What's actually in a co-hosting agreement? The one I was sent is a page and a half

A page and a half means the previous co-host never had a fight. The clauses I'd add before anything else: a scope list that says explicitly what you don't do (no maintenance dispatch above a dollar threshold without owner approval, no capital purchases, no dealing with the HOA), a spending authority number so you can replace a $180 lock at 9pm without a phone call, and a statement of who owns the listing, the reviews and the guest data if you separate. That last one gets ugly. The listing is on his account, so it's his, and every review you earned goes with it.

Add an owner-use blackout policy. Owners who block three weeks in August with two weeks notice are how co-hosts lose money on a good property.

The money question is the one that stopped me too. If payouts land in the owner's bank account and you invoice him monthly, you're an unsecured creditor of a guy who might get slow. If they land with you and you remit, you're holding other people's money, and in some states that touches trust account or property management licensing rules depending on how it's structured. Which one is the document silent about, or is it silent about both?

Also define the fee base in the document, not just the percentage. Gross booking revenue, accommodation revenue only, net of platform service fees, does it include the cleaning fee, does it include a damage deposit that gets refunded. Two people can shake hands on 18% and be $6,000 apart at year end over what 18% is 18% of.

Thirty days either side with no carve-out for booked reservations is the part I'd fix first. If he terminates in March you're servicing his July guests for free or abandoning them, and either way somebody's name is on those reservations. Simplest fix I've seen written is that the terminating party's obligations run through the last checkout on the books at notice, with the fee still payable on those stays.

On the tax filings: in a lot of jurisdictions the platform collects and remits state and local occupancy tax on bookings made through it, and the owner still owes a separate local filing or a registration renewal, and some places the platform collects nothing. Varies by state and by city inside the state. The agreement should say who prepares and files what, and whichever way it lands the tax liability sits with the owner. You don't want a clause buried in there that makes you responsible for a filing you can't verify.

Does it auto-renew? A page and a half usually doesn't say, which means you're either month to month by default or arguing about it later. I'd want a defined initial term long enough to earn back the onboarding work, since setup is where your unpaid hours go.

I read this whole thread and I still can't tell whether a co-hosting agreement is a services contract or something closer to a management agreement, and whether the label changes what licensing it triggers. Feels like the same document gets called both depending on who wrote it.

Exclusivity in both directions is worth a sentence. Can he list the same property with another manager or a booking agency at the same time, and can you take on the cottage next door to his? First one has cost people real money when two managers double-booked a calendar.

Consumables and linens. Who buys the coffee, the paper, the replacement towels, and does that come off the top or does he reimburse you monthly. Sounds small until you're fronting $200 a month on four properties and invoicing an owner who pays on his own schedule.