can still change before approval (our article on it, in Italian). We will update this article if these rules change.
The management contract: clauses to read
If the contract is a mandate (mandato: the manager acts on your behalf), the Italian Civil Code rules on mandates also apply. Read these clauses carefully, and have the contract translated if needed.
Length and renewal. How long does it last? Does it renew automatically? How much notice to cancel?
Exit. Can you leave early? With what notice and penalties? Under the Civil Code, if you revoke a paid mandate with a fixed term before it ends you must compensate the damage, unless there is just cause; if it has no fixed term, you must give reasonable notice (art. 1725). Better if the contract says clearly how to leave.
Exclusivity. Can you also let it yourself? Do you owe a commission on bookings you bring?
Who collects and when you are paid. Does the money go through the manager or come to you? Within how many days is it transferred? Who applies the withholding?
Statements. The agent must account for their work and hand over what they received (art. 1713 Civil Code). Ask for a sample monthly statement, booking by booking, with gross, commissions, costs and net.
Your own use of the home. How many weeks can you block, with how much notice? Do blocked dates reduce any guaranteed minimum?
Prices, costs and damage. Can you set a minimum nightly price? Up to what amount can the manager spend without your approval? Who handles guest damage and with what cover?
End of the relationship. What happens to listings, reviews and confirmed bookings if you change manager? On Lake Como, the CIN rules on a change of holder also matter.
How to compare two quotes: checklist
Base and VAT. Gross or net of platforms? Cleaning in the base? VAT included or “+ VAT”?
One simulation with the same numbers. Ask both for the calculation on the same figure (for example €10,000 of bookings): how much reaches your bank?
Extras and one-off costs. Who pays cleaning, consumables, repairs, photos, paperwork? Is the set-up fee refunded if you leave in the first year?
The contract. The clauses above.
The real service. Who answers guests at night? Who goes to the home if the boiler breaks? Who checks guests’ identity at each arrival, as Italian rules require?
All else being equal, what the home earns matters too: a more expensive manager who prices better can leave you more than a cheap one. Typical earnings on the lake are in Lake Como rental income.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage does a Lake Como property manager charge?
There is no official rate, and we found no manager on Lake Como that publishes its prices. Among Italian operators that publish them online we found 10% (online-only services) to 25% (full management), calculated on different bases. Many operators quote only on request.
Is the fee calculated on gross or net income?
It depends on the contract: some use gross turnover, others the net after platform commissions, others also net of cleaning. Ask for it in writing, with a simulation.
Can I deduct the manager’s fee from my Italian tax?
Not with the flat tax: it is calculated on the gross rent, with no reductions. As a business the rules change: ask your commercialista.
Who pays for cleaning, me or the guest?
You can charge guests a fixed cleaning fee, but it becomes part of the taxable gross and, on Airbnb, of the base for the commission. Check whether it covers cleaning, linen and laundry, and who pays the difference.
I live abroad. Does the manager handle the tax for me?
If the manager collects the payments, they withhold 21% as an advance and certify it to you. You still have to file an Italian return and pay any balance: many foreign owners use a commercialista for this.
Sources
Agenzia delle Entrate, Circular 24/E of 12 October 2017, short-term rentals (full text also on the Ministry of Economy portal)
Agenzia delle Entrate, Circular 10/E of 10 May 2024, short-term rentals
Ministry of Economy and Finance, IRPEF regulatory changes, tax year 2011 (flat tax)
Regione Toscana, Business short-term and tourist lets (Law 199/2025, art. 1, par. 17)
Regione Lombardia, Codice Identificativo di Riferimento (CIR)
Civil Code, art. 1725, revocation of a paid mandate (Normattiva)
Airbnb Resource Center, How much does Airbnb charge Hosts? (13 October 2026)
Booking.com Partner Hub, How much Payments by Booking.com costs
Futura Case Vacanze, Short-term rental management costs in Rome
Chamber of Deputies, A.C. 3174, 2027 budget bill (record and progress) and text of the articles, Tomo II
Own a home on Lake Como?
If you are comparing management quotes for a home on Lake Como, we can help you read them with the criteria in this guide and estimate what the home could earn. Ask Breva Collections for a free evaluation, or read about our short-term rental management in Como.
This article is for information only and does not replace advice from an Italian accountant (commercialista) or tax adviser.
