Been going deep on STR math lately and this is the number I can't stop thinking about.
Everyone talks about nightly rate and occupancy. But the number that actually matters is what you kept per night booked after subtracting every cost, mortgage, cleaning labor, utilities, insurance, supplies, maintenance reserve, platform fees.
On a property doing 18 nights a month at $175/night:
Gross revenue: $3,150 Total costs (mortgage, cleaning, utilities, insurance, supplies, maintenance): $2,475 True profit: $675 Real take-home per night booked: $37.50
That $175 nightly rate turned into $37.50 actually kept. That is a number most hosts may not calculate.
The one that surprises people most is maintenance reserve, setting aside 1–2% of property value per year monthly means $250–$500 on a $300K property that never shows up in your payout statement but is absolutely a real cost.
Host community, do you track your true per-night profit or are you working off gross numbers? Genuinely curious what systems people use.