How Much Does an Airbnb in Varna Earn? Gross vs Net in 2026
The short answer
A managed Varna apartment earned €3,073.62 gross on Booking.com over 71 summer days in 2026 — and €1,876.65 net to the owner, about 61% of gross, after platform fees, cleaning and management. That is the honest shape of Airbnb income in Varna: strong summers, real deductions.
Most Airbnb revenue figures published online are scraped gross numbers — before the platform, the cleaner, the manager and the tax office take their share. This article walks a real 2026 summer statement from gross to net, sets it against Varna's long-term rents, and shows how to estimate your own apartment honestly.
Why every headline Airbnb number is gross
Data portals estimate revenue by scraping listing calendars and prices. What they show is gross booking value: no platform fee deducted, no cleaning, no management commission, no tax. Four deductions stand between that number and your bank account:
- Platform fees. Airbnb's split fee costs most hosts 3%; its host-only structure runs 14–16%, most commonly 15.5%. Booking.com's global average commission is 15%.
- Cleaning and laundry, charged per turnover.
- Management commission, where the property is professionally run — 15–25% of revenue across the Bulgarian market.
- Bulgarian income tax — for non-resident owners, a final 10% on the gross rent.
Every one of these is knowable in advance. The mistake is not that the costs exist — it is comparing a gross scrape with a net expectation.
Scraped city averages carry a second problem: they blend professionally run apartments with rarely booked ones, sea-view flats with ground-floor studios, and calendars blocked by owners with calendars empty for lack of demand. An average of that mix neither prices your apartment nor predicts your net.
A real summer statement, line by line
The table below is a real, anonymised statement from a Domico-managed Varna apartment, summer 2026. One property, listed on Booking.com, 5 June to 14 August — 71 days, 12 reservations, 50 nights sold, 70.4% occupancy, average daily rate €61.47. Occupancy here means nights sold across all 71 calendar days, not across a curated set of available nights — the honest denominator.
| Line | Amount | Share of gross |
|---|---|---|
| Gross booking revenue | €3,073.62 | 100.0% |
| Booking.com platform fees | -€507.66 | 16.5% |
| Received revenue | €2,565.96 | 83.5% |
| Cleaning, 12 turnovers | -€160.00 | 5.2% |
| Management commission (22% of received revenue minus cleaning) | -€529.31 | 17.2% |
| Net to owner, before tax | €1,876.65 | 61.1% |
Three observations. First, the platform's cut — 16.5% of gross — nearly matched the management commission at 17.2%. Second, the 22% headline commission applied to received revenue after cleaning, a narrower base, which is why it equals 17.2% of gross. Third, the owner kept about €26 per calendar day across the period (€1,876.65 over 71 days), occupied or not. This is one apartment in high season: evidence of what a well-run summer looks like, not a promise of your result.
Varna seasonality: do not multiply August by 12
Varna is a seasonal coastal market: July and August are strong, winter is quiet. A summer statement is therefore a ceiling, not an average. Multiplying a peak month by twelve is the classic error in short-term rental projections, and the data portals rarely warn you against it.
Two honest ways to treat the off-season:
- Model winter occupancy conservatively and treat any upside as a bonus, not a baseline.
- Use the mid-term bridge: furnished monthly stays over winter trade nightly rates for stability and keep the apartment earning between summers.
The same seasonality is the test to apply to any projection you are shown. Ask how the winter months are modelled, what occupancy each month assumes, and what happens to fixed costs when the calendar is empty. A forecast that cannot answer month by month is a summer number wearing an annual label.
The long-term comparison: steady €400–500 for a two-bed
The alternative to chasing seasons is a tenancy. Listing-based market data for Q1 2026 puts Varna's long-term offer rents here:
| Apartment type | Monthly offer rent |
|---|---|
| 1-bedroom | €250–320 |
| 2-bedroom | €400–500 |
| 3-bedroom | €450–600 |
Varna rents rose 10–15% year on year, per the National Real Estate Association (NSNI), and the city's gross rental yield averages about 5% (Global Property Guide, April 2025: 5.06%), with net yields typically one to two percentage points lower after costs. The yield figure frames the decision: at city level, a Varna rental returns about 5% of the property's value gross — the operating model then decides how much of that survives as net.
A modelled comparison, assumptions stated: take the summer pace above — €1,876.65 net over 71 days, roughly €800 per month after management, before tax — and set it against a two-bedroom tenancy at €400–500 per month. Peak-season short-term wins clearly. But the tenancy pays every month of the year, with no platform fees, no turnovers and none of the tourist-registration duties. The two figures come from different properties, so this compares income patterns, not one apartment against itself — and which pattern wins over twelve months depends mostly on winter, exactly what a scraped summer figure hides.
The cost stack: what comes off the top
To reconcile any Varna gross figure to net — a portal estimate, a manager's projection or your own plan — apply the stack in order, using rates checked on 18 August 2026:
- Platform fee: about 3% on Airbnb's split-fee structure for most hosts (14–16% host-only), about 15% on Booking.com. The real statement above lost 16.5% here.
- Cleaning: per turnover; €160.00 across 12 reservations in the statement above.
- Management: 15–25% of revenue across the Bulgarian market; Domico's Varna packages run 16–22%, with the Max commission charged on received revenue after cleaning fees. See the full comparison in our guide to property management fees in Bulgaria, and current Domico rates under property management fees in Varna.
- VAT detail: hosts registered under Art. 97a of the VAT Act self-charge 20% Bulgarian VAT on platform commissions.
- Tax: non-resident owners pay a final 10% on the gross rent; EU/EEA residents can opt into the resident basis at an effective rate of about 9%.
Applied to the real statement above, this stack explains the 61.1% net share line by line. Applied to your apartment, it will explain yours — the percentages shift with the platform mix and the commission base, but the order of deductions never changes.
How to get a number for your apartment
City averages will not price your apartment. Two buildings a street apart can post very different occupancy at the same nightly rate, because location, size, condition, view and season pattern move the result more than any market statistic. Start with a property-specific estimate from our rental income calculator for Varna, then pressure-test it: which months does it assume, which platform mix, what cleaning cost, and on which base is the commission calculated?
Where Domico fits. Domico runs Varna apartments on exactly the statement logic shown above: every month, the owner receives the gross, the platform fees, the cleaning, the commission and the net in one document. The summer figures in this article come from that reporting, not from scraped estimates. If the numbers do not work for your property, we say so before you list.
Rental income also interacts with your tax residence, so confirm the owner-specific tax treatment with an accountant or lawyer before relying on any projection.
Information verified on 18 August 2026.
Sources
- Bestplace.bg — Varna rental market review, Q1 2026
- Global Property Guide — Bulgaria rental yields
- Airbnb — service fees
- Booking.com — how much commission do I pay
- Property Services BG — management cost benchmark 2026
Information verified on 18 August 2026. Rules and rates change — confirm against the linked sources or with an adviser before acting.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an Airbnb in Varna earn in summer?
One real, anonymised example: a Domico-managed Varna apartment on Booking.com earned €3,073.62 gross over 5 June – 14 August 2026 (50 nights sold, 70.4% occupancy, €61.47 average daily rate). After platform fees, cleaning and management, the owner netted €1,876.65. Results vary by property and season.
What percentage of gross Airbnb revenue does the owner keep?
In the real Varna example, the owner kept 61.1% of gross before tax: platform fees took 16.5%, cleaning 5.2% and the management commission 17.2%. The exact share depends on the platform's fee structure, the cleaning arrangement and the commission base — not just the headline commission rate.
Is Airbnb more profitable than long-term renting in Varna?
In peak season, usually yes: the real summer example netted about €800 per month after management, against €400–500 offer rents for a two-bedroom tenancy. Over a full year the answer depends on winter occupancy, because Varna's short-term demand is strongly seasonal. Long-term income is lower but constant.
What rental yield do Varna apartments produce?
City-level data puts Varna's gross rental yield at about 5% (Global Property Guide, April 2025: 5.06%), with net yields typically one to two percentage points lower after costs. Long-term offer rents in Q1 2026 ranged from €250–320 for one-bedroom to €450–600 for three-bedroom apartments.
Why shouldn't I multiply August revenue by 12?
Because Varna is seasonal: July and August are the peak, winter is quiet, and an annualised summer figure overstates the year badly. Model conservative winter occupancy instead, or bridge the off-season with monthly mid-term stays. Judge any projection by its month-by-month assumptions, not its annual total.
Get a property-specific answer
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