Anonymous audience measurement, nothing is sold. Learn more
Free tool to calculate how much you pay each year in commissions to booking platforms (Booking, Airbnb, Expedia, Vrbo). Instant estimate, no sign-up.
Calculate your commission fees in 1 minute. Free, anonymous, instant.
Most comparisons quote a single figure per platform. That is wrong in both directions: the rate depends on options you have often switched on without counting them, and it is split differently between you and the guest depending on the case.
| Platform | Paid by you | Paid by the guest | What changes it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booking.com | 15% to 18% | none | 15% as a base. The Preferred Partner Programme adds about 3 points in exchange for visibility. Genius does not change the commission but lowers your net price. |
| Airbnb (split fees) | about 3% | 14% to 16% | The historic mode. You pay little, the guest pays a lot, and your displayed price is mechanically less competitive. |
| Airbnb (host-only fee) | 14% to 16% | none | The mandatory mode for hotels, and the one applied to most listings connected by API through a channel manager. This is the point comparisons leave out. |
| Vrbo | about 8% | 6% to 12% | 5% commission plus 3% payment fee on the pay-per-booking plan. The annual subscription changes the maths if you rent out a lot of nights. |
| Expedia | 15% to 18% | none | The classic hotel model. The rate depends on the programme level you have negotiated. |
| Gîtes de France (French holiday-home network) | 10% to 13% | varies | On top of the annual membership and labelling fees, which are not a commission but weigh on the same budget. |
Taken from the official pricing pages in August 2026. These rates change: your exact figure is in your Booking extranet, under the Finance tab, and in the service fee settings of your Airbnb listing.
The calculator applies the formula below. Here it is worked through on a common case: one property, €90 a night, 55% occupancy, 85% of bookings coming through platforms, 18% average commission.
€2,768 a year, or €231 a month, on a single property. Over three years with no growth at all, that is €8,304. It is the amount most owners have never put on a single line, because it is taken as bookings come in and shows up on no monthly invoice.
On Airbnb with split fees, you pay about 3%. Many owners conclude that Airbnb is six times cheaper than Booking. That is a misreading, for two reasons.
First, the 14% to 16% paid by the guest does not disappear: it inflates the displayed price. A guest hesitating between your cottage at €104 all-in on Airbnb and the same cottage at €90 on your own site is not thinking in terms of fee structure. Those commission points cost you in conversion rate, not in cash flow.
Second, and this is the point affiliate comparisons almost never mention: most listings connected to Airbnb by API, meaning through a channel manager, switch to fees paid entirely by the host. Your commission then goes from about 3% to 14% or 16%, while your displayed price becomes more competitive. That is neither good nor bad in itself, but it completely changes the calculation, and you need to know it before connecting anything. Check which mode applies to your listing before comparing rates.
No tool lowers a commission rate. What a direct channel lowers is the share of your volume that is subject to it. The break-even point comes down to one line:
annual cost of the tool ÷ average commission rate = direct revenue to reach
On the previous example, with a €660 annual subscription and 18% commission: 660 ÷ 0.18 = €3,667 of direct bookings a year, or 41 nights at €90. Beyond that point, every direct booking is net margin. Below it, the tool costs you more than it earns, and you should own that rather than tell yourself a story.
That is also why there is a floor below which no channel manager makes sense. A single property at 30% occupancy never crosses the threshold, whatever the tool.
15% on the base rate. If you have switched on the Preferred Partner Programme, count on 18%. Many hosts activated it without realising it means three extra points off their margin: on €40,000 of Booking revenue, that is €1,200 a year. The exact rate is in your extranet, under the Finance tab.
It depends on the fee mode applied to your listing. With split fees, you pay about 3% and the guest pays 14% to 16%. With fees paid entirely by the host, you pay 14% to 16% and the guest pays nothing. The second mode is mandatory for hotels, and it applies to most listings connected by API through a channel manager. In other words, connecting a channel manager can take your Airbnb commission from 3% to 15%, while making your displayed price more competitive against hotels. Check which one applies to you before comparing anything.
Number of properties × 365 × occupancy rate × average price per night = your annual revenue. Multiply it by the share that goes through platforms, then by your average commission rate. A cottage at €90 a night, 55% occupancy, 85% of volume on OTAs at 18% comes to about €2,765 in commissions a year. The calculator above does this for you, including the multi-year projection.
Not directly, but they cost you bookings. A guest who sees €90 on your site and €104 on Airbnb for the same night is comparing two prices, not two fee structures. Guest fees are a competitiveness cost, not an accounting cost. That is why they appear separately in the table above.
There are only three real levers. Renegotiate your rate, which is only possible above a certain volume. Switch off the paid visibility programmes, which lowers your bookings along with your commissions. Or move part of your volume to a direct channel, the only lever that improves margin without reducing revenue. No tool lowers a commission rate: they lower the share of volume that is subject to it.
The break-even point is calculated, not guessed. Take the annual cost of the website and the channel manager, and divide it by your average commission rate: you get the direct revenue needed to cover your costs. With 18% commission and a €660 annual subscription, you need about €3,700 of direct bookings a year, roughly 40 nights at €90. Beyond that, every direct booking is net margin.
The calculation runs in your browser, with no account and nothing sent. A form offers to email you the detail: it is optional, and the result shows whether or not you fill it in.