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Vacation Rental Calculator: payout across channels

Split your bookings across Airbnb, Vrbo and direct. See the blended fee, the payout per channel, and what the mix earns against Airbnb alone.

No account neededFree PDF report

Examples computed by this calculator on sample inputs. Not market data.

Your rental and its channels

  • No account needed
  • Airbnb fees per Help Center article 1857
  • Every formula shown, sources dated
  • Free PDF report with every chart
How it works

Three steps. About a minute.

  1. Step 1: Enter rate and channel mix

    Nightly rate, occupancy and the share of bookings on each channel. Enter the Vrbo and direct rates from your own dashboards.

  2. Step 2: See payout by channel

    Gross, fees and payout for each channel, the blended fee, and the same bookings priced as all Airbnb.

  3. Step 3: Keep the PDF

    Download the channel table, the monthly revenue chart and the operating P&L before any mortgage.

Your report

What you'll get

Annual payout across channelsFrom the sample
THE HEADLINE

What all your channels pay out in a year

Payout across Airbnb, Vrbo and direct bookings at the share each one brings. This is the figure that reaches your bank, so it is the one to plan with.

  • Annual payout across channels
  • Gross booking revenue
  • NOI before debt

Showing part 1 of 4: Annual payout

  • Payout and fees for each booking channel
  • Your blended platform fee in one figure
  • Each channel priced on its own, and a 10-point shift
  • Peak, shoulder and off-peak months side by side
  • Month-by-month revenue and an operating P&L

How the blended fee works

Payout by channelFrom the sample

Each channel takes its share of your gross bookings and charges its own fee on that share. Weight each fee by its share and you get one blended rate for the whole property.

Airbnb's host-only fee is 15.5% for most hosts (Airbnb Help Center, article 1857). Vrbo's rate depends on your plan and region, so enter the figure on your own Vrbo dashboard. Direct bookings skip the platform fee but still pay payment processing.

Channel mistakes this calculator catches

Channel decisions get made on fee rates. The bookings matter more, and the report keeps the two apart.

  1. 01Chasing the lowest fee

    Moving 10% of a $60,000 year from a 15.5% channel to a 12% one saves $210. One extra booked week usually earns more than that.

  2. 02Leaving the Vrbo fee blank in your head

    The calculator lets you leave an unknown fee blank and says so. Guessing it is how a blended rate ends up a point off.

  3. 03Pricing direct bookings at the Airbnb rate

    A direct booking skips the platform fee but may carry card processing. The blended fee shows the true gap, which is your room to discount direct.

Channel mix moves bookings more than fees

From the sample

Shifting bookings between channels changes the fee by a few hundred dollars a year on a typical door. That is small next to what a second channel can do when it fills nights Airbnb would have left empty.

Judge a channel on the nights it adds. MagicBNB's Channel mix view breaks revenue down by channel on every screen, with last year beside it, so a channel that stopped pulling its weight shows up.

What good looks like

Fee rates are set by the channels. What you control is whether the mix covers your costs with room to spare.

OutputWeakOkayGood
Peak 3 months' share of grossRule of thumb. A second channel earns its place by lowering this share.Over 50%35% to 50%Under 35%
Occupancy room above break-even, before debtRule of thumb used by this calculator's verdict.Under 5 points5 to 15 points15 points or more

How operators use it

  1. Host adding Vrbo

    Runs 100% Airbnb and wants to know what a 30% Vrbo share does to payout.

    Sees the fee change is small and judges Vrbo on whether it fills off-peak months Airbnb leaves empty.

  2. Operator building direct bookings

    Wants a direct-booking price that undercuts Airbnb without giving away margin.

    Uses the blended fee and card processing line to set a direct rate that still nets more per stay.

Running more than one channel, in numbers

How much more does Vrbo pay out than Airbnb?

Per booked night, the difference is the fee gap: on the sample, $270.86 a night through Vrbo at a 12% example fee against $260.09 on Airbnb at 15.5%. Check your own Vrbo fee; the 12% here is an example, not a published rate.

Fee differences between channels are real but small. The sample's 70/30 Airbnb and Vrbo split pays $701 more a year than putting every booking on Airbnb. That is about three booked nights.

The bigger question is whether the second channel brings guests the first one would not have. A Vrbo booking that fills a February week Airbnb left empty is worth its full payout.

Sample bookings, one channel at a time
  • All on Airbnb at 15.5%$56,450 payout
  • All on Vrbo at 12% (example fee)$58,788 payout
  • 70% Airbnb, 30% Vrbo$57,152 payout, $701 more than all-Airbnb

What is a blended platform fee?

Your average fee across all channels, weighted by each channel's share of bookings. On the sample, 70% at 15.5% and 30% at 12% blends to 14.45%.

The blended rate is the number to use anywhere you need one fee: pricing, forecasting, comparing your take with a manager's quote. Using Airbnb's 15.5% for everything overstates fees if you run a real second channel, and understates them if most bookings carry a higher commission.

Leave a fee blank if you do not know it. The calculator marks it as missing rather than assuming a figure, because a guessed fee is how a blended rate ends up a point off.

Blending the sample's two channels
  • Airbnb70% x 15.5% = 10.85 points
  • Vrbo30% x 12% = 3.60 points
  • Blended platform fee14.45%, $9,653 a year on $66,805 gross

How much is moving 10% of bookings from Airbnb to Vrbo worth?

On the sample, $234 a year at the example Vrbo fee. Fee savings from moving bookings are small; new bookings from a new channel are where the money is.

The calculator works this out per 10 points of share moved, holding total bookings fixed. That isolates the fee effect. In practice, shifting share rarely happens without changing total demand, which is the effect worth measuring.

If you are listing on a second channel mainly to save fees, the numbers rarely justify the extra calendar and messaging work. If you are listing to fill shoulder and off-peak months, they usually do.

How should I price direct bookings against Airbnb?

Start from the platform fee you avoid, less your card processing cost. That gap is the most a direct rate can be discounted and still pay out the same as Airbnb.

On a 15.5% host-only fee and, say, 3% card processing (check your own processor), a direct booking can be priced about 12.5% below the Airbnb subtotal and still net the same. Pricing direct at the full Airbnb rate leaves guests no reason to book direct.

Enter your direct share and processing fee and the blended fee drops accordingly. It also shows the real cost of every direct booking you do not get.

Where it fits in your quarter

  1. Before adding a channel

    Enter your current mix, then the mix you expect. Compare payout, then ask whether the new channel adds nights or only moves them.

  2. When pricing direct

    Use the blended fee to set the most a direct rate can be discounted and still beat the platform payout.

  3. After a quarter live

    Compare the plan with what booked. MagicBNB's Channel mix everywhere view shows the real split by channel on every screen.

Terms on this page

Channel
Where a booking comes from: Airbnb, Vrbo, or direct.
Blended platform fee
One fee rate for all bookings, weighted by each channel's share.
Host-only fee
Airbnb's model where the host pays the whole service fee, 15.5% of the booking.
Split fee
Airbnb's model where the host pays 3% and the guest pays the rest.
Direct booking
A stay booked on your own site, with no platform fee but possibly card processing.

Questions

How do I calculate vacation rental income across several platforms?

Work out gross booking revenue once (booked nights times rate, plus cleaning fees), split it by each channel's share of bookings, and take each channel's own fee off its share. The payouts added together are your income before operating costs.

What does Airbnb charge hosts?

Most hosts pay a 15.5% host-only fee on the nightly rate plus cleaning and other host fees. On the older split fee the host pays about 3% and the guest pays 14.1% to 16.5% on top (Airbnb Help article 1857).

What does Vrbo charge hosts?

It depends on the plan and the region, and public descriptions disagree: Expedia describes a 12% all-in pay-per-booking rate, while several 2026 host guides describe 5% commission plus 3% processing. Use the rate on your own Vrbo dashboard. The 12% in the sample is only an example.

Is it worth listing on Vrbo as well as Airbnb?

Judge it on bookings. In the sample, moving 30% of bookings to a cheaper channel adds only a few hundred dollars a year in lower fees. A second channel pays off when it fills nights Airbnb would have left empty.

Do direct bookings save the platform fee?

They avoid it, but they carry payment processing and the cost of winning the booking: a website, ads, a booking engine. Enter your processing rate in the direct field and weigh it against what the direct channel costs to run.

How much is moving bookings to a cheaper channel worth?

The results price every booking through each channel on its own and show what shifting 10 points of share from Airbnb to that channel changes in a year. Fee savings are usually modest. Treat the figure as the most a channel switch can save on fees, then ask whether that channel would fill the same nights.

Why does the calculator let me leave the Vrbo fee blank?

Because a blank is more honest than a guess. Vrbo's fee depends on your plan and payment option; check your Vrbo dashboard and enter it. The 12% default is an example figure, not a published rate.

Does adding a channel change my occupancy?

Not in this calculator: total bookings are held fixed so the fee effect is isolated. In reality a second channel can add bookings, which is usually worth more than the fee difference.

Is the platform fee charged on cleaning fees on every channel?

On Airbnb's host-only fee, yes: it applies to the nightly price plus host fees, cleaning included (Airbnb Help article 1857). Check each other channel's terms for how it treats cleaning.

How do I count direct bookings that come from repeat guests?

As direct share with your card processing fee. They are the cheapest bookings you get, which is why the blended fee falls as direct share rises.

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Formulas last checked .

Channel mix everywhere

Your actual channel mix, measured

This calculator runs on the shares you expect. MagicBNB's Channel mix everywhere view breaks actual revenue by Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com and direct on every screen, with a year-over-year comparison of the mix.

Two more places this shows up in MagicBNB

  • Channel mix card (live)Today's bookings by channel, refreshed continuously, which is how you spot a listing that dropped in Vrbo search this week.
  • Smart transaction ledgerEach channel's deposit is matched automatically against its PMS payout, so a short Vrbo deposit shows up as a gap and not a surprise at month end.
Track your real channel mix
Go deeper

Every channel, run live and in depth

This is the quick look at one year. MagicBNB runs the same numbers in depth and in real time, property by property, with a Freshness pill on every figure.

Run the numbers in depthBack to the calculator