On April 13th, a large number of Airbnb hosts, including those connected through property management software, noticed the option to switch back to the old split-fee model (3% host / 14-16% guest) had reappeared in their account settings.
The news spread quickly through Facebook groups, Reddit, and host communities before any official communication from Airbnb. Some hosts interpreted the toggle as a policy rollback and switched their settings, but all signs point to it being a bug.
What We Know
Pierre-Camille Hamana, CEO of Hospitable and an official Airbnb connectivity partner, said his team received “explicit confirmation from the Connectivity team at Airbnb that the ability to switch the software fee is a frontend bug on their side. No one has rolled back the Host-Only Fee (quite the opposite).” He attributed it to a large code push Airbnb made on April 13th and said the issue has been escalated internally at Airbnb.
Jamie Lane, Chief Economist at AirDNA, posted a PSA on Linkedin with the same assessment: the toggle is a display error, not a policy change. He recommended PMS-connected hosts remain on the host-only fee and avoid re-pricing around a toggle that will be reverted.
When hosts contacted Airbnb support directly, they got inconsistent answers, with some agents denying it was a bug. As of April 15th, Airbnb has not issued any public statement addressing the issue.
Why This Isn't a Policy Reversal
April 13th was also the date Airbnb completed its final migration wave, moving all remaining PMS-connected hosts from split-fee to the 15.5% host-only fee structure. That transition has been going on since mid-2025. During Airbnb’s Q4 earnings call, Airbnb's CFO called the fee restructuring "foundational" for future pricing flexibility. And Airbnb's own Resource Center still reflects April 13th as the completion date for the host-only transition.
A toggle reappearing on the same day as a major code deployment is consistent with a release bug, not a policy reversal. Although the Airbnb team still hasn't publicly addressed it, the confirmation from its Connectivity Team through Hospitable is the clearest signal we have.
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