How much do booking sites cost you a year? A quick way to find out

$60,000 of bookings on Airbnb and Booking.com can cost about $9,210 a year in fees.

The short answer: Multiply your yearly booking revenue by the share that comes from each site, then by that site's fee, and add them up. With $60,000 of bookings, 70% on Airbnb at 15.5% and 30% on Booking.com at 15%, the fees are about $9,210 a year, or $768 a month.

Fees on booking sites are taken one stay at a time, so they never show up as one big bill. That makes them easy to ignore. Add them up for a year and the number is often a surprise.

How do you work out your yearly booking site fees?

• Step 1: your yearly booking revenue. What guests paid for stays in the year, before fees. Example: $60,000.
• Step 2: split it by site. Open each site's earnings report. Example: 70% on Airbnb, 30% on Booking.com.
• Step 3: use the fee on your own statements. Airbnb says most hosts pay a single fee of about 15.5% (Airbnb). Booking.com varies by country and programme. Example: 15%.
• Step 4: multiply and add. $42,000 × 15.5% = $6,510. $18,000 × 15% = $2,700. Together: $9,210 a year, about $768 a month.

Remember: these are examples. Booking.com and Vrbo rates change by country and agreement. Your own statements are the truth.

What do you keep if some bookings come direct?

Say you win back 20% of those platform bookings, which is $12,000 of the $60,000. You stop paying $1,842 in booking site fees (20% of $9,210). A card payment on your own site costs about 2.9% plus 30 cents (Stripe), roughly 3% of $12,000, or about $360. So you keep about $1,482 more a year.

• Win back 10%: about $741 more a year, on the same example.
• Win back 20%: about $1,482 more.
• Win back 30%: about $2,223 more.

Here is the part to keep in mind. A booking you win direct is not a booking that disappears from Airbnb. It is a guest who found you another way, or came back. See how to turn past guests into repeat bookers and how to get direct bookings without ads.

What else counts as a cost?

• Fees on cleaning and other charges. The booking site's fee applies to the whole subtotal, cleaning fee included.
• Your property manager. If they take a percentage of each booking, add it in.
• Software. A channel manager or booking tool is a cost too, whichever way your guests book.
• Cancellation and dispute costs. They are rare, but real.

For the fees on one stay, see how much you keep from one Airbnb stay. For what a new website costs against what it saves, see how many direct bookings pay for a website.

Want to turn part of that fee into profit? Your own booking website is ready in 7 working days or it is free, and you pay half to start and the other half only when you go live. Pay your first installment, or compare every plan on the pricing page.

Common questions

How much do Airbnb and Booking.com cost hosts a year?

It depends on your bookings. With $60,000 of yearly revenue, 70% on Airbnb at 15.5% and 30% on Booking.com at 15%, fees come to about $9,210 a year, or $768 a month. These are examples, so use the rates on your own statements.

What fee does Airbnb charge hosts?

Airbnb says most hosts pay a single fee of about 15.5% of the booking subtotal, and others typically pay 14% to 16%. The fee is worked out on the subtotal, cleaning fee included.

How much could I save with direct bookings?

On the example above, winning back 20% of platform bookings stops about $1,842 of fees. After card fees of about $360, you keep about $1,482 more a year. Your own number depends on how many guests book direct.

Do direct bookings have fees too?

Yes. A US card payment on your own site costs about 2.9% plus 30 cents, a little more for foreign cards. It is much lower than a booking site's fee.

Sources and helpful links

• Airbnb: how host fees work — the single fee and what it applies to
• Stripe pricing — card fees on your own site
• Launch VRO booking site fee calculator — try your own numbers