Vrbo vs. Airbnb Host Fees (2026): 12% vs. 15.5% on the Same $1,000 Booking

Put the same $1,000 booking on both platforms and the host side reads like this: Vrbo keeps $120 and pays you $880, Airbnb keeps $155 and pays you $845. Those are the numbers for a booking made on or after October 29, 2026, when Vrbo's single 12% commission replaces its old 5% plus 3% structure, and for any Airbnb host already on the 15.5% host-only fee, which as of October 2026 is nearly all of them.

The $35 gap is real. It is also only half of the comparison, because Vrbo still charges the traveler a service fee on top of your price and Airbnb no longer does. Where that traveler fee lands decides which platform pays more at the same guest total, and Vrbo has not published it. This post works the full booking on both sides, then covers the UK, Canada and Australia, where VAT and GST change the host-side number. For Airbnb alone, see the Airbnb host fees explainer.

Key facts

• Airbnb's host-only service fee is 15.5% of the booking subtotal for most hosts, with no separate guest service fee. On a $1,000 booking the host is paid $845, per Airbnb's service fee page as read in October 2026.
• Vrbo moves to a single 12% commission for bookings made on or after October 29, 2026, which includes payment processing for hosts paid through Vrbo. On a $1,000 booking the host is paid $880. Before that date, pay-per-booking hosts paid about 8% ($920 payout) and software-connected hosts 5% ($950), per Expedia Group's October 1, 2026 FAQ.
• Vrbo still charges travelers a service fee it does not disclose; Skift reported the old range as 11% to 14%, and Vrbo says the new fee will be priced dynamically and will typically be lower.
• At the same guest total, Airbnb pays the host more unless Vrbo's traveler fee ends up below roughly 4.1% (0.88 divided by 0.845 is 1.0414).
• UK hosts pay 20% VAT on both platforms' fees unless they are VAT registered, which turns 15.5% into 18.6% and 12% into 14.4%. Australian hosts pay 10% GST on Airbnb's fee unless registered; Canadian hosts pay 5% GST on it.

The same $1,000 booking on both platforms

Use a booking with a $1,000 subtotal: nightly rate plus cleaning fee, before taxes. Both platforms charge their host fee on that whole subtotal, cleaning fee included.

Three things stand out. On the host line, Vrbo is cheaper by $35 after October 29 and by $75 before it. On the guest line, Vrbo is the only one of the three channels that adds a fee at checkout, which is why its listed price undersells the guest's real cost. And the direct column shows what the platforms are being paid for: a card processor takes $29.30 on the same stay, so the rest of each fee buys distribution, payments handling, support and protection.

At the same guest total

Suppose you want a Vrbo guest to pay exactly what an Airbnb guest pays, $1,000 before taxes. You have to list lower, so that your price plus Vrbo's traveler fee lands at $1,000, and your 12% commission then comes out of that lower price.

• Traveler fee at 14%: list $877.19, commission $105.26, payout $771.93.
• Traveler fee at 10%: list $909.09, commission $109.09, payout $800.00.
• Traveler fee at 5%: list $952.38, commission $114.29, payout $838.10.
• Traveler fee at 4.1%: list $960.61, commission $115.27, payout $845.34, level with Airbnb.

So the question that settles this comparison is one Vrbo has not answered. Below a traveler fee of about 4%, Vrbo pays the host more at equal guest cost; above it, Airbnb does. Skift reported the old fee at 11% to 14%, and Vrbo's FAQ says the new one "will typically be lower" and will be set dynamically. Watch a logged-out checkout on your own listing after October 29, because the fee you see there is the number the table above is missing.

How Airbnb's fee works

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 practical consequence is that Airbnb's listed price is now the guest's price. A host who wants to net $1,000 lists at $1,183.43, because the fee comes off the listed amount and 1 divided by 0.845 is 1.1834. Our repricing checklist covers that arithmetic, including why raising by 15.5% leaves you short.

How Vrbo's fee works

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.

Two details matter for the comparison. The rate follows the booking date, not the stay date, so a reservation taken on October 28 for next summer keeps the old rate. And hosts who keep merchant-of-record status, collecting the guest's card themselves, pay the 12% plus their own processor's fee, which Skift puts at about 3%. The full repricing math is in our Vrbo 12% commission post, and the processing answer is in what the 12% includes.

What the fee comparison does not tell you

Commission rates alone do not decide which platform produces better host economics. A few other items move the result.

Discounts and placement. Vrbo auto-enrolled listings in Members Only Deals of 12% to 20% in September 2026, funded by the host and applied before commission. Both platforms are building paid placement: Vrbo's sponsored listings bill at least $5 per booked night, and Airbnb's CEO has priced a sponsored listings product at $1 billion a year without launching one.

Cancellations. Both platforms charge hosts who cancel on a 10%, 25% and 50% schedule with a $50 minimum; Vrbo adds a 100% tier at or after check-in and a seven-day listing suspension. See what it costs to cancel an Airbnb guest and Vrbo's host refund policy.

Booking.com. The third large platform charges hosts a commission averaging 15% and adds a 1.1% to 3.1% fee when it handles payment, so it sits between Vrbo and Airbnb on the headline rate and above Airbnb once the payment fee is included. Our Booking.com commission post stacks those numbers.

Guest mix. Vrbo skews toward longer family stays, which means fewer transactions and less cleaning-fee drag per dollar; Airbnb has the broader urban and international inventory. A beach house taking 20 bookings a year and a city apartment taking 80 will see different results on each platform regardless of which fee is nominally lower.

Outside the United States

Both fees are charged on the same base abroad, but tax on the fee itself changes the host-side number, and the switch dates differ. What follows is what we could verify as of October 2026; confirm the fee line on your own payout.

United Kingdom

Airbnb moved UK hosts to the 15.5% host-only fee on June 22, 2026, ahead of the general September deadline, according to Rental Scale-Up's migration timeline. Airbnb's VAT help page says its service fees for UK customers carry 20% VAT, so a host who is not VAT registered pays 18.6% of the subtotal (15.5% times 1.2); on a £1,000 booking that is £186 instead of £155. VAT-registered hosts account for the VAT themselves and can generally recover it, which leaves the effective rate at 15.5%. Vrbo's commission carries 20% VAT the same way, so the 12% commission costs an unregistered UK host 14.4%. We could not confirm from a Vrbo page that the UK rate is 12% rather than a figure elsewhere in Vrbo's 12% to 15% range.

Canada

Canadian hosts on property management software were in the first Airbnb wave, on October 27, 2025, and the rest moved by September 15, 2026. Airbnb's VAT help page states that service fees for customers in Canada are subject to 5% GST, which makes the fee 16.275% of the subtotal (C$162.75 on C$1,000) for hosts who cannot claim it back; GST/HST-registered hosts recover it as an input tax credit. We could not verify from an Airbnb page whether provincial tax applies on top of the 5% in Quebec or the HST provinces. Vrbo's 12% applies in Canada from October 29, 2026 on the same terms as the US as far as Expedia Group's FAQ states, with Canadian-dollar payouts.

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 15.5% fee costs 17.05% of the subtotal, A$170.50 on A$1,000, and because residential rent is input-taxed that GST generally cannot be claimed back. Remaining Australian hosts fell under the September 15, 2026 deadline for hosts outside the EEA; some property managers report earlier cohorts. On the Vrbo side, Vrbo's help page says software-connected hosts in regions such as Europe, Australia and New Zealand may be charged 12% to 15%, and we could not verify the rate Stayz, Vrbo's Australian brand, will apply after October 29.

The European Economic Area

EEA and Swiss hosts had the latest Airbnb deadline, October 13, 2026. Airbnb charges VAT on its fees across the EU at each country's rate, so the host-side cost there runs from 15.5% for VAT-registered hosts to 19.1% in a 23% VAT country for unregistered ones, as Rental Scale-Up has worked through.

Where a direct booking fits

A direct booking removes the platform fee and the traveler fee at once; what remains is card processing, about $29.30 on the $1,000 example. The gap to Airbnb's $845 payout is $125.70 per booking, and to Vrbo's $880 it is $90.70. That margin is what pays for a returning guest discount, and the ceiling on that discount is lower than most hosts assume: 12.98% against Airbnb, 9.37% against Vrbo.

To see the yearly figure for your own mix of channels, run your numbers through Haven's free Airbnb and Vrbo fee calculator, which carries both Vrbo rates and lets you move a share of bookings to direct. Haven builds branded direct booking sites for hosts and charges no booking commission. More fee breakdowns live in our Airbnb and OTA fees hub.

FAQ

Does Vrbo or Airbnb charge hosts more in 2026?

On the host side, Airbnb charges more: 15.5% of the booking subtotal against Vrbo's 12% for bookings made on or after October 29, 2026. On a $1,000 booking that is $845 from Airbnb and $880 from Vrbo. Vrbo also charges the traveler a service fee that Airbnb no longer does, so at the same guest total the gap narrows or reverses depending on where that undisclosed fee lands.

Does Airbnb still charge guests a service fee?

Not for hosts on the host-only fee, which as of October 2026 is most hosts. The whole 15.5% comes out of the host's payout and the listed price is what the guest pays before taxes. Bookings made before a host's switch date keep the old split fee, with about 3% from the host and 14.1% to 16.5% from the guest.

What is Vrbo's host fee after October 29, 2026?

A single 12% commission on the rental amount plus mandatory host fees such as cleaning and pet fees, excluding taxes. It includes payment processing for hosts paid through Vrbo. Expedia Group says the rate varies from 12% to 15% by region and brand, and the rate is set by the booking date rather than the stay date.

Do UK hosts pay VAT on Airbnb and Vrbo fees?

Yes, at 20%, unless the host is VAT registered and accounts for it directly. That turns Airbnb's 15.5% into an effective 18.6% and Vrbo's 12% into 14.4% for unregistered hosts. Australian hosts face 10% GST on Airbnb's fee unless registered, and Airbnb says Canadian service fees carry 5% GST.

How much should I raise prices to cover each platform's fee?

Divide rather than add. To net a given amount after Airbnb's 15.5%, divide by 0.845, an 18.34% increase. After Vrbo's 12%, divide by 0.88, a 13.64% increase. A host moving from Vrbo's old 5% to 12% who only wants to hold the payout steady needs 7.95% (0.95 divided by 0.88).

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 — Q2 2026 shareholder letter (SEC Form 8-K exhibit, August 6, 2026)
• Expedia Group newsroom — Vrbo Compensation Model Changes (October 1, 2026; accessed October 2026)
• Vrbo Help — How is the booking fee calculated (accessed October 2026)
• Vrbo Help — About Vrbo's service fee (accessed October 2026)
• Skift — Vrbo to Double Commissions as It Plays Catch-Up to Airbnb (September 29, 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)
• RoomRaccoon — Airbnb Host Fees UK: Rates, VAT and Costs Explained (2026) (accessed October 2026)
• Hostcation — Vrbo Fees for UK Hosts: What You Actually Pay in 2026 (accessed October 2026)
• Houst — Airbnb Hosting Fees Australia: The 15.5% Fee Explained (accessed October 2026)
• Booking.com Partner Help — Understanding our commission (accessed October 2026)
• Stripe — Pricing (accessed October 2026)