Will I Pay Property Management Fees and Airbnb or VRBO Fees?

This is a most common some property owners ask. So let’s break it down clearly.

First, it’s essential to understand the difference between a booking site like Airbnb or VRBO and the role of a professional vacation rental manager—especially one who does more than just handle day-to-day operations.

What Do Airbnb and VRBO Actually Do?

At the end of the day, Airbnb and VRBO are just booking websites—what the industry calls online travel agencies (OTAs). They’re marketing channels where your property gets listed. But that’s where their involvement ends.

They don’t help you develop a high-converting listing. They don’t capture your home’s best angles through professional photography. They don’t craft a strategy to bring guests back year after year. And while they do offer native, dynamic pricing support, these tools tend to be one-size-fits-all. They don’t understand the unique strengths, quirks, and seasonal nuances that make your property stand out—and profitable. They also cannot perform other revenue optimization and occupancy optimization strategies such as upselling extra nights to guests.

So why pay OTA fees in addition to a property manager?

Think of these fees as transaction fees for using Airbnb or VRBO’s marketplace. It’s the cost of tapping into their massive audience – and the reality is the vast majority of vacation rental bookings happen through those two platforms. Furthermore, the fees charged by Airbnb and VRBO are mostly passed on to the guest—typically about 15% on Airbnb, plus a 3% host fee for you.

That all said these fees can add up for guests, and they can make your property less competitive if you rely exclusively on OTAs to fill your calendar. This is why we strongly encourage implementing a repeat booking strategy that converts Airbnb and Vrbo guests into guests that book directly for future stays.

How can I justify paying a vacation rental manager in addition to having the OTAs take a cut?

First off – bringing on a vacation rental manager may not always be the most appropriate decision. Owners who self manage and understand the nuances of marketing and pricing listings and have put in place systems, processes, and people to handle day-to-day operations may not benefit from a manager. However, not everyone has the time to do this work or the expertise to do it well, and that’s where a vacation rental manager can be an ROI-positive move.

A good vacation rental manager goes far beyond simply listing your home on Airbnb or VRBO. They build your brand, optimize your pricing strategy week-to-week, manage guest communications, oversee on-the-ground operations, and—perhaps most importantly—craft a plan to reduce your reliance on high-cost booking platforms.

As we’ve described in this article, a strong manager will help you turn OTA guests into loyal direct bookers. That starts with collecting emails, sending thoughtful follow-ups, offering seasonal specials, and keeping your property top of mind so guests come back again—without those hefty OTA fees.

The Bottom Line

So yes—if you have a vacation rental manager manager, you’ll pay their fee in addition to the OTA fees. But that’s because you’re paying for two entirely different things:

• OTA fees: the cost of access to a big marketplace.
• Vacation rental management fees: the cost of having an expert partner who maximizes your revenue, elevates your guest experience, and helps you build a direct booking engine that saves money in the long run.

In fact, those OTA fees are exactly why a good manager is worth it. Over time, they help you shift more bookings away from third-party sites, which means more income stays in your pocket—and more value flows directly to your guests.

At Vinifera Homes, we understand the bottom line is what is most important for property owners. We never want to bring clients that would not be better off by bringing us on as their vacation rental manager. For that reason, as part of our standard process to assess mutual fit between Vinifera Homes and property owners, we conduct a thorough, custom property assessment, inclusive of a curated competitor analysis, percentile analysis relative to those competitors, revenue projections, and specific, tactical recommendations.

Written by Anish Patel, Head of Owner Relations at Vinifera Homes (anish@viniferahomes.com)