Most holiday rental managers in Marbella charge a percentage of what your home earns. Ours is 18% + VAT of the nightly rate: what guests pay for the nights, not counting the cleaning fee. Many agencies charge 20 to 25%. Below is what that percentage pays for, what you pay on top, and one week worked through to the euro, so you can compare any quote side by side.
Ask what the percentage is taken from
Two managers can both say "20%" and leave you with different amounts. Some take their percentage from everything the guest pays, cleaning fee included. Some take it from the nights only. On the same seven-night stay of €2,000 for the nights plus €80 for cleaning:
| Fee | Taken from | Fee for the week |
|---|---|---|
| 25% | everything the guest pays (€2,080) | €520 |
| 20% | everything the guest pays (€2,080) | €416 |
| 18% (ours) | the nights only (€2,000) | €360 |
VAT at 21% goes on top of any of them. When you compare quotes, ask for the base as well as the rate.
What the 18% covers
Nothing in this list is charged again:
- Bookings. Your price reviewed every day against demand and local events, and the home listed on Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia, Google and more.
- Guests. Every message answered, day and night, in their language. Check-in, ID checks and a deposit on every booking.
- Housekeeping. Cleaning and laundry organised, an inspection after every stay, small repairs sorted on the spot.
- Reports. A monthly statement with every invoice attached, paid between the 1st and the 5th, and a live dashboard where you block your own dates.
What is paid separately
- Channel commission. The platform keeps its share before the money reaches anyone. On Booking.com that is about 16% (15% plus payment charges) on our statements. Direct bookings pay none.
- Cleaning. The guest pays a cleaning fee set by the size of the home, and all of it goes to the cleaners.
- Repairs. Materials at cost with the receipt, labour priced per job, and anything bigger only with your OK.
- Photography. Only if the home needs it, quoted before we start.
As the owner you keep the costs of owning the home: utilities, insurance, community fees and the like. There is no onboarding fee.
One week, worked through
A seven-night stay booked on Booking.com, €2,000 for the nights plus an €80 cleaning fee:
| The guest pays | €2,080 |
| Booking.com commission, about 16% | −€333 |
| Cleaning, to the cleaners | −€80 |
| Our fee, 18% of €2,000 | −€360 |
| VAT on our fee and the cleaning (21%) | −€92 |
| You receive | €1,215 |
Commission changes by channel and the cleaning fee by the size of the home, so treat this as an example rather than a promise. Repairs, if there are any that month, come off the same statement with their invoices.
What a percentage fee does over a few years
A percentage only pays the manager more when the home earns more, so it is worth looking at what a manager has done with a home over time. One example: a three-bedroom townhouse in Nueva Andalucía we have managed since 2021. After we redecorated and rephotographed it at the start of 2024, occupancy went from 30% of the year to 54%, and the average nightly rate from €172 to €261. The owner's net rent, after commission, our fee, cleaning and VAT, went from €12,071 in 2022 to €26,390 in 2025.
The terms around the fee
- No minimum term. You can leave at any time with one month's notice, and bookings already made are honoured, even when the stay falls after you leave.
- Your dates stay yours. Block dates in the owner dashboard to stay yourself or to host your own guests, and they close on every channel. While we manage the home, we are the only ones listing it on the booking platforms.
- The tourist licence stays in your name. Each home needs its own licence (VUT). If yours doesn't have one yet, we tell you what is needed before anything goes live.
- Paid monthly. Between the 1st and the 5th, for the month before, with a statement and every invoice attached.
What will your home earn?
The fee only matters next to what the home can bring in. Send us a few details and we will prepare a rental forecast for your home, by hand, with the nights, rate and net income we expect, at no cost. Get your free rental forecast.