Short-term rental profitability in Morocco: how to calculate it, city benchmarks and what moves the numbers

Revenue, platform fees, running costs and tax: how to calculate the profitability of an Airbnb in Morocco, with occupancy and nightly-rate benchmarks by city and their limits.

The RentDari team · 25 Oct 2026 · updated 29 Oct 2026 · 11 min read

Tips & Strategy

In short: a short-term rental's profitability is what's left once everything is paid: the price of the nights you sell, minus platform fees, running costs and tax. Divide that net figure by what the property cost you and you get your yield. There is no single figure for Morocco. Over the twelve months from October 2025 to September 2026, the data provider AirROI measured average occupancy of 31 to 40% depending on the city, across the seven major cities we follow, at an average of 700 to 1,450 MAD per night sold. Your property may do much better or worse: run the numbers with your own figures.

This guide gives you the formula, the costs people forget, a full worked example, city benchmarks and their limits, and a comparison with a long-term let. It builds on our guide to short-term rentals in Morocco, which covers the legal framework.

Sources checked in October 2026: market data from AirROI (October 2025 to September 2026) and Airbtics (September 2025 to August 2026); Airbnb service fees; Booking.com commission; General Tax Code, 2026 edition (in French); Law 47-06 on local authority taxation (in French). The worked examples are hypothetical. Reviewed by a lawyer in October 2026, not yet by an accountant: for your own case, ask a professional.

The formula, in four lines

Profitability is always calculated in the same order:

Gross revenue: the price of the nights sold, plus the cleaning fees charged to guests. Nights sold are the nights you open for booking multiplied by your occupancy rate.
Minus platform fees. On Airbnb, most hosts now pay a single service fee of 15.5%; this structure is mandatory for hosts who use property management software (Airbnb Help Centre). On Booking.com, commission is a percentage of the total booking amount, cleaning fees included, and it depends on your country, property type and agreement; it is not charged on local taxes such as the tourist tax (Booking.com partner help).
Minus running costs: cleaning, linen, utilities, internet, building charges, maintenance, insurance and, if you use one, a management company.
Minus tax, which depends on how your income is classified: our guide to short-term rental tax in Morocco explains the options.

Divide gross revenue by the total cost of the property (purchase, acquisition costs, works and furniture) and you get the gross yield; divide the result after costs and you get the net yield. Two indicators help you steer: the average price per night sold (ADR, average daily rate) and revenue per available night (RevPAR), which combines price and occupancy. A rising RevPAR means the property earns more, whether through price or occupancy.

The costs people forget

Over-optimistic projections nearly always leave out part of this list:

cleaning and linen after every stay, plus replacing linen, which wears out fast at this rate of turnover;
consumables: welcome products, soap, paper, coffee;
water, electricity, internet and TV, which stay in your name, air conditioning included in summer;
building charges and upkeep of the flat itself;
insurance: a standard home policy does not necessarily cover paid nightly lets, so ask your insurer to confirm in writing;
repairs and replacements of furniture, bedding and appliances;
a management company, if you delegate: our article on Airbnb property management fees explains how to read them;
blocked nights for your own stays or for works, which come out of your open nights;
local taxes. The municipal services tax (taxe de services communaux) is due from the owner of a built property in an urban area; for a rented home not subject to the housing tax, it is based on total rent, at 10.5% within urban limits or 6.5% in other areas covered by a development plan (Law 47-06, articles 35 and 36). How it applies to a home let by the night still needs confirming with your commune.

The tourist tax is not yours: where it applies, it is added on top of the accommodation price and paid over to the commune (Law 47-06, article 70). Keep it separate from your revenue; our guide to Morocco's tourist tax explains when it applies.

A full example, with hypothetical figures

Take a two-bedroom flat that cost 1,200,000 MAD in total, bought, furnished and equipped, and let only on Airbnb. Every figure below is an assumption to show the calculation, not a market average.

Open nights: 345 (20 nights blocked for the owner).
Occupancy: 40%, so 138 nights sold at an average of 750 MAD, 103,500 MAD.
Cleaning fees charged: 50 stays at 150 MAD, 7,500 MAD.
Gross revenue: 111,000 MAD, a gross yield of 9.25%.
Airbnb fees at 15.5%: 17,205 MAD.
Costs: cleaning and linen 10,000 MAD, consumables 2,000 MAD, water, electricity and internet 12,000 MAD, building charges 4,800 MAD, insurance 2,500 MAD, maintenance and replacements 6,000 MAD, so 37,300 MAD.
Result before tax: 56,495 MAD, a net yield of 4.7% before tax.

Two variations show what really matters. At 50% occupancy, same price and same length of stay, the result before tax rises to about 76,700 MAD, or 6.4%: ten points of occupancy are worth about 1.7 points of yield. Conversely, if a management company takes 20% of the rent net of Airbnb fees, excluding cleaning fees, you lose about 17,500 MAD: the result falls to 39,000 MAD, or 3.3%, before any charge it makes for cleaning.

The purchase price matters as much as the rent: the same result on a flat bought for 900,000 MAD would give 6.3% instead of 4.7%.

Market benchmarks by city, and their limits

Market data providers estimate occupancy and prices from the public calendars of listings. Over the twelve months from October 2025 to September 2026, AirROI published these averages per active listing, converted to dirhams at 9.24 MAD to the dollar:

Marrakech: about 40% occupancy, 1,450 MAD per night sold, 150,700 MAD annual revenue (AirROI).
Essaouira: about 39%, 1,040 MAD, 115,400 MAD (AirROI).
Agadir: about 38%, 780 MAD, 78,200 MAD (AirROI).
Rabat: about 37%, 880 MAD, 77,400 MAD (AirROI).
Tangier: about 36%, 920 MAD, 80,400 MAD (AirROI).
Casablanca: about 35%, 700 MAD, 57,400 MAD (AirROI).
Fez: about 31%, 710 MAD, 62,900 MAD (AirROI).

According to the same source, August is the best-earning month in most of these cities; Fez peaks in April and Rabat in July, while Marrakech has several peaks, in April, July–August and October.

Treat these figures as orders of magnitude. They mix studios, riads and villas, and include listings that were active for only part of the year. Above all, they vary from one provider to another: for Marrakech, over an almost identical period, Airbtics published a median occupancy rate of 58% and an average rate of 870 MAD a night (Airbtics), where AirROI measured 40% and 1,450 MAD. Average or median, which listings count, whether blocked nights are included: the method changes the result. For your own property, start from comparable listings in your neighbourhood, with the same capacity and standard, then from your own booking history.

Short-term rental or long-term let?

Take the same flat, let unfurnished on a yearly lease at 5,000 MAD a month (a hypothetical figure): 60,000 MAD of rent, about 7,800 MAD of costs left to the owner (building charges, maintenance, insurance), so 52,200 MAD before tax, or 4.35% on the same cost base. At 40% occupancy and self-managed, the short-term let does barely better (4.7%); handed to a management company, it does worse (3.3%); at 50% occupancy, it pulls ahead (6.4%).

So the choice isn't only about the number:

Time. Short-term letting means check-ins, messages, cleaning and price updates all year round. A long-term let needs almost nothing between tenancies.
Regularity. Monthly rent arrives every month; short-term income follows the seasons, with slow months.
The legal framework. Beyond 30 days, a let falls under Law 67-12 on residential leases, furnished or not (article 1); below that, under the general rules of the Dahir of Obligations and Contracts and, depending on the property, Law 80-14 on tourist accommodation. Our short-term rental guide sets out what is settled and what is still unclear.
Tax. An unfurnished home let by the year produces property income, with a flat 40% allowance (CGI, article 64); the tax administration treats furnished nightly lets as professional income. The after-tax result can therefore flip: work it out with an accountant.
The building. Co-ownership rules or an unhappy building manager can complicate short-term lets, never a yearly lease.

What pushes profitability up or down

For a given purchase price, five levers make the difference:

Occupancy and price, together. Filling the calendar cheaply wears out the property for little margin. Our guides to increasing your occupancy rate and to dynamic pricing show how to work on both.
Average length of stay. Every stay costs a clean: three-night stays instead of two cut the cost per night.
Channels. More platforms mean more demand, but each has its own commission; a guest who comes back direct pays none. A channel manager prevents double bookings across channels.
Delegation. A management company frees your time and costs a share of the rent: it's a trade-off, not a mistake. For an owner living abroad, it is one of three ways to manage from a distance, alongside someone you trust on site or a co-host.
Regulatory risk. The rules for flats let by the night are still under discussion, as our short-term rental guide explains: a new text, co-ownership rules or local practice can change your numbers.

What remains uncertain

Market statistics: private providers differ sharply, and we found no public official statistics on homes let by private owners.
The tax category of a flat let by the night, property or professional income, which changes the tax and therefore the net yield.
The basis of the municipal services tax for a home let by the night and used by its owner part of the year.
The regulatory framework for entire flats, which no specific text clearly governs to date, on our reading.

Track your real profitability

A projection is no substitute for your real figures. In RentDari, every booking keeps its channel, amount and commission, and every expense is attached to a property. The analytics dashboards turn them into occupancy, average price, revenue per available night and net after expenses, property by property and period by period, in your workspace currency, even for a stay paid in another currency. Before buying or furnishing, the revenue simulator gives you an order of magnitude for your city. The Free plan includes every feature for one property.

In short

Net profitability = revenue from nights sold, minus fees, costs and tax, divided by the total cost of the property.
Airbnb fees are 15.5% for most hosts; Booking.com commission depends on your agreement and also applies to cleaning fees.
Count every cost: cleaning, linen, utilities, building charges, insurance, maintenance, blocked nights and local taxes.
Market averages (31 to 40% occupancy in seven major cities according to AirROI, 58% in Marrakech according to Airbtics) are orders of magnitude, not promises.
Ten points of occupancy weigh more than most cost savings.
Compare with a long-term let after tax, and count your own time.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average return on an Airbnb in Morocco?

There is no single reliable figure. Over the twelve months to September 2026, AirROI measured average occupancy of 31 to 40% and an average price of 700 to 1,450 MAD a night across seven major cities; other providers publish different figures. Your yield depends mostly on your purchase price, your occupancy and your costs.

How do I calculate the yield of a short-term rental?

Divide the annual result (gross revenue minus fees and costs) by the total cost of the property, including purchase costs, works and furniture, then multiply by 100. Do it before and after tax.

Does Airbnb earn more than a long-term let?

Not always. In our hypothetical example, a self-managed short-term let only just beats a long-term let at 40% occupancy, and falls below it once handed to a management company. It pulls ahead as occupancy and price rise.

Is Airbnb income taxable in Morocco?

Yes. Rent from a property located in Morocco is taxable there, whether or not you live in the country (CGI, article 23). The applicable regime depends on how your income is classified.