Simplifying service fees on Airbnb

We’re simplifying our fee structure to make it easier to know what guests pay and price competitively. Find out what’s changing and how to keep your payouts the same.

Today, hosts and guests both pay service fees. As a result, you set one price but your guests see a higher price that includes their service fee.

Many hosts tell us this makes pricing difficult. For example, if you set your price at $100 USD, guests see $115 after the guest fee is added, and you earn $97 after the host fee is deducted.*

To simplify pricing, we’re combining both fees into a single 15.5% service fee paid by hosts. For example, if you set your price at $115, guests see $115 and you earn $97 after the single fee is deducted.

The 15.5% fee is based on Airbnb’s global average service fees.

We built a tool that helps you adjust prices across all your listings at once to account for the single service fee.

You’ll need to adjust your prices to keep your payouts per night the same. Using the previous example, if you adjust your price from $100 to $115, you’ll still earn $97 and guests will still see $115.

The single service fee will only apply to reservations made after you switch to a single fee.

The deadline to adjust your prices is September 15 if you live outside the European Economic Area and October 13 if you live within it or in Switzerland.

If you don’t take action before your deadline, your prices and payouts per night will be lower. For example, if you keep your price at $100, you’ll earn $84.50 after the 15.5% fee is deducted and guests will see $100.

Some countries impose taxes on service fees—often called Value Added Tax (VAT) or Goods and Services Tax (GST). If you host in a country that does, our price adjustment tool automatically includes these taxes unless you’re VAT/GST registered and self assess VAT.

Let’s say you host in a country that imposes 20% VAT and you’re not VAT registered. Using the previous example, your nightly price of $100 will adjust to $119 with VAT. Here’s the breakdown.

• Adjusted price without VAT: $115
• Single service fee: $115 x 15.5% = $17.83
• VAT: $17.83 x 20% = $3.57
• Adjusted price with VAT: $115 + $3.57 = $119, rounded to nearest dollar
• Your payout: $119 - $17.83 - $3.57 = $97.60

If you’re VAT registered and self assess VAT, our price adjustment tool will not account for VAT. Guests will see $115, you’ll earn $97, and you’ll continue to account for VAT yourself.

Airbnb will continue to issue you VAT invoices (or the equivalent) for your VAT compliance needs. You can find the amount of the service fee and VAT for each booking in the price breakdown. Learn more about VAT and how it applies to you, including current rates by country.

The price adjustment tool doesn’t include other taxes, like income tax. Adjusting your prices can increase your gross income, which means you could reach your VAT threshold sooner. It may not increase your taxable income if you can deduct the service fee as an expense.

Consult a tax professional to answer questions about your tax obligations.

Learn more about Airbnb service fees and the price adjustment tool.

*These are examples only and do not account for fees hosts choose to add or taxes.

Exceptions may apply. For listings in Brazil and Mexico, the single fee will remain 16%.

In some countries and regions, taxes are included in the total price displayed on listings. Taxes are always included in the total price shown to guests prior to checkout.

Information contained in this article may have changed since publication.