How to reprice your Vrbo listing for the 12% fee

773 words. Last checked Oct 17, 2026. Markdown

Vrbo's Help Center now lists a flat, all-in 12% commission for pay-per-booking listings, and Vrbo's new Host Terms take effect Oct 29, 2026. To keep the same take-home, raise your nightly rate and every fee you charge guests with one formula: new price = old price x (1 - old fee) / 0.88, rounded up to the cent.

What is changing

Vrbo's Help Center page on the pay-per-booking model says pay-per-booking listings pay "a flat, all-in 12% commission fee, which includes payment processing fees." The 12% is charged on the rental amount and on any extra fees you charge the traveler, such as cleaning, pet, and boat fees.

A few details from the same page:

Taxes and security deposits get a 3% payment processing fee, not the 12% commission.
Bookings from Vrbo's expanded distribution partners may have higher fees.
Hosts who use property management software pay 12% on bookings made through Vrbo's sites. Some regions, such as Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, may pay 12% to 15%.
Your rate is shown in your Vrbo Owner Dashboard. Check it before you set new prices.

The new Vrbo Host Terms of Service say "Effective From: 29 October 2026." Vrbo emailed hosts about the change on Sep 29, 2026, as reported by The Host Report and Hostaway. Vrbo no longer sells new annual subscriptions, and its help page says that "starting October 2026, most legacy partners" on subscriptions "will be switched" to pay-per-booking. Hostaway says subscription hosts move when their current subscription ends. Check your dashboard for your own date.

The formula

new price = old price x (1 - old fee) / (1 - 0.12)

Round up to the cent. Use it for your nightly rate, cleaning fee, pet fee, and any other fee you charge guests. Do not apply it to taxes or security deposits.

Your old fee is the percent Vrbo took from a recent booking, all in. Old rates differ by host, so pull the number from your own payout statement. For example, many US pay-per-booking hosts saw about 8% (a commission plus card processing), and some software-connected hosts saw about 5%.

If you paid an annual subscription, you paid 0% per booking. Keeping the same take-home then means raising prices by 1 / 0.88, about 13.6%. That only nets out if you also stop paying the subscription.

Worked example

A listing charges $200 a night and $125 for cleaning. A typical stay is 3 nights. The old fee was 8%.

Nightly: $200 x 0.92 / 0.88 = $209.0909, rounded up to $209.10.
Cleaning: $125 x 0.92 / 0.88 = $130.6818, rounded up to $130.69.
Old stay total: ($200 x 3) + $125 = $725.00.
New stay total: ($209.10 x 3) + $130.69 = $757.99.
Old take-home: $725.00 x 0.92 = $667.00.
New take-home: $757.99 x 0.88 = $667.03.

Rounding up adds 3 cents. If the old fee was 5% instead, the same listing needs $215.91 a night and $134.95 for cleaning, and take-home goes from $688.75 to $688.76.

Run your own numbers in the Vrbo 12% repricer. It also has an "absorb" mode that shows how much you lose if you leave prices alone.

Steps

Open a recent Vrbo payout statement and work out the total percent Vrbo took.
Check your Owner Dashboard for your new rate and the date it applies to you.
Run the formula on your nightly rate and each guest fee. Round up to the cent.
Update prices where they are set. If you use a channel manager or PMS, change them there. Hostaway, for example, says its Vrbo prices do not update on their own.
Check your direct booking price before you raise Vrbo prices (see below).
After Oct 29, open the first new booking and check the fee Vrbo actually charged.

Check your direct price too

Section 4.5.7 of Vrbo's new Host Terms says that while your property is listed on Vrbo, what you give Vrbo must be "at least as complete, accurate, current, detailed, and favorable" as what you offer on other channels, including your own website. The terms define content to include rates, discounts, and fees. So if you raise Vrbo prices above your direct price, read that clause first. Our guide on matching take-home across Airbnb, Vrbo, and direct walks through the trade-offs.

Sources

Last checked Oct 17, 2026. This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Check your own platform terms and dashboard.