We are changing, starting today, in Italy and throughout Europe. The changes to the rate structure applied by Airbnb come into force from Tuesday 13 October. The US company famous for short-term rentals has decided to create a single 15.5% charge to be paid by hosts. The declared aim is to simplify prices, making the amounts shown to travelers more transparent. Until yesterday, both owners and guests paid the costs of the service: people who rented the apartment when booking on Airbnb saw a higher price than the one set by the owner. Now, however, there is a single commission. And it is the owner’s responsibility.
What changes when you book on Airbnb
The news was announced last July by the company itself. By merging the costs of the service into a single rate to be paid by those who rent, the change is destined to impact the owners’ revenues and the pricing strategies of tourist homes. What changes concretely? Let’s take an example. Until yesterday, if you decided to rent an apartment for 100 euros per night, guests would see a figure of 115 euros, after adding the costs they were responsible for. The host, on the other hand, would have earned 97 euros, after deducting the costs incurred by him (and therefore net of his own commission).
From today this system changes. Airbnb charges all costs in a flat 15.5% fee to be paid by hosts. So, still following the example provided by the company, if the owner decides to set the price at 115 euros, guests will see exactly that figure on the platform, while the proceeds of those who rent out the apartment will always be around 97 euros after the 15.5% withholding.
The change therefore mainly concerns the distribution of commissions, without necessarily leading to an increase in the final expense for those who book. The commission percentage, according to the platform, “is based on the global average of Airbnb’s service costs.”
Change prices
The company has made available to hosts “a tool that allows you to change the prices of all adverts at the same time, to take individual management costs into account”. In fact, Airbnb explained, “to keep the compensation per night unchanged” it is necessary to change the prices. The deadline for this change for those residing in the European Economic Area and Switzerland is today, Tuesday 13 October.
Airbnb reminds you that some countries “impose taxes on the costs of the service, often called value added tax (VAT) or goods and services tax (Gst)”. In this case, if you work as a host in a region that has these taxes, the “price correction tool automatically includes them”, unless the owner himself has registered for VAT or GST and calculates VAT independently. In Italy the costs of the Airbnb service are subject to a VAT rate of 22%.
Rentals on Airbnb
The topic of short-term rentals has recently come to the center of attention in the ongoing discussions on the housing emergency in Europe, with various voices underlining or minimizing its impact on the growth of housing costs, particularly in large cities. According to a study by Federalberghi, in August 2026 there were 571,982 listings available on Airbnb for accommodation in Italy. An exponential growth: 38,587 more announcements compared to August of the previous year, with an increase of 7.2%.
According to the Federalberghi study centre, among the Italian cities most affected by the phenomenon we find Rome with 37,387 advertisements, Milan with 26,610, Florence with 13,902, Naples with 11,497 and Venice with 9,042. While as regards the regions, first place goes to Tuscany, with 72,771 advertisements, followed by Lombardy with 66,619. Then Sicily with 57,335 and Lazio with 51,871. The highest density was recorded in Liguria (5.34 advertisements per square km), while the greatest increase occurred in Friuli-Venezia Giulia (+21.5% compared to August 2025).