commissions

[Shreya92]

How do commissions work on airbnb ? does it vary basis location ? are there additional taxes on commissions?

[Shelley159 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Shreya92 

Airbnb calls them service fees and they're fairly standard, although there are some variations by location:

https://www.airbnb.co.za/resources/hosting-homes/a/how-much-does-airbnb-charge-hosts-288

You've already identified the main difference: the tax on the fee itself.

In India the Airbnb fee will include VAT on services rendered.

[Dinesh87]

Hi @Shreya92,

Great question — commissions (or “service fees”) on Airbnb can be a bit confusing at first. Here’s a breakdown:

1. How it works:

Airbnb charges hosts a service fee on each booking. For most hosts, it’s a flat 3% of the booking subtotal (nightly rate + cleaning fee, if any).

Some markets and property types use a host-only fee structure (typically between 14–16%), where the guest doesn’t pay a service fee and the host covers it all.

2. Location matters:
Yes, the exact structure can vary depending on your country and even your type of listing (professional hosts, hotels, etc. often fall under host-only).

3. Taxes on the fee:
In India (and many other countries), Airbnb also adds GST/VAT on top of the service fee. So you’ll see a little extra percentage charged as tax, but it’s applied only to the commission — not to the full booking amount.

4. Guest side:
Guests also pay their own service fee (usually 12–14%, sometimes more on short stays), unless you’re on the host-only fee setup.

👉 Quick tip: You can always see exactly what you’re paying in the Payouts section of your host dashboard, where Airbnb shows the gross booking, service fee, taxes, and your net payout.

[Shreya92]

Thanks for clearing this out Dinesh! 

service fees of 14-16% is paid on top of the 3%+ tax commission or does it include the commission fees ? 

Also, is there an option to partially pass on the fees to customer. Such that the host pays 6-8% and the other half is passed on to the client, instead of the entire 14-16% ?

[Dinesh87]

Hi @Shreya92,

Great follow-up! To clarify: the 14–16% host-only fee replaces the 3% — it’s not stacked on top. Airbnb either uses the split-fee model (3% from host, ~12–14% from guest) or the host-only model (14–16% from host, 0% from guest). You won’t see both together.

At the moment, Airbnb doesn’t offer a “partial split” where you could, say, pay 7% and pass 7% to the guest. It’s either split fees (the standard default in most markets) or host-only fees (often used by professional hosts and hotels, and in certain regions).

👉 Best way to check which applies to you: go to your Transaction History > Payouts in your host dashboard, where each booking shows whether it’s under the 3% model or the host-only model.

[Joelle43]

Hello @Shreya92 

Just to add something to the mix - if you are using a Channel Manager to manage your bookings then the split fee option is not available to any new hosts - please read the link below regarding this new shift and new increase on the commission fee which is going up from 15% to 15.5%

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/1857

Those using the split fee commission (3% +VAT) are not (yet) being affected by a rise in the commission fee.