The short version
- What: Vrbo is moving all hosts and property managers to a flat 12% commission.[1]
- When: starting October 29, 2026.[1]
- Up from: 5% for hosts connected through property management software (PMS) and 8% for everyone else.[1] The 8% was a 5% commission plus a 3% payment processing fee.[3]
- Guests: Vrbo's guest service fee, currently 11–14%, is expected to drop sharply, but Vrbo told hosts a smaller, flexible traveler fee will remain in most cases.[1]
- New terms: a rate-parity clause and permission to distribute your rates through AI agents and metasearch.[1]
What Vrbo's own help page now says
Vrbo has already rewritten its pay-per-booking help article. It now lists the booking fee as "a flat, all-in 12% commission fee" charged on "the rental amount and any additional fees you charge to the traveler (such as cleaning, pet, and boat fees)." It doesn't apply to Property Damage Protection or trip cancellation insurance.[2]
Three details from that page are worth knowing:[2]
- "Bookings that originate from our expanded distribution partners may have higher fees."
- Hosts using property management software pay 12% on bookings made through Vrbo's family of sites. In some regions, such as Europe, Australia or New Zealand, that can be 12%–15%, and your Owner Dashboard shows the rate for your listings.
- If a reservation comes from Vrbo's sites but isn't booked through Vrbo's checkout, the fee is 10%.
One loose end: the same page still has an older paragraph describing a 3% payment processing fee on the total payment, including taxes and deposits.[2] "All-in" suggests processing is now included, so that's how our Vrbo calculator treats it by default. You can switch on a worst-case toggle that adds the 3% back.
What it does to a $1,000 booking
Take $1,000 of rent plus host fees, before taxes and deposits:
| How you're set up | Fee before Oct 29 | Payout before | Payout at 12% | Change | Raise needed to keep payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay-per-booking, no software | 8% (5% + 3%) | $920 | $880 | −$40 | +4.5% ($920 ÷ $880) |
| Connected through PMS software | 5% | $950 | $880 | −$70 | +8.0% ($950 ÷ $880) |
The old 3% also applied to taxes and refundable deposits,[3] so pay-per-booking hosts who collect taxes through Vrbo were paying slightly more than 8% of the rent. That makes the real change a little smaller than shown.
Software-connected hosts take the bigger hit. Skift, citing AirDNA, says about 55% of Vrbo listings worldwide and 51% in the U.S. connect through PMS software.[1]
What about annual-subscription hosts?
Vrbo closed the old annual subscription (pay-per-subscription) plan to new hosts; only accounts that already have a subscription listing can renew.[4] Skift reports those hosts, about 6% of listings worldwide and 12% in the U.S., also move to 12%.[1] For them it's the biggest change: they go from a flat yearly fee to a percentage of every booking.
Rate parity: why it matters if you take direct bookings
According to Skift, the new terms require hosts to give Vrbo rates at least as low as any other channel, including their own websites.[1] Read the terms in your dashboard before you price your direct-booking site below Vrbo.
Vrbo vs Airbnb after October 29
On the same $1,000 subtotal, Airbnb's 15.5% host-only fee leaves $845[5] and Vrbo's 12% leaves $880. But Airbnb guests see exactly your price, while Vrbo guests will still pay some service fee on top.[1] So the same listing price can earn more on Vrbo and still look more expensive to guests there. Our Airbnb vs Vrbo fees explainer goes through it line by line.
A checklist for the next four weeks
- Find your current Vrbo rate in the Owner Dashboard, and look again after October 29.[2]
- Decide whether you want to keep your payout (raise about 4.5% or 8%, from the table above) or let the lower guest fee absorb part of it.
- If a channel manager sets your Vrbo rates, change the Vrbo markup there. Otherwise it may overwrite edits you make in Vrbo.
- Check the rate-parity terms before discounting direct bookings.