Co-hosts on split payout: how do you bill owners for cleaning and supplies?

Question

For co-hosts using the split payout, your fee lands with you and the owner gets their share directly. But cleaning, consumables, repairs and any monthly fees still have to be billed somewhere. How do you handle that part?

• Do you invoice the owner monthly, add it to the cleaning fee, or have the owner pay vendors directly?
• What do you send so the owner can match everything to their own payout history?
• When a cleaning or repair lands after the month closes, which month does it go on?

Do you invoice the owner monthly, add it to the cleaning fee, or have the owner pay vendors directly?

What do you send so the owner can match everything to their own payout history?

When a cleaning or repair lands after the month closes, which month does it go on?

I'd like to hear what works and what causes the most back-and-forth with owners.

Zac Thompson · Answer

Thanks John, that makes the co-host side much clearer. The stay-linked cleaning reimbursement and one monthly bill give the owner a clean trail without moving their platform payout through you. Good distinction from the reserve approach: an authorized reimbursement charge isn't the same thing as holding owner funds. And keeping late charges visible without reopening an approved statement makes sense.

John Racine · Answer

@Zac Thompson adding the co-host side, since most of the answers here came from the PM side. Disclosure: I run a co-hosting business managing STRs for other owners, alongside my own units.

Here's how we handle it on split payout:

• The cleaning fee goes to the owner. It's a pure pass-through, set by what the cleaner actually charges. I don't use it to adjust pricing. The owner collects it in their payout, we pay the cleaner, and we bill the owner back once a month.
• We keep a credit card authorization on file for every owner. That's what keeps billing from turning into chasing invoices. The monthly reimbursement gets charged to the card on file, so there's no waiting on a check or a transfer.
• Supplies go on the same monthly bill. We buy the consumables and add them to the cleaning reimbursement, so the owner sees one charge a month instead of a string of small ones.
• Every clean is tied to a stay. Cleanings run through Turno, so each one is already linked to a specific checkout. When the owner compares the statement to their payout history, the cleaning fee they collected on a booking lines up with the cleaning we billed for that same stay.

The cleaning fee goes to the owner. It's a pure pass-through, set by what the cleaner actually charges. I don't use it to adjust pricing. The owner collects it in their payout, we pay the cleaner, and we bill the owner back once a month.

We keep a credit card authorization on file for every owner. That's what keeps billing from turning into chasing invoices. The monthly reimbursement gets charged to the card on file, so there's no waiting on a check or a transfer.

Supplies go on the same monthly bill. We buy the consumables and add them to the cleaning reimbursement, so the owner sees one charge a month instead of a string of small ones.

Every clean is tied to a stay. Cleanings run through Turno, so each one is already linked to a specific checkout. When the owner compares the statement to their payout history, the cleaning fee they collected on a booking lines up with the cleaning we billed for that same stay.

On late charges, I agree with Matthew and Amit: go by the date of service, and show it as a prior-period line on the next statement instead of reopening one the owner already reviewed.

Zac Thompson · Answer

Thanks Matthew, Amit, and Andrew. The stay-tied reimbursable fields and showing late charges as a prior-period line both make sense, and a funded reserve is the cleanest way I've heard to cut the monthly chase. Andrew, collecting and remitting everything yourselves is the other end of that spectrum. I'm taking the stay link and the one consistent late-charge rule into how I think about statements. Appreciate you all spelling it out. - Zac

Amit Patel · Answer

We’re mostly long-term rentals, so I’ll leave the STR platform specifics to the co-hosts here, but the billing headache is the same one every manager deals with, and what’s saved us the most back-and-forth is pretty simple.

Have the owner keep a small reserve with you. Chasing invoices every month is where the friction starts, and deducting from a funded reserve with a clear statement is so much smoother. Then send one monthly statement where every charge is tied to a date, and ideally to the specific stay, with the receipt or a photo attached. If an owner can line it up next to their payout history in five minutes, they stop asking questions.

For charges that land late, pick one rule and stick to it. We go by the date the work was done, not the date the bill showed up, and we just show it as a prior month item on the next statement. Owners don’t mind late charges nearly as much as they mind surprises or inconsistency.

Matthew Tregoning · Answer

For split payouts, I’d give every reimbursable charge a property name, service date, receipt and paid-by field. A cleaner bill should also identify the stay it belongs to. That last bit matters because otherwise the owner can’t tell whether you paid it or they did. For late invoices, I’d show them clearly as a prior-period item on the next statement instead of quietly changing a statement they already approved.

Andrew Steffens · Answer

This is why I favor collecting and remitting all funds back to owner ourselves!

Co-hosts on split payout: how do you bill owners for cleaning and supplies?

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