💡 Airbnb’s New 15.5% Host Fee: Why I Treat It as a Marketing Expense (and Why You Should Consider This Approach)

want to win in STR? always be strategic

OK, most all of us in the STR business are very well aware by now of the changes Airbnb just made to their fee splits. For us in the U.S.A., we hosts paid 3% and the guest paid 12.5% - and now that's changed to the host paying the full 15.5%. So how should you handle this? There is no one correct way, but here are thoughts you should consider.

First off, being pissed at Airbnb gets you nowhere. They're running a business, and despite the founders being billionaires (literally), they're a public company and have to keep pushing revenues and profits in order to keep investors interested in their stock - so, they don't really care about the hosts or the guests, they have to do what they have to do.

That said, many STR hosts and property managers are up in arms. Others are saying it’s no big deal, just pass it on to your guests, they're used to it. Some are being purely emotional and threatening to leave the Airbnb platform. I also see a ton of chatter about building direct bookings, to which many question “is it worth it?” - and others who flat out say “too It’s costly” or “It’s more responsibility for the host”. And to all those sentiments I reply = yes, yes, and yes. 

Well. here I'll share how I’ve been running my 2 STR properties from the start, for 5 years now, and how I plan to initially handle these 15.5% fees. Hopefully it gives you some food for thought on how you can approach this change and still use the OTAs to grow your business.

OTAs = Customer Acquisition

In my 30 years of business experience, I’ve run marketing teams for large Fortune 500 companies, large and mid-sized enterprise software and SaaS companies, and a consumer products brand company I started and successfully grew  - two truths have never changed: you need to focus on customer acquisition, and customer acquisition costs money.

Typical Marketing Spend (as % of revenue):

• Average public companies: ~11%

• High-growth startups: up to 25%

• Established companies: 5–10%

• SaaS companies: often 50%+ in early stages

  
  

And then there’s CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

Hospitality CAC Benchmarks:

• Walk-in: $0

• Brand website: 2–5%

• Travel agent: ~10%

• OTA: up to 25%

  
  

Based on these numbers, Airbnb’s 15.5% is actually right in line with what businesses have been spending for decades to acquire customers. In some cases, it’s cheaper.  But that doesn’t mean it’s painless. All this said, I suggest you don’t look at it as a “fee”, and instead start treating it like what it is: a marketing expense.

And to put this into some perspective, here are the average Customer Acqisition Costs incurred in the software industry:

• Average CAC in SaaS: $702

• B2B (non-SaaS): $536

• eCommerce: ranges from $20 - $200

  
  

Customer acquisition has always been costly, but the goal here is to make this a one time cost and achieve repeat business.  

FYI, The formula’s simple:

CAC = Total Sales & Marketing Costs ÷ New Customers Acquired

So, this is the game. And while the Airbnb change can be frustrating, they made it clear as to how hosts can choose to play this game.  

“Just Pass It On” Isn’t That Simple

Some people say, “Just pass the whole fee on to the guest. They’re used to paying it anyway.” But it’s not that simple.

Here’s why: when a guest first sees your property, they punch in their dates and group size. What pops up? A nightly rate. Then below that, they see the line items for taxes and Airbnb’s fees.

So, say they click on my property because the nightly rate shows $225. At that price, they’re comfortable. They may not love the added fees, but regular Airbnb users are already conditioned to expect them.

But now—if I just tack on the 15.5% and push it to the guest—suddenly my nightly rate isn’t $225 anymore. It’s $260. That can become a barrier to entry. It’s the first number they see, and it’s what decides whether they click through or keep scrolling.

And I’ll tell you what I expect will happen after this new split is rolled out: we’re going to see host forums, Facebook groups and STR experts on LinkedIn light up platforms with posts about bookings slowing down. And this will be a big reason why.

So going forward, you need to be strategic in how you handle what you pass on to your guest, and what you absorb as marketing expense.

How I’m Handling It (Real Numbers)

In low season (more price sensitive), I pass 6% of the 15.5% to guests. In peak season, I pass 10%. And for roughly half of my peak-season stays (larger groups with an upcharge), I can pass the full 15.5%.

When you work out the math across my whole year:

• 25% of revenue: I pass all fees → I absorb 0%

• 25% of revenue: I absorb 5.5%

• 50% of revenue: I absorb 9%

  
  

  (0.50×9%)+(0.25×5.5%)+(0.25×0%)

  =4.5%+1.375%+0%=5.875%

  

That math lands my blended absorption at 5.875% of annual revenue - only 2.875% higher than the 3% I paid under the former split fee model. Now look, I'm not a fool - I'd rather this expense be $0, but that's not practical or possible when you're trying to grow a business and acquire customers - especially in a competitive business like ours - and most especially in a competitive location like mine. So, I have to be strategic about how I handle these expenses and the question becomes how and why do I look at this 5.875% as a marketing expense?

Well, that's simple in that these OTA platforms give me reach to thousands / tens of thousands of guests who otherwise would not now about my properties - and the reviews give my properties, and me as a host, tremendous credibility. The OTAs are helping me acquire first time bookings. The strategy is, once I acquire these guests for the first time, my job and my goal is to convert these guests into repeat bookers.

The Long Game: Converting to Direct

Here’s how it plays out in a very simplified example (my actual numbers are quite better than this):

• Let's assume in 1 year Airbnb bring me guests that bring 40% of $100K annual revenue—that’s $40K.

• That will cost you $6200 in fees ($40K x .155)

• If you pass half of the fees only your guests, it only costs you $3100 in fees

• If you can convert just 10% of these Airbnb guests into direct repeat bookings (guests that come back to stay again and book directly with you) that’s a new $4K in revenue.

• With just this 10% repeat guest rate, you are more than covering the original CAC costs, and ultimately you've paid $3100 to get $44,000 in bookings that's more than a 14X return on your marketing spend. And the more they come stay with you, that ROI grows.

  
  

If you truly build a special relationships and experiences with your guests, the direct repeat bookings compound nicely year after year.

In 2025 (my fifth year hosting), 24% of my total revenue came from repeat guests who booked with me directly. And already (by August 2025), two of those guests have already booked again for 2026—for a total of $26K. These 2 guests alone have stayed with me a collective 8 times for a total of $115K+. So just for these 2 guests, if the 15.5% fees were on me back then, my CAC cost was about $2500 - and they've brought me over $115K. That's a beautiful 46X return.

In 5 years I have more than 40 guests who have come from the platforms that have stayed with me more than 3 times, and more than 90 that have stayed with me at least 2 times.

Additionally I’m building new direct bookings outside of the OTAs. In 2025, those made up 11% of my revenue. Two of those guests already rebooked for 2026—for another $2,800.  6 of these direct guests have now stayed with me at least 3 times, and they collectively have contributed $38K. 

For all these guests, I absorbed a 1 time cost to acquire them, but my strategy and job is to keep them returning (that’s where the hospitality part plays the most important role).

That’s the snowball effect.

The Reality of Airbnb

If you treat OTA fees like a marketing expense, you can use real data to decide how much of the cost you’re willing and able to absorb.  And then, your ability to turn those guests into repeat customers is where you can reduce the real cost to acquire bookings.

So my reality is, I use Airbnb as a marketing platform.  And I understand, they don’t make these changes to benefit us hosts.  Nor did they make these changes for the benefit of guests.  They made these changes to benefit Airbnb. So, it’s fair game to minimize your costs and turn these guests (or should I say, the better guests), into repeat guests that come directly to you

As I stated earlier, Airbnb is a public company, and they’re job is to continually show growth to their investors.  That means they’ll keep squeezing every drop of revenue they can. Translation: hosting costs will keep going up on these OTA platforms.

Bottom Line

If you’re in this for the long game, here’s what you need to understand:

• This is about hospitality.

• You have to run it like a business.

• Businesses have marketing expenses.

• You can figure a way to absorb part of these marketing expenses and grow a profitable business.

  
  

If you run your STR business like a business, you’ll figure out how to best deal with this new fee split. If being a STR host is  more of a side hustle to pay some bills, you’ll look at this differently.

But for me, I’ll continue to treat Airbnb, and all the OTAs, as they should be (at least in my eyes) - marketing channels.  I’ll keep working the math, and focus on turning guests into repeats, while also growing my direct bookings. That’s the strategy that wins over time.

Good luck!

Dominick