Travellers understand that fees are part of booking a holiday rental. However, high fees could push travellers towards a different listing. Based on our research, we’ve compiled this list of fee guidelines for you to review.
Your guide to setting holiday rental fees
We know that you want the autonomy and flexibility to manage your properties to suit your business needs — and that includes how you choose to set your fees. However, we ask you to follow our fee-setting guidelines to help you manage your business, grow your bookings and rank higher in traveller search results.
We’re providing you with the following guidelines taken from our most recent guest research.
Avoid excessive fees
Our latest research shows that excessive fees can push guests towards the next listing they find. When it comes to searching for a holiday rental, we found that two thirds of travellers won’t book a property with three additional fees, and travellers prefer one-time fees over per-night fees.
Most travellers agree that things like basic utilities should be included in the nightly rate — but they don’t want to pay extra for things like bed linen, pets or damage insurance. We advise having no more than three fees in total and charging on a one-time basis.
Offer competitive rates
To drive bookings, a good strategy is to charge minimal fees and keep them lower than your nightly rate. Not only will this help you to increase bookings, but competitive fees and rates can help you stand out in search results, too.
From great reviews to quality photos, your listing’s search ranking is also informed by how competitive your rates and fees are in your market. We ask that rates on our marketplace be competitive with other holiday rental marketplaces.
Be honest and transparent
Travellers often tell us that they struggle to find a holiday rental listing price they can trust because of the various fees and extra costs that are applied during or after a booking is made. To help travellers feel certain they are choosing the right accommodation, we recommend being as transparent as possible with your rates and fees.
Any mandatory fees, or fees a traveller cannot opt out of (such as cleaning fees), should be labelled clearly and explained in detail on your listing. This will help to avoid any ‘sticker shock’ for travellers when they see the final quote.
All stay-collected fees — collected on site or during the stay (such as usage-based or optional fees) — can only be collected by a host if they are listed in your description on Vrbo, so the traveller is informed of them before booking. For example, hosts cannot collect fees that are only listed in a rental agreement or off the Vrbo platform.
If you manage your properties directly in the dashboard, outline your stay-collected fees in your listing description. If you manage your properties via software, make sure to include these fees in the price breakdown before travellers book.
Put your best price forward
Travellers accept that fees are part of booking a holiday rental, and they value the care you put into your property.
Key takeaways:
- Set rates that are competitive with other holiday rental marketplaces.
- Charge minimal fees; no more than three fees in total.
- Keep fees lower than your nightly rate, which will be evaluated on a per-booking basis, and include these in your price breakdown.
- We do understand that cleaning fees are essential to running your business, so we recommend addressing other fees first to ensure your fees do not impact traveller bookings.
- Request one-time fees instead of per-night fees.
- For transparency, label mandatory and stay-collected fees clearly and explain them in detail on your listing.
Follow these guidelines to charge fees that feel fair to you and your guests, so that you can protect your business while connecting with travellers who will love your property the most!
*Fee Research May 2021, Vrbo Travellers
