Vacation Rental Host Fee Calculator See Exactly What Airbnb, VRBO & Booking.com Take — 2026

Airbnb charges 15.5% on your full booking subtotal — including your cleaning fee. VRBO charges 8% (5% commission + 3% payment processing, shown separately). Booking.com charges 15% after any Genius discount. Enter a booking. See exactly what each platform takes and what you keep.

Exact Fee Breakdown — Per Booking
Updated for Airbnb's 2025–2026 Fee Change
100% Offline — No Data Sent Anywhere
Calculate My Host Fees →

No account · No subscription · Open the file, see the breakdown

Single-Booking Fee Comparison

Host fee and guest fee are not the same number, and this calculator is about the one that actually comes out of your payout. Enter a single booking below and it strips out each platform's host-side charge so you can see what Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com really cost you, the host, on one reservation. The guest's separate service fee is set aside on purpose; what is left is the money that lands in your account.

Gross booking value: $540.00  (nightly rate × nights + cleaning fee)

Airbnb
Net Payout to Host
$523.80
Effective Fee
3.00%
Host fee 3% (guest pays ~14% on top, separately)
VRBO
Net Payout to Host
$496.80
Effective Fee
8.00%
Pay-per-booking: 5% commission + 3% payment = 8%
Booking.com
Net Payout to Host
$459.00
Effective Fee
15.00%
Standard 15% commission, Virtual Card (no extra payment fee)

This shows the host fee on one booking only. To see what you truly net, the full Vacation Rental Profit Calculator layers in monthly profit and loss with operating costs and taxes, 12-month seasonal planning, and multi-property bulk-CSV import/export.

Get the Full Calculator →

Airbnb's 2025–2026 Fee Change: What Every Host Needs to Know

In late 2025, Airbnb completed a major fee restructure. Here is what changed and what it means for your payout.

OLD MODEL — Split-Fee (some self-managed hosts still qualify)
Host pays: ~3% of booking subtotal
Guest pays: 14–16.5% service fee on top of your price
Effect: Your listed price looks higher to guests because of the guest fee
NEW MODEL — Host-Only (mandatory for PMS-connected hosts since Oct 27, 2025)
Host pays: 15.5% of full booking subtotal (including cleaning fee)
Guest pays: nothing extra — your listed price is their final price
Effect: Guests see a cleaner price. Your payout is reduced.
// WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR NIGHTLY RATE:
If you were on the split-fee model at $150/night:
Old payout: $150 × 97% = $145.50
New payout at same rate: $150 × 84.5% = $126.75
Difference: -$18.75 per night

// To maintain the same net payout at $145.50:
$145.50 ÷ 0.845 = $172.19/night (a 14.8% rate increase needed)

// Regional notes:
Mexico listings: 16% from June 2026
France / Germany: 15.5% + 20% VAT → effective rate ~18.6%

Source: airbnb.com/help/article/1857 — always verify current rates directly with Airbnb before making pricing decisions.

Host Fee Calculation — Real Booking Examples

AIRBNB host-only (15.5%)
$200/night × 4 nights + $80 cleaning fee
Gross subtotal: $880
Airbnb fee (15.5%) -$136.40
Your payout $743.60

Effective rate: 15.5% of everything including cleaning

VRBO pay-per-booking (8%)
Same booking: $880 gross subtotal
Commission (5%) -$44.00
Payment processing (3%) -$26.40
Total VRBO fees -$70.40
Your payout $809.60

+$66.00 more than Airbnb on this booking

BOOKING.COM (15% + Genius 10%)
Same booking with Genius 10% discount active
Genius discount (10%) -$88.00
Adjusted revenue $792.00
Commission (15%) -$118.80
Your payout $673.20

True effective platform cost: ~23.5% of original gross

Platform Fees Are Just the First Layer

The platform fee is the most visible cost — but it is rarely the largest. For most hosts with a mortgage, the cost structure looks like this:

Gross Revenue (70% occ · $150/night · Airbnb) $3,200
Airbnb Host Fee (15.5%) -$496
Mortgage -$1,800
Insurance -$150
Utilities -$200
Cleaning (7 stays × $60) -$420
Monthly Net Profit $134

The platform fee was $496. The mortgage was $1,800. Most hosts optimize their platform fee while ignoring the bigger levers. The full Profit Calculator shows your complete P&L — not just fees.

See Your Full P&L → Full P&L · Break-Even Finder · Platform Comparison

Frequently Asked Questions

Airbnb calculates the 15.5% on your full booking subtotal, which includes the nightly rate multiplied by the number of nights, plus your cleaning fee, plus any other host-set charges. A $100 cleaning fee costs you an additional $15.50 in Airbnb host fees on top of what you paid to clean.
No. Hosts who self-manage without any property management software (PMS) may still qualify for the split-fee model (3% host fee, guest pays 14–16.5%). As of May 2026, PMS-connected hosts are on the mandatory 15.5% host-only model. Some regions have different rates: Brazil 16%, Mexico 16% from June 2026.
VRBO's fee has two components: 5% commission on the booking value, and 3% payment processing fee. Both apply to the full booking subtotal (nightly rate × nights + cleaning fee + any extras). They are separate line items in your payout breakdown — not a flat 8%.
Yes. Booking.com charges commission on the total reservation value, which includes your cleaning fee. At 15% commission, a $100 cleaning fee costs you $15 in additional commission.
The Genius loyalty program offers Booking.com's frequent travelers a discount (typically 10–25%) on your nightly rate. If enrolled, your gross revenue is reduced by the discount before commission is calculated. At 10% Genius discount + 15% commission, your effective platform cost is approximately 23.5% of your original listed price.
A host fee is the cut a booking platform deducts from the host's side of a reservation, separate from any service fee the guest pays. In this comparison Airbnb's host fee is 3% on the split-fee model, VRBO's is 8% on pay-per-booking (5% commission plus 3% payment processing), and Booking.com's is a flat 15% commission. It is the only platform charge that actually reduces the payout hitting your account.
On pay-per-booking, VRBO charges hosts 8% per reservation: a 5% commission plus a 3% payment processing fee. On a $540 booking that is $43.20, leaving a $496.80 payout, exactly what the VRBO card shows above. Hosts with high VRBO volume can instead pay a flat annual subscription, which only makes sense once your yearly VRBO revenue is large enough to beat the 8%.
Yes. On all three platforms the cleaning fee you collect is folded into the gross booking value, and the host fee is applied to that whole amount, not just the nightly room rate. That is why the calculator above adds your cleaning fee into gross before taking each platform's percentage. A higher cleaning fee raises the dollar amount of fees you pay, even though the rate percentage stays the same.

Important Disclaimer

The fee information on this page and in the associated calculator tool is based on publicly available data from Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com as of May 2026. Platform fee structures change without notice. The calculation examples on this page are illustrative only. Always verify current fee rates directly with each platform before making pricing or business decisions.

This tool is intended as a decision-support aid only. It does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Users are solely responsible for verifying platform fees and for all decisions made based on the information provided. Smart Local Tools accepts no liability for outcomes resulting from the use of this calculator or the information on this page.

More Tools for Hosts & Online Sellers

All tools by Smart Local Tools — offline, no subscription, no account

Main Tool
Vacation Rental Profit Calculator
Full P&L, All Platforms →
Invoice Generator
Create professional invoices offline. Download as PDF instantly.
Shopify Profit Calculator
Calculate your real Shopify profit after fees, COGS, and shipping.
Amazon FBA Profit Calculator
FBA fees, referral fees, storage costs — see your real Amazon profit.
FBA Fee Auditor
Audit your Amazon FBA fees and find overcharges automatically.
Amazon Listing Quality Checker
Score your Amazon listing quality and get optimization tips.
Etsy Profit Calculator
Calculate Etsy profit after listing fees, transaction fees, and shipping.

Related Guides

Guide
Airbnb Break-Even Occupancy Calculator
Calculate the exact occupancy rate you need to break even — based on your real costs, not market averages.
Guide
Airbnb vs VRBO vs Booking.com — Fee Comparison 2026
See the annual profit difference between all 3 platforms for your specific nightly rate and booking volume.
Main Tool
Vacation Rental Profit Calculator — Full P&L
Beyond fees: full P&L with mortgage, cleaning, taxes, break-even gauge, 12-month planner, and CSV portfolio mode.