OTAs
Vrbo Fees for Owners: How Much Is Vrbo Charging You?
Today, the Vrbo boasts over two million private homes in over 190 countries and attracts millions of vacation rental guests searching for the perfect stay. But is it the right listing site for your short-term rental property? Read the post to learn about Vrbo fees for hosts.
You listed on Vrbo, a booking came in, the payout arrived, and it was less than you expected. Between the 5% commission, the 3% payment processing fee, and the guest-side service fee that quietly pushes your total price up, Vrbo’s fee structure has a few layers worth understanding before you set your rates.
Owners can use Vrbo to rent out their entire vacation home, apartment, or condo. So if you’re only looking to rent out a separate room in your home, the Vrbo platform isn’t the place for you. However, you can try starting a business on Airbnb instead.
Today, Vrbo boasts over 2 million private homes across 190 countries and attracts millions of vacation rental guests searching for the perfect stay. But is it the right listing site for your short-term rental property? How much does Vrbo charge for each listing?
In this article, we’ll discuss the fees Vrbo charges vacation property owners for using the platform. This info can help you decide whether this site is a smart choice for your STR business.
Owning a vacation rental is a great way to make money. Still, it requires regular effort to manage bookings, communicate with guests, coordinate cleaning and maintenance, and more, which can be time-consuming. A smart solution is to automate your hosting routine using short-term rental software like Hospitable, so you can focus on providing a memorable guest experience.
How Much Does Vrbo Charge?
To list your property on Vrbo, you must accept its fee structure. Currently, there are two Vrbo pricing models for hosts: pay-per-booking and subscription. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.
Pay-per-Booking
This flexible model is ideal for hosts new to the vacation rental industry, as it allows you to pay only for the bookings you receive. It also works best for owners who receive bookings from multiple channels. The Vrbo booking fee charged for pay-per-booking listings consists of a 3% payment processing fee and 5% commission fee.
This is how the overall Vrbo owner fees are made up:
5% Vrbo commission fee is calculated from the total amount of the reservation, including additional Vrbo fees (like pet fees or cleaning fees) and excluding taxes and refundable deposits paid by the guest.
3% Vrbo payment processing fee is charged on the total amount of Vrbo payments you receive from your travelers, including taxes and refundable damage deposits. Please note that the processing fee is not applicable when using API-connected property management software.
Annual Subscription
The subscription model costs a one-time, flat fee of $699 per year paid in advance. It covers all bookings made on the platform and all service fees that would otherwise be charged to your account when a guest books.
This Vrbo owner fee includes special features, such as online booking, listing your property on international sites, access to reservation management tools, and the ability to upload up to 50 HD photos.
As of 28 August 2025, the pay-per-subscription (PPS) model is no longer available as a pricing plan for new Vrbo hosts or listings. Only Vrbo legacy partners with at least one property on the pay-per-subscription (PPS) model can opt into automatic renewal of their subscription or convert a listing from the pay-per-booking (PPB) model to PPS.
Is Vrbo Cost Worth It?
Is it worth paying these fees to list your house on Vrbo? The answer is definitely yes! This platform provides you with a lot of visibility; however, earnings from short-term Vrbo rentals vary significantly. Your earnings will depend on the type, size, and location of your property, as well as your financial goals.
Note that while Vrbo works exceptionally well for many vacation rental property owners, putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea. So we recommend that you list your property on as many sites as you can manage to reach more guests, including major OTAs such as Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Agoda.
Remember: the more people see your listing, the more bookings you’ll get and the more rental income you’ll earn. And if you opt for Hospitable, you’ll be able to manage all your listings on multiple booking channels within a single dashboard without worrying about juggling calendars, messaging, and cleaners across bookings.
If you are new to the automation of your STR business, download our free guide to learn how to save time while growing your revenue and improving your guests’ experience.
One thing worth understanding about Vrbo and property management software. When you connect any PMS to your Vrbo account through the API, Vrbo stops processing guest payments. Your PMS takes over, and you become the Merchant of Record. That means chargebacks, payment disputes, and tax remittance all fall on you. Hospitable is currently the only PMS that can take on the Merchant of Record role itself, so you don't have to. Hospitable handles chargebacks, absorbs dispute losses, and collects and remits taxes in supported jurisdictions (all 50 US states, the UK, and Australia). If you use a different PMS with Vrbo, you're on your own for all of that.
Hospitable has recently launched a new Vrbo Partner Connection. It’s available to hosts on all subscription plans who either have access to Direct Premium on Hospitable or have access to Stripe. The new Vrbo Partner Connection is built on Vrbo’s latest API, with higher integration quality for Hospitable users, and one of the biggest changes is the way guest payments are processed.
With a direct Vrbo connection, Vrbo collects guest payments as the Merchant of Record, handles some of your taxes, and sends payouts directly to you, deducting 8% of the total amount received from the guest.
If you connect to Vrbo through the Partner Connection using a property management system, the Partner (your PMS) collects the guest credit card information from Vrbo and processes the payment via your payment processor.
With any other property management system, that means you become the Merchant of Record, so you are responsible for handling chargebacks and remitting your taxes. And since Vrbo doesn’t handle payments, they charge only their commission–5%, but not the payment fee. It is automatically deducted from your credit card for each booking, and you receive your payout from your payment processor, net of any payment processing fees.
But Hospitable is different. Under the Vrbo Partner Connection, Hospitable can act as the Merchant of Record, processing guest payments and sending payouts. Currently, Hospitable supports Merchant of Record services for properties located in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
So, for properties in these countries, hosts can choose either Hospitable as Merchant of Record or use Stripe. For properties outside these countries, the Vrbo Partner Connection may be available through Stripe.
If you use Hospitable as the Merchant of Record, you’ll pay 5% Vrbo commission and 3.9% Hospitable Merchant of Record fee, which includes payment processing, chargeback protection, and tax collection and remittance.
For US hosts, we remit sales and lodging taxes in all 50 states and select local jurisdictions. Another advantage is smoother upsells. Since we process Vrbo reservation payments, we securely store those payment methods on file. So Vrbo guests can purchase upsells in the guest portal without re-entering their credit card details.
With the Vrbo Partner Connection using Stripe, you are the Merchant of Record, so you handle taxes and chargebacks. You pay 5% Vrbo commission, 1% Hospitable service fee, and Stripe’s payment processing fees, which are typically around 2.9%.
What Can You Do to Minimize the Impact of Vrbo Fees?
Vacation rentals can be a lucrative investment if managed well. So, if you really want to make more money, your focus shouldn’t be on picking the platform with the lowest fees for hosts, which can save you a few hundred dollars. Instead, your focus should be on optimizing your pricing strategy, encouraging direct repeat bookings, and offering paid upsells to your guests.
Use a dynamic pricing tool. It’s the best way to ensure the most competitive rates for your listing and maximize income from every stay. A dynamic pricing tool can adjust rental rates in real time based on factors such as demand, seasonality, local events, and competitor pricing, helping you maximize your revenue year-round, even during low seasons.
Hospitable users can take advantage of our built-in Dynamic Pricing, included at no extra cost in Host, Professional, and Mogul subscription plans. If you enable this feature for your property, our built-in solution will automatically optimize your nightly rates to maximize revenue and occupancy. It will push updated rates to all your connected channels.
Create a direct-booking website and encourage your repeat guests to book directly to avoid OTA fees. It’s easier than you might think. For example, with Hospitable, you can create a Direct booking website in minutes using our professional website templates. We’ll also list your properties on Google Vacation Rentals, allowing travelers to discover your rentals when they use Google to search for a place to stay. This way, you’ll have a chance to get direct bookings without paying high third-party fees.
Offer add-on services and amenities. It’s a great way to please your guests, make their stay more enjoyable, and maximize your revenue. You can offer your guests various additional services for an extra fee, such as early check-in, late checkout, luggage storage, mid-stay cleaning, grocery delivery, equipment rentals, and more.
Hospitable can help you automate upselling guest services without coming across as pushy. Create a catalog of your offerings and send your guests the link to their guest portal, where they can view all available options and make a purchase.
Final Thought
If you own a property in a popular vacation destination, it may be beneficial to rent it on Vrbo. It’s a major vacation rental channel that attracts millions of visitors and bookings annually. You can list your STR property on Vrbo for free, but you'll pay a 5% commission and a 3% payment processing fee for each confirmed guest reservation.
Vrbo has been a trusted name in the vacation rental business for quite some time. Listing your vacation home on it will put you in front of a broad audience, increase your worldwide visibility, and drive traffic to your property listing.
Many Vrbo hosts cross-list their properties on Booking.com to reach a wider audience of guests. Check out our Booking.com host guide for beginners to find answers to the most common questions about creating a listing on this platform.
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Common questions
How much does Vrbo charge hosts?
Most Vrbo hosts use the pay-per-booking model, which includes a 5% commission fee and a 3% payment processing fee. The commission is calculated on the booking total (excluding taxes and refundable deposits), while the payment processing fee is applied to the total payment received from the guest. Vrbo also has a legacy annual subscription option, but it is no longer available to new hosts or new listings.
Who is the Merchant of Record for Vrbo bookings?
It depends on how you connect to Vrbo. If you list directly on Vrbo, Vrbo acts as the Merchant of Record by processing guest payments and handling payment-related responsibilities. However, when you connect most property management systems through the Vrbo API, the PMS processes payments instead, making you—the host—the Merchant of Record. That means you're responsible for payment disputes, chargebacks, and tax handling. Hospitable is currently the only PMS that can act as the Merchant of Record itself, allowing hosts to avoid those responsibilities in supported countries.
Does Vrbo charge payment processing fees when using a PMS?
Not always. When you connect a PMS to Vrbo through the API, Vrbo generally stops processing guest payments, so the standard 3% Vrbo payment processing fee no longer applies. Instead, payment processing depends on how your PMS handles payments. With most PMSs, hosts become the Merchant of Record and pay their payment processor's fees separately. Hospitable offers an alternative by acting as the Merchant of Record for eligible properties, combining payment processing, chargeback protection, and tax handling into its Merchant of Record service.
Who handles chargebacks and taxes for Vrbo bookings?
The answer depends on who acts as the Merchant of Record. If you use most property management systems with the Vrbo API, you become the Merchant of Record and are responsible for chargebacks, payment disputes, and tax collection or remittance where required. Hospitable is the exception. It is currently the only PMS that can act as the Merchant of Record for eligible Vrbo properties, handling chargebacks, absorbing dispute losses, and collecting and remitting taxes in supported jurisdictions, including all 50 US states, the UK, and Australia. This lets hosts benefit from API connectivity without taking on the operational burden that typically comes with it.