Short answer: Airbnb running costs in Malaysia fall into three groups: bills you pay even when the unit is empty (maintenance fee, internet, assessment, insurance), costs that come with every booking (cleaning, laundry, consumables, platform commission), and electricity, which behaves like both. In a quiet month the first group can eat a fifth of your revenue.
We manage more than 100 homestay units in Johor Bahru and Desaru, and the question owners ask right after "how much will I earn" is "how much will I spend". Most answers online give one lump figure such as "utilities around RM400". That figure hides the two things that actually decide your profit: which costs refuse to shrink in a slow month, and why the electricity bill jumps faster than the guest count. Below is every line, with real tariffs where they exist and clearly marked examples where they don't. None of the example figures is a quote.
What are the monthly running costs of a homestay in Johor Bahru?
| Cost | Paid when empty? | Grows with bookings? | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maintenance fee and sinking fund | Yes | No | Your JMB or management body, usually by square foot |
| Assessment tax and quit rent | Yes (yearly, divide by 12) | No | City council and land office |
| Property insurance | Yes | No | Your insurer |
| Internet | Yes | No | Your fibre plan |
| Electricity | A little (fridge, standby) | Yes, and faster than you think | TNB domestic tariff |
| Water | Barely | Yes | Ranhill SAJ, or your building if it bills water itself |
| Cleaning and laundry | No | Yes, per turnover | Per checkout, not per night |
| Consumables (toiletries, tissue, coffee, bin bags) | No | Yes, per turnover | Bought in bulk |
| Platform commission | No | Yes, a percentage | Airbnb, Agoda, Booking.com contracts |
| Repairs | Random | Somewhat | Each job |
The split matters because a homestay is not a long-term rental. A tenant pays their own electricity and nobody cleans after them every two nights. In a homestay the owner carries both.
How much is the electricity bill for an Airbnb in Malaysia?
Since 1 July 2025 the TNB domestic bill is built from separate parts (as explained by RinggitPlus in August 2025):
- Energy charge 27.03 sen per kWh for the first 1,500 kWh a month (37.03 sen above that)
- Capacity charge 4.55 sen per kWh and network charge 12.85 sen per kWh on every kWh
- A RM10 retail charge, waived if you use 600 kWh or less in the month
- The monthly fuel adjustment (AFA): users at 600 kWh or less are exempt from surcharges
- An energy efficiency rebate (EEI) that is generous at low use and shrinks to almost nothing near 1,000 kWh
Here is what that does to a homestay bill. These are worked examples before AFA, the industry levy and any tax line, for a unit on the domestic tariff:
| Monthly use (example) | Energy + capacity + network | EEI rebate | Retail charge | Bill before AFA | Average per kWh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 400 kWh | RM177.72 | −RM68.00 (17.0 sen) | waived | RM109.72 | 27.4 sen |
| 700 kWh | RM311.01 | −RM38.50 (5.5 sen) | RM10 | RM282.51 | 40.4 sen |
| 900 kWh | RM399.87 | −RM9.00 (1.0 sen) | RM10 | RM400.87 | 44.5 sen |
Going from 400 to 700 kWh adds 75% more electricity but 157% more money. Each extra kWh in that range costs about 57.6 sen, more than double the average at 400 kWh. That is the trap: a busy month with guests running the air-conditioner all afternoon does not raise the bill in a straight line. It also crosses the 600 kWh line where the retail charge and AFA surcharges start.
What an owner can actually do: inverter air-conditioners in the bedrooms, a clear house-rules line about switching off the air-conditioner when going out, and checking the kWh on each bill rather than only the ringgit. We cannot promise any of these keeps a unit under 600 kWh; guests decide how they use the room. If your account is not on the domestic tariff, the table above does not apply, so check the tariff printed on your bill.
How much is the water bill?
Small. Ranhill SAJ's domestic rate for an individual meter has been RM1.05 per cubic metre for the first 20 cubic metres since February 2024. A month of 15 cubic metres is about RM15.75. Some condominiums meter water through the management office and bill you at their own rate, so look at who actually sends the bill. Sewerage (Indah Water) is a separate small bill.
Which costs keep running when the unit is empty?
This is the group that decides whether a slow month is a small profit or a loss.
- Maintenance fee and sinking fund. Set by your building per square foot. We use RM350 a month as an example below.
- Internet. A fibre plan is a flat monthly fee whether you have 0 or 25 guest nights. Example: RM120.
- Assessment tax, quit rent, insurance. Yearly bills; divide by 12. Example: RM60 a month together.
- Your loan instalment, if any. Not a homestay cost in the accounting sense, but it is in your cash flow.
The maintenance fee, assessment and insurance are the owner's under every management plan we offer; they are paid by you, not taken from the guest revenue. Internet sits in the unit's expenses.
Which costs come with every booking?
- Cleaning and laundry are charged per turnover, not per night. Ten one-night stays cost ten cleanings; two five-night stays cost two. This is why a minimum stay matters, covered in our low season article. Example below: RM60 per turnover.
- Consumables. Toiletries, toilet paper, coffee, bin bags. Example: RM10 per turnover.
- Platform commission. Airbnb has been moving hosts to a single host-only service fee of 15.5% of the booking. Agoda and Booking.com take a commission set in their contracts. Direct bookings avoid the commission but carry a payment processing fee. We use 15% across all bookings as an example.
What does a whole month look like, peak and low?
One example unit, two months. All figures are examples, not our fees or anyone's real statement. For real monthly statements from one of our owners, see what owners actually earn.
| Line (example) | Peak month | Low month |
|---|---|---|
| Gross revenue | RM6,000 | RM2,500 |
| Turnovers | 10 | 5 |
| Platform commission (15%) | RM900 | RM375 |
| Cleaning and laundry (RM60 each) | RM600 | RM300 |
| Consumables (RM10 each) | RM100 | RM50 |
| Electricity (700 kWh / 400 kWh) | RM283 | RM110 |
| Water (15 m³ / 8 m³) | RM16 | RM8 |
| Internet | RM120 | RM120 |
| Unit expenses | RM2,019 (34%) | RM963 (39%) |
| Owner's fixed costs outside the statement (maintenance RM350 + RM60) | RM410 | RM410 |
Now run that through the three plans on our /ownerenquiry page, again as an example only:
| What the owner keeps, after own fixed costs | Peak month | Low month |
|---|---|---|
| 90% of gross, owner pays unit expenses | RM5,400 − 2,019 − 410 = RM2,971 | RM2,250 − 963 − 410 = RM877 |
| 80% of net profit | 0.8 × 3,981 − 410 = RM2,775 | 0.8 × 1,537 − 410 = RM820 |
| 70% of net profit | 0.7 × 3,981 − 410 = RM2,377 | 0.7 × 1,537 − 410 = RM666 |
Two things stand out. First, internet plus the owner's fixed costs (RM530 here) are 9% of revenue in the peak month and 21% in the low month. Second, electricity per night goes up as the unit gets busier, not down. Which plan wins depends on your expense ratio; we worked that out in detail in 90% of revenue vs 80% of net profit.
What should an owner be careful about?
We would rather say these plainly than have you find them on a statement:
- On the 90% plan every ringgit of cost is yours. More short bookings raise gross revenue, which raises our 10%, while the extra cleaning is paid by you. On the 80% and 70% plans we carry part of each cost, so our interests line up more closely with yours on cost. That is a real conflict of interest and you should know it exists.
- We don't set TNB or SAJ tariffs and cannot guarantee an electricity bill. Tariffs and the AFA change; recheck the numbers above against your own bill.
- A low month can barely cover fixed costs. In the example, the low month leaves under RM900. If your unit's revenue sits near that level most of the year, a long-term tenant may pay you more; see homestay vs long-term rental.
How do I check these costs on my statement?
Ask for each line separately, every month: commission, cleaning count, electricity in kWh, water, internet, consumables. Compare the cleaning count with the number of checkouts, and the electricity kWh with the guest nights. Our 7 checks before accepting a payout walks through this. Most of these costs are generally deductible against rental income for tax, but rules differ by case; see homestay income tax. This article is general information, not tax or financial advice.
If you want us to run these lines for your own unit, building and size, send the details through /ownerenquiry, wherever in Johor Bahru or Desaru the unit is.