Airbnb Host Fees Explained (2026): 15.5% Host-Only vs 3% Split Fee

Airbnb's host fee is the commission the platform deducts from each reservation before it pays the host, and in 2026 it changed more than it had in a decade. The 3% fee that most US hosts paid for years is gone for new bookings. In its place sits a single host-only fee that most hosts pay at 15.5%, with no separate charge to the guest.

As of October 2026, Airbnb charges most hosts a single host-only service fee of 15.5% of the booking subtotal, deducted from the payout; guests pay no separate Airbnb service fee. The subtotal is the nightly rate plus cleaning, pet and extra-guest fees, before taxes. Some hosts pay 14% to 16%, and listings in Brazil and Mexico pay 16%. Software-connected hosts moved first, in October 2025 and April 2026; remaining hosts outside the European Economic Area switched by September 15, 2026, and EEA and Swiss hosts by October 13, 2026. The legacy split fee, about 3% from the host plus a guest fee of 14.1% to 16.5%, applies only to bookings made before a host's switch date. Where VAT or GST applies to the fee, unregistered hosts pay it on top.

The rest of this post explains what that means in dollars: what the fee is charged on, what a booking pays out under each structure, why covering a 15.5% fee takes an 18.34% price increase, and how the picture differs for hosts in the UK, Canada and Australia.

Key facts

• Most Airbnb hosts pay a 15.5% host-only service fee on the booking subtotal, per Airbnb's service fee page as read in October 2026. Remaining hosts typically pay 14% to 16%; Brazil and Mexico listings pay 16%.
• The subtotal is the nightly rate plus cleaning, pet and extra-guest fees, excluding taxes. On a 4-night, $200-a-night stay with a $100 cleaning fee, the $900 subtotal carries a $139.50 fee and pays out $760.50.
• The legacy split fee charged the host about 3% and the guest 14.1% to 16.5%. The same $900 booking paid the host $873 and cost the guest $1,026.90 to $1,048.50 before taxes.
• The switch dates were October 27, 2025 for US and Canadian software-connected hosts, April 13, 2026 for software-connected hosts elsewhere, September 15, 2026 for other hosts outside the EEA, and October 13, 2026 for the EEA and Switzerland, per Rental Scale-Up's timeline of Airbnb's notices.
• Holding the payout you had under the split fee takes a 14.79% price increase (0.97 divided by 0.845). Netting your full listed price takes 18.34% (1 divided by 0.845).

The two fee structures, side by side

Airbnb has run two fee structures for years. What changed in 2025 and 2026 is which one is the default.

The fee base did not change. What changed is who writes the check. Under the split fee, the guest's service fee was the larger of the two lines, and the host's 3% was close to a rounding error on the payout. Under the host-only fee, the platform's entire take comes out of the host's side, and the guest sees a single price.

What the fee is charged on

Airbnb calculates the fee on the booking subtotal: the nightly rate times the number of nights, plus any cleaning fee, pet fee and extra-guest charge. Taxes, the guest service fee where one still exists, and any security deposit are excluded. Because cleaning fees sit inside the base, a $150 cleaning fee that cost $4.50 in host fees under the split structure costs $23.25 under the host-only fee.

A worked example. A host lists a property at $200 per night with a $100 cleaning fee, and a guest books four nights. The subtotal is $900.

• Host-only fee at 15.5%: Airbnb deducts $139.50 and pays the host $760.50. The guest pays $900 before taxes.
• Split fee (legacy): Airbnb deducts $27 and pays the host $873. The guest pays a service fee of $126.90 to $148.50 on top, so $1,026.90 to $1,048.50 before taxes.

The platform's combined take on that booking was $153.90 to $175.50 under the split fee, or 17.1% to 19.5% of the subtotal. At 15.5%, the host-only fee is slightly less than the old combined take, which is why Airbnb has described the change as revenue-neutral. The money has not shrunk. It has moved onto the host's statement.

Airbnb releases the payout about 24 hours after check-in for most hosts, net of the fee and any withholding. Hosts in some jurisdictions also see occupancy taxes collected and remitted by Airbnb on the guest's side.

Why 15.5% costs more than 15.5%

The instinct after a fee increase is to add the fee back on top of the old price. The arithmetic does not work that way, because the fee is charged on the new, higher price.

To net the same dollars you listed for, divide by what is left after the fee. A host who wants to keep $200 a night lists at $200 divided by 0.845, which is $236.69, an 18.34% increase. Raising by 15.5% to $231 nets $195.20 and leaves $4.80 a night on the table.

Most hosts have a narrower goal: the payout they had under the split fee. That takes a 14.79% increase, because 0.97 divided by 0.845 is 1.1479. A $200 night becomes $229.59, and the payout is $194, exactly what 3% left behind. Guests come out roughly even, since the 14.1% to 16.5% fee they used to pay disappears at the same time. The September 15 repricing checklist walks through the full method, including the cleaning fee, which needs the same increase.

Who still pays something different

The 15.5% figure covers most hosts, but Airbnb's own page describes a range, and a few situations sit outside it.

• 14% to 16%. Airbnb says remaining hosts on the host-only fee typically pay between 14% and 16%. The rate for your listing appears in your payout breakdown and in the host dashboard.
• Brazil and Mexico. Listings there pay 16%.
• Bookings made before you switched. A reservation taken under the split fee keeps it, even for a stay after your switch date. Expect a few split-fee payouts into 2027 for long lead times.
• Direct booking links. Airbnb is piloting host-shared links that carry a reported 6% to 10% fee on bookings the host brought in. Those reservations still check out on Airbnb; our post on Airbnb's direct booking links covers the terms as hosts have reported them.
• Tax on the fee. Texas charges sales tax on a portion of Airbnb's service fee, which raises the Texas markup to about 19.5% for now. Outside the US, VAT and GST do the same job; see below.

Outside the United States

The fee base and the 15.5% rate are the same abroad. What changes is tax on the fee and, in some places, the date the switch happened. These notes reflect what we could verify as of October 2026; the fee line on your own payout is the final word.

United Kingdom

UK hosts moved to the host-only fee on June 22, 2026, ahead of the general deadline, according to Rental Scale-Up's migration timeline. Airbnb's VAT help page states that its service fees for UK customers are subject to 20% VAT, so a host who is not VAT registered pays an effective 18.6% of the subtotal: £186 on a £1,000 booking rather than £155. A VAT-registered host accounts for the VAT directly and can generally recover it, which brings the cost back to 15.5%. Whether to register is a question for an accountant, since the threshold and the treatment of holiday lets have their own rules.

Canada

Canadian hosts on property management software were in Airbnb's first wave on October 27, 2025; the rest followed by September 15, 2026. Airbnb's VAT help page says service fees for customers in Canada carry 5% GST, which lifts the fee to 16.275% of the subtotal for hosts who cannot claim it back (C$162.75 on C$1,000). Hosts registered for GST/HST recover the tax as an input credit. We could not confirm from an Airbnb page whether provincial tax or QST applies on top of the 5% in HST provinces or Quebec, so check the tax line on a recent payout. Separately, Airbnb collects GST/HST/QST from guests on the accommodation itself for hosts who are not registered, per its Canadian tax page.

Australia

Airbnb's Australian help page says its service fees are subject to 10% GST, and that GST-registered hosts who add an ABN may not be charged it. For everyone else the host-only fee costs 17.05% of the subtotal, A$170.50 on A$1,000, and because residential rent is input-taxed that GST is generally not recoverable. Remaining Australian hosts fell under the September 15, 2026 deadline for hosts outside the EEA, though property managers report that some cohorts moved earlier.

European Economic Area and Switzerland

Hosts in the EEA and Switzerland had the final deadline, October 13, 2026. Airbnb charges VAT on its fees at each country's rate, so the effective host-side cost runs from 15.5% for VAT-registered hosts to 19.1% in a 23% VAT country for unregistered ones.

How Airbnb compares with Vrbo and Booking.com

Most serious hosts list on more than one channel, and all three large platforms now charge the host a percentage in the same band.

As of October 2026, Vrbo is replacing its pay-per-booking fees with a single 12% commission for bookings made on or after October 29, 2026, announced on September 29, 2026. The commission applies to the rental amount plus mandatory host fees such as cleaning and pet fees, excluding taxes and refundable deposits, and it includes payment processing for hosts paid through Vrbo; Expedia Group says the rate runs 12% to 15% by region and brand. Before the change, hosts paid a 5% commission plus a 3% payment processing fee, about 8% in total, or 5% alone when a property management system handled payments. Legacy annual subscriptions convert at the end of their term. Vrbo still charges travelers a separate service fee that it does not disclose and now prices dynamically.

Booking.com states a global average commission of 15%, set per property and country, and adds a 1.1% to 3.1% fee when it collects the guest's payment. Guests there see no separate service fee, so it has worked as a host-only market for years.

On a $1,000 booking, the host payouts are $880 on Vrbo at 12%, $850 on Booking.com at 15% (less any payment fee), and $845 on Airbnb at 15.5%. The side-by-side on one booking, including the traveler fee Vrbo still charges, is in Vrbo vs. Airbnb host fees, and the Booking.com stack, Genius discount included, is in what Booking.com actually charges hosts.

What the fee means for your payout

The headline percentage understates the effect at scale. A portfolio booking $500,000 a year on Airbnb paid roughly $15,000 in host fees under the split structure. Under the host-only fee it pays $77,500, and the guests who used to cover most of that difference now pay nothing extra, which is why the price increase above is not optional.

Two habits keep the number honest. Pull a payout report and divide what you kept by what you listed, so the effective rate on your own bookings is a figure you have seen rather than one you have read. Then price each channel on its own cost: the markup that covers 15.5% on Airbnb overshoots on a direct booking, where the only deduction is card processing at about 2.9% plus 30 cents. Haven's free Airbnb and Vrbo fee calculator runs a year of bookings across all three platforms and shows what moving a share of them to direct would save.

For the dollars on a single booking under each structure, including a per-booking table, read how much Airbnb takes from hosts. This post is about the structure; that one is about the cost.

FAQ

What percentage does Airbnb take from hosts in 2026?

Most hosts pay a 15.5% host-only service fee on the booking subtotal, which is the nightly rate plus cleaning, pet and extra-guest fees before taxes. Remaining hosts typically pay 14% to 16%, and listings in Brazil and Mexico pay 16%. Guests pay no separate Airbnb service fee under this structure.

Is the 3% Airbnb host fee gone?

For new bookings, yes. The 3% split fee, which paired with a guest service fee of 14.1% to 16.5%, applied only until a host's switch date: October 27, 2025 and April 13, 2026 for software-connected hosts, September 15, 2026 for other hosts outside the EEA, and October 13, 2026 for the EEA and Switzerland. Bookings made before the switch keep it.

Does Airbnb charge the host fee on the cleaning fee?

Yes. The fee is calculated on the whole subtotal, and cleaning, pet and extra-guest fees are part of it. A $150 cleaning fee carries a $23.25 fee at 15.5%. Taxes and security deposits are excluded.

How much do I need to raise my price to cover the 15.5% fee?

Divide by 0.845 rather than adding 15.5%. To net $200 a night, list at $236.69, an 18.34% increase. To keep the payout you had under the 3% split fee, raise prices 14.79%, which is 0.97 divided by 0.845.

Do hosts outside the US pay more than 15.5%?

Often, because of tax on the fee. UK hosts who are not VAT registered pay 20% VAT on it, an effective 18.6%. Australian hosts who are not GST registered pay 10% GST, an effective 17.05%. Airbnb says Canadian service fees carry 5% GST, about 16.3%. Registered hosts generally recover the tax and pay 15.5%.

Sources

• Airbnb Help Center — Airbnb service fees (accessed October 2026)
• Airbnb Resource Center — Simplifying Airbnb service fees (accessed October 2026)
• Airbnb Help Center — Value Added Tax (VAT) and how it applies to you (accessed October 2026)
• Airbnb Help Center — Tax collection and remittance by Airbnb in Canada (accessed October 2026)
• Airbnb — Q2 2026 shareholder letter (SEC Form 8-K exhibit, August 6, 2026)
• Rental Scale-Up — Airbnb's 15.5% Host-Only Fee Is Coming for All Hosts (accessed October 2026)
• Rental Scale-Up — Airbnb Host Fee VAT: Why 15.5% Is Really 19.1% (accessed October 2026)
• Hospitable — Airbnb Service Fees: Split Fee vs Host-Only Fee (accessed October 2026)
• RoomRaccoon — Airbnb Host Fees UK: Rates, VAT and Costs Explained (2026) (accessed October 2026)
• Houst — Airbnb Hosting Fees Australia: The 15.5% Fee Explained (accessed October 2026)
• Expedia Group newsroom — Vrbo Compensation Model Changes (October 1, 2026; accessed October 2026)
• Booking.com Partner Help — Understanding our commission (accessed October 2026)
• Stripe — Pricing (accessed October 2026)