Learn which fees and damage deposit settings are supported through the Airbnb connection, which restrictions apply, and how they affect pricing and listing setup in Hostaway.
The Airbnb API has the following restrictions on fees and damage deposits.
Cleaning Fee
- When editing an Airbnb cleaning fee, make sure the amount does not exceed the maximum cleaning fee of USD 600 + 25% of the nightly rate
- Airbnb's minimum cleaning fee is 5 USD
- Learn more about cleaning fees with Airbnb's Help Center article
If your cleaning fee is high, Airbnb uses that same formula to calculate a minimum allowed nightly rate.
Rearranged, the rule becomes:
/ 0.25
- Anything above $600 in your cleaning fee is treated as 25% of the minimum base rate; that’s how Airbnb decides the lowest nightly base price you’re allowed to set.
For example, a $650 cleaning fee, the minimum nightly/base rate is $200.
Since Minimum Nightly Rate = (650 - 600) / 0.25 = 200
Exporting the calendar data with a nightly price below the minimum nightly rate will be rejected by Airbnb, and the sync will fail until all dates meet this requirement.
If you’re using a pricing tool (PriceLabs, Wheelhouse, etc.), set the minimum price in that tool to at least the Airbnb minimum calculated from your cleaning fee. This prevents export/sync errors caused by prices going too low for the cleaning fee you’ve set.
Damage Deposit
- The damage deposit must be between 100 USD and 5,000 USD (or the equivalent of this amount in the listing's currency)
- Please note that for Airbnb reservations, the security deposit is considered an offline fee. The guest will be notified about the deposit requirements/amount when they book their reservation
- Learn more about security deposits with Airbnb's Help Center article.
Pet Fee
- Airbnb doesn't require a pet fee for service animals
- If you decide to apply it, the pet fee must be less than the nightly price
- For example: If your listing's base price is 120 USD, your pet fee must be between 1 USD and 119 USD
- In Airbnb, if you choose to charge a pet fee, it’ll be shown both as part of the nightly rate and in the total price at checkout. To learn more, please check this Airbnb article Add a pet fee
- Learn more with Searching for pet-friendly places and Pricing tools: Pet fees, cleaning fees, and price previews