Should you hand your apartment to an operator? Money and time across three apartments in Gdańsk

Should you hand your apartment to a short-term rental operator? There are two things to weigh: money and time. We calculated the earnings below on three real apartments in the same complex in the very centre of Gdańsk, which over the same year worked in three different models: short stays only, a tenant in autumn and short stays for the rest of the year, and one tenant for the whole year. We count time separately, because it is usually what decides: an owner who runs the apartment alone will earn more, but also answers the phone, organises the cleaning and drives over when something breaks. An operator charges a fee for this and in return gives you peace of mind, punctual settlements and a head free of the apartment.

The short answer

A four-person apartment on short stays only earned its owner PLN 47,534 in twelve months, after paying VAT, platform commissions and the operator’s 20% commission on income. Another apartment in the same building had one tenant for the whole year, who paid PLN 4,500 a month from September to May and PLN 9,000 in summer; on the same terms it would have earned about PLN 50,000. In the third, a tenant lived there from September to mid-December, and then the apartment went back to short stays: the winter was almost empty, the summer strong, and the year closed at PLN 36,576. In return for the commission, you did not take a single call from a guest all year, did not organise a single cleaning and received twelve transfers with a report by the 10th of each month. Whether it pays off depends on what your hour is worth and whether you want the apartment for yourself whenever you feel like it.

What exactly the operator takes over

The operator takes over the apartment and runs it like a small hotel: sets prices every day, lists the offer on booking platforms and its own website, takes bookings and collects payments from guests, handles all contact with guests from the first question to check-out, cleans and does the laundry after every stay, fixes minor faults and once a month transfers the amount due to the owner with a report. At Apartmore you pay one commission for all of this: 20% of income, meaning the amount after VAT and the platform commission, with no upfront fees or subscription, an open-ended contract and a 30-day notice period. We describe the whole process step by step in how a short-term rental operator works, and the terms in our short-term rental management price list.

Three apartments, one year, three models

All three are apartments in the same complex on Granary Island, managed by us, for the period from September 2025 to August 2026; the first one sleeps four. As always with such figures: the result depends on location, size, standard, furnishings and parking, so treat them as a reference point, not a promise. The amounts “for the owner” in all three columns, including the monthly tenant, are calculated the same way as in our settlements: after 8% VAT, after booking platform commissions and after our 20% commission on income. They do not yet include the fixed costs of the apartment, that is the building service charge and utilities. With short stays the owner pays them. With a monthly tenant they are usually covered by a flat fee in the tenancy agreement, but the final split depends on that agreement. You will find the full month-by-month table for the first apartment in how much you can earn from an apartment in central Gdańsk.

Three conclusions from this table. In every model the most money is made in summer: in the first apartment July and August brought the owner PLN 14,100, in the second PLN 12,500, and the year-round tenant paid twice as much in those months as outside the season. Winter decides the result: from mid-December to the end of March the second apartment brought its owner PLN 2,635 in total, with not a single booking in January, while in autumn the same apartment with a tenant brought PLN 3,481 a month; had the tenant stayed until the end of March, the year would have closed at about PLN 46,000. And the third point: the year-round tenant, paying twice as much in summer, brought almost as much as 73 short bookings, with one turnover instead of seventy-three, no platform commissions and not a single empty night. That is why we do not ask an owner “short or long”, but match the model to the apartment and the season, and we switch between models without changing the contract.

What about an ordinary long-term let?

For completeness, here is the market. According to a review of listings from May 2026, the median rent for a two-room apartment in Gdańsk is PLN 3,500 a month, and about PLN 4,300 in Śródmieście (the city centre district), excluding the service charge and utilities, which the tenant pays on top. With one empty month a year that gives the owner PLN 38,500 or PLN 47,300, with no commission at all, but also with no access to the apartment, the risk of a single tenant and the apartment seen once a year. Market yields on long-term rentals in Gdańsk calculated by analytics firms for 2024 are 4.3 to 5.1% a year depending on the size of the apartment; for our current partners the return is between 6 and 10% and depends on the purchase price of the apartment, its size, location and finish. For an apartment in the upper half of the market, a long-term let at a good rate is therefore a real alternative, and we say so openly. The difference lies in what comes next: how much work is behind each of these results and who does it.

Time is money: what running an apartment yourself really costs

An owner who runs the apartment without an operator pays no commission. In the four-person apartment from our example, which earned its owner PLN 47,534 on short stays only, the commission came to about PLN 990 a month. In return, the owner does everything behind 73 bookings a year alone: answers questions before booking, sends directions and entry instructions, picks up the phone when a guest cannot open the door at 11 pm, organises 73 cleanings and bed linen washes, buys cleaning supplies, changes prices when there is a concert or a long weekend in town, watches the calendars on several platforms so as not to sell the same night twice, drives to the apartment when the boiler stops working, collects the local tourist tax and settles it with the city, and at the end of the month counts what is left. On our short-term rental management page we estimate this time at about 60 hours a month for one apartment. If that is right, PLN 990 of commission is about PLN 16 per hour of your own work, often at weekends or at night. Everyone counts this differently, so do the maths yourself: how many hours a month are you prepared to give the apartment, and what is such an hour worth to you.

The other side of this calculation is money that a self-managing owner usually does not earn. Prices set “by eye” once a season lose to prices changed every day, even several times a day, in line with demand. A listing on one or two platforms sells less than the same listing on eight channels and its own website. An apartment without a professional photo shoot and a well-thought-out description is harder to sell outside the season. In the first apartment in the table, the 73 bookings came from several channels at once, mainly Expedia and Booking.com; owners who manage alone mostly stop at a single platform, and it shows in off-season occupancy.

What you get for the commission: peace of mind, punctuality, control

A guest’s call at night comes to us, not to you. Our team takes fault reports, and repairs are done by our own maintenance service; we fix minor faults up to PLN 200 straight away, agree larger ones with you in advance with the cost stated up front, and handle warranty repairs on your behalf from report to completion. Cleaning and laundry are done by our own team in Gdańsk, not a subcontractor, so after every stay the apartment returns to its photo-shoot condition and is checked dozens of times a year, not once. We deal with the housing community and building management, and keep track of changes in the law, the local tourist tax and VAT. By the 10th of each month you receive a statement with income, costs and the amount due, booking by booking, and in the owner panel you see the calendar in real time. You use the apartment whenever you want, with no limit on days; just let us know the dates. What stays with you is the decision on larger expenses, the rental income tax and one invoice a month.

What stays on your side regardless of the model

Three items worth remembering in any calculation. The apartment’s fixed costs: with short stays the owner pays the building service charge, utilities and internet (listing reviews put them at PLN 650 to 950 a month for a two-room apartment); with a monthly tenant they are usually covered by a flat fee in the tenancy agreement, and the details depend on that agreement. Property tax: since a ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) in February 2026, an apartment let by the night, including through an operator, is taxed at the business rate, which in Gdańsk in 2026 is PLN 35.53 per square metre instead of PLN 1.25; for 50 square metres that is about PLN 1,777 a year instead of PLN 63. Income tax: for private letting, a flat 8.5% of revenue up to PLN 100,000 a year, regardless of the model. We describe the details, including VAT and the local tourist tax, in short-term rental in Gdańsk: taxes and legality; confirm your own situation with an accountant.

When an operator does not pay off

There are situations in which we openly advise against this model. An apartment outside the very centre: our figures come from Granary Island and do not carry over to districts from which a guest cannot walk to the Main Town; that is why we ourselves only take apartments in the very centre of Gdańsk and its immediate surroundings. An owner who lives next door, has the time and enjoys the work: then PLN 990 a month is real income rather than a cost, and it is worth running the apartment yourself, at least at first. Expecting one guaranteed amount every month: an operator settles on results, so January will be weaker than August; if you need a fixed transfer for a mortgage instalment, a year-round tenant is the safer choice, including one managed by an operator. Also check the attitude of your housing community. Today courts usually overturn resolutions banning nightly lets, but a bill passed by the Sejm in October 2026 (still awaiting the Senate and the President) gives housing communities that right from 1 January 2028. After such a resolution, the owner will have six months to end the short-term letting.

What to check before you sign a contract with an operator

Five questions settle most misunderstandings. What the commission is calculated on: the guest’s whole payment, or income after VAT and the platform commission; at the same percentage, the difference on every PLN 10,000 of bookings is several hundred złoty. What is included in the commission and what you pay extra for: cleaning, laundry, bed linen, the photo shoot, minor repairs. Who physically cleans and repairs: the operator’s own team or subcontractors, because in the latter case you mostly pay for coordination. How long the contract runs and how long the notice period is. And whether you can use your own apartment, and on what terms. You will find this list expanded, with examples of contract clauses, in our guide how to choose a property management company in Gdańsk.

If your apartment is in central Gdańsk, we will run the same calculation for you: send photos, a floor plan, the address and the size, and within a few days you will receive a revenue forecast for every month, based on the results of similar apartments in the same area, with a suggested model for the season and outside it. The valuation is free and non-binding. The scope of our service is described on the short-term rental management in Gdańsk page.

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