AUGUST 28, 2025

Airbnb Host Fees Are Changing: Your Guide to the New 15.5% Service Fee

Ladies, let’s talk about some big changes coming from Airbnb this fall…changes that directly affect your earnings and pricing strategy, especially if you’re using property management software (PMS). The structure of Airbnb host fees is shifting, and as always, my goal is to break it down simply, cut through the noise, and give you actionable steps to protect your profits.

What sets successful hosts apart is not avoiding change, but adapting faster and smarter than everyone else. So, let’s dive into what this update means for you and your business.

The Big Change: From Split-Fee to a Single Service Fee

Starting October 27, 2025, Airbnb is rolling out a new single service fee model for most hosts using PMS or channel management software. This means Airbnb is eliminating the old split-fee system, where you paid a 3% host fee and your guest paid around 14-16% on top of your rate.

Instead, you will now pay a flat 15.5% host-only service fee. The biggest difference for the guest is that they will no longer see a separate service charge at checkout; the price they see is the price they pay. You can read the full details on Airbnb’s official policy page here.

Stacey’s Strategic Watch-Outs: Protecting Your Competitive Edge

As your advocate, I want you to see the potential blind spots here. While this change is straightforward on paper, it can create challenges in the market. Here’s where you could run into issues:

1. Your Comps Aren’t on a PMS: If your direct competitors are not API-connected and are still on the old split-fee model, their nightly rate will appear much lower than yours after you’ve correctly adjusted your prices. A guest quickly comparing prices might not realize your rate is all-inclusive, making your property seem overpriced at first glance.
2. Your Comps Don’t Realize the Change: There will absolutely be hosts who are API-connected but miss this announcement. They won’t adjust their prices, and for the first month or two, they may be priced 15% lower than you. This will correct itself once they get a shockingly low payout and realize what happened, but in the short term, you need to be aware of this.

Your job is to stay informed and hold steady with your pricing strategy. Don’t panic and lower your rates to match hosts who have made a mistake.

What This Means for Your Payouts (and Your Strategy)

Let’s get straight to the point: if you do nothing, this change to Airbnb’s host fees will mean you take home less money.

• Impact on Earnings: On a $100/night booking, you used to receive $97 (after the 3% fee). Under the new model, you’ll receive just $84.50 if you don’t adjust your price.
• How to Protect Your Payout: You have a couple of strategic options to ensure your payout remains the same:
1. Raise Your Nightly Rate: The most direct approach is to increase your base rate by about 15.5%. That $100/night rate would become roughly $115. This way, the guest pays the same total they would have before, and your net earnings are protected.
2. Add a Surcharge: You could also keep your base rate steady and strategically increase other fees, like your cleaning or extra guest fees.

This is a perfect opportunity to do some A/B testing. Try one approach for a month, track your booking pace and revenue, and then switch to the other to see what works best for your specific market and properties.

Why Is Airbnb Making This Shift?

According to Airbnb, this change is designed to create a better guest experience and align its platform with competitors. Here are the main reasons:

• Price Transparency: Guests see a single, all-inclusive price, which reduces surprise fees at checkout and can lower booking abandonment.
• Increased Bookings: During testing, Airbnb found that hosts on this simplified pricing model saw up to 17% more bookings.
• Industry Alignment: This host-only fee structure is already used by other major platforms like Booking.com, creating more consistency for hosts who list on multiple channels.

Personally, my market manager asked me to test this exact model two years ago. While I didn’t see an uptick in bookings at that time, making it the standard across the platform could change that result.

There Are Still Unanswered Questions

Here’s the thing: we don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle yet and there are still unanswered questions, especially around tax implications and best practices for co-hosts navigating this change.

This conversation is ongoing, and my commitment is to bring you the most up-to-date information as soon as it becomes available.

The Bottom Line: Diversify and Stay Informed

Here’s my biggest takeaway for you: If you do not have a diverse booking strategy in place, now is the time to build one. By choosing to rely solely on one single platform, you are signing up for vulnerability and risk. Diversifying your booking channels is your best defense.

Am I keeping Airbnb in the mix of my channels? 100% absolutely. Am I relying solely on Airbnb for bookings? Absolutely not.

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

I know changes to Airbnb host fees can feel frustrating, but this is a very easy issue to navigate. Update your pricing on October 27th and remember, this is just one more piece of the business puzzle we get to solve together. 

To make sure you’re getting the latest updates, strategies, and support from a community of women who get it, come join us inside The STR Sisterhood. I go live every Tuesday at 11 AM EST so stay tuned inside the Sisterhood for updates as we navigate these changes together. You’ve got this!