Baselane vs Relay, Bluevine, Mercury: The Best Banks for Airbnb Hosts

Running a short-term rental is a real business. And like any business, you need the right financial setup. Using your personal bank account for your Airbnb might feel easier at first, but it can create serious headaches when tax time rolls around or when you start to grow your business. The right business bank account can save you hours of bookkeeping, help you maximize deductions, and give you a clear picture of how your properties are actually performing.

Wondering which bank will work best? We've rounded up five of the best banks for short-term rental hosts, with some insights from Rob Abasolo, an STR investor with a multi-million dollar portfolio. Let's get started.

Do You Need a Separate Bank Account for Your Airbnb?

The short answer is yes. Sure, it’s technically possible to run your rental income through a personal account. But mixing personal and business finances creates more problems than it solves. A dedicated business account helps you stay organized, protects your profits, and makes scaling seamless. Here are three key benefits.

Simplifying Tax Season

When your Airbnb income and expenses are neatly organized in a dedicated account, filing taxes becomes way easier. This also makes it simpler to claim legitimate business deductions, which directly impacts your bottom line.

Clearer Financial Picture

A separate business account gives you a true view of your cash flow. You can see exactly what each property is earning, what you’re spending on supplies and maintenance, and how much profit you’re actually making.

Professional Credibility

Paying vendors, contractors, and even collecting payments from guests looks more professional when it comes from a business account. It also creates a cleaner paper trail if you ever need to apply for financing or bring on a business partner.

The Best Banks for Airbnb and Short-Term Rental Hosts

Baselane

Baselane is built specifically for real estate investors and landlords. It combines banking with automated bookkeeping, making it one of the most complete options for Airbnb hosts.

Key Features:

• Create property-specific accounts under one login
• High-yield savings sub-accounts (currently up to 2.63% APY)
• Automated transaction tagging by property and Schedule E category
• Real-time cash flow analytics
• Built-in tax reporting

Interest: Up to 2.63% APY on savings balances. Extra APY bonus if you use the Baseland to collect rent.

Fees: $0 monthly fees (the $15 fee for outbound wires is waived if the combined balance is $50K+)

FDIC Insurance: Up to $3 million

Rob’s Take:

“Baselane’s standout feature is its AI-powered bookkeeping and ease of organizing income and expenses by property. I can quickly create property-specific accounts and cards, and the automation makes bookkeeping a breeze. In the past year, I moved all my real estate funds and dealings from Mercury over to Baselane simply because the organizational and automation features were that good. Baselane is just so clearly tailored to a real estate investor.”

When you sign up using our link, you can get a $150 cash bonus (terms and conditions apply). That's free money to reinvest in your business.

Relay

Relay is a strong option for hosts who want granular control over their finances and are fans of the Profit First method. It allows you to create multiple checking accounts and issue virtual debit cards for team members. That's a really cool feature.

Key Features:

• Up to 20 checking accounts and 2 savings accounts
• Up to 50 virtual or physical debit cards per account
• Built-in tools for allocating funds to profit, taxes, and expenses
• Integrates with QuickBooks

Interest: Up to 3.03% APY on Scale Plan savings accounts as of 2026. Checking accounts do not earn interest.

Fees: Free plan available; paid plans from $120/month for advanced features

FDIC Insurance: Up to $3 million through partner bank Thread Bank

Mercury

Mercury is designed for startups and growing businesses. It offers a polished digital experience and some of the best interest rates for accounts with higher balances. Hosts enjoy multi-user access with permission controls, so multiple team members can help keep finances on track.

Key Features:

• Up to 15 accounts per EIN
• Multi-user access with permission controls
• Free domestic and international wires
• QuickBooks integration

Interest: Up to 3.71% APY, but only on Mercury Treasury, an investment account with a minimum balance of $250,000. Standard checking has 0% interest.

Fees: $0 monthly fees

FDIC Insurance: Up to $5 million for checking. Treasury investment account is SDIC insured for up to $500K.

Mercury is an excellent choice for hosts with large cash reserves or those running a portfolio that requires frequent wire transfers. For smaller operators, the high balance requirement to earn interest is a limiting factor.

Rob’s Take:

“Mercury offers quick flexibility—creating multiple virtual accounts and virtual debit cards with ease, and I love how fast I can transfer money between my LLCs, often same-day. Plus, free incoming and outgoing wires make it super convenient.”

Other Banking Options Worth Considering

Bluevine

Bluevine offers a straightforward business checking account with competitive interest and a built-in line of credit option. It’s a solid choice for hosts who want simplicity and the ability to earn interest on their checking balance without maintaining separate savings accounts. Hosts can also play around with 20 sub-accounts

• Interest: 1.5% APY on the Standard plan, while higher-tier plans can earn up to 3% APY
• Fees: $0 monthly fees for Standard ($95 monthly fee on Premier Plan can be waived if you maintain $100K average balance and $5K monthly debit card spend)
• Key Features: Line of credit available; integrates with QuickBooks; no minimum balance requirements
• Limitations: Lacks property-specific organizational tools and rental-focused bookkeeping

Lili

Lili is designed for freelancers and solopreneurs, making it a good entry-level option for hosts with one or two properties. It offers expense categorization and tax tools in a simple, fee-free account.

• Interest: No interest-bearing accounts
• Fees: $0 monthly fees (premium plans available)
• Key Features: Auto-save for taxes; expense tagging; no minimum balance
• Limitations: Not designed for multi-property portfolios; limited scalability

Traditional Brick-and-Mortar Banks (Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo)

National banks offer the comfort of physical branches and a full range of financial products. However, they typically come with monthly fees (unless minimum balances are maintained), low or no interest on business checking, and mobile apps that aren’t tailored to rental property management.

For hosts just starting out, a local bank might be enough. But as your portfolio grows, the lack of automated bookkeeping and property-level organization becomes a significant time drain.

What to Look for in an Airbnb Business Bank Account

Not all business accounts are built for short-term rental hosts. Here are the features that matter most:

• Low or no monthly fees – Every dollar saved on banking fees stays in your pocket.
• Multiple accounts or sub-accounts – The ability to create separate accounts for each property makes organization simple.
• Built-in bookkeeping – Some platforms auto-categorize expenses by property and by tax category, like Schedule E.
• Virtual debit cards – Create a virtual card for each property so contractors or cleaners can make purchases without sharing your main account info.
• Tax reporting tools – The best options let you generate tax reports with a few clicks.
• Interest on balances – Some accounts earn competitive APY, helping your cash reserves grow.
• Integration with accounting software – If you use QuickBooks or similar tools, seamless integration saves time.

Our Winner: Why Baselane is The Best Bank for Short-Term Rentals

What is the best bank for Airbnb and short-term rental hosts? We think it's Baselane. Traditional banks have the branches and the name recognition, but they weren’t built for short-term rental hosts. Their apps try to do everything, which means they don’t do rental-specific bookkeeping well. That leaves you manually tracking expenses across properties, wrestling with spreadsheets, and spending hours on work that could be automated.

Modern banking platforms like Baselane solve this by giving you the tools you actually need: property-level accounts, automatic expense categorization, and tax reports that are ready to hand to your accountant. It’s banking built for how real estate investors actually operate.

Baselane combines all of this with competitive interest rates (up to 2.63% APY) and zero monthly fees. And because it handles bookkeeping in the background, it saves you time every single week.

Plus, right now you can get a $150 cash bonus when you sign up through our link (terms and conditions apply). That’s free money to put toward your next property expense, all while getting a banking platform designed specifically for hosts like you.

👉 Join Baselane and get $150 cash bonus.

Looking for more STR insights? Join the Host Camp community for banking and hosting recommendations from coaches and fellow hosts. Or explore exclusive discounts on STR tools and apps here.

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