CAC measures how efficiently you fill empty beds. It includes paid acquisition (Google Ads, Meta, OTA fees), content + organic costs (SEO, social), and any sales/community-team time attributable to acquisition.
For coliving, CAC interacts with ALOS to determine lifetime unit economics. CAC of €400 with ALOS of 4 months = €100/month CAC drag. The same CAC with ALOS of 8 months = €50/month drag. Doubling ALOS halves CAC's revenue impact — which is why ALOS optimization is often more leveraged than CAC optimization.
Formula
CAC = Total Acquisition Spend ÷ New Tenants Acquired
Worked example: Property: €4,500 monthly marketing spend + €1,500 attributed sales-team cost = €6,000. New tenants acquired = 12. CAC = €6,000 ÷ 12 = €500.
In the field
European coliving CAC: €300–€800 depending on channel mix. OTA-heavy (Booking.com) CAC €400–€700 (15–18% commission). Direct-traffic-heavy (Outsite, Habyt direct sites) CAC €200–€450. CAC payback period typically 1.5–3 months.
Common pitfalls
- ×Including only paid spend — ignoring sales-team cost dramatically understates CAC.
- ×Calculating CAC over short periods — month-to-month CAC is volatile; trailing-12-month is meaningful.
- ×Mixing acquisition CAC and retention CAC — re-bookings have different economics.
- ×Not segmenting by channel — blended CAC obscures which channels work.