Commission of Airbnb, Booking, Expedia, TripAdvisor, HomeAway and TemporadaLivre: How Does It Work?

In Brazil, you have never heard so much about vacation rentals as recently. In fact, a survey released by Booking in November 2017 shows that 34% of Brazilian travelers prefer to stay in a vacation rental (house or apartment) than in a hotel. In addition, 24% of respondents indicated that they would advertise their property on an lodging booking channel.

If you have been realizing the huge potential of this market and have already started investing or are considering entering the sector, this post is very strategic to contribute to your projects and boost your growth. After all, nowadays there are several vacation rental sites, and understanding the commissioning models of each one of them is very important to put into practice strategies that will impact your profitability.

Currently, there are six main platforms that stand out in the country: Airbnb, Booking, Expedia, TripAdvisor, HomeAway and TemporadaLivre. Below you will understand how commission rates work for Airbnb and for each of the other channels that are the responsibility of advertisers. Check out!

Airbnb

Airbnb has already surpassed 140 thousand listings in Brazil. In general, Airbnb charges the advertiser a 3% commission on their booking amount. The final amount is calculated based on the booking subtotal (which does not include taxes and other fees) and is automatically deducted from the payment to be made to the host.

In practice:

If your lodging’s daily rate costs R$100,00, R$3,00 will stay with Airbnb.

Another important detail is that Airbnb also receives a guest service fee, charged based on the price of the lodging. In other words, the property you are offering will be more expensive for the client than the price you previously set.

In addition to the possibility of offering lodgings, nowadays Airbnb offers a space where hosts and other professionals can offer “experiences” to travelers, such as workshops, city tours or other activities related to local culture. In such cases, the Airbnb commission is 20% on the price of the experience. This fee is not charged if the service offered is done in partnership with non-profit organizations.

Tip: if Airbnb allows you to offer experiences in the city where you have lodgings, this is a good way for you to test the space and put the extra services you offer that go beyond the vacation rental.

Note: Currently, the possibility of registering experience is only available to some cities worldwide, including Rio de Janeiro.

Also read: How to Advertise On Airbnb Like a Real Professional in the Industry and 7 Secrets to Make a Listinhttps://stays.net/blog/anuncio-no-airbnb/g On Airbnb That Attracts Travelers

Booking

In Brazil, there are more than 30 thousand lodgings advertised on Booking. Hosts that get bookings through the website must pay a 13% commission fee.

In practice:

If the daily rate of your lodging costs R$100,00, R$13,00 will be Booking’s. It is important to know that the commission does not apply on the additional fees that you require (cleaning, for example).

Attention: the commission is paid from an invoice sent by Booking after the guest’s check-in.

Also read: How to Advertise On Booking: Step by Step to Register Your Properties

HomeAway

The HomeAway group maintains the AlugueTemporada website in Brazil, which has more than 22 thousand listings for lodging in the country. Unlike most vacation rental platforms, to advertise on HomeAway you need to choose a subscription plan that can last 3 or 12 months, there are five categories of plan.

Classic Plan (standard positioning on the website)
Quarterly – R$139,00/Annual – R$559,00

Bronze Plan (receives up to 36% more contacts than in the Classic)
Quarterly – R$189,00

Silver Plan (receives up to 42% more contacts than in the Classic)
Quarterly – R$239,00

Gold Plan (receives up to 84% more contacts than Classic)
Quarterly – R$289,00

Platinum Plan (receives up to 184% more contacts than Classic)
Quarterly – R$439,00

All plans include:

– space for a detailed description of the property;

– location through GoogleMaps;

– possibility to insert 24 photos in high resolution;

– booking center with availability calendar;

– traveler reviews;

– access statistics.

Attention: when making a reservation through HomeAway, there is no commission to pay. Although the price of the plans may seem high, it usually becomes financially cheaper compared to the commissions that are paid to an OTA throughout the year.

Expedia

In 2015 Expedia acquired the HomeAway group, which in Brazil maintains AlugueTemporada. However, through Expedia, financial issues work differently from HomeAway. The hosts work with the payment of commission for bookings and not with a monthly plan, being able to choose one of the following commissioning models:

1) Hotel Collect: when the guest makes the payment to the host themselves. In this case, the commission is 15% for Expedia.

2) Expedia Collect: when the guest makes the payment to Expedia and then the company forwards it to the host. For that, Expedia charges a 20% commission.

In practice:

If the daily rate of your lodging costs R$100,00, for the Hotel Collect model, R$15,00 will stay with Expedia, and R$20,00 if you choose the Expedia Collect model.

Attention: the commission is paid from an invoice sent by Expedia after the guest’s check-in.

TripAdvisor

Since August 2017, TripAdvisor has been able to advertise lodgings directly there, previously it was only possible through FlipKey. For each booking made through TripAdvisor, the host pays a 3% commission fee to the website. The calculation is made based on the total rent, which includes both mandatory and optional rates chosen by the advertiser, such as cleaning, for example.

In practice:

If the daily rate of your lodging costs R$100,00, R$3,00 stays with TripAdvisor.

Also read: How to Advertise On TripAdvisor: Step by Step to Stand Out

TemporadaLivre

TemporadaLivre does not charge a commission on bookings, but works with a package. Currently the site has more than 10.000 lodgings throughout Brazil. Unlike HomeAway (AlugueTemporada), the amount paid is only one time, it is not a monthly fee. Owner plans work as follows:

Divulgation of a property for 3 months = R$139,00 (single amount)

Divulgation of a property for 6 months = R$219,00 (single amount)

Divulgation of a property for 12 months = R$299,00 (single amount)

This package includes:

– automatic translation into Spanish and English;

– unlimited photos;

– booking center with availability calendar;

– traveler reviews;

– access statistics.

Also read: Interview: TemporadaLivre, Website for Real Estate Listings by Season

Now that you are on top of the Airbnb and each of the main vacation rental sites commission rates’, know that it is very important to be present in all of them or at least test the efficiency of each one for the promotion of your properties. Each of these sites has a different marketing job and attracts audiences with different characteristics.

To better understand the specifics of each listing channel we quote here, download our Complete Guide On Vacation Rental Sites.

Advertising your properties on various websites increases the reach of your listings (because you enjoy several different marketing strategies at the same time) and increases the possibilities of making reservations. In addition, you are provided with data that will help you understand which audience is usually interested in your properties and which platform brings the most results for your business.

If you are concerned with the work of keeping your listings up to date and available, due to the fact that they are present on so many different sites, consider hiring a channel manager, such as the Stays software.

To be successful in this market it is essential to always optimize your listings, test actions to increase bookings and constantly analyze the return on investment that each advertising channel brings to your business. For this last item, you can download our free vacation rental spreadsheet to have graphs and automated analysis at hand.

>>> Download here the spreadsheet and good analyses!