Almost every host's first year of operation surprises them — not with how much they earned, but with how much of it went on things they hadn't counted on. This is a list of expenses that belong in an apartment's budget, ordered from the ones you see on every payout to the ones that come once a year and hurt.

From every booking

• Platform commission. Airbnb is moving to a single host fee of 15.5% of the booking subtotal (14 to 16% for some hosts), in Europe with a transition period until 13 October 2026. Booking typically 15%. Plus payment processing fees.
• DPH (Czech VAT) on the commission. As an identifikovaná osoba (identified person for VAT) you declare 21% on every commission with no right to deduct it. On a commission of CZK 1,500 that's CZK 315, which you never see anywhere on the payout.
• Poplatek z pobytu (tourist tax). It's not your cost, but it passes through your account: you collect it from the guest and pay it to the municipality. If you include it in the price and don't set it aside, it's missing at the end of the quarter.
• Cleaning, laundry, consumables. Toilet paper, coffee, cleaning products, replacing towels and bedding.

Every month

• Energy and internet. Advance payments, with an annual settlement — see the separate article.
• Software. A channel manager (from €15 a month), an operations app, possibly a smart lock.
• Advance payments for social and health insurance. If it's your main activity, the minimums are: social insurance CZK 5,005 and health insurance CZK 3,306 a month (second half of 2026). If it's a secondary activity alongside employment, social insurance isn't paid below the threshold amount, and health insurance has no minimum.
• Rent to the owner, if you run the apartment as a sublet — and along with it, their written consent to business use of the apartment.

Every year

• Waste. A written contract for waste collection, because the building's bins aren't yours. In Prague's municipal system it's CZK 4,377 to 6,687 a year excluding DPH depending on the set of containers; with a commercial collection company from roughly CZK 3,200 including DPH for mixed waste alone.
• Daň z nemovitých věcí (property tax). An apartment used for accommodation is taxed at CZK 18/m² instead of the residential rate; for a typical apartment the difference is a few hundred crowns a year. The partial tax return is due by 31 January, payment by the end of May.
• Income tax and insurance top-ups. Based on the annual summaries you file after your tax return. With 60% flat-rate expenses and a secondary activity, count on roughly 15% of revenue in total.
• Insurance. Household insurance covering business use and liability for damage caused to guests — a regular apartment policy often excludes short-term rentals. Read the exclusions.
• An accountant or tax advisor, if you don't do the tax return yourself.
• Replacing furnishings. Mattresses, bedding, appliances. A reserve of 3 to 5% of revenue is realistic.

One-off, but don't forget

• Registering a trade license: CZK 1,000 (CZK 800 online).
• A sign for the establishment (provozovna).
• A keybox or smart lock, a smoke detector, a fire extinguisher.
• The setup fee some channel managers charge.

What it adds up to

For an apartment with revenue of CZK 600,000 a year alongside employment, roughly this goes out: commissions CZK 90,000, DPH on commissions CZK 19,000, cleaning and laundry CZK 60,000, energy and internet CZK 45,000, tax and insurance contributions CZK 90,000, waste, insurance, software and replacements CZK 40,000. Around CZK 340,000 in total, which is more than half of revenue. That's not a reason not to do it — it's a reason to set your prices knowing that out of every thousand crowns a night, less than five hundred stays with you.