How do I calculate the cost of one vacation rental turnover?

A turnover is everything that happens between one guest leaving and the next one arriving. Many hosts know what they pay the cleaner and stop there. The real cost is usually higher, and knowing it helps you set a cleaning fee and a minimum stay that make sense.

What goes into one turnover

Cleaner pay

Use what you actually pay per turnover, including any extra for deep cleans, same-day turnovers or travel. If you clean yourself, track your hours anyway, even if you choose not to count them as a cost.

Laundry

If laundry is done on-site, include detergent and the share of water and power the machines use. If you use a laundromat or a linen service, use the per-turnover bill. Add a small amount for linen and towel replacement, since they wear out with every wash.

Consumables restock

This is everything a guest uses up: toilet paper, soap, shampoo, dish soap, trash bags, coffee, paper towels, cleaning supplies. The easiest method is to add up one month of purchases and divide by the number of turnovers in that month.

Variable utilities

Some utility costs rise with each stay. Heating, cooling, hot water and electricity go up when guests are in the house. A practical way to estimate this is to compare the bill from a month with guests to a month when the place was empty, then divide the difference by nights booked.

Per-stay vs per-night

Turnover costs happen once per stay. Utilities and some consumables grow with each night. Mixing them up gives misleading answers.

A one-night stay carries the full turnover cost on a single night. A seven-night stay spreads the same turnover cost over seven nights. This is why short stays can look profitable on a nightly basis and still cost more than they earn.

How to calculate it

1. Write down what you pay the cleaner per turnover.
2. Add your per-turnover laundry cost, including replacement wear.
3. Add your average consumables restock per turnover.
4. Separately, estimate variable utilities per night.
5. Total cost of a stay = steps 1 to 3, plus step 4 times the number of nights.

For a fill-in breakdown of each line, including linen wear and per-stay software, see what goes into one Airbnb turnover cost.

A worked example

These are made-up numbers for a hypothetical two-bedroom.

• Cleaner: $70 per turnover.
• Laundry: $14 per turnover, including $3 set aside for linen replacement.
• Consumables: $9 per turnover.
• Variable utilities: $6 per night.

Turnover cost is $70 + $14 + $9 = $93. For a two-night stay, add 2 × $6 = $12, for a total of $105. That is $52.50 per night. For a six-night stay, add 6 × $6 = $36, for a total of $129. That is $21.50 per night. The turnover cost is the same, but its weight per night is very different.

Run the same numbers with your own costs before you change your cleaning fee or minimum stay. For how these costs fit with income and fees, see the revenue and costs guide.