Airbnb vs. Long-Term Rental: Which Wins on ROI?

Short-term rentals typically gross 2–3x the revenue of long-term rentals on the same property — but they also carry 3–5x the operating expense ratio and meaningfully higher regulatory risk.

On a net basis, well-located STRs in liquid vacation markets often outperform LTRs by 30–60% in cash flow. In secondary cities with restrictive STR rules, the math reverses.

Use the Airbnb profit calculator to model both scenarios for any property before committing to a strategy.