Airbnb is moving every home host from its old split fee, where the host paid about 3% and the guest paid a separate fee on top, to a single fee the host pays alone. For most hosts that fee is 15.5%. What the switch costs you depends mostly on whether your price went up with it.
What does Airbnb charge hosts in 2026?
As of September 2026, Airbnb’s help center lists two fee structures for homes, and it’s phasing one of them out.
- The single fee. Most hosts pay 15.5%, the rest typically 14% to 16%, and listings in Brazil and Mexico pay 16%. The whole fee comes out of your payout, so guests pay no Airbnb service fee on top. Airbnb’s guide to host fees adds that hosts with super strict cancellation policies may pay more.
- The split fee. Most hosts pay 3%, some pay more, and listings in Brazil and Mexico pay 4%. Guests pay their own service fee of 14.1% to 16.5% on top of your price.
Either way, the fee is a percentage of your nightly price plus any fees you add. Airbnb says the single fee applies to cleaning, pet and extra-guest fees too, so moving money into the cleaning fee doesn’t avoid it.
What happened to the 3% host fee?
The split fee is being phased out, and Airbnb says it won’t be available once every host has moved. After you switch to the single fee you can’t switch back, and bookings made before your switch keep the old fees, even when the stay comes later (help center).
The two structures split the same money differently. On the split fee, you set one price and guests saw a higher one. In Airbnb’s own example, a host charging $100 earned $97 while guests saw $115. On the single fee, that host sets the price at $115, guests still see $115, and the host still earns $97. Airbnb says the 15.5% is based on its global average service fees.
When do hosts switch to the single fee?
Airbnb has been moving hosts in stages. Its deadline to adjust prices for the single fee was September 15, 2026 for hosts who live outside the European Economic Area, and October 13 for hosts in the EEA or Switzerland (Airbnb). Hosts who use property management software and aren’t on the single fee yet switch on October 13 (Airbnb). For hosts who don’t adjust by their deadline, Airbnb says “prices and payouts per night will be lower.”
For hosts who don’t use that software, Airbnb built a price adjustment tool. It raises the prices on all your listings in one step, along with the fees you add, such as cleaning, for the next two years of your calendar. Discounts aren’t adjusted, and Airbnb says co-hosts can’t make the change for you. The tool stays open for a limited time after a host switches, but bookings made before an adjustment keep their old prices.
What does the fee take from a month of bookings?
Take a listing booked 20 nights a month, about 66% of the calendar, at an average of $200 a night with cleaning fees included. On the split fee, guests paid about $230 a night once their own fee was added, going by Airbnb’s $100-to-$115 example.
| Split fee, $200 a night | Single fee, still $200 | Single fee, raised to $230 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bookings, cleaning fees included | $4,000 | $4,000 | $4,600 |
| Airbnb’s host fee (3% or 15.5%) | −$120 | −$620 | −$713 |
| Your payout | $3,880 | $3,380 | $3,887 |
These are example figures, not a forecast for any market.
Left at $200, the listing pays you $500 a month less than it did on the split fee, 12.5% of every booking. Raised 15%, to $230, it pays $3,887, about what it paid before, and guests see roughly the $4,600 they saw then. Airbnb folded the two fees into one, so the whole $713 now comes out of your payout instead of partly out of the guest’s pocket.
What does the fee do to an Airbnb’s cash flow?
Put that listing into a whole house and the fee becomes one of its biggest costs. Here the house is priced at $230 a night and was bought for $170,000 with 20% down on a 30-year loan at 7%. A co-host takes 20% of bookings, 10% goes aside for repairs and big repairs, cleaning and supplies run $760 a month and utilities $300, and property taxes and insurance come to $3,600 a year.
| Figured at the old 3% | At the 15.5% single fee | |
|---|---|---|
| Bookings | $4,600 | $4,600 |
| Airbnb’s host fee | −$138 | −$713 |
| Co-host (20%) | −$920 | −$920 |
| Repairs and big repairs (10%) | −$460 | −$460 |
| Cleaning and supplies | −$760 | −$760 |
| Utilities | −$300 | −$300 |
| Property taxes and insurance | −$300 | −$300 |
| Mortgage | −$905 | −$905 |
| Cash flow each month | +$817 | +$242 |
A projection that still takes 3% shows $817 a month. At the 15.5% most hosts pay now, the same house clears $242, less than a third as much. A host who kept the old $200 price does worse still: at that price, this house cleared $415 a month on the split fee and now loses $85.
Repricing has one side effect. A co-host paid 20% of bookings earns $920 at $230, against $800 at $200, so read how your agreement counts their share.
Which fee should you use when you analyze an Airbnb?
Use 15.5% on the prices guests see today, unless your listing pays a different rate. If you already host, the estimated fee shows in the price breakdown on your listing’s calendar.
Then look hard at any projection you’re handed. If it takes 3%, its nightly prices should be the lower ones from before the switch. Applied to today’s prices, 3% counts $575 a month as yours in this example when it goes to Airbnb. The cleaning fee belongs in the income, with the fee taken from it too.
Check the booking rate next, because the fee shrinks in a slow month and the mortgage doesn’t. Find the occupancy where an Airbnb covers its costs first, and if the house could also be leased, run it against a long-term tenant.
The short-term rental calculator starts at the 15.5% fee. Change it if your listing pays a different rate, and count your cleaning fees in the nightly average.