How Much Does Airbnb Take From Hosts in Fees?
As many of you know, Airbnb charges a not so small fee on each booking to help cover the costs of running their platform, including 24/7 customer support and lining there pockets. Claims online of hosts and / or guests having to pay an upwards total of 15% are in fact true. Some of you may argue that these fees are justified and I would agree if it weren't for the hidden costs that host take on unknowinglying. Essentially there are two types of fee structures. Split Fees and Host-Only Fees.
Split Fee: This is the most common type of fee structure, where both the host and guest pay a portion of the fee.
- Hosts typically pay 3% of the booking subtotal (the nightly price plus any additional fees).
- Guests pay a service fee that's usually under 14.2% of the booking subtotal.
Example:
Let's say you're a guest booking a room for $100 per night, with a total booking cost of $500 (5 nights). The host is charging an additional
cleaning fee of $50.
- Booking subtotal: $500 (nightly price) + $50 (cleaning fee) = $550
- Host service fee: 3% of $550 = $16.50 (deducted from the host's payout)
- Guest service fee: let's say 12% of $550 = $66 (added to the guest's booking cost)
So, the total amount paid by the guest would be: $550 (booking subtotal) + $66 (guest service fee) = $616
Host-Only Fee: In this structure, only the host pays the entire fee, which is usually between 14-16% of the booking subtotal.
Example:
Let's say you're a host listing your property for $100 per night, with a total booking cost of $500 (5 nights).
- Booking subtotal: $500
- Host service fee: let's say 15% of $500 = $75 (deducted from the host's payout)
So, the host would receive a payout of: $500 (booking subtotal) - $75 (host service fee) = $425
Additional, "I got you costs"
- If you're a guest paying in a different currency than what's set by the host for their listing, your service fee may be higher (up to 16.5%).
- If you're a host with a Super Strict cancellation policy or have traditional hospitality listings (like hotels), you may pay a higher fee.
- Taxes! Airbnb includes VAT (Value-Added Tax) in their fees where applicable. If you're a guest, your service fee will already include any applicable VAT.
Seeing the fees broken down may actually cause us to pause and think about the bigger picture. Everytime you rent your precious at a minimuim you and the guest are giving approximately 15% of your combined resources to Airbnb. Just for bring you host and guest together. In my book that is crazy considering the laws, maintenance costs of upkeeping our dwellings.
Nowadays, more hosts are waking up and are turning to direct booking as a solution to this problem among other concerns such as AirCover being broken, and the hotel lobby influencing laws for hosting STR's. We offer a solution that makes direct booking more attainable.