Fee explainer
How Airbnb management fees work in Brisbane
Managers charge a percentage of what the property earns. The number on its own tells you almost nothing, because the base it is charged on differs between managers, and that base changes the dollar figure far more than a point or two of percentage does.
Last updated 11 September 2026
What do Airbnb managers in Brisbane charge?
Most Brisbane Airbnb managers charge a percentage of the income the property generates, and the range you will be quoted typically sits somewhere in the mid teens to the low twenties. A smaller number of managers offer a fixed monthly fee or a hybrid of a lower percentage plus fixed charges.
Percentage-of-income is the norm because it lines the manager up with you: they earn more only when the property earns more. Fixed fees are simpler to plan around but cut that link, and hybrids can end up costing more than either once the fixed charges are added up across a year.
Laurea quotes its fee per property, in writing, alongside the income estimate, rather than publishing a single rate. A one-bedroom CBD apartment and a four-bedroom Bulimba house are not the same job: the turnover is different, the guest is different and the amount of work between stays is different. One number for both would be wrong for at least one of them.
What is the percentage charged on?
The question that matters most
The same headline percentage can be charged on three different bases: the gross booking total including the guest's cleaning fee and the platform's fee, the amount left after the platform fee, or the amount left after both the platform fee and the cleaning fee. The third base is the smallest, so the same percentage costs you the least.
Here is what that looks like on one booking. Say a guest pays $1,000, of which $200 is the cleaning fee, and the platform keeps 15% ($150). Now apply a made-up 12% management fee to each base.
| Fee charged on | Base | 12% fee |
|---|---|---|
| Gross booking totalEverything the guest paid, cleaning fee and platform fee included | $1,000 | $200 |
| After the platform feeBooking total less the 15% the platform kept | $850 | $170 |
| After the platform fee and the cleaning feeAccommodation income only, which is what Laurea charges on | $650 | $130 |
Same percentage, and the fee on that one booking ranges from $130 to $200. Over a year of bookings the gap is worth far more than the difference between two managers' headline rates, which is why the base is the first thing to pin down.
Laurea charges on accommodation income after the platform fee and after the cleaning fee has come out. The cleaning fee passes straight through to the cleaning team, with no margin taken on it.
What should the management fee include?
A full-service management fee should cover the whole operation of the property, from the listing and its photography through pricing, guests, cleaning, linen, restocking, maintenance, inspections and your monthly statements. If any of those sits outside the fee, you need to know before you sign, not on the first invoice.
Some managers charge separately for photography, set-up, linen or maintenance call-outs. That is not necessarily wrong, but it means the percentage is not the whole price. Ask for the full list of what is inside the fee and what is billed on top, in writing, and add the extras to the percentage before you compare anyone.
With Laurea, set-up is a one-time fee quoted with your income estimate, and everything in the list above sits inside the management fee.
Are there lock-in contracts?
Laurea has no lock-in contracts. Some managers in the market use a fixed term of six or twelve months, sometimes with an exit fee, so it is worth asking directly. Whether you can leave matters more than the percentage, because it decides how hard the manager has to work to keep you.
The logic is simple. A manager who cannot lose you has no reason to keep pricing your property daily, answer guests at midnight or chase a slow month. A manager who can lose you at any time has to earn the fee every month. We would rather keep a property because the returns justify it than because the owner is stuck.
Where does the guest's money go?
In Queensland, a licensed real estate agency that collects money on behalf of a property owner must hold it in a trust account that is independently audited. Your income sits in that account, separate from the manager's own money, until it is paid out to you with a statement showing every booking and every deduction.
Laurea Management Pty Ltd holds Queensland real estate agent licence 4951495 and runs trust accounting on every property it manages. The licence is public and can be checked on the Office of Fair Trading register.
Ask any manager you are considering two things: are you licensed, and does owner money sit in a trust account? If the answer to either is no, your rental income is sitting in someone else's operating account.
Six questions to ask before you sign
Put these six questions to every manager you speak to and ask for the answers in writing. Together they turn a headline percentage into the real cost of management for your property, and they take about five minutes to ask.
- 1
What base is the percentage charged on?
Gross booking total, after the platform fee, or after the platform fee and the cleaning fee. This one question moves the dollar figure more than anything else on the page.
- 2
Is the cleaning fee passed through at cost?
If the manager keeps a margin on cleaning, or charges their percentage on top of it, you are paying for cleaning twice.
- 3
What is included, and what is extra?
Ask for the full list in writing: photography, set-up, linen, restocking, maintenance call-outs, inspections and statements.
- 4
Is there a lock-in term or an exit fee?
A manager you cannot leave has no reason to keep earning your business every month.
- 5
Are you licensed, and is my money held in a trust account?
Ask for the licence number and check it on the Queensland Office of Fair Trading register.
- 6
How often do you reprice?
Daily is the answer you want. A rate set once a season leaves money on the table in peak weeks and empty nights in quiet ones.
Our guarantee
The fee is only worth paying if the property earns more
For the first 20 clients, if the owner's average weekly payout over their first three months is not at least 10% higher than what they would have netted from a long-term lease after agency fees, Laurea refunds all management fees collected or keeps managing free until it is.
Get your fee and income estimate in writing