Returning Guest Discount: Where the 13% Ceiling Sits

Hosts pass around returning guest discounts of 5%, 10%, 15%, even 20%, and almost none of those figures come with a derivation. The question has an answer. Against a guest who would otherwise rebook on Airbnb, a direct booking discount stops paying at 12.98%. Against a guest who would otherwise rebook on Vrbo once its 12% commission starts on October 29, 2026, the line is 9.37%.

Both numbers are lower than the fee the host is avoiding, and that gap is where money leaks. A host who reasons "Airbnb keeps 15.5%, so I can give the guest 15.5%" ends up with less than the Airbnb payout on every repeat booking the offer wins.

The timing matters this month. Vrbo's rate changes on October 29, 2026, and the win back emails aimed at Thanksgiving (November 26, 2026) and December go out in October.

Key facts

• Airbnb's single service fee is 15.5% for most hosts and is deducted entirely from the host's payout, according to Airbnb's service fee page, read October 10, 2026.
• Vrbo moves hosts to a flat 12% commission that includes payment processing, with changes beginning October 29, 2026, according to Expedia Group's October 1, 2026 announcement.
• Standard online card processing is 2.9% plus $0.30 per domestic transaction, per Stripe's published pricing, read October 10, 2026.
• On a $1,500 booking, the break even direct discount is 12.98% against Airbnb at 15.5% and 9.37% against Vrbo at 12%.
• A 10% returning guest discount nets $43.05 more than the Airbnb booking and $9.45 less than the Vrbo booking on that same $1,500 stay.

Why 15.5% off is not the same as saving 15.5%

Three things get mixed together: the fee, the markup, and the discount. They are different numbers.

The fee comes off the payout. Airbnb's fee page says the booking subtotal includes the nightly price and any additional fees the host charges, so a cleaning fee is inside the base. On a $1,500 subtotal, 15.5% is $232.50 and the host is paid $1,267.50.

The discount comes off the price, and the direct booking then pays card processing, which the platform payout already had netted out. At full price, a direct booking of $1,500 costs $43.80 in processing (2.9% of $1,500 is $43.50, plus $0.30) and leaves $1,456.20. That is $188.70 more than the Airbnb payout, and that $188.70 is the entire budget for a discount.

The markup is a third figure. Covering a 15.5% fee inside your price means dividing by 0.845, an 18.34% increase. That is a repricing number for the listing, covered in our Airbnb host fees explainer. It has nothing to do with how much you can give back to a guest who books direct.

The ceiling, worked on a $1,500 booking

Set the direct net equal to the Airbnb net and solve for the discount, d:

Price x (1 - d) x 0.971 = Price x 0.845

So 1 - d = 0.845 / 0.971 = 0.8702, and d = 12.98%. Including the fixed $0.30 on a $1,500 booking, the figure is 12.96%. Call it 13%.

Here is the whole curve, with each direct net compared to the $1,267.50 Airbnb payout:

• 5% off: host nets $1,383.38, which is $115.88 better than the Airbnb booking.
• 10% off: $1,310.55, better by $43.05.
• 12.96% off: $1,267.44, level with Airbnb.
• 15.5% off: $1,230.44, worse by $37.06.
• 20% off: $1,164.90, worse by $102.60.
• 25% off: $1,092.08, worse by $175.42.

The ceiling is a break even, not a target. At 13% the host has done the work of running a direct channel and earned exactly what the platform would have paid. At 5% the host keeps $115.88 more per booking, which is where a repeat channel earns its keep.

One adjustment: Stripe charges an additional 1.5% on international cards, which makes processing 4.4% and moves the Airbnb ceiling to 11.61% (1 - 0.845 / 0.956). If a meaningful share of your guests pay with cards issued outside the US, use the lower number.

Why is the ceiling lower for a Vrbo guest?

Vrbo's change makes the direct margin thinner, because the fee being avoided is smaller. Vrbo's help center describes "a flat, all-in 12% commission fee, which includes payment processing fees", charged on the rental amount and any additional fees you charge the traveler. Our post on Vrbo's 12% commission covers the repricing side.

At 12% all in, a $1,500 Vrbo booking pays the host $1,320.00. The same division gives the ceiling: 1 - 0.88 / 0.971 = 9.37%.

• Direct at full price: $1,456.20, better than Vrbo by $136.20.
• 5% off: $1,383.38, better by $63.38.
• 9% off: $1,325.12, better by $5.12.
• 10% off: $1,310.55, worse by $9.45.
• 15.5% off: $1,230.44, worse by $89.56.

Ten percent is the figure hosts treat as safe. Against a guest who would otherwise have rebooked on Vrbo after October 29, 2026, it loses money. With an international card the Vrbo ceiling falls to 7.95% (1 - 0.88 / 0.956).

The rule that follows: discount against the channel the guest came from, not against the highest fee you pay. Two timing details from Expedia Group's announcement apply. The rate is set by when the booking was made, not by the stay dates, and hosts on a Vrbo subscription change over at the end of their subscription term, so a subscription host's comparison is different until then.

The change most hosts have not priced in

For years "book direct and save" was true without the host giving anything up. Under Airbnb's split fee, guests paid a service fee of 14.1% to 16.5% of the booking subtotal on top of the host's price, so a direct site at the same nightly rate was visibly cheaper for the guest.

That gap is closing. Airbnb's page now says the single fee structure is mandatory for most hosts, that the entire fee is deducted from the host's payout, and that the split fee is being phased out. If your listing is on the single fee and you set the same price in both places, the guest sees the same total in both places.

The direct channel still wins on margin, by $188.70 on the example above. It no longer wins automatically on the price the guest sees. Every dollar of a returning guest discount now comes out of the host's side of that $188.70, which is why the size of the discount deserves a calculation and not a round number. Our guide to pricing a direct site against the OTAs covers the wider pricing options. The same gap between platform fees and a booking you keep is the through-line of our research on booking beyond the OTA.

What to offer when the discount does not pencil

A percentage is the most expensive way to say thank you, because it applies to the whole booking. On the $1,500 stay, each 5 points of discount costs the host $72.83 after processing ($75.00 x 0.971). Perks can be priced against that figure.

• First refusal on the same dates next year. It costs nothing until someone else wanted those dates, and for a seasonal property it is often the thing a returning family values most.
• Early check-in or late checkout. The cost is scheduling, and only on days with a same day turnover.
• A waived pet fee or other add-on. The cost is the fee you would have charged, which is easy to compare with $72.83.
• A stocked arrival. Coffee, firewood, or a local item, at a cost you set.

A workable structure is a modest discount, comfortably under the ceiling for the channel the guest came from, plus one perk that costs you little. A 5% code with a held week still leaves you $115.88 ahead of the Airbnb payout on the example booking.

Where the offer is allowed to go

Airbnb's off-platform policy prohibits "offering or soliciting discounts to book off of Airbnb" and asking or encouraging users to move current, future, or repeat bookings off the platform. It also bars using guest contact information for marketing communications. A returning guest code cannot go in an Airbnb message. It goes to guests who opted in to hear from you through your own channel, which our post on vacation rental email marketing and what Airbnb allows covers step by step.

Vrbo is a different question, and it is in motion. Vrbo's host terms effective October 29, 2026, as they read on October 10, 2026, require that the content you give Vrbo be at least as complete, accurate and current as what you publish on your own website, and they define content to include rates and discounts. The same terms treat a booking that follows a Vrbo inquiry within 30 days as attributable to Vrbo. Skift reported on October 7, 2026 that Vrbo plans to revise the clause so hosts can price lower on their own direct channels; the published terms did not yet show a revision when we read them.

A private code sent to a past guest who opted in is a different thing from a lower public rate on your site, but the terms do not draw that line for you. Read the current wording before you publish any public direct discount, and ask an attorney if direct bookings are a large share of your revenue. This is not legal advice.

What to track after you set the number

Two figures tell you whether the offer works: repeat rate and net per booking. Code redemptions alone tell you very little.

Keep one line per repeat booking: the price paid, the processing cost, the perk cost, and what the same stay would have paid out through the channel the guest first used. If the direct net is not higher, lower the discount before the next campaign.

Haven's part in this is narrow. Haven builds direct booking websites that charge no booking commission, with a guest CRM and email marketing built in, so the comparison above is the full comparison: your price, less card processing, less whatever you choose to give back.

FAQ

How much of a discount should I give a returning guest?

Stay under the break even for the channel the guest came from: 12.98% for an Airbnb guest at the 15.5% fee, and 9.37% for a Vrbo guest at the 12% commission that begins October 29, 2026. A figure around 5% leaves most of the fee saving with you. Both ceilings assume 2.9% plus $0.30 card processing.

What is the most I can discount a direct booking and still beat the Airbnb fee?

On Airbnb's 15.5% single fee with standard domestic card processing, the limit is 12.98%, because 0.845 divided by 0.971 leaves 87.02% of the price. With an international card at 4.4% processing it falls to 11.61%. Above those figures the Airbnb booking would have paid you more.

Is a 10% returning guest discount too much?

It depends on the channel. On a $1,500 booking, 10% off direct nets $1,310.55, which is $43.05 more than Airbnb's $1,267.50 payout and $9.45 less than a Vrbo payout of $1,320.00 at the 12% commission. For a guest who found you on Vrbo, 10% is past the line.

Do guests still save money booking direct after Airbnb's fee change?

Not automatically. Under the single fee structure the whole Airbnb fee comes out of the host's payout, so at the same nightly rate the guest sees the same total in both places. A direct saving for the guest now has to come from a discount or a perk the host chooses to fund.

Can I offer a returning guest discount through Airbnb messages?

No. Airbnb's off-platform policy prohibits offering discounts to book off Airbnb and encouraging repeat bookings to move off the platform. The offer has to reach guests through a channel they opted into, such as your own email list.