What you keep from €1,000
Gold is yours. The rest goes to fees.
On a €1,000 booking your own website keeps about €140 more than Airbnb and up to €220 more than Booking.com with Genius. Why Booking.com can no longer stop you from offering a better price on your own site is explained in our guide to direct bookings.
Try your own numbers
Switch the extras on and off and change the guest’s card.
Difference to the best platform:
Airbnb 15.5% host fee · Booking.com 15% base commission · Stripe Spain card pricing. Excludes your €29/month website and taxes.
When the money reaches you
Fees are one thing — timing is the other.
Airbnb
- Guest books and pays Airbnb
- Airbnb releases your payout about 24 h after check-in
- Bank account: 3–5 business days
After check-in. Reviews of a transaction can delay it up to 45 days after check-in.
Booking.com (Payments by Booking)
- Guest pays Booking.com
- Guest checks out
- Paid monthly (by the 15th of next month), weekly (Thursdays) or daily in some countries
After check-out, then a few days to your bank.
Your website
- Guest pays into your own Stripe when booking (or when you accept a request)
- Stripe pays out to your bank, generally in 3 business days (first payout: 7 business days)
Usually before the guest even arrives.
What the platforms give you for the fee
The fee is not for nothing. The question is which bookings are worth paying it for.
Platforms are worth it for
- Guests who don’t know you yet and search the big platforms.
- Reviews and trust built on the platform.
- Guests who simply prefer to book on a platform.
Your website wins for
- Returning guests and people who search your property’s name.
- Keeping roughly 14% more of every booking.
- Getting paid before the stay instead of after check-in.
- Your own brand, your own rules, your own guest relationship.
A website also costs money (€29/month with us) and does not bring guests by itself — people have to find it through Google, social media or because they stayed before. That is why most owners keep the platforms and add their own website, with one shared calendar so nothing is double-booked.
The verdict
Use platforms to be found. Use your own website to keep more of what you earn — especially from returning guests and anyone who already knows your property’s name.
Sources
- Airbnb — Simplifying service fees on Airbnb15.5% single host fee; EEA from 13 Oct
- Airbnb — Getting paid as a new hostpayout released about 24 hours after check-in
- Airbnb — When you’ll get your payoutbank account 3–5 business days; reviews up to 45 days
- Booking.com for Partners — Understanding our commissioncommission varies by country and property
- Booking.com for Partners — How much Payments by Booking.com costs1.1–3.1% depending on location
- Booking.com for Partners — Payments by Booking.com FAQsmonthly, weekly or daily payouts after check-out
- Booking.com for Partners — Becoming a Genius partner10% Genius discount
- Houst — Booking.com fees for hostsaverage ~15%; Preferred ~+3%
- Stripe — Pricing in Spaincard fees by card type
- Stripe — Default payout speeds in Europe3 business days; first payout 7
General information, not financial or tax advice. Fees and timings as checked on 28 September 2026. · Updated
