How does Airbnb's split-fee versus host-only service fee work, and how does it change my payouts?

Airbnb takes about 3 percent from a split-fee host payout and 15.5 percent from a host-only, or single-fee, payout. Guests on split-fee pay 14.1 to 16.5 percent on top at checkout. Guests on host-only pay no service fee, so an unchanged listed price lands a smaller bank lump.

This is the fee math for a small property-management office on Guesty, AppFolio or Rentvine that keeps a few short-term listings. Pull last month’s Paid CSV and one guest receipt, then read the Airbnb service fee line.

Split-fee vs host-only

Airbnb’s service-fees help, read 2026-11-03, names two stay structures: split-fee and single fee. Hosts and PMS vendors still call the single fee host-only. Airbnb is transitioning all home hosts onto single fee and phasing split-fee out. Once you switch, you cannot go back. Airbnb’s host-fee resource, dated 2026-10-13, writes that as a 15.5 percent fee paid by hosts, 16 percent in Brazil and Mexico.

Job	Split-fee	Host-only, the single fee
Host service fee	Most hosts 3%. Brazil and Mexico 4%. Read 2026-11-03.	Most hosts 15.5%. Remaining typically 14% to 16%. Brazil and Mexico 16%. Read 2026-11-03.
Guest service fee at checkout	14.1% to 16.5% of the subtotal	None
Payout on a $100 listed night	$97 in Airbnb’s example	$84.50 if the $100 stays. About $97 if you list $115.
Fee base	Nightly price plus host-charged fees. Taxes out.	Same base. Cleaning, pet, extra-guest sit in it.
Who Airbnb requires it for	Hosts not yet migrated	Most hosts, including property-management software
Switch back	Still the older structure	Once switched, you cannot go back
Bookings already confirmed	Keep this structure	New bookings only

Split-fee wins the smaller host cut on an unchanged listed price. Host-only wins a guest-facing price that matches what you set, and it is the structure a software-connected office gets.

How the fee is calculated

Airbnb’s payout help, read 2026-11-03, writes the cash as nightly rate plus extra charges, cleaning and extra-guest among them, minus the host service fee and any co-host share. That net should equal the bank line.

The percentage hits the booking subtotal: nightly price times nights, plus fees the host charges. Cleaning, pet, and extra-guest sit in that base. Occupancy tax stays outside it. The guest service fee, on split-fee only, stays outside it too. How to download the Paid CSV is the file. Use the Host Fee column on the row.

Airbnb’s tax-collection help, read 2026-11-03, says remittance does not change the host payout. Tax Airbnb already remitted never hits the bank. Tax paid out to you sits in the lump as occupancy-tax payable. This is not tax advice. Check the listing, the agency, and your CPA.

What the same listed price pays out

Airbnb’s simplifying-fees resource, updated 2026-10-13, is the official example, leaving out host-added fees and taxes.

Listed night	Guest sees, before tax	Host earns
$100 on split-fee	About $115 after the guest fee	$97
$100 left unchanged on host-only	$100	$84.50 after 15.5%
$115 on host-only	$115	About $97

The $115 list is the price guests already paid under split-fee in that example. Raise the nightly rate and the cleaning fee. Hosts on r/airbnb_hosts in July 2026 and September 2026 wrote the same: the 15.5 percent comes out of cleaning, pet, and extra-guest too. Example, not a real office: three nights at $200 plus $150 cleaning is a $750 subtotal.

Line	Split-fee at 3%	Host-only at 15.5%, price left
Host service fee	$22.50	$116.25
Payout before tax	$727.50	$633.75
Guest service fee	14.1% to 16.5% on top	None

How to record Airbnb host fees and cleaning fees in QuickBooks Online is those two lines on the deposit.

Split-fee

Split-fee splits Airbnb’s cut. Most hosts pay 3 percent of the subtotal. Guests pay 14.1 to 16.5 percent at checkout. The listed night looks lower and the guest’s card is higher, so the payout stays close to the listed subtotal. A reservation confirmed before your switch date keeps it. One month of Paid rows can mix 3 percent lines and 15.5 percent lines.

It stops for a property-management office. Airbnb makes single fee mandatory for hosts who use property-management software. You cannot pick split-fee back once you have moved.

Host-only, the single fee

Host-only puts the whole service fee on the host. Most hosts pay 15.5 percent of the subtotal from the payout. Guests pay no Airbnb service fee. The listed price is the price they see, before tax.

Airbnb’s service-fees help makes this mandatory for most hosts, including hosts who use property management software. Airbnb’s simplifying-fees resource, updated 2026-10-13, says remaining software-connected hosts switched on October 13, 2026.

Airbnb’s price-adjustment tool, read 2026-11-03, is for home hosts who do not use property-management software. A Guesty or Hospitable office changes the rate or markup in the software. Hospitable’s fee help, dated 2026-09-20, uses a markup of about 18.34 percent to neutralize 15.5 percent when software rates are set before the channel fee.

It stops at pass-through cleaning and co-host splits. On r/airbnb_hosts in August 2026, hosts who raised cleaning to cover the fee still saw the full new cleaning amount sent to the co-host, with the 15.5 percent taken from the host. Check both payouts against the CSV.

What this does to owner payouts

The bank lump is net of the host fee. Charge the owner the Host Fee on that CSV row. A remembered 3 percent will run the statement high.

What changed	What the owner ledger should do
Host fee on new bookings	15.5% of subtotal for most US listings. Use the CSV.
Cleaning the owner keeps	Same 15.5% comes out unless you raised the fee.
Cleaning the firm keeps	Firm bears the fee on that share. Owner bears the fee on owner money.
Co-host takes cleaning	Skip that cleaning on this host deposit. Confirm the co-host payout.
Occupancy tax Airbnb remitted	Skip it. It never hit the bank.
Booking confirmed before the switch	Old structure on that row. Mix is normal.

How to reconcile Airbnb payouts in QuickBooks Online is the Bank Deposit that Matches the lump. Mixed long-term and short-term books in one trust account is the post once the cash is in. Hold the owner draw until Paid. Guesty’s Airbnb payout article, read 2026-11-03, says a short-term payout can take 72 hours to show, and a co-host split leaves Guesty seeing only the host share. Use Airbnb’s CSV when Guesty and the bank disagree.

How to tell which structure a payout used

Do this on the earning.

1. In Airbnb, go to Today, then Menu, then Earnings.
2. Open Paid or Upcoming. Search the confirmation code or the payout amount.
3. Open the transaction. Under Earnings, find Airbnb service fee.
4. Divide that fee by the subtotal, nightly plus host-charged fees, or Amount plus Host Fee on the CSV. About 3 percent is split-fee. About 15.5 percent is host-only.

Hospitable also points at Airbnb Payments and payouts, then Service fee, for the account-level setting. The row still wins when a month mixes old and new bookings. A guest receipt with an Airbnb guest service fee is split-fee. A guest receipt with none, and a 15.5 percent host line, is host-only.

What most small PM firms actually run

A 50-to-300-door office with a few Airbnb listings on Guesty or another channel manager is already on host-only. Airbnb required it for property-management software. Split-fee still appears on stays booked before the switch.

Airbnb wins the fee structure and the Paid CSV. Guesty wins reservation-level payout status, with up to 72 hours to sync. QuickBooks Online wins the two-way rec your CPA already knows. AppFolio, Rentvine and Buildium still win owner ledgers and the three-way trust rec on long-term doors. Someone still has to read the Airbnb service fee line, put it on the deposit as a negative, and stop using 3 percent on owner statements.

How to tell this week is closed

Every AIRBNB bank line is Matched to a deposit that equals the statement. Each deposit uses the Host Fee from that CSV row. Owner statements use that fee.

Pull last month’s Airbnb Paid CSV, one guest receipt from a new booking, and the bank statement for the account Airbnb pays. Open the first unmatched earning and read the Airbnb service fee line. Those files already exist.