Hosting on Rentor runs on a flat subscription, never a commission: you pay for the plan, and every shilling your guests and subtenants pay is yours. This page covers the trial, how you pay, how renewal works, and exactly what happens if the plan runs out.

The free trial

Every new host gets a 3-month free trial with everything switched on. It starts by itself the day you become a host — no card, no commitment. While trialing you can publish stays, create sublets and take bookings like any paying host.

Your trial countdown shows on your overview and on Billing & Plans. Across the last 14 days a banner counts it down, and Rentor reminds you about a week before it ends and again the day before. The trial is once-off: an account that lapses does not get a second one.

Subscribing on the web

While your trial is still running there is nothing to pay — the host plan's card reads Current plan. When the trial ends, open Billing & Plans (under Account):

1. Choose Monthly or Annual at the top of the plans.
2. Tap Upgrade on the host plan. The payment sheet shows the plan, the cycle and the amount. Have a promo code? Type it and tap Apply — and if a referral reward, promotion or credit already applies to you, the lower price shows by itself. One discount per payment; the best one wins.
3. Pay by M-Pesa (a prompt on your phone — you can send it to a different number), card, or bank transfer where available.
4. Your plan activates the moment the payment confirms.

Current prices are on the Pricing page. The payment sheet is the same one landlords use — see Plans, billing & add-ons — and the discount rules are in Promo codes, offers & referrals.

Auto-renew — a prompt, never a silent charge

Under your current plan on Billing & Plans there is an Auto-renew switch. Turn it on and Rentor asks which M-Pesa number to use (leave it blank for your account phone). From then on, on renewal day Rentor sends one M-Pesa prompt to that number for the plan's current price. You still enter your PIN — nothing is ever taken without you approving it on your phone.

Three things to know:

• Auto-renew is an M-Pesa feature. Cards cannot be charged automatically — Rentor stores no card details — so if you pay by card or bank you renew by hand, and you get the reminders either way.
• The switch does not appear during your free trial. There is nothing to renew until you have paid for a period.
• Switch it off whenever you like; your consent is withdrawn on the spot.

If a payment is missed — the grace period

When a paid period ends, your plan does not die at midnight. It enters a short grace period — normally three days — shown as PAST_DUE on your plan. Everything keeps working while it lasts: your stays stay published and bookings keep coming. The reminder you receive names the exact date the grace ends.

The grace period is also when the Auto-renew prompt reaches your phone — it is sent once, just after the paid period ends. Approve it with your PIN and the plan renews with no gap at all. If the prompt could not be delivered, Rentor tells you so, and asks you to check the phone number in your auto-renew settings.

If the grace period runs out unpaid, the plan lapses (next section) and you subscribe again from Billing & Plans. A free trial has no grace period — when a trial ends, it ends.

What lapsing pauses — and what it never touches

If the trial or the grace period runs out with no payment, your host plan lapses:

• Your published stays come off the marketplace. Guests can no longer find or book them, and you get a notice saying your stays have been paused.
• You cannot publish a stay or take new bookings until you subscribe again.
• Bookings you already hold are unaffected. Confirmed guests still arrive, money owed to you still reaches you, your sublets and their rent carry on, and you keep your whole dashboard.
• Nothing is deleted. Listings, prices, calendars, photos, reviews and your rating all wait for you.

After you subscribe again, open Stays and Publish each listing yourself — a paused listing also needs its Active box ticked first. Rentor does not put them back on the market for you, so that nothing goes live that you have not looked at.

On an iPhone — billing through the App Store

In the iPhone app, host plans are App Store subscriptions:

1. Open More → Settings & Account → Billing & Plans (or Manage subscription on your Home tab).
2. Pick Monthly or Yearly and tap Subscribe on the plan. The price is the App Store's, shown in your App Store's own currency.
3. Confirm with Apple the way you confirm any purchase. Your plan is active as soon as the App Store confirms it.

An App Store subscription is charged to your Apple Account and renews automatically for the same period and price unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage subscription takes you to your Apple subscription settings to change or cancel it, and Restore purchases brings your plan back after a reinstall or on a new phone. Apple sends its own renewal emails, so Rentor's reminders and the Auto-renew switch do not apply to it.

Two more things worth knowing:

• If you subscribe through the App Store part-way through a period you already paid for another way, the days you had left are not lost — they are added on to your plan.
• While an App Store subscription is live, the web will not start a second payment for the same plan. To change how you pay, cancel in your Apple Account settings first; you keep access until the paid period ends, and can subscribe another way after that.

On an Android phone

The Android app shows your plan, your trial countdown and your status under More → Settings & Account → Billing & Plans. Plans are not sold in the Android app.

Add-ons

• SMS credits pay for texts to guests and subtenants who are not on the app — including your sublets' rent reminders. Bundles are under SMS credits on Billing & Plans on the web. Your plan may include a monthly allowance; the plan card says what it carries.
• Boosts feature a stay at the top of search for a set number of days. They are bought from the stay's Manage page on the web — see Stay listings, pricing & calendar. Host boosts are always paid.
• Listing boosts and SMS credits are not sold in the phone app.

Invite & earn

Invite & earn gives you a personal code and link. When someone you invite makes their first subscription payment, you earn a share of it in cash and they get a welcome reward — the card spells out the current terms. Full rules: Promo codes, offers & referrals.