What Is an Airbnb Co-Host?
An Airbnb co-host is a person the listing's host invites to help run it: managing the listing, responding to inquiries and messaging booked guests, with permissions the host chooses for each co-host (Co-hosts: An introduction (Airbnb Help Center)) (Add co-hosts to your home listing (Airbnb Help Center)).
Last updated: November 2026
How Airbnb co-hosts work
Airbnb offers three permission levels. With full access, a co-host can manage pricing and listing details, accept or decline trip requests, handle cancellations, and designate themselves or another co-host as the listing's primary host (What co-hosts can do (Airbnb Help Center)). The "calendar and messaging" level lets a co-host message guests and view the calendar without editing it, and the "calendar" level allows viewing only (What co-hosts can do (Airbnb Help Center)).
Only the listing owner can set up or edit a co-host's payout (What co-hosts can do (Airbnb Help Center)). When the owner also uses payout routing rules, the routing rules split the payout first, and the co-host's percentage then applies to each portion (Split payouts between different payout methods (Airbnb Help Center)).
What Airbnb itself charges hosts is covered in Airbnb host fees.
The Airbnb Co-Host Network
Airbnb launched the Co-Host Network on 16 October 2024 so hosts can find and hire local co-hosts in the app (Airbnb 2024 Winter Release (Airbnb Newsroom, Oct 2024)). It opened with more than 10,000 co-hosts across 10 countries, including the US, Canada, the UK and Australia (Airbnb 2024 Winter Release (Airbnb Newsroom, Oct 2024)). Airbnb's ranking algorithm recommends co-hosts based on more than 80 factors, and in that first release 73% of co-hosts were Superhosts while 84% helped manage a Guest Favorite listing (Airbnb 2024 Winter Release (Airbnb Newsroom, Oct 2024)).
In the four months after launch it came to support almost 100,000 listings (Airbnb Q4 2024 Shareholder Letter (SEC, Feb 2025)). Japan and South Korea have since been added, which brings the network to 12 countries (Join the Co-Host Network (Airbnb)).
Co-hosts on the network give their rate upfront, so there is no negotiation (Airbnb unveils new co-host network (Fox Business, Oct 2024)). Services on offer include listing setup, pricing and availability, booking requests, guest messaging, on-site guest support, cleaning and maintenance, photography, interior design, and licensing and permits (Join the Co-Host Network (Airbnb)). A host can also hire a co-host for a short job, such as photographing a home or answering questions (Airbnb unveils new co-host network (Fox Business, Oct 2024)).
Why it matters for hotel distribution
Airbnb presented co-hosting as a way to increase supply, after finding that over 40% of hosts said they would host more if they had help (Could Airbnb's new co-host marketplace challenge property management companies? (PhocusWire, Oct 2024)).
In August 2024 the US had more than 1.7 million short-term rental listings on Airbnb and Vrbo, and about 20% of them, just over 330,000, were managed by property managers, in AirDNA's count (Could Airbnb's new co-host marketplace challenge property management companies? (PhocusWire, Oct 2024)). About a quarter of hosts with fewer than 10 properties have partial-management agreements with property management companies, and Phocuswright's analysis is that the network could threaten managers offering partial service without taking the place of full-service offerings (Could Airbnb's new co-host marketplace challenge property management companies? (PhocusWire, Oct 2024)).
Each co-host on the network must be an individual, though that person can work for a property management company, and Airbnb put the average rating of large property management companies at 4.62, below the network's entry rating (Could Airbnb's new co-host marketplace challenge property management companies? (PhocusWire, Oct 2024)).
For an operator selling the same rooms on several channels, a full-access co-host is one more person who can change prices and accept or cancel reservations on the Airbnb listing (What co-hosts can do (Airbnb Help Center)). Those edits have to match the rates and availability shown on every other channel, or the same night can end up sold twice, which is a double booking.
Airbnb co-host compared with a listing owner and a property manager
| Airbnb co-host | Listing owner | Property management company | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it is | A person the owner invites onto the listing | The host the listing belongs to | A company; its staff can join the Co-Host Network as individual co-hosts |
| Scope of work | Anything from one task, such as photography, to running the listing, within the permission level given | Full control, including co-host payouts and invitations to several listings at once | Partial-service or full-service management agreements |
Table sources: Add co-hosts to your home listing (Airbnb Help Center) What co-hosts can do (Airbnb Help Center) Airbnb unveils new co-host network (Fox Business, Oct 2024) Could Airbnb's new co-host marketplace challenge property management companies? (PhocusWire, Oct 2024)
Frequently asked questions
What is a co-host?
How do you become an Airbnb co-host?
How do you add a co-host to a listing?
How much does a co-host make?
Related terms
See all termsWhere Jetstream fits
Co-hosts, owners and managers can all change a listing, and a property that sells through more than one channel needs every one of those changes to reach every channel. Jetstream builds an AI channel manager that connects a property's systems to the channels where guests book, and keeps rooms, rates and availability accurate on each one, managed from one place.