All Forum Posts by: Collin Hays

Somewhere along the way things got derailed here.  There is no question that VRBO and Airbnb are the gold standard for driving business.

There is also no question they are hogging a bigger slice of the pie, year by year.  

Fees charged to guests DO impact rent.  When guests make a reservation, they are looking at the bottom line.  

If rent is $100 a night for 3 nights and there are $80-100 in various fees, and then taxes on top of that, you have a problem.  

As i said, VRBO and Airbnb are the Amazons.  Of course you have to use them.  They have a monopoly and are squeezing the homeowners accordingly. 

A 3% charge for advance pay is advertising?  A service fee of 8% per booking is advertising?   

No one said they are “doing nothing”.  My point is, they are grabbing more of the pie, one year at a time.

Yes, I’m complaining!

wow!  Are the getting the rest via Airbnb?   that’s fantastic.

I am not as familiar with the various fees of Airbnb.  It could be that they represent a better value currently than VRBO.

The cash grab by VRBO over the last 4 years has been stunning.

Greed eventually kills.

Right now, self managers really have no choice.  VRBO and Airbnb are the Amazons in this industry.  And they are taking full advantage.  I think it’s a shame really.

We need more competition in the space.  Homeaway/VRBO deftly acquired all legit competitors and essentially foreclosed the self management side of things.

If you are going to pay someone up to 19% and self manage, why screw with self managing?  

So let’s assume you have a rental that grosses 40K a year.

Here are your VRBO expenses:

- either $599 per year flat fee or 5% rental commissions.
- 3% credit card fee

-3% advance pay fee

- Average of 8% “service fee” charged to your guests that effectively lowers your rent (you have to adjust your rent after the add on fees to keep it market competitive), and VRBO doesn’t share a dime with you.

So your fees to VRBO range from $6000 a year to $7600 per year on a $40K rental.

15 to 19 percent total. 

Extra fees and deposits chase off bookings and lower your yields substantially. Damages are rare. I've owned one STR since 2005 that is occupied 240 nights a year and have incurred $1000 damage tops in 14 years.

If you need an extra 300 bucks deposit to help you sleep at night, it could be costing you 20-30-40 times that in lost rents each year.  That adds up to a LOT of lost income over a few years over an occasional broken stool or lamp.  

Penny wise, pound foolish.

I would say 15%.  You could easily achieve 20% and more with prices two years ago, but huge interest in the Gburg area has driven up prices and forced the yields down.   

But it is still the best area in the country IMO. 

I stick by my assertion that a pool table is a big deal.  We have seen rents rise considerably before and after.  An occasional rip in the felt is worth several $ thousand a year in new revenue, although I don’t recall any such repairs in the last 10 years.

People do play on their devices, but like some element of novelty - that is why they are renting a cabin to begin with.


We had a client in the Blackbear Falls area with no game table.  We recommended a small table multicade that cost $1200.  The annual rents went up from $5-7K depending on the year, and that was 4 years ago.

So another $20-25K in rents for a $1200 purchase.  That is real money.