16 Feb AskSam: Airbnb Fees for Host and Airbnb Service Fees for Guests

How much does Airbnb charge hosts and guests? Airbnb charges both the host and guests for using Airbnb. Guests pay a service fee to Airbnb in addition to the cost of your listing, which is why the total price guests see is higher than your payout.

Airbnb Fees

Host fee = 3%.

Guest fee = 6-12%: guest service fee varies depending on the cost of the subtotal. The more expensive the subtotal, the lower the percentage of the service fee.

So, how do you quickly calculate how much you’ll be paid out?

The payout you’ll receive is your nightly rate minus the host service fee. To view information about any of your payouts, visit your Transaction History.

Here are some things that can impact your payout:

• Your weekly discount or monthly discount may have been applied to the reservation
• Weekend pricing or custom pricing may have been applied to the reservation
• Payouts to co-hosts are rounded to the nearest whole amount
• Where applicable, Value-added tax (VAT) may be added on top of the Airbnb service fee

What About Security Deposit?

I charge very little for security deposits. But you might want to charge more if you have more expensive furniture or appliances. If you’re curious, this is how much I charge:

1-bedroom: $200

2-bedroom: $350

If you’re interested to read more about an Airbnb security deposit, I wrote an in-depth guide here.

Before I talk about a refund, let’s cover the types of cancellation policies that Airbnb offers.

The Types of Cancellation Policies

Airbnb allows hosts to choose among three standardized cancellation policies (Flexible, Moderate, and Strict) that they enforce to protect both hosts and guests. Guests will also be asked to agree to the host’s cancellation policy when they make a booking.

Flexible: For a full refund of accommodation fees, cancellation must be made a full 24 hours prior to listing’s local check-in time on the day of check-in. For example, if check-in is on Friday, cancel by Thursday of that week before check-in time.

Moderate: To get a full refund of accommodation fees, cancellation must be made five full days prior to listing’s local check in time on the day of check-in. For example, if check-in is on Friday, cancel by the previous Sunday before check-in time

Strict: To get a 50% refund of accommodation fees, cancellation must be made seven full days prior to listing’s local check-in time on the day of check-in, otherwise no refund. For example, if check-in is on Friday, cancel by Friday of the previous week before check-in time.

In other words: 

• Flexible = more than 24 hours for a full refund
• Moderate = more than 5 days for a full refund
• Strict = more than 7 days for 50% refund

Airbnb Refund

Alright. Now, you understand the different types of cancelation policies that Airbnb has, it’s time to move onto refunds!

A pro-tip: always stick to your cancelation policy and set it to strict. The only two scenarios where I let my guests cancel penalty-free are when they cancel well-ahead of my cancelation policy and if something unforeseen has happened to them.

Here is how you would start the refund process.

To refund a guest before their check-in date, go to Your reservations on airbnb.com, select a reservation, and clicking Issue refund.

To refund a guest after their check-in date:

1. Go to the Resolution Center on airbnb.com
2. Choose the reservation you want to refund
3. Under Select a Reason, choose Offer Partial Reimbursement
4. Enter the desired amount, currency, and a message to your guest

Note: After you send the details, your guest will be notified and can choose to accept or decline the offer. So, be sure to give the correct refund!

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