Yes. A management company can take over an existing Airbnb listing as a co-host, and the listing keeps its reviews, its rating and its booking history because it never leaves your account. What loses the reviews is starting again from a different account. At Sea Breeze a good existing listing is co-hosted rather than rebuilt, and a new one is built only where the old one is holding the property back.

Why reviews matter so much

On Airbnb, reviews belong to a listing inside an account. A listing with a long record of good reviews ranks better and converts more of the guests who find it. A new listing starts with none, and the first few weeks of bookings often come at a lower price while it earns them. For an owner, reviews are part of the asset.

How co-hosting works

According to Airbnb's help centre, a co-host "can help a host with their space, their guests or both": managing the listing, answering enquiries and messaging guests. For homes, the listing owner, or a co-host with full access, adds the co-host and sets how much access they have.

In practice, taking over as co-host looks like this:

  1. You invite the manager as a co-host from your Airbnb account, with full access.
  2. The manager reviews the listing, photographs, pricing and house rules, and updates them where they fall short.
  3. The listing is connected to the manager's property management system, so the calendar, pricing and messages are run in one place alongside other channels.
  4. Existing bookings stay where they are. The manager takes over guest messages, check-ins and arranging the cleaning.

The listing remains yours. If you ever part company with the manager, you remove them as co-host and the listing and its reviews stay with you. Airbnb's page says hosts and co-hosts should agree how income and expenses are shared. With us, that is set out in the management agreement.

One fee point: Airbnb's help centre says hosts using property management software pay its single host-only service fee, 15.5% for most hosts. Our post on Airbnb's host fee explains what that means for your price.

When starting again makes sense

Co-hosting is the default, but not always the right answer. We would suggest a new listing where:

  • the rating is low enough that it holds back search placement, and the problems behind it have been fixed
  • the listing describes a property that has since been refurbished, extended or re-let with different sleeping arrangements
  • the listing sits in an account that belongs to someone else, such as a former manager or a previous owner

Moving a listing from one account to another is not straightforward. We have found no Airbnb route to transfer a listing with its reviews into a different account, and Guesty's help centre says moving a connected listing to another account creates a new listing without its reviews. If a previous manager built your listing in their own account, ask them now whether they will add you as the owner or co-host before they are removed.

What to settle before you hand over

  • Who owns the account. The listing should sit in an account in your name. If it does not, sort that out first.
  • Every booking already taken, on every site, so nothing is double sold when the calendar is connected.
  • Access and keys: codes, key safes, meters, bins and parking permits.
  • The house manual: the details that earned the good reviews in the first place.
  • Other channels. Airbnb is one channel. A co-hosted listing can sit alongside new listings on Booking.com and Vrbo, run from the same calendar.

We quote the commission and any onboarding fee for a co-hosted listing before you sign.

How Sea Breeze takes over a listing

We are an Airbnb Superhost and manage more than 100 properties across Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and wider Dorset. A new listing is typically live within a week of the photographer's visit, and an existing listing of good quality can be co-hosted instead of rebuilt. See our Airbnb management service, the local page for Airbnb management in Poole, and the new host setup checklist. What the commission covers is explained in our guide to agency commission.

Send us your listing link and we will tell you whether to co-host it or start again.