Airbnb and Booking.com commission, and what an Airbnb co-host costs

In the UK, Airbnb and Booking.com commission is a platform contract issue, not a landlord-law rule, so the same commission facts apply across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The main exception below is Scotland’s short-term let licensing definition of “host”, which can matter where a co-host controls the accommodation.

How much commission does Airbnb take?

Airbnb says it is moving hosts to a single 15.5% host service fee deducted from the host’s payout, instead of splitting fees between host and guest. Airbnb’s own explanation is: “To simplify pricing, we're combining both fees into a single 15.5% service fee paid by hosts.” Airbnb also describes that figure as a global average, saying: “The 15.5% fee is based on Airbnb's global average service fees.” No UK statute or regulator fixes Airbnb’s commission rate; it is a commercial platform fee set by Airbnb’s terms and pricing policy. For hosts comparing Airbnb with Booking.com, the practical point is that Airbnb’s quoted 15.5% is host-side, so it should be compared with Booking.com’s host commission rather than with the total amount a guest sees at checkout.

What percentage does Booking.com take from hosts?

Booking.com says the commission percentage depends on the host’s country, property type and signed accommodation agreement, while UK market guides commonly put the typical rate at 15% inside a 10–25% range. Booking.com’s partner help centre states: “The exact percentage depends on your country, property type, and the accommodation agreement you signed when you joined us.” A UK short-let source gives the market shorthand: “Booking.com charges hosts a commission of 10–25% of the total booking value — typically 15% for most UK hosts.” No UK law sets Booking.com’s host commission, so the binding figure for a particular property is the percentage in that property’s Booking.com agreement and extranet, not a general online average. The safest working assumption for a UK host modelling net revenue is therefore 15%, then replace it with the actual contract rate before pricing.

How do you reduce Booking.com commission?

Booking.com's contract lists the UK as a Narrow Parity Country, so a host's own website cannot legally undercut Booking.com's price — the 2015 CMA ruling only freed hosts against rival OTAs, not their own site. The CMA’s 2015 position was limited to competing online travel agents: “Hotels can choose to offer a lower price on other OTAs than they offer on Expedia and/or Booking.com”. Booking.com’s current terms list the United Kingdom among “Narrow Parity Countries”, and its parity guidance says the accommodation partner should give Booking.com “the same or better rates and conditions” as on the partner’s own online channels. That makes “charge less on your own website” the wrong fix. The real lever is to build a direct booking channel that earns trust, captures repeat guests and reduces the share of bookings arriving through Booking.com; as one UK guide puts it, the effective lever is “reducing the proportion of bookings that go through Booking.com by building a direct booking channel.”

What does an Airbnb co-host actually do?

An Airbnb co-host helps run the listing for the host: guest messaging, calendar updates, and, where permissioned, pricing, reservations and damage-claim handling. Airbnb defines a co-host as: “a Member who has been authorized through the Co-Host Tools to participate in providing Host Services on the Host's behalf.” Its help centre gives the everyday version of the role as: “Message with guests and update your calendar”. No UK legislation defines an “Airbnb co-host” as a separate legal office, so the Airbnb label is not the whole answer. Airbnb’s own terms warn: “it is possible that a Co-Host would be considered an employee of a Host for certain purposes”. Scotland has an extra licensing risk: short-term let law defines “host” as the owner, tenant or person who “otherwise exercises control over occupation and use”, so a controlling co-host could need to be treated as the legal host.

How much does an Airbnb co-host get paid?

UK Airbnb co-hosts commonly charge 10–25% of gross booking revenue, or about £150–£400 per property per month for a flat-fee or lighter-touch arrangement. Houst’s 2026 UK guide states: “Most UK co-hosts charge between 10 and 25 percent of gross booking revenue.” The same guide gives the flat-fee alternative as: “Typically 150 to 400 pounds per property per month in the UK.” No statute sets or caps a co-host fee, and a genuinely self-employed co-host is priced by contract rather than by an Airbnb tariff. Minimum-wage law can still matter if the relationship is really employment or worker status rather than a business-to-business service; the National Minimum Wage Act’s worker definition covers a personal-service contract where the other party is not “a client or customer of any profession or business undertaking carried on by the individual.” In practice, guest co-hosts get paid only if the host and co-host agree paid terms.

Last reviewed August 2026.

Sources

• Airbnb Resource Centre, “Simplifying Airbnb service fees” — “To simplify pricing, we're combining both fees into a single 15.5% service fee paid by hosts.” Source
• Airbnb Resource Centre, “Simplifying Airbnb service fees” — “The 15.5% fee is based on Airbnb's global average service fees.” Source
• Booking.com for Partners, “Understanding our commission” — “The exact percentage depends on your country, property type, and the accommodation agreement you signed when you joined us.” Source
• Stayful, “How much does Booking.com charge hosts?” — “Booking.com charges hosts a commission of 10–25% of the total booking value — typically 15% for most UK hosts.” Source
• Competition and Markets Authority, “Online travel agents: monitoring of pricing practices” — “Hotels can choose to offer a lower price on other OTAs than they offer on Expedia and/or Booking.com” Source
• Booking.com General Delivery Terms — “"Narrow Parity Countries" means the following countries and regions: Armenia, Australia, Brazil, China, Georgia, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and/or such other jurisdictions as from time to time indicated by Booking.com.” Source
• Booking.com for Partners, “How parity works” — “This means that the accommodation partner should provide Booking.com with the same or better rates and conditions for the same accommodation with (at least) the same features, as made available by the accommodation partner on its own online channels.” Source
• Stayful, “How much does Booking.com charge hosts?” — “The most effective lever for individual hosts is not negotiating the commission rate down — it is reducing the proportion of bookings that go through Booking.com by building a direct booking channel.” Source
• Airbnb Co-Host Additional Terms of Service — “"Co-Host" means a Member who has been authorized through the Co-Host Tools to participate in providing Host Services on the Host's behalf.” Source
• Airbnb Help Centre, co-host permissions — “Message with guests and update your calendar” Source
• Airbnb Co-Host Additional Terms of Service — “In others, it is possible that a Co-Host would be considered an employee of a Host for certain purposes, although in no case shall a Host or Co-Host be an employee of Airbnb.” Source
• Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022, article 2 — “"host" means a person who is the owner, tenant, or person who otherwise exercises control over occupation and use, of the accommodation which is the subject of a short-term let,” Source
• Houst, “How much do Airbnb co-hosts earn?” — “Most UK co-hosts charge between 10 and 25 percent of gross booking revenue.” Source
• Houst, “How much do Airbnb co-hosts earn?” — “Typically 150 to 400 pounds per property per month in the UK.” Source
• National Minimum Wage Act 1998, section 54(3)(b) — “(b)any other contract, whether express or implied and (if it is express) whether oral or in writing, whereby the individual undertakes to do or perform personally any work or services for another party to the contract whose status is not by virtue of the contract that of a client or customer of any profession or business undertaking carried on by the individual;” Source