How do you calculate the profitability of a high-end short-term rental?

The short-term rental profitability of a prestige property cannot be read from the advertised nightly rate, nor from an occupancy rate taken in isolation. It is built in stages: realistic gross income, complete running costs, tax, then the ratio to the capital actually committed. Here is the step-by-step method, illustrated by a fictitious worked example, for assessing a villa, a chalet or an exceptional apartment before buying or entrusting its management.

Short-term rental profitability: start from realistic gross income

Profitability measures the ratio between what a property earns and what it cost. In long-term letting, the rent is fixed and the calculation fits on one line; in holiday letting, income depends on three variables that multiply together. The first is the number of available nights: the calendar year, minus the weeks you keep for yourself, closure periods, works and, in the mountains or on the coast, the off-season months. The second is the occupancy rate, that is, the share of those nights actually sold. The third is the average price per night sold, which includes discounts, long stays and quiet weeks, and almost always proves lower than the rate advertised in high season. The product of these three terms gives gross income. In luxury short-term rental management, the balance sought is rarely maximum occupancy: an exceptional property can sell few nights at a high price and generate a better result than a heavily booked property, because each changeover generates costs for cleaning, linen, wear and coordination. The estimate must therefore start from cautious data, drawn from genuinely comparable properties in terms of location, capacity and amenities, or from the property’s own history if it has already been let, and not from listings noted at their highest rate or from sales promises.

Several pitfalls commonly distort this first level of the calculation. The first is confusing receipts with sums collected on behalf of others: the taxe de séjour (tourist tax), collected from the guest and then paid over to the municipality, is not income. The second lies in the platforms’ fee model. Since 13 October 2026, Airbnb has applied in France a single fee of about 15.5% borne by the host, replacing the former split between a guest fee of about 15% and a host fee of about 3% (specialist press, October 2026): the price paid by the guest becomes the receipt, and the platform’s fees an expense. The third pitfall concerns recharged cleaning fees, which inflate gross income while being consumed by the corresponding service. You must also take into account the weeks blocked by the owner: each Christmas or August week kept for family use has a real opportunity cost, sometimes greater than several low-season weeks. Finally, seasonality often concentrates most of the income in a few periods, which makes the result sensitive to a poor season, a spell of low snowfall or badly planned works. For these reasons, a serious projection uses at least three scenarios, cautious, central and favourable, rather than a single figure that would give a false impression of precision.

The costs that weigh on the profitability of a high-end rental

The second level of the calculation lists all running costs, including those forgotten at the time of purchase. Some are proportional to income, such as platform and concierge commissions; others vary with the number of stays, such as cleaning, linen and welcome products; others again are fixed, such as insurance, property tax, garden or pool maintenance and subscriptions. The cost of regulatory compliance must be built in from the project study onwards. In municipalities that require a change of use authorisation for furnished tourist accommodation with compensation, such as Paris or the French Basque Country, the price of compensation sharply increases the total cost of the project; elsewhere, a time-limited temporary authorisation weakens the projection beyond its expiry date. The energy works required to reach a compatible DPE (energy performance certificate), between A and E for new change of use applications, follow the same logic. For a characterful older property, whether a mas, a chalet or a Haussmann apartment, a prior energy audit makes it possible to cost these works before making an offer rather than after. The quality of the quotes matters as much as their amount: a cost underestimated at purchase weighs on every year of operation. The following table summarises the items to cost, to be supplemented with the costs specific to your property.

Beyond these visible items, several hidden costs erode the profitability of a prestige property. Wear is faster than in a home occupied only by its owner: marble, oiled timber, brass and natural textiles require specific care and more frequent replacement. Small breakages, damaged tableware and linen, welcome products and welcome gifts represent a recurring budget. Seasonal reopening, then closing at the end of the season, call on tradespeople and cleaning teams with no income attached. The basis on which the concierge commission is calculated deserves careful reading: the same rate applied to gross income or to income net of platform fees does not produce the same cost, and the VAT on the commission, charged at the standard rate, cannot be recovered by a host exempt from VAT, which is the general case outside para-hotel services. If the purchase is financed with a loan, loan interest and loan insurance are added to the costs, with a leverage effect that can improve the return on equity or worsen it if income disappoints. Finally, your own stays have a cost: cleaning, linen and energy are incurred with no income in return. A complete projection includes an annual provision for these irregular expenses, so that the first major repair does not turn a profitable year into a loss-making one.

Tax and the net return of a short-term rental

The third level of the calculation applies tax, which can double or halve the net return. Income from a meublé de tourisme (furnished tourist accommodation) falls under industrial and commercial profits (BIC). Under the micro-BIC regime, an unclassified property benefits from a flat-rate allowance of 30% up to €15,000 of receipts, while a classified furnished tourist property benefits from an allowance of 50% up to €77,700 for 2025 income and €83,600 for 2026 income (impots.gouv.fr; service-public.gouv.fr). Classification, a voluntary step carried out by an accredited body and valid for five years, is therefore as much a tax lever as a commercial one. These thresholds are assessed across all of the household’s furnished lettings, and the switch to the régime réel (actual expenses regime) is only imposed after two consecutive years above them. Under the régime réel, the host deducts actual expenses, including the concierge commission, platform fees, interest and insurance, and can depreciate the building and furniture, filing a 2031 return. The choice is therefore not simply a comparison of two allowance rates: it depends on the actual level of costs and on the depreciation available. The detailed rules of short-term rental taxation should be examined with a chartered accountant before a projection is finalised, because the gap between two regimes can far exceed the gap between two occupancy scenarios.

Other tax parameters weigh on a property with high receipts. The host becomes a professional furnished landlord (LMP) when receipts exceed €23,000 a year and exceed the household’s other professional income, assessed worldwide from 2026 income onwards; otherwise, they remain non-professional (LMNP). The status changes how deficits are offset, against total income for the professional and only against furnished letting income over the following ten years for the non-professional, and carries social security consequences to be examined case by case. Resale must also be part of the projection: for sales completed from 15 February 2025, depreciation deducted under the régime réel is added back in the capital gains calculation, including depreciation claimed before 2025 (2025 Finance Act). The change in Airbnb fees also has a mechanical effect: a host who raises prices to absorb the new fees increases declared receipts, which may bring some hosts closer to the micro-BIC thresholds or to professional status. The net return, the one that counts, is calculated after tax and social charges, based on the household’s own situation, its marginal tax band and the intended holding period. It is this figure that must be related to the total cost price, acquisition costs, works and furniture included.

Holiday rental profitability calculation: a fictitious example step by step

To make the method concrete, let us take a fictitious worked example, whose figures are all arbitrary and reflect no real market or property. A villa represents a total cost price of €1,800,000, acquisition costs, works and furniture included. It is classified as furnished tourist accommodation, let via Airbnb and entrusted to a concierge whose commission is 20% excluding VAT of rental income. Over the year, it sells 80 nights at an average price of €1,000, giving gross income of €80,000, which corresponds to a gross return of about 4.4%. Platform fees of about 15.5% amount to €12,400, and the concierge commission to €16,000 excluding VAT, i.e. €19,200 including VAT since the owner does not recover VAT. The other costs (cleaning left for the owner to pay, pool and garden maintenance, insurance, property tax, energy, subscriptions and CFE) total €21,900 in this example. The result before tax is therefore €26,500, a return net of costs of about 1.5% of the cost price. The occupancy rate, relative to about 300 available nights once family weeks are removed, remains modest, which is consistent with a high-end positioning based on price rather than volume. The steps can be summarised as follows.

• Gross income: 80 nights sold at an average of €1,000, i.e. €80,000.
• Platform fees: 15.5% of €80,000, i.e. €12,400.
• Concierge commission: 20% excluding VAT, i.e. €19,200 including VAT.
• Other running costs: €21,900.
• Result before tax: €26,500, i.e. about 1.5% of the cost price.

The tax reading of the example is instructive. With €80,000 of receipts, the villa stays below the classified micro-BIC ceiling for 2026 income, and the 50% allowance would leave a taxable base of €40,000, higher than the €26,500 result actually generated: in this scenario, the real regime, which deducts actual expenses and then depreciation of the building and furniture, would sharply reduce, or even eliminate, the taxable result, subject to the rules in force and the debates on the 2027 Finance Bill. If unclassified, the same villa would far exceed the €15,000 micro-BIC ceiling. Receipts of €80,000 also require professional landlord status to be checked, depending on the household’s other professional income. Finally, the example shows how sensitive the result is: ten extra nights at €1,000 add €10,000 of gross income, but only about €6,050 of it remains after platform fees and the commission including VAT, before cleaning and tax. Improving profitability therefore depends as much on controlling costs and the tax regime as on occupancy. Conciergerie.luxe introduces owners, free of charge, to high-end concierges, which alone provide the agreed services and can give you a projection based on their knowledge of the area. This is general information, up to date as of October 2026, to be confirmed with your chartered accountant.

Frequently asked questions about short-term rental profitability

The Conciergerie.luxe editorial team

Our guides help owners of high-end properties understand short-term rentals in France: regulations, tax, and choosing and overseeing a concierge company. They are for information only and do not replace advice from a legal or tax professional.