Short-Term & Vacation Rentals

Income from multiple platforms, costs per turnover, and occupancy taxes across jurisdictions. We consolidate it all and show you what each property actually makes.

The Platform Puzzle

Running a short-term rental means income flowing in from Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and maybe direct bookings through your own site. Each platform has its own fee structure, payout schedule, and reporting format. You know money is hitting your bank account, but trying to tie it back to specific bookings or properties requires hours of manual work. Add a second or third property in a different market and the tracking problem multiplies.

Then there are the costs that go into every turnover. Cleaning fees, supplies, linens, small repairs between guests, and utilities that fluctuate with occupancy. If you manage multiple properties or use co-hosts, those management fees need tracking too. Without a system that allocates these costs to each unit, you end up with a rough idea of total profit but no real insight into which properties carry the portfolio and which ones drag it down.

Who This Covers

Operators running vacation rentals, short-term rentals, or furnished rentals for stays under 30 days. From a single cabin or condo to a portfolio of units spread across multiple markets and platforms. Self-managed properties and those run with co-hosts or property managers.

What Makes It Complex

Multiple booking platforms with different payout timing and fee structures. Turnover costs that need allocation by property. Occupancy and lodging taxes that vary by city, county, and state. Seasonality that swings both revenue and expenses. The tax treatment of short-term rental income, which differs from traditional rentals and carries its own rules and benefits.

What We Handle

We pull income data from all your platforms and consolidate it into one set of books. Every payout gets reconciled against the bookings that generated it, so you can verify that what hit the bank matches what you earned. Platform fees, service charges, and host fees are tracked separately so you see exactly what each platform costs you. Direct bookings and any other revenue sources get folded in. The result is a unified picture of income by property and by month.

On the expense side, we allocate costs to each unit. Cleaning, supplies, repairs, co-host fees, and utilities all get coded to the property they belong to. Occupancy and lodging taxes are tracked by jurisdiction so you know what you owe and to whom. The books are set up to support the tax treatment specific to short-term rentals, and our in-house CPA prepares the returns so nothing falls through the cracks between bookkeeping and filing.

Platform Consolidation and Property Tracking

Income from Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and direct channels consolidated into one source of truth. Payouts reconciled to bookings. Platform fees broken out by type. Every expense allocated by property. Property-level profit and loss statements that show true net operating income after all costs.

Tax Compliance and STR Treatment

Occupancy and lodging tax obligations tracked by jurisdiction and kept organized for remittance. Multi-state filing handled for portfolios spread across markets. Books structured for the tax treatment of short-term rental income, including material participation documentation where it applies. Returns prepared by our in-house CPA who understands how STR income and losses flow through.

What Goes Wrong

Platform payouts look straightforward until you try to reconcile them. Cancellations, refunds, chargebacks, and resolution payouts create adjustments that are easy to miss. The 1099 that Airbnb sends at year-end often does not match what hit your bank account, and explaining the difference to your CPA wastes hours. When nobody is reconciling payouts month by month, these errors accumulate. By December you are looking at a discrepancy you cannot trace and books you cannot trust.

Cost tracking tends to fall apart the same way. Supplies get purchased in bulk and expensed when bought instead of allocated across the properties and turnovers that used them. Cleaning paid through Venmo never makes it into the books. A property that looks profitable on the surface might be barely breaking even after you properly account for turnover costs, management fees, and seasonal carrying expenses. Without property-level visibility, you keep adding units without knowing which ones actually make money.

No Property-Level Visibility

Revenue from all properties lumped together. Costs not allocated by unit. You know the portfolio’s total income and total expenses but not which properties generate the margin and which ones eat it. Decisions about pricing, reinvestment, or selling off underperformers are based on gut feel instead of data.

Tax Gaps and Missed Benefits

Occupancy taxes tracked inconsistently or not at all, creating compliance exposure. Quarterly estimated payments not set up, leading to penalties and an April surprise. Material participation not documented, leaving short-term rental tax benefits unused. Losses that could offset other income stay trapped in passive activity rules because nobody structured it correctly.

What Changes

Each property shows its true performance after platform fees, turnover costs, and carrying expenses. You can compare the cabin in the mountains against the beach condo and know which one returns more on the capital invested. Expansion decisions are based on real margin data from your existing portfolio, not assumptions carried over from a spreadsheet estimate. When a property underperforms, you see it early enough to adjust pricing, reduce costs, or exit before it drains the rest of the portfolio.

Platform payouts get reconciled monthly. Occupancy taxes are organized and ready when due. The tax benefits available to short-term rental operators are captured where they apply, including the rules around material participation that can turn STR losses into deductions against ordinary income. Our in-house CPA prepares your returns with all of this built in. You stop spending your evenings reconciling Airbnb statements and start focusing on guest experience, reviews, and growth.

Portfolio Decisions Based on Real Numbers

Property-level profitability shows which units and markets work. You know where to reinvest and where to pull back. Acquisitions get evaluated against actual performance from comparable properties in your portfolio. When a lender or buyer wants to see the numbers, you have clean financials ready.

Tax Strategy Built for STR Operators

Short-term rental tax treatment applied correctly, with material participation documented where applicable. Occupancy taxes tracked by jurisdiction and organized for compliance. Returns prepared by our in-house CPA who works with STR operators and understands the rules. Quarterly estimates set so tax season is predictable instead of painful.

Boutique Real Estate Accounting Firm