Adjusting your prices for the 15.5% fee: a practical walkthrough

If you've decided to adjust your prices before Airbnb's single 15.5% fee lands, this is the practical version: what to change, by how much, and how to actually do it. The reasoning behind all of it, including why the popular +18.34% figure isn't what most people think, is in the earlier piece; here we'll keep it to the doing.

First, the one number that matters

To keep the same payout you had under the old split fee, you don't add 15.5% to your price. Airbnb's new fee is charged on your new, higher price, so the adjustment that actually holds your payout steady is about +14.8%. If instead you want to keep your old listed price as your payout, that's about +18.34%, which is really a small raise funded by your guest. Either is a valid choice. The helper below does this math on your actual rate, so you don't have to.

One honest caveat before you touch anything: +14.8% assumes the standard 3% host fee, which is what almost everyone was on. If you're one of the few on a Super Strict cancellation policy, your new fee is 17.5% rather than 15.5%, so your adjustment is a little higher. The calculator in the earlier article lets you check any rate.

Apply it to everything, not just the nightly rate

The 15.5% comes off your whole booking subtotal: nightly rate, cleaning fee, pet fee, extra-guest charges. If you raise only your nightly rate and leave the cleaning fee untouched, that cleaning fee quietly takes the full hit on every booking. Adjust every line item by the same factor.

Then decide how you'll actually make the change

There are three ways, and the right one depends on your setup.

If you use a pricing tool like PriceLabs or Beyond, make the adjustment inside that tool, not through Airbnb. Your tool pushes prices to Airbnb on every sync, so if you change them on Airbnb's side, the next sync overwrites your work and quietly leaves you underpriced.

If you use Airbnb's own adjustment tool, it will do the arithmetic for you, but know two things: accepting it switches you to the single-fee structure immediately and permanently, and it's worth checking its suggested price against your own target number so you can see if it matches. That's exactly what the helper below gives you: an independent figure to check against.

If you set your prices yourself, you're not missing anything by skipping Airbnb's tool. Go through your calendar and apply the adjustment manually. There's no rush: existing bookings keep the old fee structure, and the switch itself just needs to happen by September 15.

Get your own numbers

A note if you use the non-refundable option

If you offer the non-refundable rate (guests pay about 10% less in exchange for no refund), remember that on those bookings you receive that 10% less on top of the fee. The adjustment above still applies; just don't be surprised that a non-refundable booking pays out lower than the sticker suggests.

That's it

Adjust every line item by your factor, pick the method that fits your setup, and do it before September 15. Your existing bookings are safe either way. If you want a booking page where none of this applies, because there's no platform commission on a direct booking, that's what Guestark is for. But for your Airbnb listing, the steps above are the whole job.