Imagine getting an email from a business partner:
“We’re more than doubling our fees. Starting next month. Figure it out.”
That’s what just happened to property managers paying Vrbo a 5% commission.
Vrbo sent an email September 29th letting hosts know that their fee is increasing to 12%, and the changes go into effect in 30 days.
What changes for hosts
12% isn't the whole fee
On the surface, you might think that 12% is still cheaper than Airbnb's new 15.5% fee… until you realize that the 12% is only the host fee. Vrbo will still charge guests a separate service fee on top.
Vrbo currently charges guests an 11%-14% service fee on each booking. Their team has said it will “drastically” reduce that guest fee, but hasn’t specified what the new amount will be. So we still don’t know what the total cost of a booking through Vrbo will be.
The Fine Print
Two parts of Vrbo's new Host Terms of Service caught my eye:
#1 - Price matching
Section 4.5.7 says what you offer on Vrbo has to be "at least as complete, accurate, current, detailed, and favorable" as what you offer anywhere else. That includes your own website and other booking sites.
In other words, you can't just raise your Vrbo rates to cover the higher fee. According to Vrbo: If your Vrbo price goes up, your direct booking price has to go up too.
And if Vrbo decides your listing is different on another channel, it can suspend or remove your listings (Section 9.2.14).
#2 - The 30-day rule
Section 4.8 says that if a guest contacts you through Vrbo and then books directly with you within 30 days, Vrbo can charge its commission on that booking. That's true even if the guest books by phone or email.
It goes one step further: say a guest asks about a property that's already booked, and within 30 days you put them in a different property that you own or manage. Vrbo can charge its commission on that booking too, even if the second property isn't listed on Vrbo.
Vrbo had a chance to win hosts over
It's a shame that Vrbo decided to go down this path.
Airbnb took plenty of heat for its 15.5% host-only fee change. This was Vrbo's chance to offer hosts a better deal and win more of their business.
Instead, hosts are getting a higher commission, uncertainty about guest fees, and terms that reach beyond bookings completed on Vrbo.
That's a bad trade for hosts. Unless Vrbo makes the overall cost competitive and clarifies these restrictions, it's giving us another reason to build bookings elsewhere.
Own the Guest Relationship
I've been beating this drum for a while.
- When Airbnb started limiting how hosts talk to past guests, I said the simplest way to diversify is to collect your guests’ email and stay in touch.
- When Airbnb launched its direct booking link, I said the most valuable asset you have is your relationship with the guest.
- And last week, after Muse sent travel stocks tumbling, I came back to the same point: a past guest on your email list doesn't start their search on Airbnb, Vrbo, or an AI agent. They start with you.
Vrbo just made the case again. If you rely on one platform, you can't control what it does next, and your fee can double with only 30 days' notice.
That's exactly why we built GuestLink. It's the simplest way to gain more control over your business. We collect your guests' contact info, and GuestLink handles all the follow-up emails that bring them back to book direct.
And here's the thing: you don't need a direct booking website to start.
A lot of hosts put off building a guest list because they think they need a direct booking website first. You don't. The guest relationship is the valuable part. Even Airbnb sees that. That's why Airbnb’s new direct booking link drops the fee you pay by 9.5% when you send a guest back to book through it.
So start collecting guest contact info now. Stay in touch while you build your direct booking site. So when your site’s ready, you'll have people ready to book there.
The alternative is “hope the platform doesn’t change the deal again.” And that’s a pretty shaky plan for your business.
Further reading
