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How to List Your Vacation Home on Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com

Updated

Part of our series Let Others Pay for Your Vacation Home.

The site you list on decides which guests find you and how much of each booking you keep. This guide compares the three big platforms and covers direct booking. It ends with practical tips for your title and photos.

Fees changed a lot in 2025–2026. Everything below was checked on October 19, 2026, against each company's own pages. Check again before you set prices.

Platform fees at a glance

Platform How the fee works (U.S.) Source
Airbnb Most hosts now pay a single 15.5% service fee, taken from the payout. Guests see the price you set, with no separate guest service fee. The fee applies to your nightly price and to fees you add, such as cleaning or pets. The older split fee (about 3% for the host plus a 14.1–16.5% guest fee) is being phased out. Airbnb Help: service fees; Airbnb Resource Center
Vrbo Pay-per-booking hosts move to a flat 12% commission that includes payment processing, starting October 29, 2026. It's charged on the rent plus guest fees such as cleaning and pets. Taxes and refundable deposits carry only a 3% processing fee. Before Oct. 29, most North American pay-per-booking hosts paid 5% commission plus 3% processing. Annual subscriptions are being retired. Guests still pay a separate Vrbo service fee at checkout; Vrbo doesn't publish the rate, prices it dynamically and says it will typically be lower after the change. Vrbo Help: pay-per-booking; Expedia Group FAQ; Vrbo Help: service fee; Hostaway support note
Booking.com Commission is a set percentage that varies by country and property type. You see your rate when you register. It applies to the full booking amount, including cleaning and other fees, and to non-refundable bookings even when the guest doesn't come. Optional programs such as Preferred Partner add more commission. Booking.com Partner Help: commission
Direct booking (your own site) No marketplace commission. You pay for software, a payment processor and marketing. As one example, Lodgify charges no booking fee but adds a 1% fee on online guest payments, on top of the gateway's own fee. Lodgify pricing FAQ

Vrbo price-matching rule: Vrbo's Host Terms effective October 29, 2026 require what you offer on Vrbo, including rates, discounts and fees, to be "at least as complete, accurate, current, detailed, and favorable" as what you offer on your own website, other booking sites and other channels (sections 4.5.7 and 5.5.1). Industry press reports Vrbo plans to relax this for hosts' own websites, but as of October 19, 2026 the published terms haven't changed. Until they do, don't price your direct site below Vrbo (Vrbo Host Terms; Rental Scale-Up).

Note: Booking.com doesn't publish one U.S. commission rate for vacation homes. Figures you'll see online, like "15%," are third-party estimates. Check yours during registration.

What the fee change means for your price

If you used to price for the split fee, raise your rates or your payout will shrink. Airbnb's example: under the single fee, a $100 price pays out $84.50. To keep the old $97 payout, you'd list at $115, which is also what guests saw before (Airbnb). For Vrbo, PriceLabs estimates that hosts connected directly at 8% need to raise prices about 4.5% to keep the same payout at 12%. Hosts on a PMS who paid 5% need about 8% (PriceLabs).

Quick formula: new price = desired payout ÷ (1 − fee rate). Example: to net $200 a night on Airbnb's 15.5% fee, list at $200 ÷ 0.845 = $236.69.

Which platform should you start with?

There's no single right answer. A practical approach:

  1. Start with one platform while you learn your home's demand and your cleaning routine.
  2. Add a second platform within a few months. Do it through a channel manager or PMS so your calendars stay in sync and you avoid double bookings. See our software guide.
  3. Add Booking.com if your area draws international or last-minute travelers. Read its non-refundable and no-show rules first.
  4. Build direct booking later, once you have reviews and repeat guests. Google lists vacation rentals through approved connectivity partners, including Guesty, Hospitable, Hostaway, Lodgify and OwnerRez (Google Hotel Center Help).

Tip: Your price shouldn't be the same on every channel. Each one takes a different cut, so adjust prices per channel to land on the same payout. Many PMS tools let you add a markup for each channel.

Write a title that gets clicks

Airbnb's own guidelines for listing titles (source):

Before → after examples (illustrative): - "NEW 4BR Home in Park City!!!" → "Hot tub cabin, 5 min to Canyons lift" - "Beautiful Beach Condo Destin" → "Gulf-view condo with private beach path"

Photos: your most important sales tool

Airbnb's photo guidance (source) recommends:

  1. Clear the clutter and stage each room.
  2. Shoot in natural light, and don't use the flash.
  3. Shoot horizontally and straight on, with a mix of wide, medium and close-up shots.
  4. Upload high-resolution images. Airbnb's guidance says at least 1200×800 pixels.
  5. Put photos in a logical order that walks guests through the home, and add captions for important details such as the bedroom layout or which bathroom has the walk-in shower.

Photo shot list (checklist): - ☐ Lead photo: the single best feature (the view, pool or great room) - ☐ Exterior and arrival (parking, entry) - ☐ Living area from two angles - ☐ Kitchen and dining - ☐ Every bedroom (caption the bed sizes) - ☐ Every bathroom - ☐ Outdoor spaces: deck, hot tub, grill, yard - ☐ Workspace and Wi-Fi speed screenshot (if you serve remote workers) - ☐ Nearby attractions (the beach, trailhead, ski lift)

Listing description checklist

Last checked October 19, 2026. Platform fees and policies change often.