KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Most Houston STR managers charge 25-35% of your GROSS booking total — meaning you pay commission on Airbnb’s platform fee and the cleaning fee too.
- Hooray Stays charges starting at 20% of NET nightly revenue, which removes the platform fee and cleaning fee from the calculation before commission is applied.
- On a standard 3-night Medical Center booking at $150/night, the gross-vs-net difference can cost an owner $30-$60 per reservation in unnecessary fees.
- Hooray Stays includes consumables, daily human revenue management, quarterly in-person walk-throughs, and a $1,500 damage waiver at no extra charge.
- Matt and Carissa Codd own and operate their own STRs on the Gulf Coast, so they have real skin in the game — not just a management contract.
The Texas Medical Center generates short-term rental demand that almost never stops. Travel nurses rotating through Houston Methodist. Medical residents on clinical rotations. Patient families who need a comfortable, affordable alternative to a hotel for a week or two. If you own a property near the TMC, you are sitting on one of the most consistent STR income streams in Texas — and there is a real chance your property manager is quietly taking a much larger cut than you realize. 💰
The Fee Structure Most Houston Managers Don’t Want You to Understand
The most important number in any STR management agreement is not the percentage — it is what that percentage is calculated on. Most Houston property managers charge between 25% and 35% of the gross booking total. That sounds straightforward until you realize what “gross” includes: Airbnb’s own platform fee (typically 3%), your cleaning fee, and sometimes taxes collected by the platform.
You are paying your manager a commission on money that never reaches you and was never yours to begin with.
A Real Medical Center Booking Example
Let’s use a concrete scenario. A travel nurse books three nights near the TMC at $150 per night. Here is how the math actually works:
- Gross booking total: $450 nightly + $85 cleaning fee + ~$13 Airbnb service fee = roughly $548 charged to the guest
- Gross-based manager at 25%: Commission applied to $548 = $137 in management fees
- Gross-based manager at 30%: Commission applied to $548 = $164 in management fees
- Hooray Stays at 20% of NET: Commission applied to $450 nightly payout (after platform fee and cleaning fee removed) = roughly $90 in management fees
That is a difference of $47 to $74 on a single three-night reservation. Multiply that across 15 to 20 bookings per month and you are looking at $700 to $1,400 in annual fees that exist purely because of how the commission base is defined. On a property near the TMC that books consistently year-round, those dollars compound fast.
We broke down the gross-vs-net fee issue in an earlier post worth reading: STR Management Fees in Houston TX: Why Owners Pay Too Much (And What to Demand).
Hooray Stays vs. Typical Houston Managers 📊
Before signing anything, ask every manager to answer each of these categories directly. The answers will tell you everything.
| WHAT MATTERS | HOORAY STAYS | TYPICAL COMPANIES |
|---|---|---|
| Commission base | ✅ 20% of NET nightly revenue | ❌ 25-35% of GROSS booking total |
| Consumables included | ✅ Soaps, coffee, paper goods, shampoos — fully stocked, no markup | ❌ Usually billed separately or passed through with markups |
| Revenue management | ✅ Daily human review of pricing — not just automated software | ❌ Fully automated tools with no human oversight |
| Guest communication | ✅ Handled locally by a team that knows Houston | ❌ Frequently outsourced to overseas virtual assistants |
| In-person property visits | ✅ Quarterly walk-throughs by local operators | ❌ Most do not conduct in-person property visits |
| Damage protection | ✅ $1,500 damage waiver included on every reservation | ❌ Often an add-on or left to owner’s insurance |
| Guest vetting | ✅ Signed rental agreement + government-issued photo ID before every check-in | ❌ Platform screening only — no additional verification |
| Contract flexibility | ✅ Month-to-month available; 2-year contracts waive setup fee | ❌ Often 6-12 month lock-ins with auto-renewal clauses |
Red Flags to Watch in Any Houston STR Management Agreement 🚩
Fee percentage is just the starting point. Experienced owners know to look deeper before signing anything. Here are the warning signs that a management contract is going to cost you more than the quoted rate suggests:
- Gross-based commission with no clear definition. If the contract does not specify exactly what the commission is calculated on, assume it is gross. Ask for it in writing.
- Supply and maintenance markups. Some managers buy consumables or coordinate repairs at a markup and bill the difference to you. Ask directly: “Do you mark up any vendor or supply costs?”
- Auto-renewal clauses with short cancellation windows. A 30-day notice requirement buried in a 12-month auto-renewing contract can trap you for another year if you miss the window.
- Overseas guest communication. A virtual assistant in a different time zone who does not know what the Texas Medical Center is or where to recommend dinner near Rice Village is not serving your guests — or your reviews.
- No one you can actually call. If reaching a live human requires a ticket, a chat queue, or an email that takes 48 hours, that is how your guest emergencies will be handled too.
- Fully automated pricing with no human review. Dynamic pricing tools are useful, but they do not know that Bryan Adams is playing Toyota Center on July 28 or that a medical conference just filled every hotel in the TMC corridor. A human who watches Houston demand daily does.
Why the Texas Medical Center Makes This Conversation Even More Important
Houston’s TMC is the largest medical complex in the world. It does not have an off-season. Travel nurses arrive on 13-week contracts. Families relocate temporarily while a loved one receives treatment. Visiting physicians and researchers fill short-term stays between longer hotel stretches. The demand is real, steady, and relatively rate-insensitive — these guests need to be somewhere comfortable, and they often book on short notice.
That kind of consistent booking volume means fee leakage compounds faster than it would on a purely seasonal property. A beachfront rental in Crystal Beach might sit quiet in February. A well-located Houston unit near the Medical Center probably does not. Every reservation where you are paying commission on the cleaning fee and the platform fee is another quiet drain on your returns.
What Hooray Stays Actually Includes for Houston Owners 🏠
Beyond the net-based commission structure, here is what comes standard with every property we manage — no line-item surprises:
- Consumables fully stocked: soaps, shampoos, conditioner, coffee, paper goods
- Yale smart lock on every property with a unique door code per guest — no lockboxes, no lost keys
- Ring camera on the exterior for arrival awareness and security
- Minut device for noise, smoke, and occupancy monitoring (privacy-friendly — never cameras inside)
- Proprietary guest WiFi portal that captures every guest into the owner’s marketing list, enabling direct booking outreach that avoids Airbnb’s commission entirely
- UpClose Marketing membership: premium branded products delivered to guests, elevating the experience and driving better reviews
- Breezeway safety certification and STR permitting guidance
- Annual human trafficking prevention training for all staff
- First 30 days of management free for new owners
None of these are add-ons. They are the standard.
The Operator Difference: Skin in the Game 🤝
Matt and Carissa Codd are local Texans who live and work on the Gulf Coast. They do not manage STRs from a corporate office. They own and operate their own short-term rentals alongside every client property they take on. When a pricing decision gets made at 11pm because a last-minute opening just appeared on a high-demand weekend, that decision gets made by someone who feels the same outcome on their own bottom line.
When you call Hooray Stays, Matt answers the phone. Not a call center. Not a virtual assistant. Not a ticket queue. That matters most when something goes wrong at 9pm on a Saturday and a guest needs a resolution before they leave a review.
If you are also weighing options for a Gulf Coast property, our breakdown of how much a Galveston vacation rental can make in 2026 gives context on what good management actually looks like for a beach house investment.
The fee audit call is free, no-pressure, and takes about 20 minutes. You will leave with a clear picture of exactly what you would pay under our structure versus what you are paying now — and what the difference adds up to over a full year of Medical Center bookings.
Frequently Asked Questions ❓
What is the typical STR management fee in Houston TX?
Most Houston short-term rental managers charge between 25% and 35% of the gross booking total, which includes Airbnb’s platform fee and your cleaning fee. Hooray Stays charges starting at 20% of net nightly revenue, calculated after those costs are removed.
What is the difference between gross and net commission for STR management?
Gross commission is calculated on the full amount a guest pays, including cleaning fees and platform fees that go to Airbnb. Net commission is calculated only on the nightly revenue the owner actually receives. Paying 25% of gross is almost always more expensive than paying 20% of net.
How much can Houston Medical Center STR owners save by switching to a net-based fee structure?
On a standard three-night booking at $150 per night, the difference between a 25-30% gross fee and Hooray Stays’ 20% net fee can be $47 to $74 per reservation. Across a high-occupancy Medical Center property, that can add up to $700 or more annually.
Does Hooray Stays include consumables in their Houston management fee?
Yes. Hooray Stays stocks every property with soaps, shampoos, conditioner, coffee, and paper goods at no extra charge and with no markup. Most competing managers bill consumables separately or pass them through with a markup.
Is there a contract required to work with Hooray Stays in Houston?
Hooray Stays offers month-to-month contracts for flexibility. Longer-term agreements, such as two-year contracts, are also available and come with the setup fee waived as an incentive. The first 30 days of management are free for new owners.
How does Hooray Stays handle guest communication for Houston properties?
Guest communication is handled locally by a team that knows the Houston area, not outsourced to overseas virtual assistants. Matt Codd answers owner calls directly, and the same local approach applies to guest-facing communication throughout every reservation.
Keep reading 📚
- Best Airbnb Management Companies in Galveston TX: What Local Owners Should Know Before Hiring
- Galveston Vacation Rentals for July 4th Weekend: Book Direct Before Prices Spike (15 Days Away)
- Corporate Housing in Houston: 5 Revenue Hacks for Property Managers Hosting Medical Center & Business Travel Guests
Thinking about professional management? 🏡
Get a free, no-pressure property analysis from Matt and Carissa, real Gulf Coast operators. Your first 30 days of management are on us.
Written by Matt & Carissa Codd, owners of Hooray Stays and active Texas Gulf Coast short-term rental operators. Last updated July 27, 2026. Questions? Call 832-224-6713.