Platform Fee
A percentage or flat fee charged by a booking platform for facilitating a reservation. Airbnb charges hosts 3-5% (or 14-16% under guest-only fee structure), VRBO charges 5%, and Booking.com charges 15%. Platform fees are the primary cost that direct booking strategies aim to eliminate or reduce.
Example
A host paying 15% platform fees on $60,000 in annual bookings spends $9,000 on commissions — money that could be saved by shifting bookings to a direct channel.
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