What is an Airbnb co-host?
On Airbnb, a co-host is someone the listing owner invites to help manage their property. It is an official platform feature, not an informal arrangement: the co-host has their own account, logs in with their own credentials and acts on your listing within the permissions you grant. Airbnb allows up to 10 co-hosts on a single listing.
The key point fits in one sentence: the listing stays yours. It is attached to your account, with its history, its reviews and your payout method. The co-host works on it but never owns it. If you end the arrangement, you remove the co-host from the listing editor and keep everything else.
This matters a great deal. Airbnb states that listings and accounts cannot be transferred to another host. If a manager publishes your property from their own account, the reviews built up over years of stays remain with them the day you part ways. With the co-host model, that risk disappears.
The co-host manages, the owner owns. It is the difference between handing over your keys and handing over your business.
Permissions and payout sharing: what Airbnb provides
Since 2023, every co-host invitation requires you to choose an access level. Airbnb offers three, described in its Help Centre:
- Full access: managing the listing, calendar, pricing, reservations (accepting or declining), messaging and viewing the earnings dashboard. This is the level needed to genuinely run the property.
- Calendar and messaging: the co-host messages guests and views the calendar, without editing it or touching prices.
- Calendar only: view-only access, useful for instance for a cleaning team that needs to know arrivals and departures.
Some things remain reserved for the listing owner whatever the access level: only the owner can set up or edit a co-host's payouts, and co-hosts cannot see taxpayer information or other hosts' payout methods.
Payout sharing is the other key tool. The owner chooses the formula: cleaning fee only, cleaning fee plus a percentage per booking, a percentage (with or without the cleaning fee) or a fixed amount per booking. The co-host then has 14 days to accept the proposal. Airbnb calculates and pays each party's share, usually by the end of the business day after the guest's check-in. Sharing only applies to stays: host damage protection reimbursements and Resolution Centre payouts are excluded.
Airbnb notes that payout sharing is subject to regional restrictions depending on your location, your co-host's and the property's. Check that the option is offered in your account before building your set-up around it.
A tax point worth knowing: according to Airbnb, co-host payouts do not change the amount reported for the listing owner. You receive a summary covering all bookings, and the co-host receives a document for their own share.
Is the Airbnb Co-Host Network available in France?
Yes. In October 2024 Airbnb launched its Co-Host Network, an in-app directory connecting owners with local co-hosts. France is one of the countries where it is available, alongside Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom among others.
To be listed, Airbnb requires a strong track record on the platform: high ratings, low cancellation rates and established hosting experience. Co-hosts must then keep up their rating and response rate to stay visible.
One point deserves your attention: these criteria measure performance on Airbnb, not legal compliance. Airbnb's co-host terms state that each co-host represents that they hold the permits, licences, insurance and qualifications required for their services, and that Airbnb is not a party to the agreement between host and co-host. In other words, the platform makes the introduction, but checking your future co-host's legal status is up to you.
Private co-host or professional concierge: what is the difference?
Technically, nothing distinguishes a private co-host from a concierge company on Airbnb: both use the same feature. The differences lie elsewhere, and they matter most on the day something goes wrong.
The private co-host
Often a relative, a neighbour or an experienced local host who manages a few properties alongside their own. Advantages: flexibility, a direct relationship, sometimes a lower cost. Limits: availability (holidays, illness, emergencies in the middle of August), no back-up team and, above all, a legal position that often becomes unclear once the activity is regular and paid (see next section).
The professional concierge
A structured business with a team, cleaning and linen providers, an on-call service and processes. A concierge holding the carte G adds safeguards set by law: a financial guarantee, professional liability insurance and a written mandate. The cost is generally higher than an arrangement between private individuals, but it covers a full service and gives you clear recourse in the event of a dispute.
In Nice, the operational stakes are real. During Carnival in February, the Monaco Grand Prix weekend in May or at the height of summer, turnovers follow one another and a late check-out can upset the entire cleaning schedule. A flat in the Carré d'Or or Old Nice may welcome several guests a week: the question is not whether something unexpected will happen, but who will deal with it. To compare the real cost of both options, our article on the price of an Airbnb concierge in Nice breaks down the pricing models.
The legal framework in France: the Hoguet law and the carte G
Law no. 70-9 of 2 January 1970, known as the Hoguet law, governs people who habitually carry out or assist, even on an ancillary basis, in operations concerning other people's property. These operations include letting or subletting, seasonal or not, furnished or unfurnished, and property management.
Carrying out these activities requires a professional licence issued by the chamber of commerce and industry (CCI). For management, this is the property management licence, known as the carte G. Obtaining it requires proof of professional competence, a financial guarantee covering the repayment of funds held on behalf of clients, and professional civil liability insurance. The law also requires a written mandate, limited in time, which sets out the remuneration and the conditions under which the professional may receive or pay out money.
Carrying out an activity that requires a licence without holding one is a criminal offence: Article 14 of the law provides for six months' imprisonment and a €7,500 fine.
Where is the line?
Not all help counts as management in the legal sense. Cleaning, washing linen or occasionally handing over keys as a favour does not look like managing property for others. Conversely, publishing and running the listing, setting prices, accepting bookings, collecting or paying out rent, and doing so regularly for a fee, comes much closer to it.
The exact line is still debated. A guide on holiday-let regulations published by Atout France, the national tourism agency, acknowledges a legal grey area between simply providing services and practising as an estate agent, and notes that many concierge companies have chosen to hold a professional licence so they can operate without risk. We pass no judgement on any particular operator: each situation depends on the tasks actually entrusted and how habitual they are. If you are unsure about your own set-up, ask a lawyer or your local CCI.
We explain what the carte G concretely changes for an owner on our page about our licensed Airbnb concierge service in Nice.
Checking a carte G takes two minutes: CCI France keeps a public register of property professionals, searchable by name, company name, town, SIREN number or licence number. Ask for the number, then check it yourself.
Tax: how is a co-host's income taxed?
For the co-host, the fee received for managing someone else's property is not rental income: it is payment for a service. When carried out habitually, this activity generally falls under industrial and commercial profits (BIC) and requires registering a business, most often under the micro-enterprise scheme. For 2026, this scheme applies to services if pre-tax turnover in 2024 or 2025 did not exceed €83,600.
Do not count on discretion: platforms send the tax authorities, every year, the number of transactions and the amounts received by their users. The French tax website, impots.gouv.fr, points out that these transactions, even occasional ones, may be taxable and subject to reporting obligations. Airbnb's co-host terms say the same: each co-host is solely responsible for their own tax obligations.
For the owner, you remain taxed on all the rent from your furnished let. Under micro-BIC, the co-host's fee is not deductible: the flat-rate allowance (30% for an unclassified furnished tourist let, capped at €15,000; 50% for a classified one, capped at €83,600) is meant to cover all your costs. Under the actual-expenses regime (régime réel), it becomes a deductible expense among others. Social charges of 18.6% apply depending on your situation. To go further, see our guide to change-of-use taxation in Nice and have your case checked by a chartered accountant.
Insurance and liability: the risks to cover
Airbnb's AirCover for Hosts includes host liability insurance covering up to US$1 million for bodily injury or property damage suffered by a guest where you are legally liable. According to Airbnb, the people who help you host, including co-hosts and cleaners, are also covered. It is a useful baseline, but it does not replace your own policies.
- Your owner's insurance: in a co-ownership building, French law requires every co-owner, whether occupying or not, to hold civil liability insurance. Tell your insurer the property is used for short-term furnished lets: a standard policy may exclude this activity.
- Your co-host's liability: a management error (double booking, lost keys, a badly handled water leak) can cost you dearly. A professional holding the carte G must have professional civil liability insurance. A private individual often does not.
- Your money: if your co-host collects rent or deposits on your behalf, what protects it if they fail? With a carte G holder, the financial guarantee covers funds held on behalf of clients.
Finally, remember that Airbnb is not a party to the agreement between you and your co-host and is not obliged to mediate your disputes. A clear written agreement covering tasks, fees and how the arrangement ends is essential. Our page on Airbnb protection and guarantees in Nice sets out your options if damage occurs.
Nice's rules do not change with a co-host
Delegating management does not shift your obligations as an owner. In Nice, a main residence can be let short term for up to 120 days a year without authorisation (the cap returned to 120 days on 1 September 2026). A second home let short term requires change-of-use authorisation. Since 1 September 2026, this authorisation is temporary, for five years at most and non-renewable, and four quota zones limit the number of authorisations granted. Letting without authorisation exposes you to a fine of up to €100,000 per property.
Every listing must also display a registration number. A good co-host will flag these issues, but it is your name on the declaration to the town hall. To check where you stand: the 120-day rule for a main residence and the registration number in Nice.
The 120-day count applies per property, across all platforms. If you also let directly or elsewhere, your Airbnb co-host only sees part of the nights: keeping the overall view is up to you.
How La Joyeuse Conciergerie works as a co-host
We made a simple choice: your Airbnb listing stays on your account, and we work on it as a co-host. You add us from your app, with the access level that lets us run the calendar, pricing, messages and bookings. You keep a view of your listing, your bookings, your earnings and your guest conversations at all times.
Airbnb payouts are tied to your owner account, arriving continuously after each booking rather than as a single monthly transfer. Our fee is a single commission of 20% excl. VAT (24% incl. VAT) of revenue, all-inclusive, with no lock-in. A €250 emergency fund, which remains your money, covers small expenses (light bulbs, batteries, crockery) without bothering you, and its balance is tracked to the cent.
Every Friday, you receive a detailed report: net income for the week, a breakdown of our commission excl. and incl. VAT, guests and ratings, and any call-outs. La Joyeuse Conciergerie is an SAS holding the carte G, based at 8 avenue Auber in Nice, with a 4.9/5 Google rating. If you are weighing up a private co-host against professional management, discover our Airbnb concierge service in Nice or ask for an income estimate.
