What Booking.com and Airbnb commissions really cost you
Commission is invisible when a guest books, but it shows at the end of the season. If every booking comes through Booking.com, an apartment turning over €14,400 a year pays about €2,160 in base commission alone.
Booking.com: about 15%, often more
Booking.com charges about 15% of the booking value on average, and between 10% and 25% depending on the market and the type of property (Guesty). Your exact rate is in your contract with Booking.com.
What the commission is charged on:
- the nightly rate and extra fees such as cleaning or pets;
- non-refundable bookings, even when the guest doesn't show up;
- local taxes and VAT are usually excluded if they are set up correctly in the extranet.
On top of the base commission:
- Genius: a 10–20% discount for the guest, which you pay for.
- Preferred Partner: a higher commission for better visibility, for example 18% instead of 15%.
- Payments by Booking.com: an extra 1.1–3.1% of the booking value.
Airbnb: about 15% for most European hosts
Professional hosts in Europe have mostly paid a host-only fee of about 15% since 2021. For accounts connected to a property management system (PMS), the standard has been 15.5% since 27 October 2025, and other hosts moved to the same model from 1 December 2025 (Rentals United). Under the old split-fee model, the host paid about 3% and the guest 14–16%.
Example: an apartment with 120 nights
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Turnover through platforms (120 nights × €120) | €14,400 |
| Booking.com, base commission 15% | €2,160 |
| Booking.com with Preferred, 18% | €2,592 |
| Payments by Booking.com, 1.2% | €173 |
For a one-week stay worth €840, Booking.com takes €126 at 15%. The same booking paid by card on your own website, for example through Stripe at 1.5% + €0.25 for European cards (Studio Ninja), costs €12.85.
What you can realistically save
Not every booking moves to direct, and it doesn't have to. Platforms are good at bringing new guests. The savings come from returning guests, referrals and people who find you themselves. If one in four bookings from the example moves to direct, that's €540 a year at the base commission, and more if you pay for Preferred or Genius. For a villa turning over €60,000, the same calculation gives €2,250 a year. For a single small apartment, the savings are often not enough to pay for a website of its own, and the savings calculator subtracts our fee straight away.
Enter your own numbers in the savings calculator to see what it means for your property. If you'd like to see your own website, we'll build you a free demo.