Airbnb vs Vrbo vs Booking.com fees for hosts (2026)

Host fees at a glance

All three big platforms changed or confirmed their host fees for 2026. Here is where they stand.

Airbnb fees for hosts

Airbnb moved hosts from a split fee to a single host-only fee. Most hosts now pay 15.5% of the booking subtotal, which is the nightly price plus the fees you charge, such as cleaning. Taxes are excluded. Under the old split most hosts paid 3% and the guest paid a separate service fee.

The final deadlines for the change are September 15, 2026 outside the EEA and October 13, 2026 for the EEA and Switzerland. The details, the repricing formula and a calculator are in Airbnb host fees in 2026.

Vrbo fees for owners

Does Vrbo charge a fee to owners? Yes. Until now there were two models:

• Pay-per-booking. A 5% commission plus a 3% payment processing fee, so about 8% in total.
• Annual subscription. A yearly fee per listing, $699 at its last price. It has been closed to new hosts since August 2025.

Vrbo has told hosts it is moving everyone to a flat 12% commission from October 29, 2026. For a pay-per-booking host that is a jump from about 8% to 12%.

Booking.com commission rate

Booking.com does not have one rate for everyone. Your commission is set per property and depends on things like your country and property type. It usually falls between 10% and 25%, and about 15% is the commonly quoted average. It is calculated on the rate plus the fees the guest pays at booking.

Two things can add to it:

• Payments by Booking.com. If Booking.com handles the guest’s payment for you, a processing fee can apply.
• The Preferred Partner programme. Extra visibility in exchange for extra commission.

Your exact rate is in your extranet. Look it up before you compare channels, because a 12% listing and a 20% listing are very different businesses.

A worked example: one $660 booking

Take a 4-night stay at $150 a night with a $60 cleaning fee. The booking subtotal is $660.

These are estimates. VAT on platform fees, payment processing and your own Booking.com rate will move the numbers. With 25 bookings like this a year, Airbnb’s fee adds up to about $2,560 and Vrbo’s to about $1,980.

Which platform is cheapest for hosts?

On the published rates, Vrbo is the cheapest of the three from October 29, 2026, Airbnb is the most expensive for most hosts, and Booking.com depends on your property. But the fee is only one input. A platform that fills more nights at a higher rate can still be worth more to you.

A sensible approach:

1. Price each channel so that your payout is the same after its fee.
2. Keep the platforms for what they do well, which is finding new guests.
3. Send repeat guests, referrals and people who search for your property by name to a channel with no commission.

Where a direct booking site fits

A direct booking website is the only channel in the table where the fee does not grow with the booking. On Direct Booking Page the cost is $99 a year with 0% commission. Guests send a booking request to your email and pay you directly. Online payment into your own account is coming soon.

It does not replace the platforms. It sits next to them. We compare the two honestly in direct booking vs Airbnb, and how to get direct bookings covers how to fill it.