What the host fee actually is, what it adds up to over a year, and the simplest way to keep more of it.
What Airbnb actually charges hosts
Most hosts are on the split-fee model, where Airbnb takes roughly 3% from the host and adds a service fee for the guest. A growing number are on the host-only fee, where the platform takes around 14–16% from the host and shows the guest a cleaner price.
Either way, a meaningful slice of every booking leaves your pocket. The exact number depends on your plan, but 15% is a useful rule of thumb for host-only pricing.
What that adds up to over a year
On $3,000 a month in revenue, a 15.5% effective fee is about $465 a month — roughly $5,580 a year. That's before cleaning, linens and the hours you spend on the platform.
Run your own numbers in seconds with our fee calculator below.
How to keep more of it
You don't have to leave Airbnb. The move that works is adding a direct-booking channel for your repeat and referral guests, where you pay card processing (around 3.5%) instead of a double-digit platform fee.
Over a year, that gap is often the difference between a side income and a real one.
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