Batumi short-term vs long-term rental: how many nights short-term needs to come out ahead

Published October 19, 2026 · Fact-checked: October 27, 2026 · 6 min read · Levelvale · Methodology

Key takeaways

In the worked example, a long-term rental leaves the owner $3,930 for the first year before tax, a short-term rental through a manager $1,440. At 180 booked nights, short-term only catches up with long-term at a nightly rate of about $63.

Deal Breakdown · a 5-minute read

Below we break down where the difference comes from and at what occupancy and nightly rate short-term pulls ahead.

One apartment, two ways

The apartment costs $60,000. We compare the first year of renting it out, with amounts before tax.

Long-term rental. $450 a month (a worked-example assumption, not a market estimate), with a tenant from day one. The Levelvale calculator ran the numbers on October 26, 2026 with its default settings: an agent fee per new tenant equal to one month's rent, a repair reserve, insurance and property tax at 0.8%. The tenant pays the utilities. The calculator shows amounts in today's money; here, to compare with the short-term option, they are in first-year dollars.

Short-term rental through a manager. Worked-example assumptions from the article “Renting out in Batumi: what is left after the management company”: 180 booked nights, $40 a night, an average guest stay of 3 nights, and a manager who takes 20% of revenue. For reference: Galt & Taggart estimates the average nightly rate in Batumi in 2025 at about $35.6. The calculator doesn't run short-term rentals yet, so this column was calculated by hand, with all the arithmetic in the table.

First year, before tax	Long-term rental	Short-term through a manager
Revenue	$5,400	$7,200
Platform fee, 15% (assumption)	none	−$1,080
Manager fee, 20% of revenue	none	−$1,440
Cleaning and linens, 60 check-ins × $15	none	−$900
Agent fee per new tenant	−$450	none
Utilities and internet	paid by the tenant	−$1,200
Repairs, replacements and insurance	−$540 (repair reserve $450 and insurance $90)	−$660 (building fee $300 and replacement reserve $360)
Property tax, 0.8% of the price	−$480	−$480
What the owner keeps before tax	$3,930	$1,440

$3,930 and $1,440

what the owner keeps for the first year before tax: long-term rental (Levelvale calculator, October 26, 2026) and short-term through a manager (worked example)

Short-term revenue is $1,800 higher, but what the owner keeps is $2,490 lower. The money goes to the platform, the manager, cleaning and utilities, which the tenant pays with a long-term rental.

The $360 replacement reserve in the short-term column isn't spent right away: it is the owner's money, set aside for appliances and linens. But as a rule, you will need it: with 60 check-ins a year, things wear out faster.

How many nights short-term needs to catch up

Under the same assumptions, each booked night leaves the owner 60% of the nightly rate (100% minus the platform's 15%, the manager's 20% and the 5% replacement reserve) minus $5 for cleaning ($15 cleaning per 3-night stay). Fixed short-term costs are $1,980 a year: utilities, the building fee and property tax. To keep the same $3,930 before tax as with a long-term rental, you need:

Nightly rate	Booked nights a year to catch up with long-term
$35	does not catch up even at 365 nights
$40	312
$50	237
$60	191

At a rate close to the Batumi average, short-term only catches up with long-term at nearly year-round occupancy. Check that kind of occupancy against the real history of a similar apartment, not the manager's advertising.

The first year of a long-term rental has no vacant months. Over 10 years, the calculator adds two vacant months and a new agent fee at each change of tenant every 2 years, and raises the rent 1.7% a year, as in Batumi; the year-by-year amounts are in the full analysis. We looked at long-term rental over the full period in the article The “10% yield” apartment: what you actually keep.

What else sets the two ways apart

Season. Short-term demand in Batumi is usually higher in the warm months. In winter, occupancy and the nightly rate are lower, while the fixed costs stay the same.
Money before you start. Short-term needs a fully ready apartment: furniture, appliances, linens, dishes. We broke down what you spend before the first rent in the article “An apartment in Georgia: the full cost before the first rent”.
Your own nights. A short-term apartment is easier to use yourself for a week, but every night you take in season is a night you can't sell to a guest.
Building rules. Some buildings restrict short-term rentals. Check this before you buy.
Tax. According to PwC (page reviewed on September 2, 2026), the 5% rate applies to an individual's income from renting out residential property for residential use, if no deductions are applied. How short-term rental to guests is taxed depends on your status; check with the Revenue Service of Georgia. That is why the comparison above is before tax. The calculator includes tax for the long-term rental: in our example $270 for the first year, $3,660 take-home (in today's money the calculator shows $3,550).

How to decide for your apartment

Run the long-term rental in the calculator with the real rent of similar apartments nearby.
For short-term, ask the manager for reports on a similar apartment for a full year: booked nights, average nightly rate, all deductions.
Find your row in the table above: is the real occupancy enough at the real nightly rate?
If short-term only wins at optimistic occupancy, the difference may not be worth your time and risk.

The scenario below: long-term rental, price $60,000, rent $450 a month, a tenant from day one, a new tenant every 2 years, with 2 vacant months and an agent fee at each change. The calculator doesn't run the short-term option yet.

Try the calculator with this property's numbers

The same calculator as on our home page. Change any number and the result updates.

Questions and answers

Why are there no vacant months in the long-term rental? In the first year, the tenant is already living in the apartment. Two vacant months and a new agent fee come with a change of tenant, every 2 years in our scenario. The calculator includes them in the 10-year calculation.

Can I combine the two: short-term in summer, long-term in winter? You can, but as a rule, a winter tenant who stays a few months pays less, and each switch takes cleaning and preparation. We looked at similar logic in the article “Buying in Batumi to use yourself and rent out the rest of the year: how to run the numbers”.

What nightly rate is realistic for my apartment? Don't go by listing prices; look at what similar apartments nearby actually got per booked night over a full year. The city average, about $35.6 a night in 2025 according to Galt & Taggart, is a reference point, not a forecast for a specific apartment.

This is a worked example. The long-term rental was calculated in the Levelvale calculator on October 26, 2026, and the short-term rental on the assumptions stated in the text. This is not a forecast and not investment, tax or legal advice.

Figures recalculated on October 27, 2026 with the Levelvale calculator, in today's money.

REAL ESTATE I YIELD I TAXES · Levelvale

Sources

This is a calculation, not investment, tax or legal advice.

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