Airbnb co-host fees are what you pay the person who runs your listing, set as a percentage of each booking, a fixed amount per booking or a flat monthly fee. The rate alone tells you little. What it's taken from, whether cleaning sits inside it, and what the co-host does for it decide what you pay, and Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo charge their own fees separately.
This guide walks through the fee models, the base a percentage is taken from, how Airbnb pays a co-host, the sites' own fees, and the questions that turn a quote into a figure you can compare.
How do co-hosts charge for their work?
A co-host quote is one main fee plus a few terms around it, and the main fee comes in three shapes.
A percentage of each booking. The co-host earns a share of what each stay brings in. When a stay is cancelled or discounted, their share moves with it. Airbnb's own payout settings support this directly, with the cleaning fee counted or left out.
A fixed amount per booking. A set sum for each stay, whatever its length or price. Airbnb supports this too. A one-night stay and a two-week stay cost you the same in fees, so it suits some apartments better than others.
A flat monthly fee. A set amount each month, paid whether the calendar is full or empty. It's easy to budget, and the co-host is paid the same in a quiet month as in a busy one. None of Airbnb's four co-host payout options is a monthly amount, so a monthly fee can't be set up as an Airbnb co-host payout and is paid outside the site.
Around the main fee sit the terms that change what you actually pay:
- Setup or onboarding fee. A one-off charge at the start, for writing the listing, photos or a first visit. Ask what it buys, and whether any of it comes back if you stop early.
- Cleaning. Some co-hosts pass cleaning through at the cleaner's price. Others add a margin, or charge a fixed cleaning price above what the cleaner is paid. Either can be fair if it's in writing. Ask which one you're getting.
- Extras. Linen, supplies, key handovers, maintenance call-outs, photography. Ask which are inside the fee and which are billed separately, and at what price.
- Exit terms. The notice period, any minimum term, and any fee for leaving. These decide how easily you can change your mind.
What are Airbnb co-host fees taken from?
A percentage only means something once you know its base: the gross booking or your payout, with or without the cleaning fee.
The gross booking is the nightly price times the nights, plus the fees you charge the guest, before any site takes its cut. Your payout is what the site sends you after its fee. The same percentage costs more on a gross base than on a payout base, because the site's fee sits inside the gross figure.
Cleaning is the second question. If the percentage includes the cleaning fee, the co-host takes a share of money that goes straight to the cleaner. Two quotes at the same rate can cost you different amounts for these two reasons alone.
On Airbnb, the base is defined for you when the co-host is paid through the site. Airbnb calculates co-host payouts from the host's potential earnings: the nightly price times the number of nights, plus charges to the guest like the cleaning fee, minus the host service fee and any applicable taxes and fees. A percentage paid through Airbnb is therefore taken after Airbnb's fee, and you choose whether the cleaning fee counts.
When a co-host invoices you instead, the base is whatever the contract says. Ask for it in one written line, for example "X% of what the site pays me, not counting cleaning".
How does Airbnb pay a co-host?
On Airbnb, the listing owner sets the co-host's payout, and Airbnb sends it from each booking alongside the owner's own payout. Only the listing owner can set up payouts for a co-host, and co-hosts can't set them up for themselves or for each other.
Airbnb offers four payout options:
- the cleaning fee
- the cleaning fee plus a percentage per booking, where the percentage leaves the cleaning fee out
- a percentage per booking, with the cleaning fee included or left out
- a fixed amount per booking
A few rules follow from how Airbnb runs these payouts.
- Timing. For most home stays, host and co-host payouts are sent by the end of the business day after the guest's scheduled check-in.
- Changes. If you change a co-host's payout, the change applies only to bookings that start after the co-host confirms it.
- Cancellations. When a guest cancels, the co-host's payout is treated the same way as yours, so it's worked out on what you actually earn from the booking.
- Shortfalls. If your potential earnings on a booking are less than the co-host payouts you've set up, the co-host may get less than that, or nothing.
- Region. Airbnb notes regional limitations on sharing payouts, depending on where you, the co-host and the listing are. Check that the option appears in your own account before agreeing terms that rely on it.
Airbnb also says co-host payouts don't change the amount it reports to the listing owner for tax information reporting. What that means for your own taxes, and for VAT on a co-host's fee, is a question for your accountant.
Airbnb's payout options cover Airbnb bookings only. If the apartment is also on Booking.com or Vrbo, agree in writing how the co-host is paid for those bookings. The wider picture of access, accounts and choosing a co-host is in Airbnb co-hosting in Israel.
What do Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo charge on top?
Each site takes its own fee, separate from the co-host's fee, and you pay both. The site's fee doesn't pay the co-host, and the co-host's fee doesn't cover the site.
Airbnb. Under Airbnb's single service fee structure, the whole fee comes out of the host's payout, and Airbnb says most hosts pay 15.5%, with the rest typically paying 14% to 16%. Hosts who use property management software are on this structure. The older split fee, shared between host and guest, where most hosts pay 3%, is being phased out and will no longer be available once all hosts have moved to the single fee.
Booking.com. Booking.com charges a set percentage on each reservation, and the rate that applies to you is in the Accommodation Agreement you sign when you join.
Vrbo. On Vrbo's pay-per-booking model, you pay a 5% commission on the rental amount and the fees you charge the guest, such as cleaning, plus a 3% payment processing fee on the total the guest pays you, including taxes and refundable damage deposits. Different fees apply to listings connected through property management software, and bookings from Vrbo's distribution partners may cost more.
The order matters on Airbnb. When the co-host is paid through Airbnb, their percentage is worked out after Airbnb's fee is taken, so the co-host doesn't take a share of Airbnb's cut. Elsewhere, check which comes first in your contract.
What should you ask about a co-host's quote?
Ask the questions that turn a rate into a figure you can put next to another quote.
- What is the percentage taken from: the gross booking or my payout, and with or without cleaning?
- What's included for that fee: guest messages, pricing, the listing, cleaners, laundry, maintenance, a monthly statement? What's billed on top, and at what price?
- Who books the cleaners, and do I pay the cleaner's price or a price with a margin?
- Is there a setup fee, and what does it cover?
- How much notice do I give to stop, and is there a minimum term or an exit fee?
- Whose account is the listing on, and what happens to it and its reviews if we stop?
- Which repairs can you approve alone, up to what amount in ₪?
- How are you paid for Airbnb bookings, and how for Booking.com and Vrbo?
- Does your rate include VAT, or is it added on top? Take the answer to your accountant.
Point 2 matters because two co-hosts at the same rate can do very different amounts of work. What the job involves, from the first enquiry to turnover day, is laid out in what a co-host does, week by week.
What does Mert charge, and what does it cover?
Mert has hosted for five years, in Turkey, in Herzliya and in Safed, his own apartments and other owners'. His Airbnb rating is 4.98, and it's public. He has two plans, at flat rates that are the same for every owner.
Basic, 12%. Mert writes and tunes the listing, answers every guest, manages bookings, looks after the listing's SEO and sends a monthly owner statement. You keep pricing, cleaning and maintenance.
Full service, 17%. Everything in Basic, plus pricing, cleaners, laundry, maintenance through his local team, photographer scheduling if needed, and guidance on licensing and arnona.
Both are a share of what the site pays you, not counting cleaning. Cleaning is paid at the cleaner's price, with nothing added. On Airbnb, Airbnb pays you and Mert's share comes out of that payout. On Booking.com and Vrbo, you're paid and he invoices his share. There's no setup fee, 30 days' notice to stop, no exit fee and no minimum term.
Here's how the two rates work on a round figure, as an illustration only and not a forecast of what any apartment earns. On ₪10,000 of payout, not counting cleaning, 12% is ₪1,200 and 17% is ₪1,700. The ₪500 between them pays for pricing, cleaners, laundry and maintenance being organised for you, while the cleaner's own price is paid separately on either plan. On Basic, that work stays with you.
Questions owners ask
Do I pay Airbnb's fee as well as the co-host's fee? Yes, they're separate. When a co-host is paid through Airbnb, their payout is worked out from your earnings after Airbnb's host service fee comes off.
Can a co-host change their own payout on Airbnb? No. Only the listing owner can set up a co-host's payout. If you change it, the change applies only to bookings that start after the co-host confirms it.
Does a co-host still get paid when a guest cancels? On Airbnb, the co-host's payout follows what you actually earn from the booking after the cancellation. A percentage shrinks with your earnings.
Is VAT added to a co-host's fee? Ask the co-host whether their rate includes VAT or has it added on top, then ask your accountant what that means for you.
Mert's two plans, side by side, and how to reach him are on the pricing page.
