Airbnb is moving every host to the 15.5% host-only fee. Here's how to reprice.

What happened

Airbnb has had two ways of charging its service fee.

• Split fee. The host pays about 3% of the booking subtotal and the guest pays a separate fee, typically around 14%, shown on the checkout page.
• Host-only fee. The host pays 15.5% of the subtotal and the guest sees no separate service fee line.

The host-only fee has been mandatory for hotels and for hosts connected through property-management software for a while. Airbnb's Help Center now says the split fee "will no longer be available to certain hosts," and industry reporting in September 2026 describes the remaining independent hosts being moved over country by country through September and October. Your own switch date arrives by email and in-app notification. Treat that notice, not any blog post, as the source of truth.

What it means for you

The most common question is "Is my fee going from 3% to 15.5%?" Half yes. The guest's fee is not disappearing; it is moving to your side of the ledger. So:

• If you leave your nightly rate as it is, your payout drops by roughly 12 to 13 points.
• If you raise your rate by about 15%, your payout lands where it was, and the guest's total at checkout also lands roughly where it was, because the separate fee line is gone.

Three details that trip people up:

1. The 15.5% is charged on the whole subtotal: nightly rate plus cleaning fee, extra-guest fee, and pet fee. Taxes are excluded.
2. Airbnb's own resource page states that the new fee "will only apply to reservations made after you switch." Bookings confirmed before your switch date keep the fee structure they were booked under, regardless of check-in date.
3. In many countries, VAT is charged on top of the service fee. Airbnb's Help Center says, for example, that for reservations located in South Korea, Airbnb service fees are subject to 10% VAT. There, the share taken from your payout is about 17%, not 15.5%. Whether a VAT or business registration number removes it depends on the country, so check the fee line on your payout statement.

One side effect worth noticing: with the fee line gone, the price a guest sees in search results is simpler. A listing that has not been repriced will look cheaper for a while. That is not a discount you chose; it is payout you are giving away.

A worked example

Nightly rate $100, cleaning fee $30, one night.

	Split fee (until now)	Host-only, rate unchanged	Host-only, rate +15%
Rate you set (subtotal)	$130.00	$130.00	$149.50
Host fee	$3.90 (3%)	$20.15 (15.5%)	$23.17 (15.5%)
Your payout	$126.10	$109.85	$126.33
Guest total at checkout	about $148	$130.00	$149.50

The third column is the one to aim for.

The table leaves out VAT on the fee to keep it simple. If 10% VAT applies to both the old and new fees, the split-fee payout is $125.71 and the unchanged-rate payout is $107.84. To land exactly where you were, raise the rate by about 16.5% rather than 15% ($130 → about $151.50). The guest's total still ends up close to the old one (about $150 with VAT on the guest fee).

Three things to do this week

1. Find your switch date. Check your Airbnb inbox and email. If nothing has arrived, open Hosting → Settings → Payments and look at the service-fee section.
2. Raise your base rate by about 15%, or about 16.5% if VAT is charged on your fee. If you use rule-sets for weekends or high season, adjust those too; the percentage applies to every price you set, not just the base.
3. Watch payouts around the switch date. Reservations booked before it keep the old structure. Check the first few payout statements after the switch to confirm which structure was applied.

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Figures checked against Airbnb's Help Center and Resource Center on September 12, 2026. Migration dates come from industry reporting; your account notification takes precedence. VAT on service fees checked against Help Center article 436 on October 13, 2026.