Houston STR Management Fees: What Medical Center Corporate Housing Owners Should Ask (Gross vs. Net)

If your Houston short-term rental sits near the Texas Medical Center, you are operating in a corridor with steady, year-round demand from medical and corporate travelers. Travel nurses, medical families, clinical trial participants, hospital administrators, and corporate relocations fill your calendar from August through September and well beyond. The demand is real. The question is whether your property manager is giving you a fair cut of it.

The answer depends heavily on how your manager calculates the fee. Here is why, and what you can do about it.

💰 The Fee Structure Problem: Gross vs. Net (And Why It Costs You More Than You Think)

Industry guides commonly cite full-service management fees of roughly 20–35% of revenue, and many managers calculate their percentage on the gross booking total (source). Always ask what the percentage is calculated on. That sounds straightforward until you understand what “gross” actually means on an Airbnb statement.

When a guest books your property for $3,000 for the week, the gross booking total can include the cleaning fee (which goes directly to cover turnover costs, not into your pocket) and the portion Airbnb keeps as its host service fee. A manager who charges on gross takes their cut off the whole pile, so you pay commission on dollars you never received.

At Hooray Stays, the commission starts at 20% of net nightly revenue. Net means the nightly rate after the booking platform’s host fee, with cleaning fees and taxes excluded. You are only paying commission on nightly revenue you actually earn, and on a busy Medical Center property that structural difference can be meaningful.

Hypothetical Example: What This Looks Like in Numbers

Consider a Medical Center property that books $9,000 in nightly rates plus $1,000 in cleaning fees in a month, a $10,000 gross booking total. Airbnb’s host service fee (about 15.5%) takes roughly $1,395 of the nightly portion, leaving about $7,605 in net nightly revenue.

• A manager charging 30% of gross: $3,000 in fees to your manager
• Hooray Stays starting at 20% of net: about $1,521 in fees to your manager
• Monthly difference in this example: about $1,479

Your own numbers will depend on your rates, occupancy, and agreement terms, but the example shows why the fee basis matters as much as the headline rate.

🔍 Hidden Costs That Make a “Low” Rate Expensive

The headline commission rate is only part of the story. Smart Medical Center owners ask about what comes next.

Ask any manager whether consumables like soap, coffee, paper towels, and shampoo are included or billed to you separately, whether maintenance and supply costs are marked up before they are passed to you, and what setup, onboarding, or technology fees are in the agreement. Read the fine print before you sign.

At Hooray Stays, the setup fee is waived on select longer-term agreements, and consumables are fully stocked with no markup: soaps, shampoos, conditioners, coffee, and paper goods. Depending on the agreement there may also be a monthly technology fee (smart lock, Ring exterior camera, guest WiFi system); exact terms vary by property and agreement. See what’s included in Hooray Stays property management.

🏥 Why the Medical Center Guest Mix Demands Human Pricing Strategy

Automated revenue tools are fine for a beach house with predictable seasonal demand. The Texas Medical Center is a different animal entirely.

Your guests include travel nurses on 13-week contracts, families relocating for a family member’s long-term treatment, clinical researchers, and visiting physicians who book last minute at premium rates. The same unit that sits at $149 a night in a slow week might command $250 or more the night before a major conference at the Medical Center or during a big event weekend in the city. An algorithm that looks only at historical comp data may not catch that nuance the way a human watching the market daily can.

Hooray Stays does daily human revenue management on every property. That means someone is actually looking at your listing, your comp set, and the local demand signals every single day, not just trusting a pricing bot to figure it out. For Medical Center properties where occupancy is already strong, the goal is rate optimization, not just filling nights. The difference between $155 and $185 on a high-demand Thursday adds up fast.

🔧 The Tech Stack That Protects Your Property and Drives Direct Bookings

Management is not just pricing and guest messages. The systems running inside your property matter too.

Every Hooray Stays property gets a Yale smart lock with a unique door code per guest (no lost keys, no lockbox drama), and a Ring camera on the exterior for arrival awareness, with no cameras inside your home. Every guest signs a rental agreement and provides a government-issued photo ID before check-in. Breezeway safety certification is included.

The detail most owners do not expect: Hooray Stays runs a guest WiFi portal on every property. When a guest connects to the WiFi, they are captured into the owner’s own marketing list. That means past guests can be remarketed to directly for future stays, cutting Airbnb out of the loop and reducing platform dependency over time. For a Medical Center property with repeat travel nurse clientele, this is a meaningful long-term asset.

👋 Matt and Carissa Are Not Managing From a Spreadsheet

Matt and Carissa Codd run Hooray Stays themselves from Katy, TX, and own and operate their own short-term rentals alongside the client properties they manage. When you call (832) 224-6713, Matt answers the phone.

That matters because when your Medical Center guest has a 4 a.m. check-in after a cross-country flight, or when a travel nurse needs to extend their stay by two weeks, you want someone who has personally navigated those situations in their own properties. The advice you get is not theoretical. It is operational experience from someone with real skin in the game.

(If you are curious how the same principles apply in other Gulf Coast markets, this breakdown on what Gulf Coast cabin owners need to know before hiring a manager covers the same evaluation framework in detail.)

📋 Five Questions to Ask Your Current Manager Before You Renew

If you are already working with a management company and your contract is coming up, do not renew on autopilot. Ask these five questions and compare the answers honestly.

1. Is your commission calculated on gross booking revenue or net nightly revenue? If they say gross, find out what the effective rate is on net. The number will be higher than you expect.
2. Are consumables included or billed separately? Soaps, coffee, paper goods, and cleaning supplies add up quickly across dozens of guest turnovers per year.
3. Who actually handles guest communication, and who can I call directly? Ask how quickly guests and owners get answers, and who is accountable when something goes wrong.
4. How is pricing set, and does a human review it daily? Ask how they react to short-window demand, like a newly announced Medical Center conference.
5. When did someone from your company last visit my property in person? If the answer is never or they cannot remember, that tells you everything you need to know about how closely they are watching your asset.

Houston is a city where August and September bring travel nurses, Texans training camp energy, Astros playoff pushes, and a packed live music calendar across venues like White Oak Music Hall and House of Blues. If your property manager is not actively leveraging local demand signals and protecting your rates during peak periods, you are leaving real money on the table every single week. For more on how Houston’s event calendar affects short-term rental demand, see our guide to Houston concert and live music weekend getaways.

The first 30 days with Hooray Stays are commission-free for new owners (current promotion). Consumables come with no markup, and the commission starts at 20% of net nightly revenue. Learn more about our Houston Airbnb property management. If you want to know exactly what you are currently paying and what a different structure would look like for your specific property, a 15-minute fee audit is the fastest way to get clarity.

Book directly at calendly.com/matthew-codd-bf0/hooray-stays-clone or call Matt at (832) 224-6713. He picks up.

Frequently Asked Questions ❓

What percentage does Hooray Stays charge for STR management in Houston?

Hooray Stays’ commission starts at 20% of net nightly revenue: the nightly rate after the booking platform’s host fee, with cleaning fees and taxes excluded. Exact terms vary by property and agreement, and some agreements include a monthly technology fee. Industry guides commonly cite full-service fees of roughly 20 to 35% of revenue, often calculated on gross, so always ask what a manager’s percentage is calculated on.

What does “net” vs “gross” mean for STR management fees?

Gross refers to the full booking total, including the cleaning fee and the portion the platform keeps as its fee. Net, at Hooray Stays, is the nightly rate after the booking platform’s host fee, with cleaning fees and taxes excluded. Paying commission on gross means you pay your manager a cut of money you never actually receive as nightly revenue, which is why the fee basis matters.

Are consumables like soap and coffee included in Hooray Stays’ management fee?

Yes. Hooray Stays fully stocks all consumables including soaps, shampoos, conditioners, coffee, and paper goods with no markup to the owner. Ask any manager whether consumables are included or billed separately.

Why does the Texas Medical Center require more active revenue management than other Houston areas?

The Medical Center draws an unpredictable mix of travel nurses, medical families, clinical researchers, and corporate travelers who book on varied timelines and at different price sensitivities. Daily human review of pricing catches short-window demand spikes, like a major conference or peak travel nurse season, that automated pricing tools alone may miss.

Does Hooray Stays require a long-term contract for Houston properties?

Hooray Stays agreements include a 30-day notice to cancel. The setup fee is waived on select longer-term agreements, and new owners currently get their first 30 days commission-free. Exact terms vary by property and agreement.

Who handles guest communication for Hooray Stays Houston properties?

Hooray Stays is owned and operated by Matt and Carissa Codd, who run the operation themselves. Owners can reach Matt Codd directly at (832) 224-6713.

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Written by Matt & Carissa Codd, owners of Hooray Stays and active Texas Gulf Coast short-term rental operators. Last updated August 17, 2026. Questions? Call 832-224-6713.