Know your real profit, not just your payout.
A payout isn’t profit. Platform fees, cleaning, supplies, repairs, taxes and the mortgage all come out before you know what a property really earns. Kellcat keeps short-term rental books by property, so every listing shows its true numbers.
Signs your rental numbers need help.
Where short-term rental books usually go wrong.
STR books have problems long-term rentals don’t. These are the ones Kellcat finds and fixes most often.
Payouts booked as income
A payout is bookings minus fees. Recording only the payout hides your real revenue and the fees you paid.
Cleaning fees muddled
The cleaning fee guests pay is income. What you pay your cleaner is an expense. Both need to show.
Platform taxes vs. taxes you owe
What Airbnb or VRBO collected and paid for you is kept apart from any local tax you still have to file yourself.
Refunds and cancellations
Partial refunds, cancellations and adjustments that change a payout, recorded so revenue stays accurate.
Damage reimbursements
Host damage claims and reimbursements recorded alongside the repair, so each property’s true cost is clear.
Listings sharing one bank account
Payouts for several properties landing together, split back out to the right property.
Furnishings vs. supplies
Furniture and the big setup purchases kept apart from everyday supplies, so your CPA can handle each correctly.
Co-host and manager fees
Fees taken by a co-host or manager recorded by property, not lost inside a net deposit.
Owner stays not tracked
Nights you use the property yourself kept separate from rented nights, which your CPA needs at tax time.
How Kellcat keeps short-term rental books.
The same monthly close as Clean Books, set up around how short-term rentals actually earn.
Payouts split out
Each payout broken into gross bookings, platform fees, cleaning fees and taxes, so income isn’t understated and fees are tracked as costs.
Profit by property
Every listing tracked on its own, so you see true profit after cleaning, supplies, utilities, repairs and loan payments.
Taxes tracked
What the platforms collected for you kept separate from what you owe yourself. Local rules differ by city, so your CPA gets clear numbers.
The numbers hosts care about
Occupancy, average daily rate (ADR) and break-even nightly rate, so you can price with confidence.
Tax-ready for your CPA
Clean books by property all year, so your CPA can file without rebuilding the year from statements.
A live dashboard
With Clear Picture, a short-term rental dashboard shows each property’s performance any day, not just at month-end.
For every property, every month.
- Occupancy: booked nights as a share of available nights
- Average nightly rate: what guests actually paid per night
- Gross bookings and platform fees
- Expenses by category: cleaning, supplies, utilities, repairs
- Net profit, and cash left after the mortgage
- Break-even nightly rate: the price you need to cover every cost
What Kellcat needs from you.
- Access to your Airbnb and VRBO earnings reports
- Direct-booking or payment tool reports, if you take direct bookings
- Cleaner, co-host or manager invoices
- Loan statements for each property
- Your local lodging tax license and filings
- A note of the nights you used the property yourself
Requested once, through your secure Kellcat client portal.
Ski town or mountain rental?
Mountain properties add stacked lodging taxes, licenses and a seasonal cash cycle. See mountain and ski-town rental bookkeeping and the Breckenridge & Summit County guide.
How it starts.
- Option · DIY
Starter Kit
Track your own properties with the STR Financial Starter Kit. Most hosts are tracking within an hour.
- Step 1 · Free
Review
Ready for help? Get a free Books & Numbers Review or book a Discovery Call.
- Step 2 · Kickoff
Set up by property
Your books organized by listing, with past payouts split out where needed.
- Step 3 · Every month
Books closed
Monthly close, profit by property, and tax-ready books for your CPA.
Short-term rental bookkeeping questions.
Why doesn’t my payout match my income?
Platforms pay you net of their fees and sometimes taxes. Your books should record the full booking amount as income, then the platform fee as an expense, so your income and costs are both accurate.
Do Airbnb and VRBO collect taxes for me?
Platforms collect some state and local taxes in some places, but not necessarily every tax that applies to your property. Check your city and county rules, and Kellcat keeps what was collected separate so your CPA can confirm what’s still owed.
What’s in the STR Financial Starter Kit?
A 17-tab workbook with pre-loaded formulas, a full sample year to learn from, and a 36-page guide with worked examples and a Quick Start section. It’s built for hosts with 1–5 properties and costs $97.
When should I hire a bookkeeper instead of using the kit?
When tracking takes more time than you want to give it, you add more properties, or your CPA needs full books rather than a tracker. You can start with the kit and move to monthly bookkeeping later.
Are short-term rentals allowed in my city?
Rules vary a lot around Denver. Highlands Ranch’s planned developments generally don’t allow them, while Centennial licenses them. Check with your city or county before you list a property.
Is the guest cleaning fee income?
Yes. The cleaning fee guests pay is part of your rental income, and what you pay your cleaner is an expense. Recording both shows whether your cleaning fee actually covers the cost.
How do you record damage reimbursements?
The repair and the reimbursement are both recorded and tied to the property, so you and your CPA can see the net cost of the damage.
What is a break-even nightly rate?
The lowest average nightly rate that covers all of a property’s costs at your usual occupancy. Pricing below it means losing money on every booked night.
Do you do my taxes?
No. Kellcat keeps your books tax-ready all year and works alongside your CPA, who prepares and files your returns.
Where this fits in the three layers.
Local in-person meetings across the south Denver metro: Littleton & south Denver · Highlands Ranch · Centennial · all service areas. Remote service nationwide.
Know what your rental really earns, starting this weekend.
Not ready for monthly bookkeeping? The STR Financial Starter Kit gives you the same tracking Kellcat uses with clients, in a spreadsheet you already know how to use.
- Real profit, break-even nights, occupancy and ADR, every month
- What each stay earned after platform fees, cleaning and supplies
- Year-end numbers sorted by Schedule E line, ready for your CPA
- A full sample year, a 36-page guide, a Printable Toolkit and built-in mistake checks
Built for 1–5 properties. Rather hand it off? Book a free Discovery Call
Quick answers
Common questions
Do I need a bookkeeper for my Airbnb?
Not always. With one listing and an hour or two a month, many hosts keep their own books with a good system, such as Kellcat's $97 STR Financial Starter Kit. A bookkeeper starts to pay off when you have several properties, more than one booking platform, lodging tax in more than one place, or books that are behind and need to be ready for your CPA.
- A short-term rental bookkeeper matches each Airbnb or Vrbo payout to the gross booking, host fees, cleaning fees and taxes behind it.
- Costs such as cleaning, supplies, repairs and utilities are recorded by property, so you can see real profit per listing each month.
- Lodging tax collected is tracked separately from your income. Kellcat does not file taxes; your CPA handles returns and tax questions.
See the STR Financial Starter Kit or talk with Kellcat about monthly STR bookkeeping.
General information, not tax or legal advice.
See what each property really earns.
Start with the Starter Kit, or get a free review of your books.