Short answer: which plan pays you more depends on a single number — your expenses as a percentage of revenue. Below 50%, the 90%-of-revenue plan pays the most. At exactly 50%, 90% of revenue and 80% of net profit pay the same ringgit. Above 50%, the expenses-first plans pay more. But "more" is usually a few dozen to a few hundred ringgit a month. The much bigger difference is the deposit and the contract length. Here is the maths with real peak and off-peak numbers.
What actually differs between the three plans?
Rules first, otherwise the formulas below make no sense. These are the three plans we currently offer new owners (the /ownerenquiry page and your contract are the final word):
| Plan | How it is worked out | Who pays expenses | Deposit | Contract | Ending early |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90% | Total revenue × 90% to the owner | Cleaning, utilities, consumables, platform fees — all paid by the owner | RM5,000, refunded after 3 years | 3 years | Deposit forfeited |
| 80% | (Total revenue − expenses) × 80% to the owner | Deducted from revenue first, then split | RM5,000, refunded when the contract ends | No fixed term | 2 months' notice |
| 70% | (Total revenue − expenses) × 70% to the owner | Deducted from revenue first, then split | RM1,000, refunded when the contract ends | No fixed term | 2 months' notice |
As formulas:
- 90% plan: take-home = 0.9 × revenue − expenses
- 80% plan: take-home = 0.8 × (revenue − expenses)
- 70% plan: take-home = 0.7 × (revenue − expenses)
The 90% plan is not simply "we only take 10%". We take 10%, and the entire expense bill is yours. The 80% and 70% plans look like a bigger cut, but expenses come off the top, which means we absorb 20% or 30% of every expense. That is why the winner depends on how big the expenses are.
At what expense level do the plans break even?
Set the formulas equal to each other:
- 90% vs 80%: 0.9 × revenue − expenses = 0.8 × (revenue − expenses) → expenses = 50% of revenue
- 90% vs 70%: 0.9 × revenue − expenses = 0.7 × (revenue − expenses) → expenses = 66.7% of revenue
- 80% vs 70%: 80% always pays more (same net profit, 80% beats 70%). The 70% plan's point is not money, it is the RM1,000 deposit
Three lines to remember:
| Expenses as % of revenue | Plan that pays most |
|---|---|
| Under 50% | 90% |
| Exactly 50% | 90% = 80% |
| 50%–66.7% | 80% |
| Over 66.7% | 80% (even 70% beats 90% here) |
The calculator on /ownerenquiry has two sliders, revenue and expense share; all three take-home figures update together, and the dotted line on the chart is the 50% crossing point.
What share of revenue do expenses take for a Johor Bahru homestay?
This is the real question, because the expense share is not a fixed number — it swings with the season.
Homestay expenses come in two kinds:
- Per-booking costs: cleaning, laundry, toiletries, platform commission. More guests, more of these; fewer guests, fewer.
- Costs that arrive whether anyone stays or not: utility standing charges, internet, air-conditioner servicing, small repairs, lock batteries, pest control. An empty month still gets the bill.
In peak months revenue is high, fixed costs get spread thin and the expense share is low. In off-peak months revenue halves, the fixed costs do not move, and the share jumps.
Real figures from one of our owners with 10 units in central Johor Bahru (full breakdown in this owner statement article): December 2025 peak revenue RM67,081; the same units in November 2025 did RM23,877. The off-peak month was 36% of the peak month. Revenue nearly tripled between the two months while the fixed costs stayed the same — which is exactly why the same unit favours the 90% plan in peak season and the 80% plan in low season.
The expense shares below are illustrative for a typical Johor Bahru condo unit, not a quote. Yours depend on building age, how many air-conditioners, and cleaning frequency:
| Month type | Monthly revenue (example) | Expense share (example) | Expenses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peak (December, June, Chinese New Year) | RM6,000 | 35% | RM2,100 |
| Average month | RM4,000 | 42% | RM1,680 |
| Off-peak (Jan–Feb, Mar–Apr, Sep–Oct) | RM2,400 | 54% | RM1,300 |
Peak month, off-peak month, full year: what does each plan pay?
Put the three month types through the formulas:
| Peak month | Average month | Off-peak month | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90% plan | 5,400 − 2,100 = RM3,300 | 3,600 − 1,680 = RM1,920 | 2,160 − 1,300 = RM860 |
| 80% plan | 0.8 × 3,900 = RM3,120 | 0.8 × 2,320 = RM1,856 | 0.8 × 1,100 = RM880 |
| 70% plan | 0.7 × 3,900 = RM2,730 | 0.7 × 2,320 = RM1,624 | 0.7 × 1,100 = RM770 |
Notice the flip: in the peak month the 90% plan pays RM180 more; in the off-peak month the 80% plan pays RM20 more.
Assume a year of 4 peak months, 4 average months and 4 off-peak months:
| Plan | Full-year take-home (example) | Monthly average |
|---|---|---|
| 90% | RM24,320 | RM2,027 |
| 80% | RM23,424 | RM1,952 |
| 70% | RM20,496 | RM1,708 |
The 90% and 80% plans differ by RM896 over the whole year — about RM75 a month. What that RM75 buys you is a 3-year contract where leaving early forfeits a RM5,000 deposit. Put differently, signing the 90% plan is trading "a possible RM5,000 loss" for "roughly RM900 a year extra". It takes over five years to earn the deposit back, and the contract itself is only three years.
And if your unit's expenses run higher than the example (older building, power-hungry air-conditioners, frequent cleaning, weekend-only occupancy), the 80% plan can beat the 90% plan in every month of the year, in which case even the RM75 disappears and the only thing left in the 90% plan is the lock-in.
Which owners should actually take the 90% plan?
Honestly, the 90% plan suits a fairly specific owner:
- New building, new appliances, expenses known to be low. Small fixed costs keep the expense share under 50% all year.
- Certain the unit will not be sold or taken back for own use within 3 years. Early exit forfeits the deposit; think this through first.
- Wants to watch expenses personally. On the 90% plan the expenses are yours, so you get every cleaning and repair line item. Some owners like that visibility.
- Cash flow that can absorb an off-peak month. The RM860 example assumes a normal off-peak month. If the compressor dies that same month, your take-home can be negative, because 0.9 × revenue does not cover the bill. On the 80% and 70% plans that month is shared.
If you do not tick all four, the 80% plan is normally the steadier choice. That is why /ownerenquiry puts 80% in the middle marked "recommended" — not because it pays us more, but because most owners' situations fit it.
When is the 70% plan worth choosing?
On pure money, 70% always loses to 80%: every month you take 12.5% less of the net profit (seven-tenths instead of eight-tenths). Its one advantage is the RM1,000 deposit instead of RM5,000.
It suits owners who want to "try six months and see": small deposit, no fixed term, 2 months' notice to leave. Using the example above, 70% pays roughly RM2,900 a year less than 80%. If you already plan to stay more than a year, saving RM4,000 of deposit (which is refunded anyway) is not worth giving up nearly RM3,000 every year. If you really are only testing the water, the 70% plan is the cheapest exit.
Five things to ask before signing — with us or anyone else
The percentage only means something once these are answered:
- What counts as an "expense"? Is platform commission an expense? Is cleaning per turnover or a monthly package? Above what repair amount must the owner be asked first? Two companies can both say "80% of net profit" and pay very different amounts.
- Is there a line-by-line expense breakdown? The monthly statement should show every item, not one total.
- What happens in a month where expenses exceed revenue? Net-profit plans need the contract to say how a loss month is split.
- Under what conditions is the deposit refunded or forfeited? What exactly counts as "ending early" — does selling the unit count?
- What is the market's "75% of net profit" or "20–30% of revenue" actually measuring? Most management companies in Malaysia charge 20–30% of gross revenue, which is a different ruler from a net-profit split. To compare, put your own revenue and expense numbers through each formula and compare the ringgit, not the percentage.
One more reminder: every "take-home" figure above is before tax. Homestay income is taxable, and the rules differ from long-term rental; see this article on homestay income tax. This article is not tax or legal advice; your signed contract governs, and a licensed tax agent or lawyer should answer anything specific.
Being honest: what the three plans mean for us
A straight word to owners: on the 90% plan we earn 10% of gross revenue and the expenses are not our problem, so we have no direct financial reason to keep them down. On the 80% and 70% plans expenses come off before the split, so every extra RM100 of expense costs us RM20 or RM30 too — which is why we watch cleaning and repair costs on those plans. From the owner's side, that is one more reason to prefer an expenses-first plan: it ties the manager's interest to yours.
Also: the expense shares in the examples are our estimates from experience, not your unit's actual numbers. To get it right, take your past utility bills and an estimate of cleaning turnovers to the calculator on /ownerenquiry, or leave the unit details with us and we will work it out from that building's real figures. Any area of Johor Bahru, and Desaru, is fine.