Vacation rental booking fees, explained.

Enjoy fee-free travel when you book with Vacay.

The Scenario

You are searching for a vacation rental in Bend, OR for three nights over Labor Day weekend. You start out on Airbnb and find a rental that says it’s $534/night with a small number advertised underneath stating the total will come to $2,149. You notice that $534 times 3 nights doesn’t equal $2,149 but you carry on.

You do your due diligence and check to see if you can find the same home for a better price elsewhere. You notice every single website has a different advertised price for the same exact home, on the same exact dates – so what could be different?

Vacation Rental Booking Fee Breakdown

Price Comparison • Based on an actual vacation rental listing for a 3-night stay

Booking.com Airbnb Vrbo
Advertised Nightly Rate $593 $534 $480
Nightly Rate x 3 Nights $1,780 $1,602 $1,442
Taxes $255 $224 $213
Cleaning Service + Added Fees $206 $280 $175
Administrative Fee $171
Resort Fee $35
Property Service Charge $
Destination Fee $63
Service Fee $266 $197
Total Guest Price $2,398 $2,372 $2,198

Confused? We understand.

Welcome to fee free travel
Advertised Nightly Rate $543
Nightly Rate x 3 $1,602
Taxes $211
Cleaning Service $175
Total Guest Price $1,988
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An Easier Way to Vacay

“We do not believe in charging guest service fees that overtake vacation budgets, leading travelers to feel nickel and dimed. Our approach is fair and transparent – guests only pay the nightly rate, associated cleaning service and taxes with travel insurance as optional – no nonsense. By removing guest service fees, travelers will save up to 20 percent on VacayMyWay.”

— Jim Stewart, VacayMyWay CEO

Ready to Ditch Those Extra Fees?

In addition to the fees charged to the traveler on a booking website, hosts are also typically charged a commission on their rental revenue. Here’s a summary of the total amount of fees collected on the same booking example above, including both the traveler fees and host fees.

Price Comparison Booking.com Airbnb Vrbo
Total Paid by the Guest $2,398 $2,373 $2,198 $1,988
Fees Paid by Guest to Booking Site $188 $371 $368 $0
Fees Paid by Host to Booking Site $386 $129 $159 $169
Total Fees Collected by Booking Site $574 $500 $527 $169
Features Booking.com Airbnb Vrbo
Free Property Listing
Flexible Date Search
Flexible Cancel Policies
Nearby Attractions Search
Guest ID Verification
No Service Fees
$1.3M Inclusive Damage Protection
Detailed Amenity Search
Total Budget Pricing
Open Host-Guest Communication

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Looking at Fees From A Hosts Perspective

With VacayMyWay, it is very clear that guests will absolutely never pay any fees directly to us. Vacay offers a fair and transparent 6.5% of booking fee for hosts, plus the standard 3% credit card processing fee which is also incurred by other booking sites.

Price Comparison Booking.com Airbnb Vrbo
Total Paid by the Guest (Excluding Tax) $2,142 $2,148 $1,983 $1,777
Total Fees Paid to Booking Site $574 $500 $527 $169
Total Host Payout $1,568 $1,648 $1,456 $1,608
Cost Per Acquisition 26.78% 23.27% 26.56% 9.5%

Your total payout from the other booking websites amount to about 75% of the total price your guest paid. With vacay, your total payout is 90.5% of the total price your guest paid, making your cost per acquisition on Vacay the lowest by a large margin. This low cost per acquisition allows you to have a more flexible rate while still saving your guests money.

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  • Add your property location

  • Add photos and property details

  • Set your pricing

  • Start earning

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