I Tracked My Airbnb Properties for 6 Months — One Was Losing Money

I manage three short-term rental properties. For two years, I assumed they were all profitable because "money comes in every month."

Then I actually tracked the numbers. Property by property. Month by month.

The result shocked me.

The Setup

I built a spreadsheet to track each property separately:

• Monthly revenue (after Airbnb's service fee)
• Cleaning costs per turnover
• Maintenance and repairs
• Utilities (water, electric, internet, gas)
• Mortgage/rent payment
• Insurance
• Supplies (towels, toiletries, etc.)

What I Found

Property	Monthly Revenue	Monthly Costs	Net Profit	Occupancy
Downtown Loft	$4,200	$2,800	$1,400	82%
Beach House	$3,100	$1,900	$1,200	71%
Mountain Cabin	$1,100	$1,053	$47	48%

My Mountain Cabin — the one I was most emotionally attached to — was making $47/month. Less than a Netflix subscription.

After accounting for the occasional major repair, it was actually negative over a 12-month period.

The Metrics That Actually Matter

Revenue alone tells you nothing. Here's what to track:

1. Net Operating Income (NOI)

NOI = Annual Revenue - Annual Operating Expenses

Does NOT include mortgage. This tells you if the property itself makes money.

2. Cap Rate

Cap Rate = NOI / Property Value × 100

Anything below 4% is underperforming. My cabin was at 1.2%.

3. Cash-on-Cash Return

CoC = Annual Cash Flow / Total Cash Invested × 100

This accounts for your down payment and improvements. Tells you if your money is working hard enough.

4. Occupancy Rate

Below 50%? You have a pricing or listing quality problem.
Above 90%? You might be underpricing.
Sweet spot: 65-80%.

What I Did About the Cabin

Three options:

1. Raise prices (risky — already low occupancy)
2. Reduce costs (not much room)
3. Sell and reinvest in a better market

I chose option 3. Took the equity and put it into a second unit in the downtown area. That new unit now makes $1,800/month.

Track Your Properties Separately

If you manage multiple STR properties, I cannot stress this enough: track each one independently.

The profitable ones mask the losers. You think you're doing great because total revenue is high, but one property might be dragging everything down.

I packaged my tracking spreadsheet into a template: Airbnb Host Profit Dashboard. It tracks up to 10 properties with monthly P&L, occupancy rates, and ROI calculations.

But honestly, even a basic spreadsheet is better than not tracking at all. The important thing is to know your numbers per property.

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Do you track your rental properties individually? What metrics do you focus on?