Airbnb vs Vrbo vs Booking.com host fees: the 2026 benchmark
The same $200-a-night booking can leave very different amounts in your bank account depending on which platform it came through. This page puts the three big platforms side by side. Every rate below was checked against the platform's own help pages or, where the platform publishes no rate, against multiple independent industry sources. All figures verified as of July 2026. Platforms change their fees, so treat your own statements as the final word.
The short version
| Platform | What the host pays | What the guest pays |
|---|---|---|
| Airbnb (split fee) | 3% of the booking subtotal for most hosts, 4% in Brazil and Mexico | Service fee of 14.1% to 16.5% of the subtotal |
| Airbnb (host-only fee) | 15.5% for most hosts, typically 14% to 16%, and 16% in Brazil and Mexico | No separate Airbnb service fee |
| Vrbo (pay-per-booking) | 5% commission plus a 3% payment processing fee | Vrbo charges guests its own service fee at booking |
| Booking.com | Commission that varies by country and property. Industry estimates put it at 10% to 25% with an average near 15%, plus a payment processing fee of roughly 1.1% to 3.1% if you use Payments by Booking.com | No separate guest service fee. The price the guest sees is the final price |
Sources: Airbnb Help Center, article 1857, Vrbo Help, pay-per-booking fees, Booking.com for Partners, Wise, and Guesty. Details and caveats for each platform follow below.
Airbnb: two structures, and 2026 is the year they merge
Airbnb runs two fee structures. Under the split fee, most hosts pay a 3% service fee on the booking subtotal (4% in Brazil and Mexico) and guests pay a service fee that ranges from 14.1% to 16.5% of the subtotal. Under the host-only fee, the host absorbs the whole platform charge. Most hosts on that structure pay 15.5%, the rest typically pay between 14% and 16%, and listings in Brazil and Mexico pay 16%. The host-only structure is mandatory for traditional hospitality listings such as hotels and serviced apartments, and for hosts who connect through property management software (Airbnb Help Center, article 1857).
The big change in 2026: Airbnb is sunsetting the split-fee structure for many hosts and migrating them to the single host-only fee. Airbnb's help page states that the split-fee structure will no longer be available to certain hosts. According to Airbnb's resource center as indexed in search and confirmed by several independent industry sources such as Smoobu, the deadline to adjust prices is September 15, 2026 for hosts outside the European Economic Area and October 13, 2026 for hosts inside the EEA or Switzerland. If you are still on the 3% split fee, plan your 2026 pricing around the higher percentage now rather than discovering it in your payouts later.
For a deeper walkthrough of how Airbnb applies these fees to cleaning fees and extra guest charges, see our guide Airbnb host fees explained.
Vrbo: 5% commission plus 3% processing
Vrbo's standard pay-per-booking model has two parts. A 5% commission applies to the rental amount and any additional fees you charge the traveler, such as cleaning, pet, and boat fees. A 3% payment processing fee applies to the total payment you receive from your guest, which includes taxes and refundable damage deposits (Vrbo Help).
That base difference matters. The 5% and the 3% are calculated on different amounts, so your effective total is usually a little above 8% of the subtotal once taxes and deposits pass through the processing fee.
Two variations worth knowing. Hosts who connect through property management software pay a 5% booking fee and skip the 3% processing fee, though in some regions such as Europe, Australia, or New Zealand the software rate can be 12% to 15% (Vrbo Help). Vrbo also used to sell an annual subscription instead of per-booking fees. Multiple independent sources, including Hostfully, report that the subscription is closed to new hosts and only existing subscribers can renew. Vrbo has no public page confirming this, so treat it as well-supported industry reporting rather than an official statement.
Booking.com: commission the platform does not publish
Booking.com states that its commission percentage varies by country and can also vary by property type or location, and it asks hosts to start registration to see their own rate (Booking.com for Partners). There is no single official number to quote.
Independent estimates are consistent with each other. Wise and Guesty both put the typical range at 10% to 25% for US hosts with the global and US average near 15%. If you use Payments by Booking.com to collect guest payments, the same sources report a processing fee of roughly 1.1% to 3.1% per transaction depending on region and risk profile.
One structural difference from Airbnb: Booking.com does not charge guests a separate service fee. The price the guest sees is the final price, and the host absorbs the full commission (Guesty). That makes a $200 listed rate on Booking.com economically different from a $200 listed rate on Airbnb's split structure, where the guest pays around 14% to 16.5% on top.
The benchmark: what lands in your account from the same booking
Example: the tables below take the same accommodation subtotal (nightly rate times nights, no cleaning fee, no taxes) and apply each platform's host-side percentage. These are original StaySums calculations, verified as of July 2026 against the rates cited above. Rates change and your own rate may differ, especially on Booking.com.
Assumptions, so you can redo the math with your own numbers:
- Airbnb split fee: payout = subtotal × 0.97 (3% host fee)
- Airbnb host-only fee: payout = subtotal × 0.845 (15.5%, the rate most hosts pay)
- Vrbo: payout = subtotal × 0.92 (5% commission + 3% processing, both applied to the subtotal here for simplicity. In practice the 3% also covers taxes and deposits, which nudges the real cost slightly higher)
- Booking.com: payout = subtotal × 0.85 (15% assumed commission, the industry-average estimate. Payments by Booking.com processing of 1.1% to 3.1% would come out on top of this)
3-night stays
| Nightly rate | Subtotal | Airbnb split (×0.97) | Airbnb host-only (×0.845) | Vrbo (×0.92) | Booking.com (×0.85) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $100 | $300 | $291.00 | $253.50 | $276.00 | $255.00 |
| $200 | $600 | $582.00 | $507.00 | $552.00 | $510.00 |
| $350 | $1,050 | $1,018.50 | $887.25 | $966.00 | $892.50 |
7-night stays
| Nightly rate | Subtotal | Airbnb split (×0.97) | Airbnb host-only (×0.845) | Vrbo (×0.92) | Booking.com (×0.85) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $100 | $700 | $679.00 | $591.50 | $644.00 | $595.00 |
| $200 | $1,400 | $1,358.00 | $1,183.00 | $1,288.00 | $1,190.00 |
| $350 | $2,450 | $2,376.50 | $2,070.25 | $2,254.00 | $2,082.50 |
Reading the $1,400 row: the split-fee Airbnb host keeps $1,358, the host-only Airbnb host keeps $1,183, the Vrbo host keeps $1,288, and the Booking.com host keeps $1,190 at an average commission. That is a $175 spread on one week-long booking before you count cleaning fees or taxes. Remember that the guest-side price differs too. The Airbnb split-fee guest paid a service fee on top of the $1,400, while the Booking.com guest paid exactly what they saw.
Want the same math on your own numbers, including cleaning fees? Use our free host fee calculator, or model a whole month of occupancy with the profit calculator.
Payout timing: who pays you fastest
| Platform | When the payout is released | When it reaches your bank |
|---|---|---|
| Airbnb | About 24 hours after guest check-in | Fast Pay or pay to card in 30 minutes or less, bank account in 3 to 5 business days, ACH in 3 business days (USA and Puerto Rico only), international wire in 3 to 7 business days |
| Vrbo | Typically one business day after guest check-in | Usually 5 to 7 business days after disbursement. New hosts whose first booking is less than 30 days away are typically paid 30 days after the guest's payment |
| Booking.com (bank transfer via Payments by Booking.com) | Processed after checkout on your chosen schedule | Daily payments process one day after checkout. Weekly payments process every Thursday for the prior Thursday-to-Wednesday checkouts. Monthly payments process by the 15th of the month after checkout |
Sources: Airbnb Help Center, article 425, Vrbo Help, about your payouts, Booking.com for Partners.
Notice that Airbnb and Vrbo both anchor payouts to check-in while Booking.com anchors to checkout. For a 7-night stay paid monthly, the Booking.com money can arrive weeks after an Airbnb payout for the same dates. If cash flow is tight, this timing gap deserves a line in your forecasting.
Tax collection: three platforms, three different answers
All three platforms collect and remit lodging taxes in some places. None of them does it everywhere, and the gaps differ by platform and by jurisdiction.
- Airbnb automatically collects and remits certain taxes on hosts' behalf in eligible jurisdictions. Hosts may still need to manually collect and remit other applicable taxes, and whether or not Airbnb collects, it does not change the payout amount you receive (Airbnb Help Center, article 1036).
- Vrbo tells hosts: you cannot opt out of its collection and remittance of lodging tax in jurisdictions where it is required by law to collect and remit or where it has an agreement with the tax authority, and you are also responsible for collecting and remitting lodging taxes when Vrbo is not liable to do so (Vrbo Help).
- Booking.com confirms it does not charge commission on city taxes and similar local taxes, but its tax collection footprint also varies by market (Booking.com for Partners).
Tax compliance firm Avalara puts the practical rule bluntly: never assume your STR marketplaces are taking care of lodging tax compliance for you, because a marketplace may have collection agreements with some jurisdictions and none with others (Avalara MyLodgeTax). Some state marketplace facilitator laws even carve lodging out. In Washington, a business is not a marketplace facilitator if it enables consumers to purchase lodging in a hotel or similar facility, and Kansas excludes facilitated hotel accommodations from its marketplace collection rules (Avalara).
The bookkeeping consequence: for each platform you list on, record which taxes the platform remitted and which ones you still owe. If you run the same property on two platforms, you can easily owe local tax on your Booking.com revenue while Airbnb handles the same tax automatically. Our guide on tracking income and expenses covers how to keep those buckets separate, and if you are deciding how the income gets reported, see Schedule C vs Schedule E.
How to use this benchmark
- Find your real rates. Check your fee structure in your Airbnb settings (especially with the 2026 migration deadlines approaching), your Vrbo model, and your actual Booking.com contract rate. The averages here are for orientation.
- Price per platform. A single nightly rate across all three platforms means your net differs on every booking. Many hosts add the fee difference to their Booking.com and host-only Airbnb rates.
- Reconcile every payout. Expected payout equals subtotal minus your platform's cut. When the bank deposit does not match, you want to notice that week.