Short-let management in London is usually charged as a percentage of what the property earns, not a flat fee. The percentage commonly sits somewhere between 15% and 18%, though it varies by company and by what is bundled into it. The number on its own is close to meaningless, because two companies quoting the same percentage can end up costing an owner very different amounts once cleaning, laundry, restocking and guest communication are added up.
Why percentage of revenue is the standard model
Charging a percentage of booking revenue rather than a flat monthly fee aligns the manager's income with the owner's. If the property sits empty, the manager earns nothing either, which is meant to keep them motivated to fill the calendar and price it properly rather than take a fixed cheque regardless of occupancy.
It also scales with effort in a rough way. A flat let heavily through a busy season generates more guest turnover, more cleaning, more messages, and more work than the same flat let occasionally, and a percentage-based fee moves with that workload where a flat fee would not.
The trade-off is that the percentage tells you the structure, not the cost. 15% of a well-optimised, fully booked calendar and 15% of a badly priced, half-empty one are very different amounts of money for very different amounts of manager effort, and neither number says anything about whether the property was actually run well.
What is usually included, and what is usually not
This is where the real variation sits, and it is worth going through line by line rather than accepting a single percentage as the whole answer.
Guest communication and booking management. Almost always included. This is the core of what a management fee is paying for: messaging guests, handling booking questions, managing the calendar and pricing across platforms.
Cleaning and laundry between stays. Sometimes included in the percentage, sometimes charged separately per turnover. This is one of the biggest variables between companies, because cleaning cost scales with how often the property turns over, and a company that bundles it into a lower headline percentage may still be charging for it, just less visibly.
Key management and check-in. Usually included where self check-in is set up, though some companies charge separately for an in-person meet-and-greet if that is what the property or guest needs.
Restocking consumables. Toiletries, coffee, cleaning supplies. Sometimes included, sometimes billed as a pass-through cost on top of the fee.
Photography and listing setup. Often a one-off cost outside the ongoing percentage, sometimes bundled in for new clients as part of onboarding.
Maintenance and callouts. Usually not included in the percentage at all. Most managers pass through the actual cost of a tradesperson or repair, sometimes with a coordination charge on top, sometimes without.
Multi-platform listing. Whether the fee covers being listed on Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo simultaneously, or whether additional platforms cost more, varies between companies and is worth asking about directly if you want the flat run across more than one channel.
None of this is standard across the market. A company can genuinely offer 15% and be more expensive overall than a company charging 18%, once cleaning and consumables are added back on top of the lower number.
What is not usually included anywhere
A few costs sit outside management fees almost universally, regardless of the company or the percentage.
Utilities, council tax or business rates, and the mortgage remain the owner's cost. Insurance is the owner's responsibility to arrange, and a manager can advise on it but does not generally hold the policy. Furnishing and fit-out costs at the start are the owner's outlay, even where a manager advises on what to buy. None of these should appear folded into a management percentage, and if a quote implies they are, ask exactly how.
How to actually compare two quotes
The percentage figure is the wrong place to start a comparison. A better approach is to ask both companies for a full breakdown against one hypothetical month: a specific number of bookings, a specific nightly rate, and ask what the owner would actually receive after every cost, not just the management fee. That produces a real number you can compare, rather than two percentages that mean different things.
It is also worth asking what happens to the fee on quiet months. Some companies charge the percentage only on revenue actually earned, which naturally falls in a slow month. Others attach a minimum monthly charge regardless of occupancy, which changes the maths considerably on a property that is not filling every night.
Finally, ask what is covered if something goes wrong: a guest complaint at midnight, a lockout, a maintenance issue during a stay. Some of this is included as standard. Some is billed as an extra callout. Neither answer is wrong, but you want to know which one you are getting before a problem actually happens, not while it is happening.
What we do
We charge 15% or 18% depending on the level of service, and we would rather tell an owner plainly what each tier includes than let the number alone do the selling. The lower tier suits an owner who wants to stay involved. The higher tier is closer to a full hand-off, including cleaning coordination and restocking as standard rather than billed separately.
If you want to see what that looks like against your own property's likely calendar, send us the postcode and we will set out the real numbers rather than just the percentage.
This is general information about how short-let management is typically priced in London, not financial advice. Fee structures vary between companies and change over time. Get a written breakdown against a specific month's bookings before comparing providers, and confirm with your accountant how management fees are treated for tax purposes.