Calculator · Single-booking fee math
Fees breakdown
For a single booking: what comes out of your payout, what the guest actually pays, and what the platform takes across both sides. Switch the fee structure to see how the same booking changes shape on Airbnb split-fee vs Airbnb single-fee vs Vrbo per-booking.
Last checked: May 18, 2026
Host receives (this booking)
$660Airbnb · split-fee (default)
What hits your payout for this single booking, before cleaner cost, lodging tax, and income tax — with these inputs, not a forecast. Switch the platform structure to see how the same booking pays out differently across Airbnb's two fee models and Vrbo's per-booking commission. Lodging tax is not included unless you add it manually; subtract your cleaner cost separately to get the per-booking operating margin.
Gross booking revenue (subtotal)
$680
Effective host fee %
3.0%
Effective guest fee %
14.0%
Blended take %
17.0%
Host receives (this booking, before other expenses)
$660
Guest pays (before lodging tax)
$775
Platform total take
$116
What changes it most: Which fee structure you're on can change what the host receives per booking on the same subtotal. Check your platform account and the host-fees article before assuming the default structure applies to your listing.
Platform fee structure
Where the money goes
Host receives
$660
Subtotal minus host-side platform fee. Cleaner cost and other operating expenses come out of this separately.
Guest pays (before lodging tax)
$775
Subtotal plus guest-side platform fee. Lodging tax is not included unless added manually.
Platform take
$116
Host fee + guest fee combined.
What this calculator owns (and doesn't)
This page owns one job: plug in one booking and see what the guest pays, what the platform takes, and what hits your payout — across Airbnb split-fee, Airbnb single-fee, and Vrbo per-booking. Toggle the structure to see how the same $200/3-night/$80-cleaning booking pays out under each one.
The math starts from one line: booking subtotal = nightly rate × nights + cleaning fee. The cleaning fee sits inside that subtotal, not separate from it. The host fee comes out of your payout. The guest fee stacks on top of the subtotal.
The blended platform-take percentage in the calculator's assumptions block is the apples-to-apples comparison number across the three structures. The headline rates hosts toss around — Airbnb ~3% on split-fee, Airbnb ~15% on host-only, Vrbo ~8% on per-booking (or closer to 5% with the Property Management Software payment-processing exemption) — apply to different bases and include the guest-side fee differently, so they can't be compared cleanly without normalizing through one specific booking.
Two things to settle in your own dashboards before reading any output row against another platform: which Airbnb fee model your account is on (Airbnb assigns split-fee vs host-only based on host type and program — you don't pick it), and whether your Vrbo account is on the PMS payment-processing exemption. The Vrbo defaults in this calculator are editable planning assumptions, not universal published rates — Vrbo's guest-side service fee is tier-based and varies by booking value.
One row to read carefully: “Host receives” is not take-home. It's the payout from this one booking — before the cleaner you pay per turnover, before lodging and income tax, before utilities, supplies, insurance, the maintenance reserve, and any mortgage. Annual occupancy isn't in the math here either. For the full-year P&L across all of that, use the host-income-estimate calculator.
How the fee models actually work — which Airbnb model your account is on and why, Vrbo per-booking vs subscription break-even, country exceptions — lives on the host fees, guest fees, and the cleaning-charge math article. Read that first if you're sizing pricing decisions; come back here when you want a single booking under specific inputs.
What the fee breakdown shows
| Metric | Value | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Booking subtotal | Nightly rate × nights + cleaning fee charged. This is the base both Airbnb and Vrbo apply their host service fees to — the cleaning fee is INSIDE the subtotal, not separate from it. | Common pitfall: comparing platform fees as percentages of 'just the nightly rate' produces wrong answers. The platforms apply the host fee to this combined subtotal, so the blended take depends on how big your cleaning fee is relative to nightly revenue. |
| Host fee | What comes out of your payout on the host side. Airbnb split-fee charges around 3% of subtotal; Airbnb host-only / single-fee charges around 15.5% of subtotal; Vrbo per-booking charges around 8% (5% commission + 3% payment processing). | Before comparing Airbnb vs Vrbo, define two things from your own platform accounts: which Airbnb fee model your account is on (split-fee vs host-only — set by Airbnb based on host type and program, not by you), and whether you use property-management software on Vrbo (which exempts the 3% payment-processing fee per Vrbo's pay-per-booking fees article). Both move the host-side number materially. |
| Guest fee | What the guest pays on top of the subtotal. Airbnb split-fee charges the guest around 14% of subtotal; Airbnb host-only charges no separate guest fee; Vrbo charges the guest a service fee that varies by booking value. | The Vrbo guest fee in this calculator is an editable planning assumption — Vrbo's actual guest-side service fee is tier-based and not published as a flat rate. |
| Guest pays (before lodging tax) | Subtotal + guest fee. What the guest sees as the trip total before any lodging / occupancy tax is added. | This is the number guests compare across listings on the search results page. Lodging tax stacks on top depending on the jurisdiction; some platforms collect and remit it, others require host remittance. |
| Host receives (this booking, before other expenses) | Subtotal − host fee. What hits your payout for this single booking, BEFORE you pay the cleaner, before lodging tax, before income tax, and before any operating expense. | This is NOT take-home. The cleaner you pay per turnover comes out of this. So do utilities, insurance, supplies, and the maintenance reserve. Use the host-income-estimate calculator for the annual P&L view across all of those. |
| Cleaner cost (not subtracted by this calculator) | The cleaner you pay per turnover is a separate operating expense and is NOT subtracted from 'Host receives' in this single-booking model. | The cleaning FEE you charge the guest is in the subtotal (revenue side). The cleaning COST you pay your cleaner is a separate expense (cost side). Keep them as two distinct rows in your own bookkeeping — netting them produces a single-booking number that hides the cleaning margin (or, if negative, the subsidy). |
| Taxes (excluded unless added manually) | Income tax and lodging / occupancy tax are NOT included in any output row. The 'Guest pays before lodging tax' label is literal — lodging tax stacks on top of what the calculator shows. | Platform remittance varies by jurisdiction. Verify whether Airbnb / Vrbo collects and remits lodging tax in your specific city before assuming the calculator's 'Guest pays' number is what the guest sees on the booking screen. |
| Scope (single booking, not annual) | This calculator models ONE booking. Annual host income across all line items (utilities, insurance, maintenance reserve, depreciation, management) lives in the host-income-estimate calculator and the real-host-income article. | Don't multiply this single-booking number by 365 to estimate annual income — that ignores occupancy, turnover gaps, seasonality, and every operating-cost line that isn't a per-booking fee. |
Caveats
- Lodging tax not included. The “guest pays before tax” field is the subtotal plus platform-side service fee. Lodging tax can stack on top depending on the market, and platform remittance rules vary by jurisdiction.
- Vrbo guest fee is an estimate. Vrbo's guest-side service fee varies by booking value and Vrbo's at-time pricing tier. The calculator uses an editable planning assumption in the engine; your actual booking may see a different guest-side fee.
- Vrbo PMS payment-processing exemption not modeled. Per Vrbo's “About pay-per-booking fees” help article, the 3% payment-processing fee does not apply if you use Property Management Software. The calculator bundles Vrbo's per-booking fee at the combined 8% level; if you use PMS, your effective Vrbo host fee is closer to the 5% commission alone. Verify in your Vrbo account.
- Vrbo subscription not modeled. Subscription math depends on annual booking volume, not one reservation. The single-booking math here assumes per-booking; model subscription economics separately before changing pricing.
- Currency-conversion margin not included. For international bookings, both platforms add a small FX margin on payouts that isn't in the headline fee structure. Negligible at low cross-border volumes; worth modeling separately if it's your primary guest demographic.
Related guides
- Host fees, guest fees, and the cleaning math — the full fee-structure article, with the worked example this calculator runs against.
- Airbnb vs Vrbo: which platform fits your listing? — fee math is one of the five decisions in the platform- fit framework.
- Host income estimate calculator — when you want annual income across the full line-item P&L, not per-booking.