STR Revenue in St. Bethel: What Owners Should Expect in 2026
STR revenue in the St. Bethel, ME market runs a wide range depending on which dataset you trust and which property tier you're comparing against: AirROI reports average annual revenue of $36,017 for 2026, while a separate market analysis puts the average closer to $58,704 for 2026. At Maverick STR, we work with revenue management clients across multiple markets, and the Bethel data gap is a pattern we see constantly: two "average" figures that look contradictory are usually measuring different listing pools, different time periods, or gross versus net income.
Key Takeaways
AirROI's August 2026 to July 2026 Bethel dataset reports $36,017 average annual revenue, $421 ADR, 30.6% occupancy, and $142 RevPAR across 338 active listings.
A separate 2026 market analysis shows $58,704 average annual revenue with 32% occupancy and an 8.9% average gross yield, illustrating how methodology changes the headline number.
Performance is steeply tiered: AirROI's top 10% of Bethel listings earn $9,172 or more monthly, while the bottom 25% average roughly $1,518 monthly.
February is Bethel's strongest month at roughly 61% occupancy, while April is the weakest at around 20 to 23% occupancy, driven by Sunday River Resort's ski season.
Maine charges a statewide 9% lodging tax on short-term rentals. Bethel's local STR regulatory framework changes over time, so confirm current rules directly with the Town of Bethel before listing.
Professional revenue management, using tools like PriceLabs alongside real-time market intelligence, typically closes the gap between median and top-tier performance far more than pricing changes alone.
If you own a cabin, condo, or ski house near Sunday River, you've probably already noticed that every market report seems to tell a different story about what your property should be earning. That inconsistency reflects real differences in property type, distance to the mountain, and whether a listing is professionally managed or self-run.
This guide breaks down what the 2026 data actually shows for St. Bethel STR revenue, why the numbers diverge so much between sources, and what specifically separates a top-tier Bethel listing from a median one. We also cover Maine's lodging tax obligations, the seasonal swing between ski season and mud season, and the practical levers you can pull to move up the performance tiers. Revenue management and dynamic pricing is a service Maverick STR offers to hosts nationwide, not just in our full-service markets.
What Does STR Revenue Mean for a Bethel Property?
STR revenue means the total income a short-term rental generates from guest bookings over a given period, typically reported as gross monthly or annual figures before deducting cleaning fees, platform commissions, management costs, or lodging tax. In Bethel specifically, that figure is unusually sensitive to season: a cabin that earns $9,000 in February might earn under $1,500 in April.
Three metrics matter more than the topline number. Average Daily Rate (ADR) is what you charge per booked night. Occupancy rate is the percentage of available nights actually booked. RevPAR multiplies the two together and is the single best apples-to-apples comparison metric because it accounts for both pricing and booking frequency at once.
AirROI's 2026 Bethel dataset reports RevPAR of $142 across the market. That figure sits well below the $421 ADR because Bethel's 30.6% occupancy rate means most nights on the calendar go unbooked. If you're chasing a high nightly rate without addressing occupancy, you're optimizing the wrong half of the equation.
Why Do Bethel Revenue Reports Disagree So Much?
Bethel STR revenue reports disagree because each data provider pulls from a different listing pool, date range, and revenue definition. AirROI's most recent figure ($36,017 average annual revenue) covers August 2026 through July 2026 across 338 active listings. A separate 2026 analysis reporting $58,704 covers a different window across 169 qualifying listings identified as of January 2026.
A smaller, more curated listing set of 169 properties will skew toward larger, better-located homes, since low-performing or seasonal-only listings are less likely to make an investment-focused cut. AirROI's broader 338-listing dataset includes more entry-level condos and smaller units, which pulls the average down. Neither number is wrong; they're measuring different things.
Other market estimates place average annual revenue in the low $30,000s to high $40,000s range, with occupancy estimates ranging from the mid-40s to upper-50s percent depending on the listing set used. These figures come from less granular market reports that don't disclose full methodology, so treat any single "average Bethel Airbnb revenue" headline as a starting reference point, not a number to underwrite a purchase against. A property-level projection using your specific bedroom count, location relative to Sunday River, and amenity set will always be more useful than a market average.
Data Source | Avg. Annual Revenue | Occupancy | ADR | Notes |
AirROI (2026) | $36,017 | 30.6% | $421 | 338 active listings, Aug 2026 to July 2026 |
Market analysis (2026) | $58,704 | 32% | Not reported | 169 qualifying listings, Jan 2026, 8.9% gross yield |
Market estimate | ~$34,000 | 57% | $270 | 312 Airbnb rentals cited |
Market estimate | ~$48,000 (annualized) | 45% | $402 | $4,023 avg. monthly figure |
Market estimate | Not directly reported | ~42% | $396 | Cites 10-30% mgmt fee range |
What Is the 80/20 Rule for Airbnb?
The 80/20 rule, as applied to Airbnb hosting, is a general business principle suggesting that roughly 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your listing decisions, not a fixed statute or Airbnb policy. In practice, this shows up in Bethel's performance-tier data: AirROI reports the top 10% of listings earning $9,172 or more monthly, while median listings earn approximately $3,223.
That gap isn't random. AirROI's host examples illustrate it directly: hosts like Rosanne (2 properties, $288,742 gross revenue) and Courtney (3 properties, $263,530) sit far above the median, likely due to a combination of superior location, professional photography, and multi-property operational efficiency. A single well-run property can outperform three poorly optimized ones combined.
For Bethel owners specifically, the practical version of this concept is that a small number of decisions drive a disproportionate share of your annual revenue: proximity to Sunday River, hot tub or fire pit amenities, and active pricing management. Chasing marginal gains elsewhere, like extra throw pillows or minor decor swaps, rarely moves the needle compared to fixing those core levers.
How Do Ski Season and Shoulder Season Affect Bethel STR Revenue?
Ski season and shoulder season affect Bethel STR revenue dramatically because demand concentrates around Sunday River Resort's operating calendar rather than spreading evenly across the year. AirROI identifies January, February, and December as peak months, while April, May, and September form the low season.
February averages roughly 61% occupancy, the strongest month in the data, while April 2026 came in at just 20.2% occupancy with a $362 ADR and $72.85 RevPAR, a steep drop from peak-season numbers. AirROI's 2026 seasonal breakdown quantifies this further: peak season averaged $6,244 monthly revenue at 45.2% occupancy and $403 ADR, while low season averaged only $2,791 monthly at 24.7% occupancy and $348 ADR.
Summer offers a secondary, smaller demand window, with occupancy running roughly in the low-to-mid 50% range across July and August, well below February's peak but far above the April trough. If you price flat year-round, you leave money on the table twice: overpriced in April and May when demand is thin, and underpriced in February when skiers will pay a premium regardless. This is exactly the scenario where dynamic pricing tools like PriceLabs, combined with active market monitoring, outperform a static nightly rate.
From what we've seen managing properties through comparable seasonal swings in the Smoky Mountains, owners who treat shoulder season as a discounting opportunity rather than an occupancy problem tend to underperform. Extended-stay discounts for remote workers and targeted promotion to hiking and fall-foliage travelers can partially fill April and May gaps that pure rate cuts won't solve on their own.
How Do You Get an Accurate Bethel Rental Revenue Estimate?
An accurate Bethel rental revenue estimate requires modeling your specific property against comparable listings by bedroom count, distance to Sunday River, and amenity set rather than pulling a single market average. Start with a market data platform such as AirDNA's Bethel market overview, which reports 499 total listings and demand, revenue growth, and seasonality scores on a 100-point scale (Bethel currently scores 66 on demand and 57 on revenue growth).
Next, filter comparable properties as closely as possible: a 2-bedroom condo a mile from the mountain will not perform like a 4-bedroom house with a hot tub adjacent to the resort. AirROI's performance tiers (top 10%, top 25%, median, bottom 25%) give a useful framework for benchmarking where your specific property is likely to land based on quality and location, rather than assuming you'll hit the market average automatically.
Finally, layer in your actual operating costs, including cleaning fees, platform commissions, Maine's 9% lodging tax (verify current requirements with Maine Revenue Services), utilities, and snow removal, since Bethel's mountain climate adds a cost line most warm-weather markets don't carry. Gross revenue estimates that ignore these costs routinely overstate what an owner actually nets. This is the kind of property-level modeling our team at Maverick STR walks investors through as part of STR revenue management consulting, whether the property sits in one of our full-service markets or not.
Are Airbnbs Still Profitable in 2026?
Airbnbs in markets like Bethel remain profitable in 2026 for well-located, well-managed properties, though profitability now depends far more on execution than it did during the early boom years when almost any listing filled a calendar. Reported average gross yield sits around 8.9%, with average property values around $659,277 as of December 2026, a solid return by real estate investment standards if you actively manage occupancy and pricing.
At the same time, supply pressure is real. AirROI reports Bethel listing supply grew 31.5% year over year, and separate market data reports growth as high as 80% year over year in qualifying Airbnbs. More listings competing for a seasonal, ski-dependent demand pool means the gap between top-performing and bottom-performing properties will likely widen through 2026 and beyond.
Statewide Maine tourism context supports continued demand even amid rising supply. Maine's tourism reporting for 2026 showed more than $9 billion in visitor spending despite roughly 650,000 fewer visitors than the prior year, according to the Maine Office of Tourism data referenced in state reporting. Visitors are spending more per trip even as visitor counts soften slightly, a pattern that tends to favor differentiated, well-amenitized properties over generic ones. If you treat your listing as a business rather than a passive checkbox, 2026 profitability is well within reach.
What Should You Know About Maine's Lodging Tax and Bethel Regulations?
Maine's lodging tax applies a statewide 9% rate to short-term rental bookings, a figure confirmed by the official Maine Revenue Services rate schedule covering periods through 2026. Airbnb automatically collects and remits this tax for bookings made through its platform, but if you take direct bookings, through your own website or by phone, you must register independently with Maine Revenue Services and file the tax yourself.
Local Bethel-specific regulation is harder to pin down than the state tax picture. A 2023 news report indicated Bethel had no formal short-term-rental registration, inspection, or dedicated STR ordinance at that time, while also describing proposed rules under discussion that could require registration, off-street parking, and guest limits tied to bedroom count and septic system capacity. We could not confirm whether those proposed rules have since been formally adopted at the municipal level as of this writing, so verify the town's current requirements directly with the Town of Bethel before listing or renewing a rental.
Separately, Maine's Land Use Planning Commission adopted short-term-rental rules effective January 12, 2026 for properties within the commission's service area, defining an STR as a dwelling or campsite rented for fewer than 30 consecutive days. Whether a specific Bethel property falls under LUPC jurisdiction versus municipal jurisdiction depends on its exact location, so confirm this distinction with the Maine LUPC's short-term rental page rather than assuming either way.
What Affects Short-Term Rental Revenue in St. Bethel Maine?
Several concrete factors drive the wide revenue spread between Bethel's top and bottom performing listings. Distance to Sunday River Resort matters most during ski season, since both AirDNA and AirROI tie Bethel's demand cycle directly to the resort's operating calendar. Properties closer to the mountain command higher winter ADR.
Amenity mix is the second major lever. Hot tubs, fire pits, and game rooms consistently correlate with higher booking rates in cold-weather markets, since guests traveling for ski trips value post-slope relaxation amenities. Bethel's top operator by listing count manages 191 properties, which suggests scale and amenity standardization also play a role in consistent performance.
Pricing strategy is the third and most controllable factor. AirROI's roughly 50-day average booking lead time means you have real visibility into demand patterns before peak weekends, enough runway to adjust pricing dynamically rather than reactively. If you rely on Airbnb's built-in Smart Pricing alone, you tend to react to demand after it's already visible in the calendar, rather than anticipating it the way a dedicated revenue strategy does. That distinction, reacting versus anticipating, is often the single biggest difference between median and top-tier Bethel performance.
What Does a Bethel Property Management Fee Typically Include?
Bethel-area STR management fees commonly range from 10% to 30% of rental revenue, with comprehensive, full-service arrangements typically priced between 20% and 25%. Lower-end fees usually cover listing distribution and basic guest messaging, while higher-end fees add dynamic pricing, professional photography, cleaning coordination, and proactive calendar management. Before signing any management agreement, confirm exactly what's included: some managers pass maintenance costs through at cost, while others add a markup, and that difference materially affects your net revenue.
Practical Steps to Improve Your Bethel STR Revenue
Improving Bethel STR revenue means addressing pricing, occupancy, and positioning as separate problems rather than one. Here's a practical sequence for evaluating your current performance against the market data above:
Benchmark honestly. Compare your property against AirROI's tier data (top 10%, top 25%, median, bottom 25%) rather than against a single blended market average.
Audit your shoulder-season pricing. If April and May rates aren't meaningfully discounted from February and December rates, you're likely sitting empty for stretches that could be filled at a lower, still-profitable rate.
Verify your tax compliance. Confirm your lodging tax registration status with Maine Revenue Services and check current Bethel-specific requirements with the town, especially if you take direct bookings outside Airbnb or VRBO.
Evaluate your amenity gaps. A hot tub or fire pit near a ski destination is close to table stakes for competing with top-tier listings, not a luxury add-on.
Replace static pricing with active management. Whether through software like PriceLabs or a dedicated revenue manager, dynamic pricing tied to booking lead time and seasonal demand consistently outperforms a flat nightly rate.
Reconsider your booking channels. Relying solely on one OTA limits visibility; a direct booking website can capture repeat ski-season guests without paying a commission on every return stay.
This is precisely the kind of gap our team at Maverick STR closes for owners nationwide through revenue management consulting, pairing data-driven pricing software with real-time market intelligence rather than guessing at a nightly rate and hoping the calendar fills itself.
How to Find Your Airbnb Property Number
Your Airbnb property number, sometimes required for local tax filing or permit applications, refers to your listing's unique identifier assigned by Airbnb when the listing was created. You can find it by opening your listing in the Airbnb host dashboard and checking the URL, which contains a string of digits after "/rooms/"; that number is your property's unique listing ID. Some jurisdictions also ask for a separate municipal STR permit number, which is distinct from Airbnb's internal ID and must be obtained directly from the relevant town or county office, not from Airbnb itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best breakdowns of vacation rental platform revenue streams, including fees, ads, host services, and experiences?
Vacation rental platforms like Airbnb generate revenue primarily through guest service fees and host commissions charged on each booking, supplemented by advertising placements, paid visibility boosts for listings, and ancillary services such as experiences and concierge add-ons. For an individual Bethel host, the relevant breakdown is simpler: your gross booking revenue, minus the platform's host commission (typically a percentage of the booking subtotal), minus cleaning fees passed through to guests, equals your net payout before taxes and management costs.
What is average Airbnb revenue in Bethel, Maine?
Average Airbnb revenue in Bethel varies significantly by data source and year: AirROI's 2026 dataset reports $36,017 annually, while a separate 2026 analysis reports $58,704. The difference largely reflects which listings each provider includes and whether the figure is a mean or filtered to higher-performing properties, so use these as directional benchmarks rather than a guarantee for any single property.
What is the best Airbnb management company in Bethel?
Bethel's leading operator by listing count manages 191 properties as of the most recent market report available. Beyond that, "best" depends on whether you want full-service local management or remote revenue and marketing support; national and boutique firms like Maverick STR offer dynamic pricing and marketing consulting to Bethel owners without requiring a local, on-the-ground contract.
What is average Airbnb occupancy in Bethel, Maine?
Reported average occupancy in Bethel ranges from about 30.6% (AirROI's 2026 data) to as high as 57% in other market estimates, with additional reports landing in the low-to-mid 40s. This wide range reflects methodology differences, and February typically runs far above the annual average while April runs well below it.
How do I get a Bethel rental revenue estimate?
Start with a market data platform such as AirDNA or AirROI to see comparable listing performance, then adjust for your specific bedroom count, distance to Sunday River, and amenity set using the performance tier data (top 10%, top 25%, median, bottom 25%) as a benchmark framework rather than relying on a single blended average.
Is Bethel or Nashville a better market for short-term rental investment?
Bethel and Nashville serve fundamentally different investor profiles: Bethel is a seasonal, ski-driven market with steep peak-to-trough swings tied to Sunday River, while Nashville offers more consistent year-round demand from music tourism and events. The right choice depends on whether you want a seasonal cash-flow property or a steadier, diversified income stream.
Do I need a direct booking website if I already list on Airbnb and VRBO?
A direct booking website isn't required, but it captures repeat guests, particularly loyal ski-season visitors, without paying OTA commission on every return stay. For a highly seasonal market like Bethel, where guests often return annually for the same ski trip, a direct channel can meaningfully reduce your effective commission costs over several years of ownership.
Conclusion: Making Sense of St. Bethel STR Revenue in 2026
STR revenue in St. Bethel spans a genuinely wide range, from roughly $36,000 to $58,000 in average annual figures depending on the data source, with individual properties performing anywhere from under $20,000 to well over $100,000 depending on location and pricing strategy. The single most reliable pattern across every dataset reviewed here is the seasonal swing: February performance dwarfs April performance by a wide margin, and if you price flat year-round, you're leaving revenue on the table in both directions.
As 2026 supply growth continues to outpace demand growth in Bethel, per AirROI's 31.5% year-over-year listing increase, the properties that separate themselves will be the ones treating pricing as an active, ongoing discipline rather than a set-it-and-forget-it task. That's true whether you self-manage, work with a local operator, or bring in outside revenue management expertise.
If your Bethel property's revenue looks closer to the median tier than the top 10% in the data above, that gap is usually a pricing and marketing problem, not a location problem. Get started with Maverick STR for revenue management and dynamic pricing support available to owners nationwide, the same data-driven approach that has delivered an average 20 to 30% revenue increase for our clients, with properties consistently outperforming their local markets by 30 to 50%.
Written by Chase Gillmore, Owner & Operator at Maverick STR
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