AirROI ranking · 202615 companies ranked

Best Airbnb Management Companies in Cardiff (2026)

Source: AirROI Reviewed by , Founder @ AirROI

The short answer

Cardiff Airbnb Management in Brief

In the 12 months to September 2026, Gwestai Cardiff ran 52 of Cardiff's 1,660 active Airbnb listings, and Cohost Partners ran 44. AirROI identified 15 Airbnb management companies running five or more Cardiff listings.

"Similar owner-run homes" are homes whose owner runs only that one Cardiff listing, with no co-host, the same bedrooms and room type, listed all year and open on 240+ nights, booked on 60+ of them, with 5+ reviews. Revenue is what each home earned on Airbnb, estimated from booked nights and rates; stays sold on other sites or direct aren't counted.

Revenue, occupancy and nightly rates across the whole market are in the Cardiff Airbnb market report .

The ranking

Cardiff Airbnb Management Companies, Ranked

Companies are ranked by the active Cardiff listings they run, as host or as co-host on an owner's account. "Lead vs similar" shows how much more a company's homes earned than owner-run Cardiff homes with the same number of bedrooms and room type, where they earned more, so a company of big houses isn't flattered by their size.

Of the 5 top-ranked companies that host mainly on their own accounts and had listings a year ago, 3 grew over the past year.

Management companies with the most listings in Cardiff

Ranked by active Cardiff listings run as host or co-host in the 12 months to September 2026.

Management companies with the most listings in Cardiff
#CompanyListings
Gwestai CardiffCo-hosts · Grangetown · Cathays★ 4.78 · +30% vs similar homes52
Cohost PartnersPenylan · Roath+8% vs similar homes44
Property Promise+12 in a yearGrangetown · Roath+54% vs similar homes41
4StayRightCyncoed · Riverside32
5Switchback StaysCathays · Splott★ 4.7630
6JRY Property Group24
7Tailored AccommodationCo-hosts · Cathays · Gabalfa★ 4.7722
8The Best StaysCo-hosts★ 4.5418
9Experience AwayCo-hosts15
10Starlight Stays ManagementButetown★ 4.8711
11Prestige StaysRoath9
12Dragon Apartments★ 4.557
13Ava and TeamCastle5
14N and N StaysRiverside · Cyncoed★ 4.535
15Prime StaysLlanrumney · Butetown5

Fastest-growing management companies in Cardiff

Listings added over the past 12 months on each company's own Airbnb accounts, among companies running at least 10 today. Companies that mostly co-host on owners' accounts are left out, because Airbnb's co-host records from a year ago are incomplete.

Fastest-growing management companies in Cardiff
#CompanyListings added
Property PromiseGrangetown · Roath+54% vs similar homes+12
Starlight Stays ManagementButetown★ 4.87+9
Switchback StaysCathays · Splott★ 4.76+5

Best-rated Airbnb management companies in Cardiff

Average guest rating across each company's rated listings, weighted by reviews, among companies with at least 10 rated listings and 100 reviews.

Best-rated Airbnb management companies in Cardiff
#CompanyAverage rating
Starlight Stays ManagementButetown★ 4.874.87
Gwestai CardiffCo-hosts · Grangetown · Cathays★ 4.78 · +30% vs similar homes4.78
Tailored AccommodationCo-hosts · Cathays · Gabalfa★ 4.774.77
4Switchback StaysCathays · Splott★ 4.764.76
5The Best StaysCo-hosts★ 4.544.54
6Experience AwayCo-hosts4.44
7Cohost PartnersPenylan · Roath+8% vs similar homes4.40
8Property PromiseGrangetown · Roath+54% vs similar homes4.35
9StayRightCyncoed · Riverside4.22
How to read this table

Shortlist

The Best Airbnb Management Companies in Cardiff, by Home Size

A company that runs studios well may not suit a four-bedroom house. For each size, these are the Cardiff companies whose homes of that size out-earn owner-run homes of the same size by enough to cover a 20% fee (25% or more), on at least five year-round homes of that size, rated 4.7 or higher over 100 or more reviews. Leads of 150% or more are left out: that's more than management usually explains.

Studios and 1 bedroom

  1. Gwestai Cardiff 20 homes · rated 4.78
    +55%

2 bedrooms

No company yet has enough highly rated year-round 2-bedroom homes with a 25% lead to list here; the ranking above covers every company.

3 bedrooms

No company yet has enough highly rated year-round 3-bedroom homes with a 25% lead to list here; the ranking above covers every company.

4 bedrooms or more

  1. Gwestai Cardiff 7 homes · rated 4.78 · small sample
    +127%

Each figure is revenue against owner-run homes with the same bedrooms and room type, on the company's year-round homes of that size only. "Small sample" marks a figure on five to nine homes: a lead to follow up, not a result. It says what the company's homes earned, not what yours will.

Fees

What an Airbnb Manager Costs in Cardiff

Few management companies publish their fees. Of the 180 companies AirROI checked in 11 major Airbnb markets in September 2026, 17 publish a rate, from 10% to 30% of booking revenue with a median starting rate of 17%, and 102 quote only on request. Expect to ask each Cardiff company you shortlist for a quote.

Get the rate in writing along with what it's charged on: some companies take their share of the nightly rate only, others of everything the guest pays, cleaning fee included. With the company-run median Cardiff cleaning fee of £49, a 20% rate that also applies to cleaning takes another £10 from every stay. Ask too what's billed on top (linen, repairs, a setup fee) and how much notice ends the contract.

At the median starting rate, rounded to 15%, a manager has to lift revenue by 18% to leave an owner where they started, and 51% of company-run Cardiff homes earned at least that much more than the owner-run median for their size, against 34% of owner-run homes with no manager at all.

What a fee costs a year on a median Cardiff home

What a fee costs a year on a median Cardiff home
HomeMedian revenue15% fee20% fee25% fee30% fee
1 bedroom£16,700£2,505£3,340£4,175£5,010
2 bedrooms£21,600£3,240£4,320£5,400£6,480
3 bedrooms£27,300£4,095£5,460£6,825£8,190
4 bedrooms£42,800£6,420£8,560£10,700£12,840
5+ bedrooms£68,000£10,200£13,600£17,000£20,400

The fee on the median booking revenue of entire homes listed all 12 months, at common rates. A company's quote for your home can differ; ask for the full rate card in writing.

The numbers

Is an Airbnb Manager Worth It in Cardiff?

At the median, company-run Cardiff listings earned 46% more than owner-run ones over the 12 months to September 2026. Much of that is the homes: companies run bigger places. Matched by bedroom count and room type, company-run listings earned 20% more than owner-run ones, with occupancy 8% higher.

A company charging a share of revenue pays for itself on revenue alone when it lifts income by more than the share: a 20% fee needs a 25% lift, and 2 of the 5 Cardiff companies with enough homes to compare clear it. The table shows how many company-run homes clear each bar:

Company-run homes that earn enough to cover each fee

  • 15% fee needs +18% 51%
  • 20% fee needs +25% 40%
  • 25% fee needs +33% 37%
  • 30% fee needs +43% 31%
  • 35% fee needs +54% 21%

A home "earns it" when its revenue over the 12 months to September 2026 beat the owner-run median for homes of the same room type and bedroom count by at least the lift shown. Homes listed all year only.

How we compared

Read the 20% row. 40% of company-run Cardiff homes earned at least 25% more than the owner-run median for their size, enough to pay that fee and still leave the owner ahead. Ask any manager to show you homes of its own that clear it.

Company-run homes out-earn similar owner-run ones whichever account they sit on: those a company co-hosts on the owner's own Airbnb account earned 22% more than similar owner-run homes, though Gwestai Cardiff alone runs about three-quarters of the co-hosted homes, and those on a company's own account 6% more. Of all 126 year-round company-run Cardiff homes, 71 stay on the owner's own account, with the company as co-host. Owners who keep the listing on their own account keep its reviews if they change manager.

Results vary by company, and the ranking shows the companies whose homes lead similar ones. Managers also choose the homes they take on, so part of any lead reflects the homes, and the comparison matches homes by room type and bedrooms only, not by street or finish. It counts Airbnb bookings only.

Profiles

The 10 Top-Ranked Companies, Profiled

The 10 top-ranked companies: what each runs, where, and how its homes compare with similar owner-run Cardiff homes. Each card's revenue, per-night and nights figures are medians across its homes, so the last two don't multiply to the first.

The six top-ranked

  • Gwestai Cardiff

    #1 by listings Grangetown, Cathays Co-hosts on owners' accounts

    Best results in Cardiff Out-earns similar homes by enough to cover a 20% fee

    Gwestai Cardiff runs 52 active Cardiff Airbnb listings, and guests rate its homes 4.78 over 8,250 reviews.

    Active listings
    52
    Guest rating
    4.78
    8,250 reviews
    Nightly rate
    £115
    median
    vs similar homes
    +30%
    revenue, 50 homes compared
    What it runs
    Results
    Account
    Gwestai Cardiff in figures
  • Cohost Partners

    #2 by listings Penylan, Roath

    Out-earns similar owner-run homes

    Cohost Partners runs 44 active Cardiff Airbnb listings.

    Active listings
    44
    Nightly rate
    £245
    median
    vs similar homes
    +8%
    revenue, 14 homes compared
    Instant book
    50%
    of its listings
    What it runs
    Results
    Account
    Cohost Partners in figures
  • Property Promise

    #3 by listings Grangetown, Roath

    Fastest growing in Cardiff Out-earns similar homes by enough to cover a 20% fee

    Property Promise runs 41 active Cardiff Airbnb listings.

    Active listings
    41
    +12 in a year
    Nightly rate
    £225
    median
    vs similar homes
    +54%
    revenue, 13 homes compared
    Instant book
    83%
    of its listings
    What it runs
    Results
    Account
    Property Promise in figures
  • 4

    StayRight

    #4 by listings Cyncoed, Riverside

    StayRight runs 32 active Cardiff Airbnb listings.

    Active listings
    32
    Nightly rate
    £210
    median
    Year-round homes
    2
    listed all 12 months
    Instant book
    50%
    of its listings
    What it runs
    Account
    StayRight in figures
  • 5

    Switchback Stays

    #5 by listings Cathays, Splott

    Switchback Stays runs 30 active Cardiff Airbnb listings, and guests rate its homes 4.76 over 1,300 reviews.

    Active listings
    30
    +5 in a year
    Guest rating
    4.76
    1,300 reviews
    Nightly rate
    £140
    median
    Year-round homes
    25
    listed all 12 months
    What it runs
    Account
    Switchback Stays in figures
  • 6

    JRY Property Group

    #6 by listings

    JRY Property Group runs 24 active Cardiff Airbnb listings.

    Active listings
    24
    New in the past year
    What it runs
    Account
    JRY Property Group in figures

The next ranked

  • 7

    Tailored Accommodation

    #7 by listings Cathays, Gabalfa Co-hosts on owners' accounts

    Tailored Accommodation runs 22 active Cardiff Airbnb listings, and guests rate its homes 4.77 over 1,680 reviews.

    Active listings
    22
    Guest rating
    4.77
    1,680 reviews
    Nightly rate
    £125
    median
    Year-round homes
    21
    listed all 12 months
    What it runs
    Account
    Tailored Accommodation in figures
  • 8

    The Best Stays

    #8 by listings Co-hosts on owners' accounts

    The Best Stays runs 18 active Cardiff Airbnb listings.

    Active listings
    18
    Instant book
    78%
    of its listings
    What it runs
    Account
    The Best Stays in figures
  • 9

    Experience Away

    #9 by listings Co-hosts on owners' accounts

    Experience Away runs 15 active Cardiff Airbnb listings.

    Active listings
    15
    Instant book
    80%
    of its listings
    What it runs
    Account
    Experience Away in figures
  • 10

    Starlight Stays Management

    #10 by listings Butetown

    Best rated in Cardiff

    Starlight Stays Management runs 11 active Cardiff Airbnb listings, and guests rate its homes 4.87 over 1,190 reviews.

    Active listings
    11
    +9 in a year
    Guest rating
    4.87
    1,190 reviews
    Nightly rate
    £150
    median
    Year-round homes
    4
    listed all 12 months
    What it runs
    Account
    Starlight Stays Management in figures

Checklist

Before You Sign: Seven Things to Check with a Cardiff Manager

Benchmarks

What Cardiff Airbnbs Earn: Benchmarks to Test a Manager's Pitch

A manager's projection is only as good as the homes it is compared with. These are the typical results for Cardiff entire homes listed for all 12 months, by bedroom count, over the 12 months to September 2026, in pounds.

What Cardiff entire homes earned a year, by bedroom count

What Cardiff Airbnbs Earn: Benchmarks to Test a Manager's Pitch
HomeMedianTop quarter overTo net the median after 20%
1 bedroom 305 homes£16,700£24,500£20,880
2 bedrooms 290 homes£21,600£35,400£27,000
3 bedrooms 122 homes£27,300£43,400£34,130
4 bedrooms 74 homes£42,800£65,300£53,500
5+ bedrooms 46 homes£68,000£99,400£85,000

Booking revenue of entire homes listed all 12 months. A quarter of homes earned less than the bottom-quarter figure and a quarter more than the top-quarter one. The last column is what a home has to earn for a 20% fee to leave its owner the median.

A projection above the top-quarter line for your size of home (£35,400 for a two-bedroom) should come with the comparable homes the company already runs. The fee changes the sum: on a two-bedroom earning the median £21,600, a 20% fee comes to £4,320 a year and leaves its owner £17,280, so to leave you with the median a manager has to bring in £27,000.

Before comparing managers' fees, see what the home itself could earn: the Airbnb income calculator gives a revenue range for one Cardiff address from comparable listings.

Estimate what your Cardiff home could earn

Market structure

Who Runs Cardiff's Airbnb Market

Hosts with a single listing run 36% of Cardiff's Airbnbs. Accounts with 20 or more listings, companies, individuals and hotels alike, run 19%. These bands count Airbnb accounts, not brands, so a company with several accounts can sit in more than one. The share Airbnb flags as professionally managed rose from 10% to 12% over the year.

Who runs Cardiff's Airbnb listings

Share of Cardiff's 1,660 active listings, by how many listings their operator runs in the city

  • Hosts with one listing 36% · 602 operators
  • 2–4 listings 21% · 142 operators
  • 5–19 listings 23% · 49 operators
  • 20–99 listings 19% · 9 operators

34% of Cardiff's listings name at least one co-host. Many management companies work that way: the listing, its reviews and its payouts stay on the owner's account, and the company runs it as co-host. The profiles above show how much of each company's portfolio runs on owners' accounts. Airbnb's own "professional host" flag covers 12% of listings; it marks hosts who run several homes, companies or not, so it isn't the same measure as the company share.

Where they work

Where Cardiff's Management Companies Operate

The share of each neighborhood's active listings run by management companies and other business accounts.

Where Cardiff's Management Companies Operate
NeighborhoodActive listingsShare run by companies
Roath12115%
Grangetown11921%
Riverside8221%
Butetown7612%
Cathays7552%
Canton6712%
Pontcanna6310%
Castle6012%
Adamsdown5422%
Penylan4418%

Neighborhood · active listings · share run by management companies and other businesses

Rules

Rules a Cardiff Manager Has to Follow

The rules follow the property, whoever runs it. Cardiff hosts need Wales's state licence plus the local rules: cardiff is the first Welsh council to charge the visitor levy: £1.30 per person per night on stays from 1 April 2027, with providers accounting for new bookings from 28 September 2026.

The Wales short-term rental regulations page covers the permit, fees, operating limits and taxes, each linked to its official source. A manager that takes on your home should handle the permit and tax filings, and the contract should say who does what.

Wales short-term rental regulations Permit, fees, limits and taxes

FAQ

Cardiff Airbnb Management: Frequently Asked Questions

Which Airbnb management companies run the most listings in Cardiff?

Gwestai Cardiff runs 52 active Cardiff Airbnb listings in AirROI's data for the 12 months to September 2026, and Cohost Partners (44) and Property Promise (41) also run many.

How many Airbnb management companies operate in Cardiff?

In the 12 months to September 2026, 10 management companies ran 10 or more active Cardiff listings, and 15 ran 5 or more. Many smaller managers work as co-hosts on owners' accounts; they are counted on every listing they co-host.

What share of Cardiff Airbnbs are professionally managed?

Airbnb's own "professional host" flag, which also covers individuals who run several homes, is on 12%, against 10% a year earlier. 34% list at least one co-host.

Do professionally managed Airbnbs earn more in Cardiff?

Yes, on average. In the 12 months to September 2026, Cardiff homes run by companies with 10 or more listings earned 20% more than owner-run homes with the same number of bedrooms and room type (117 company-run and 137 owner-run year-round homes), according to AirROI. Company by company, 3 of the 5 with 10 or more year-round homes to compare out-earned similar homes, and 2 by the 25% or more that a 20% fee needs. Managers also choose which homes they take on, so part of any gap reflects the homes themselves.

Is it worth hiring an Airbnb manager in Cardiff?

Often: the typical company-run Cardiff home earned 20% more than a similar owner-run one in the 12 months to September 2026, enough to cover a fee of up to about 16%. 2 of the 5 Cardiff companies with 10 or more year-round homes out-earn similar owner-run homes by the 25% or more a 20% fee needs, led by Gwestai Cardiff (+30%). 40% of company-run Cardiff homes earned 25% or more above the owner-run median for their size, enough to cover a 20% fee. A manager also buys back the time hosting takes: guest messages, cleaning, pricing and upkeep.

How much do Airbnb management companies charge in Cardiff?

Few management companies publish their fees. Of the 180 companies AirROI checked in 11 major Airbnb markets in September 2026, 17 publish a rate, from 10% to 30% of booking revenue with a median starting rate of 17%, and 102 quote only on request. So ask each Cardiff company for its rate in writing, and whether it's a share of nightly revenue only or of cleaning fees too. What a fee has to earn is fixed: a 20% fee needs a 25% lift in revenue to leave you where you started, and a 30% fee needs 43%. In Cardiff, the typical company-run home's lead over similar owner-run ones would cover a fee of up to about 16%.

How much does a 2-bedroom Airbnb make in Cardiff?

The median 2-bedroom entire home in Cardiff earned £21,600 in the 12 months to September 2026, and the top quarter earned £35,400 or more, at a median 42% occupancy.

Which Cardiff Airbnb management companies have the best guest ratings?

Among Cardiff management companies with at least 10 rated listings and 100 reviews, Starlight Stays Management (4.87), Gwestai Cardiff (4.78) and Tailored Accommodation (4.77) had the highest average guest ratings in the 12 months to September 2026.

Which Airbnb management companies are growing fastest in Cardiff?

Property Promise (+12 listings), Starlight Stays Management (+9 listings), Switchback Stays (+5 listings) added the most listings on their own Airbnb accounts over the past year.

What is an Airbnb co-host, and how common are they in Cardiff?

A co-host helps run a listing that stays on the owner's Airbnb account, from messaging guests to pricing and cleaning, so the listing, its reviews and its payouts stay with the owner if the manager changes. A listing on a company's own account belongs to the company, and its reviews usually don't move with the home. 34% of Cardiff's active listings name at least one co-host, and several of the companies above run most of their homes that way.

Do I need a permit if a company manages my Cardiff Airbnb?

Yes: the rules apply to the property whoever runs it. Cardiff is the first Welsh council to charge the visitor levy: £1.30 per person per night on stays from 1 April 2027, with providers accounting for new bookings from 28 September 2026. The Wales short-term rental regulations page has the permit steps, fees and taxes.

How are these Cardiff management companies ranked?

By the number of active Cardiff Airbnb listings each company runs, as host or co-host, in the 12 months to September 2026. Individual hosts who don't trade as a business are not named.

Method

How This Ranking Works

The ranking counts active Airbnb listings in Cardiff over the 12 months to September 2026, on the same definition as AirROI's Cardiff market report, so the totals match. A listing counts toward its host account and toward every co-host named on it, because many companies run homes on the owner's own account. A company that runs several Airbnb accounts under one brand appears once, with the accounts combined.

The full method: classification, comparisons and fees

Accounts are classified from their names, and the Cardiff accounts with the most listings were checked by hand. Only property-management businesses are ranked, under the name they trade as; individual hosts who don't trade as a business count in every market figure but are never named, and neither are accounts with a generic name, such as "Property" or "Concierge", that can't be tied to a company. Hotels and serviced-apartment operators that list their own rooms are left out, and so are companies that mostly take stays of a month or more, because they compete with rentals rather than holiday lets.

"Lead vs similar" compares each of a company's homes with the median owner-run Cardiff home of the same bedroom count and room type, and reports the median of those comparisons. The figure is shown where a company's homes earn more than similar ones. A lower figure isn't shown: on Airbnb data alone it mostly reflects listings that are new or re-listed and still building reviews, or homes that differ in ways a bedroom count misses, rather than the management. Only homes listed for the whole 12 months and open to bookings on at least 240 nights, booked on 60 or more, with 5 or more reviews count, on both sides, so a company that added homes mid-year isn't marked down for their short first year, a listing that sits idle or is too new to have reviews doesn't stand for its company, and an owner who rents out their own home a few weekends a year doesn't set the benchmark. Companies with fewer than five such homes show a dash, and those with fewer than ten show "few": too few to compare fairly, so their figures are never quoted. The ranking by revenue needs at least 15. The shortlist by home size needs five homes of a size and marks a figure on fewer than ten as a small sample. The ± bands treat homes as independent; homes run by one company resemble each other, so the true uncertainty is somewhat wider. The profiles split revenue into revenue per booked night and nights booked, on the same homes, each against the owner-run median for that measure. A home's revenue is the one times the other, but the three medians don't multiply: among owner-run homes, the ones that charge more tend to book fewer nights, so the median rate times the median nights isn't the median revenue. A company's rating averages its listings' overall Airbnb ratings, weighted by their reviews. Revenue is gross Airbnb booking revenue, estimated from booked nights and rates, before any management fee. Stays a company or owner sells on other sites or direct aren't counted, so a company that sells much of its calendar elsewhere can look weaker here than it is; that applies to owner-run homes too. A home counts toward the company named on it now, so a home that changed manager during the year brings months run by its previous one.

The fee figures pool the rates management companies publish on their own websites, checked by hand in September 2026 in the 11 markets AirROI researched. No company's rate is shown on its own: most quote each home on request, so the page gives the spread of the published rates instead.

Growth counts the listings a company hosts on its own Airbnb accounts now against 12 months earlier. Companies that mostly co-host on owners' accounts show no growth figure, because Airbnb's co-host records from a year ago are incomplete, and accounts with no listings a year ago are marked new rather than ranked for growth.

The page is rebuilt each quarter from the latest listing data. A company that thinks its figures are wrong can write to AirROI, and corrections are checked against the listing data.