How Much Airbnb Takes from Hosts and Guests

When you list your property on Airbnb, it’s important to understand how much Airbnb takes both from hosts (you) and your guests. In this way, you will know exactly what revenue you can expect from your short-term rental. Moreover, you’ll be aware of the precise amount they will charge your guests for a stay at your property.

In this article, we will discuss the Airbnb service fees which hosts and guests are required to pay, what cost split options are available, what services hosts get for the fees they pay, and how to calculate the costs on your reservations. Moreover, we’ll compare the Airbnb fees with the fees of other top listing platforms to check if this is the best option for hosts.

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How Much Airbnb Charges Hosts

In most cases, Airbnb charges hosts a flat fee of 3% of the booking subtotal amount. Hosts with Super Strict cancellation policies and hosts with listings in Italy pay a higher rate. Airbnb does not charge a payment processing fee.

The Airbnb service fee hosts pay is calculated as a percentage of the booking subtotal. This includes the nightly rate and any extra fees charged by the host such as cleaning fee, pet fee, additional guest fee, etc. The booking subtotal excludes taxes and Airbnb fees.

Airbnb subtracts its service fee payable by hosts from the booking amount and pays the remaining amount to the hosts.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say your short-term rental is listed for $220/night, and you charge a $50 cleaning fee per stay and a $40 fee per pet per stay and a $50 fee per extra guest per night. For a two-night stay with one pet and two additional guests:

Booking subtotal = (2 x $220) + $50 + ($40 x 2) + 2 x $50 = $730.

Airbnb charges to the host = 3% of $730 = $21.90

So, the Airbnb website will charge you $21.90 in service fees for this stay, while your total payout as a host will be $708.10.

How Much Airbnb Charges Guests

Airbnb hosts are not the only ones who get charged by the vacation rental listing platform. Airbnb also takes money from guests. Actually, Airbnb guests pay significantly higher service fees than hosts, equivalent to around 14% of the booking subtotal. The rate can vary based on a few different factors, but guests always see the fee during checkout.

It’s important to understand that this fee is calculated on top of the booking subtotal, so guests end up paying 14% more than the fees that you ask from them. None of the Airbnb charges to guests goes to the host.

So, if we go back to our example from above, for the two-night booking:

Airbnb charges to the guest = 14% of $730 = $102.20

The Airbnb platform will take $102.20 from your guests, so the total service fee that Airbnb charges adds up to $124.10 for the stay. This is 17% of the booking subtotal.

Meanwhile, guests need to pay the booking subtotal plus the Airbnb service fee, or a total of $832.20.

As Airbnb highlights the importance of transparency, all fees and charges are available to both guests and hosts.

During reservation, guests see a summary of all applicable costs they will have to cover. This includes:

• Booking fee
• Extra fees like cleaning fee, pet fee, additional guest fee, etc.
• Local taxes
• Airbnb service fee
• Total price they will have to pay

Meanwhile, hosts receive a complete breakdown of all fees and costs in the booking confirmation email as soon as a reservation is confirmed. The reservation details include:

• Booking fee
• Additional fees like cleaning fee, pet fee, etc.
• Taxes collected by Airbnb
• Fees collected by Airbnb
• Total price that guests will pay
• Total host payout

In this way, hosts know exactly how much their guests spend per stay, how much Airbnb takes, and how much they make in rental income.

Airbnb Service Payment Options for Hosts

Airbnb applies two unique structures for the fees that it charges for stays: a split fee and a host-only fee.

The split fee is the more common structure, and it means that the Airbnb service fee is split between the host and the guest. This is the structure discussed above, and in most cases hosts pay 3% of the booking subtotal to the platform, while guests pay around 14% of the booking subtotal to the platform.

Under the host-only fee structure, Airbnb hosts pay the entire service fees to the Airbnb website. The usual range is between 14% and 16% of the booking subtotal except for hosts with Super Strict cancellation policies who usually pay more.

The host-only fee model is a must for certain types of listings and hosts. These include traditional hospitality listings like hotels and serviced apartments (as opposed to short term rentals), hosts with API connections, and software-connected hosts if most of their listings are outside the US, Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, Argentina, Uruguay, and Taiwan.

In some locations, VAT has to be charged on the Airbnb service fees. In this case, the Airbnb service fee includes VAT.

How to Calculate Airbnb Service Fees

Calculating the service fee that you need to pay to Airbnb as a host is easy as long as you have the right formula at hand.

In most cases:

Airbnb Host Service Fee = 3% of Booking Subtotal

Airbnb Host Service Fee = 3% of (Nightly Rate + Cleaning Fee + Pet Fee + Additional Guest Fee + Other Extra Fees)

Remember that you should not include applicable taxes and Airbnb fees in the booking subtotal.

Let’s look at a specific example and plug in the numbers to calculate the Airbnb service fee.

A host lists their property for $180/night. They include the following additional fees:

• Cleaning fee: $70 per stay
• Pet fee: $55 per pet per stay
• Additional guests: $60 per guest per night

A guest books the space for three nights and will bring two dogs and two guests more than the standard occupancy.

Booking Subtotal = 3 x $180 + $70 + 2 x $55 + 3 x 2 x $60 = $1,080

Airbnb Host Service Fee = 3% x $1,080 = $32.40

Host Payout = $1,080 - $32.40 = $1,047.60

So, Airbnb will deduct $32.40 from the host revenue, and they will receive a total of $1,047.60 for the three-day stay at their property.

If you don’t own a vacation rental property yet but would like to know what charges to expect from Airbnb, you can use the Awning Airbnb Estimator. All you have to do is to download and use the Chrome extension to get reliable data on the average Airbnb daily rates in any US markt, for free. Then all that is left is to calculate 3% of this to estimate how much Airbnb will charge you for listing a property that you are considering buying.

What Airbnb Hosts Get From Airbnb

Airbnb takes money from hosts and guests in order to provide services to both parties.

In exchange for the Airbnb service fee they pay, hosts get access to:

• 24/7 customer support
• Digital marketing and advertising on Google, social media, and others
• Guest identity verification
• Reservation screening
• Protection for the host and for their space: AirCover - included with every reservation - provides up to $3 million in home damage and $1 million in liability insurance.
• Educational resources to help hosts get started and optimize the performance of their vacation rental

Airbnb Charges vs Other Listing Platforms

Before deciding on the best platform where to list your short-term rental, it’s important to understand and compare the fees that different websites charge. The fee structure and pricing determines how much money you will make as a host and how much money your guests will need to pay to stay at your property. From a host’s perspective, more competitive service fees translate into higher rental income and better cap rate.

Here we’ve looked at the service fees charged by three of the biggest Airbnb competitors.

Vrbo Charges for Hosts

Similar to Airbnb, Vrbo charges service fees to both hosts and guests.

Vrbo allows hosts to choose between one of two fee structures: pay-per-booking fees and subscription fees.

The pay-per-booking fee is the more common option that hosts choose because they pay a service fee only on actual reservations. In this case, property owners pay a 5% commission fee and a 3% payment processing fee. The 5% commission fee is charged on the rental amount and includes additional fees like cleaning fee, pet fee, etc. The 3% payment processing fee includes everything listed above in addition to taxes and refundable damage deposits.

Alternatively, hosts can opt for an annual subscription with a flat fee of $499 (as reported by third-party sources).

Vrbo also takes money from guests. The service fee charged to guests is calculated as a percentage of the total reservation amount excluding taxes and refundable fees. The fee varies, and Vrbo does not provide a range, stating that generally higher reservation amounts yield lower service fee percentages. Third-party sources report a standard range between 6% and 15%.

In some locations, VAT is charged on top of the service fee amount.

In most cases, Vrbo takes higher fees than Airbnb.

Booking.com Charges for Hosts

Unlike Airbnb and Vrbo, Booking.com charges a commission only to the property owner, while guests do not pay any service fee to the listing platform. This model makes Booking.com an attractive option for travelers, but a suboptimal choice for hosts who need to pay at a higher rate.

The commission percentage varies by country, location, and property type, but it starts at 15% of the total reservation amount. This includes the nightly rates plus additional fees like cleaning fee, pet fee, extra guest fee, and others.

In some locations, where it is required by law, the commission invoice includes the VAT for the reservation amount.

In general, hosts need to pay significantly more when they list their vacation rental on Booking.com rather than when they list their property on Airbnb.

Tripadvisor Charges for Hosts

Like Airbnb and Vrbo, Tripadvisor charges both short-term rental hosts and guests.

Property owners pay a standard 3% payment processing fee per booking. The commission is calculated on the total rent amount including extra fees like cleaning, pets, and others.

The Tripadvisor guest booking fee ranges between 8% and 16% of the rental rate and can sometimes be a bit lower than that. The rental amount on which the booking fee is charged excludes damage deposits and taxes.

The host fees that Tripadvisor charges make it a strong competitor of Airbnb in this regard.

Takeaway

Most Airbnb hosts can expect to pay a 3% service fee on their booking subtotals. Meanwhile, the platform charges guests around 14% of the same amount. Comparison with other vacation rental listing websites shows that the Airbnb fees and charges are competitive and do not exceed the industry averages.

Get your Airbnb managed by the best in the industry

• 

  ️4.8 Guest Rating

• 

  ️5-15 min Guest Response Time

• 

  ️15% of Monthly Revenue

Schedule a call Learn more