The Essentials You Need to Know About Vrbo

Key Takeaways

• Vrbo is an American vacation rental marketplace owned by Expedia Group.
• Only entire homes are accepted. Private rooms and any space shared with a host or other guests are not allowed.
• New hosts join on pay-per-booking: a 5% commission plus a 3% payment processing fee. The old annual subscription is closed to new partners and survives only on legacy accounts.
• Guests pay a separate service fee that scales with the reservation total, which is why the price a traveller sees is higher than your nightly rate.
• Your listing can appear across Expedia Group sites, and Vrbo says that gives hosts exposure to nearly 1 billion average monthly searches.
• From 15 September 2026, listings that fall below the minimum standards on acceptance rate, host cancellations or review score are removed.
• Canadian hosts have two extra jobs: provincial or municipal registration where it applies and knowing whether you or the platform collects GST/HST.

Where Vrbo Fits in the Short-Term Rental Market

Having some vacant space can become a stream of passive income. Whether it is a comfortable apartment in the heart of a bustling metropolis, a cozy hunter’s lodge in thick woods, or a fashionable bungalow placed among the pristine sands of a popular beach resort, you can turn it into a short-stay vacation rental and gain profits by providing it as temporary accommodation.

If this business idea appeals to you and you seriously consider implementing it into life, you should know that there are many travel booking marketplaces where you can advertise your rental property and get bookings. While the Airbnb rental booking website is on everyone’s lips as the best middleman between a guest and a host, there is another popular rental broker platform that helps to match travelers with lodging providers, Vrbo.

This blog post explores the main aspects of the Vrbo travel marketplace as well as draws a comparison between Vrbo and its primary competitor, Airbnb. Discover more about vacation rental sites like Airbnb.

What Is Vrbo?

Vrbo is an American vacation rental online marketplace originally launched under the name Vacation Rentals by Owner. It was founded in 1995 by David Clouse in Aurora, Colorado, initially to rent out his condo in the Breckenridge ski resort. The website later evolved into a full-fledged service enabling homeowners to advertise their vacation rentals.

In 2006, HomeAway acquired Vrbo, expanding its portfolio of vacation rental platforms. Expedia Group announced its purchase of HomeAway, Vrbo included, on 4 November 2015 for approximately $3.9 billion and completed it on 15 December 2015. This acquisition integrated Vrbo into one of the world’s leading travel companies.

In 2019, Expedia Group decided to consolidate its vacation rental brands by merging HomeAway and Vrbo into a single platform under the Vrbo name. Along with this rebranding:

• Name Styling: The company standardized the name to Vrbo, with only the first letter capitalized.
• Pronunciation Change: The pronunciation shifted from spelling out each letter (V-R-B-O) to saying it as a word (“Ver-bo”).
• Logo Redesign: A new logo was introduced to reflect the brand’s updated identity.

Evolution of Vrbo’s Business Model

Initially, Vrbo operated on a subscription-based business model, where hosts paid an annual fee to list their properties on the website. This model allowed property owners to promote their vacation rentals to a broad audience without incurring per-booking fees.

After Vrbo became part of Expedia Group, a per-booking fee structure arrived alongside the annual subscription, and over time it took over completely. That is the single biggest change most guides still get wrong. Vrbo’s own help documentation now states that pay-per-subscription “is no longer available for new partners”, and that you can only buy or renew a subscription if you already hold at least one listing on that plan.

So the choice described in older articles no longer exists for anyone starting out today:

• Pay-per-booking: the only model open to new hosts. No upfront cost, and fees apply per reservation.
• Annual subscription: legacy accounts only. Existing subscribers can renew or switch across to pay-per-booking, but nobody can opt back in.

Growth and Current Status

Before the internet era, vacation rental services were typically advertised through newspapers, property management agencies, and rental catalogs for various destinations. Vrbo revolutionized this by bringing vacation rentals online, making it easier for homeowners and travelers to connect.

Three decades on, the pitch has shifted from reach to distribution. The company now describes itself as a global marketplace that “offers hosts exposure to nearly 1 billion average monthly searches on Expedia Group sites”, which is a very different proposition from a standalone classifieds site. For a host, the number that matters is not how many homes sit on the platform but how many travel shoppers your calendar is visible to.

Is Vrbo Canadian, American, or Owned by Airbnb?

Vrbo is not Canadian. It is an American company, founded in Aurora, Colorado in 1995, headquartered in Austin, Texas, and owned by Expedia Group, a US travel corporation based in Seattle. It has no ownership connection to Airbnb, which is a separate and competing company. Vrbo does operate fully in Canada, with a Canadian storefront at vrbo.com/en-ca and listings in every province.

That question comes up constantly, so it is worth answering each part plainly.

Is Vrbo Canadian?

No. Vrbo is American by origin and by ownership. What confuses people is how Canadian the platform looks from the traveller’s side. There is a Canadian site, prices display in Canadian dollars, and the brand runs Canada-specific marketing. In April 2026 it issued its Vacation Rentals of the Year announcement from Toronto, naming eight Canadian winners across Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Ontario. A Canadian-facing marketplace is not the same thing as a Canadian company.

Is Vrbo owned by Airbnb?

No, and the two have never been connected. Vrbo belongs to Expedia Group, which acquired it through the HomeAway purchase completed in December 2015. Airbnb is an independent public company. The mix-up is understandable, since both list short-term rentals to the same travellers. They are direct competitors with different owners, different fee models and different rules about what you can list.

Is Vrbo the same as HomeAway?

Effectively, yes, and that history explains a lot of the confusion. HomeAway bought Vrbo in 2006, Expedia Group bought HomeAway in 2015, and in 2019 the two brands merged under the Vrbo name. HomeAway as a consumer brand was retired. You will still see the HomeAway company name in the site’s legal footer. That is a leftover of the corporate structure, not a second platform.

How Does Vrbo Work?

Vrbo is an online accommodation brokerage platform that connects people looking for vacation rentals with property hosts or managers who have suitable offerings. The user base of Vrbo includes vacationers seeking unique accommodations, individual homeowners looking to rent out their properties, and property rental agencies or management companies.

How Travelers Find Your Listing

Users search for accommodations on Vrbo by specifying the desired location, travel dates, and other preferences such as property type and amenities. They might enter a city name, a region, or even a ZIP code to narrow down their search. Your listing will pop up in the Vrbo search results if it meets the criteria indicated by the potential guest. To increase visibility, ensure your listing is complete with accurate information and high-quality photos.

Simplified Reservation Process

Making a reservation on Vrbo is an extremely straightforward process. A prospective tenant needs to enter their information and make the required payment, often an initial deposit or full payment, depending on your settings. Vrbo provides a secure messaging system where guests can communicate with hosts to inquire about properties they are interested in. This system keeps all communication within the platform, ensuring privacy and security for both parties.

Traveler Protections and Service Fees

The platform also grants certain protections to travelers when they book through Vrbo. In October 2025 the long-running Book with Confidence Guarantee was relaunched under the name VrboCare, and if you read an older guide that still uses the old label, this is the same programme under a new name. VrboCare applies automatically to bookings made through Vrbo checkout, at no extra charge to the traveller, and it includes:

• Payment Protection: Safeguards against fraudulent listings and misrepresentation.
• 24/7 Customer Support: Assistance with booking issues or property access.
• Emergency Rebooking Assistance: Help finding alternative accommodations if necessary, now within a 90 day booking window rather than 30 days where applicable.

These protections are funded by the guest service fee. Vrbo describes it as a percentage of the reservation total before taxes and refundable fees, with the percentage varying according to the size of the reservation. Vrbo does not publish a fixed range, and hosts cannot waive or reduce it. Where local law requires it, VAT is charged on top of the service fee.

How Does Vrbo Work for Owners?

For an owner, Vrbo works less like a listing site and more like a distribution channel with rules attached. You keep control of rates, availability and house rules. The platform controls where your listing surfaces, what the guest pays on top, and whether it stays live at all.

Setting Your Own Rates

When you decide to market your rental home on Vrbo, you have the freedom to establish your own rates that you deem appropriate for your property. It’s up to you to decide whether to charge your guests per night, per week, or even per month. This flexibility allows you to tailor your pricing strategy to market demand and your personal preferences.

Enhanced Exposure Through Expedia Group

Listing your property on Vrbo comes with significant perks. Once you’ve posted your accommodation on Vrbo, your listing may automatically appear on other affiliated websites within the Expedia Group, such as Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Travelocity, and Orbitz. This significantly enhances your exposure to a broader audience, helping you receive booking requests from multiple sales channels. By leveraging the extensive network of the Expedia Group, your property gains increased visibility to potential guests worldwide.

One caution before you count on that reach. Vrbo’s fee documentation notes that bookings originating from its expanded distribution partners may carry higher fees than a direct booking. Check the rate that applies to your listings in the Owner Dashboard. Do not assume one number covers every channel.

What Vrbo Expects From You in Return

The platform has tightened what it demands of hosts, and the change is recent enough that most published guides miss it. Under the Minimum Standards programme, each listing is scored continuously on the previous 12 months of activity. From 15 September 2026, a listing is removed if it fails any one of three tests:

Minimum standard	Threshold your listing must clear
Acceptance rate	Greater than 50%
Host-initiated cancellation rate	Lower than 10%
Average guest review rating	Higher than 2.0

Listings that drop close to a threshold get a warning by email and in the Owner Dashboard. They stay bookable while you fix the problem. Listings that fall below are permanently suspended from taking new reservations, though confirmed bookings are still honoured. Waivers exist for genuinely unavoidable cancellations and declines. If an extenuating circumstance forces your hand, apply for one rather than absorbing the metric hit.

Terms and Rules of Listing on Vrbo

Understanding the terms and rules of listing on Vrbo is crucial for hosts to ensure compliance, provide a positive guest experience, and maintain a successful rental business. Below are the key terms and guidelines you need to be aware of when listing your property on Vrbo.

Eligibility and Compliance

• Entire Property Rentals Only: Vrbo exclusively accepts listings for entire homes or property units. Shared properties or individual rooms within a home are not permitted on the platform. Vrbo’s shared spaces policy carves out only shared community amenities such as a pool or a hallway.
• Legal Compliance: Hosts must comply with all local, provincial, state, and federal laws governing short-term rentals. This includes obtaining necessary permits, licenses, and adhering to zoning regulations.
• Age Requirement: Hosts must be at least 18 years old to create an account and list a property on Vrbo.

Listing Requirements

• Accurate Information: Provide truthful and accurate details about your property, including its location, amenities, pricing, and availability. Misrepresenting your property is strictly prohibited.
• High-Quality Photos: Upload clear, high-resolution images that accurately depict your property. Photos should showcase all areas accessible to guests.
• Detailed Descriptions: Write comprehensive and honest descriptions to set appropriate expectations for guests. Highlight unique features and nearby attractions.
• Prohibited Content: Listings must not include offensive, discriminatory, or illegal content. This includes hate speech, harassment, or any material violating Vrbo’s content policies.

Pricing and Fees

• Transparent Pricing: All fees, including nightly rates, cleaning fees, additional guest fees, and any other charges, must be clearly disclosed in your listing. Vrbo shows travellers an all-in total, so mandatory fees you do not enter in the dashboard will not be priced correctly.
• No Hidden Fees: Charging undisclosed or surprise fees after booking is not allowed.
• Cancellation Policies: Select a cancellation policy that suits your needs, ranging from flexible to strict. Ensure this policy is clearly communicated to guests within your listing.

Host Responsibilities

• Prompt Communication: Respond to booking inquiries and guest messages in a timely manner, ideally within 24 hours.
• Honoring Bookings: Once a reservation is confirmed, you are expected to honor it. Canceling bookings can lead to penalties, including lower search rankings or suspension.
• Property Maintenance: Ensure your property is clean, safe, and well-maintained for each guest’s arrival.
• House Rules: Clearly state any rules guests must follow during their stay, such as no smoking, pet policies, quiet hours, and occupancy limits.

Safety and Security

• Safety Equipment: Equip your property with essential safety devices like smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers, and first-aid kits.
• Insurance Coverage: While Vrbo provides liability insurance for eligible bookings up to $1 million, it’s advisable to maintain your own homeowners or rental insurance policy. Two conditions are easy to miss: the cover applies only to stays processed through Vrbo checkout, so anything arranged off-platform falls outside it, and if you hold no liability policy of your own, a 25% deductible applies.
• Emergency Information: Provide guests with emergency contact numbers and instructions in case of emergencies.

Legal and Tax Obligations

• Tax Compliance: Collect and remit all applicable taxes, such as occupancy or lodging taxes, as required by your local jurisdiction.
• Permits and Licenses: Obtain any necessary permits or licenses required for short-term rentals in your area.
• Zoning Laws: Ensure your property is zoned for short-term rental activity to avoid legal issues.

Prohibited Activities

• Discrimination: Discrimination against guests based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other protected characteristics is strictly prohibited.
• Illegal Use: The property must not be used for any illegal activities, including drug use, human trafficking, or unauthorized events.
• Unauthorized Parties: Hosting large parties or events without explicit permission is not allowed and may violate local ordinances.
• Privacy Violations: Surveillance devices are prohibited in private areas. If cameras or other devices are used in public spaces, their presence must be disclosed in the listing.

Guest Privacy and Data Protection

• Confidentiality: Protect guest information and use it only for legitimate booking purposes.
• Data Security: Implement appropriate measures to safeguard personal data against unauthorized access or disclosure.

Reviews and Feedback

• Honest Reviews: Do not manipulate or falsify reviews. Encouraging guests to leave honest feedback is acceptable, but incentivizing positive reviews is not.
• Professional Responses: Address guest reviews professionally, even if they are negative. Use feedback to improve your services.

Account Management

• One Account Policy: Hosts should maintain a single account for all their listings unless otherwise authorized by Vrbo.
• Account Security: Keep your account information secure and do not share login credentials with unauthorized individuals. Fake booking enquiries and payment redirection attempts are common on every marketplace, and our guide to common Vrbo scams and how hosts get targeted covers the red flags worth learning early.

Compliance with Vrbo Policies

• Adherence to Terms of Service: Hosts must comply with Vrbo’s Terms of Service and all other policies, which may be updated periodically.
• Policy Updates: Stay informed about changes to policies by regularly reviewing Vrbo’s communications and policy pages.

Enforcement Actions

• Penalties for Violations: Non-compliance with Vrbo’s terms and policies can result in actions such as:
  • Removal of listings
  • Fines or fees
  • Lower placement in search results
  • Suspension or termination of your account
• Dispute Resolution: In the event of disputes with guests, Vrbo encourages resolution through its support channels, following the outlined procedures.

Host Support and Resources

• Education Materials: Utilize Vrbo’s host resources, tutorials, and webinars to stay informed and improve your hosting experience.
• Customer Support: Reach out to Vrbo’s support team for assistance with account issues, bookings, or platform features.

How to List Your Rental Property on Vrbo?

Listing your vacation rental home on Vrbo is a simple and quick process, but there are a few key steps to follow to maximize your success. First, note that Vrbo only accepts listings for entire homes or property units. Shared rooms or spaces are not allowed.

1. Set Up Your Property Listing

• Provide Accurate Information: When creating your listing, be thorough with property details. Include the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, maximum occupancy, and unique features such as proximity to attractions, pool, or pet-friendliness.
• Upload High-Quality Photos: Photos are one of the most important aspects of your listing. Use professional, high-resolution photos that showcase all areas of the property, including living spaces, bedrooms, bathrooms, and outdoor spaces.
• Set Competitive Pricing: Research similar properties in your area to set a competitive price. You can offer discounts for weekly or monthly stays and adjust prices for peak seasons or local events.
• Establish House Rules: Clearly define the house rules, such as check-in and check-out times, pet policies, noise restrictions, smoking policies, and any other important guidelines.

2. Optimize Your Listing for Visibility

• Use Keywords: In your listing title and description, include relevant keywords that guests may search for, such as “beachfront condo” or “mountain cabin near hiking trails.”
• Maintain an Updated Calendar: Keep your calendar updated to reflect your property’s availability. This will help avoid double bookings and improve your chances of being shown in search results.
• Instant Booking: Consider enabling instant booking, which allows guests to confirm their stay without waiting for host approval. This can increase your booking rate. Vrbo also confirms it is one of the factors determining search position: between two otherwise identical properties, the one with Instant Booking ranks higher.

3. Start Earning

• Payment Process: Vrbo collects payment from guests at the time of booking. After deducting the 5% commission and the 3% payment processing fee, Vrbo transfers your earnings to your designated payout method.
• Payout Timing: Payouts are typically disbursed shortly after check-in, depending on your payout method. Check the payout schedule shown in your Owner Dashboard, since timing varies by country and payment type.

4. Get the Ideal Match

• Search Optimization: Vrbo shows your listing to travelers based on their search criteria, such as location, travel dates, and property type. To increase visibility, make sure your listing has accurate information, a competitive price, and positive reviews from previous guests.
• Respond Quickly: Respond to inquiries and booking requests promptly. Fast response times improve your search ranking and increase the likelihood of securing bookings.

5. Property Manager Account for Multiple Listings

If you are managing multiple properties, consider setting up a Property Manager Account. This allows you to:

• Integrate Property Management Software (PMS): By connecting your PMS with Vrbo, you can automate the process of updating rates, availability, and bookings across multiple platforms.
• Streamlined Operations: Manage multiple properties from a single dashboard, filter by status, plan, or your own tags, and make bulk changes instead of editing listings one at a time.

What are the Fee Schemes of Vrbo?

Understanding Vrbo’s fee structures is essential for both guests and hosts to make informed decisions and manage costs effectively. Here is a current overview of what each side pays.

Guest Service Fee

• Purpose of the Fee: The guest service fee is charged to travelers when they book through Vrbo. It covers secure payment processing, ongoing product development, 24/7 customer support, and the VrboCare protections described above.
• Fee Structure: The fee is a percentage of the reservation total before taxes and refundable fees, and the percentage varies with the reservation amount. Vrbo publishes no fixed percentage or range, so treat any specific number quoted elsewhere with caution.
• Taxes on Fees: Value Added Tax may be applied to the service fee where local law requires it.
• Refund Policy: If a reservation is cancelled inside the window that earns a 100% refund under your cancellation policy, the service fee is automatically refunded to the traveller. Hosts cannot waive or reduce the fee themselves.

Host Fees

This is where most published guidance is out of date. Hosts used to have a genuine choice between an annual subscription and per-booking fees. That choice is gone.

Pay-per-booking, the only model open to new hosts

The booking fee has two parts:

• 5% commission, charged on the rental amount plus any additional fees you charge the traveller, such as cleaning, pet or boat fees.
• 3% payment processing fee, charged on the total payment you receive from the guest, including taxes and refundable damage deposits. If you refund a damage deposit, the processing fee charged on that deposit is reimbursed to you.

Neither fee applies to Property Damage Protection or Trip Cancellation Protection. Taxes and security deposits attract the 3% processing fee but not the 5% commission.

Annual subscription, legacy accounts only

Partners can no longer opt in to the subscription model. You can renew one only if you already hold at least one listing on that plan, and once all your listings sit on pay-per-booking, the door closes. Existing subscribers can switch across within a 14-day cancellation window after purchase or at renewal.

Summary of Fees

Fee type	What a new host pays	Legacy subscription hosts
Vrbo commission	5% per booking	None on subscription listings
Payment processing	3% per booking	3% per booking
Annual subscription	Not available	Renewal only, priced in USD
Guest service fee	Paid by the traveller, varies by reservation size	Paid by the traveller, varies by reservation size

Additional Considerations

• Taxes: Hosts are responsible for complying with all tax obligations, including income tax and any applicable lodging or occupancy taxes. Vrbo may collect and remit certain taxes on your behalf in jurisdictions where required. See the Canadian section below for how this works here.
• Optional Services and Fees: Property Damage Protection lets you offer guests insurance to cover potential damages, which can be added as an additional fee. Vrbo’s booking fees do not apply to it.
• Cancellation Policy Impact: Your chosen cancellation policy affects how attractive your listing looks and how much of a payment you keep after a refund. On pay-per-booking, the booking fee is calculated on what you actually keep after any refund.

Vrbo vs. Airbnb: Critical Distinctions

Before the details, here is the comparison at a glance. If you are weighing which platform to commit to rather than simply understanding Vrbo, our longer breakdown of whether Airbnb or Vrbo suits your property better walks through the decision property by property.

	Vrbo	Airbnb
Host fees	5% commission plus 3% payment processing	Most hosts pay 15.5% on the single-fee model; a shrinking group still pays about 3% on the split-fee model
Guest fees	Service fee varying with reservation size, no published range	14.1% to 16.5% of the booking subtotal on split-fee listings, none on single-fee listings
Property types	Entire homes and units only, no shared spaces	Entire homes, private rooms, shared rooms, hotels and unusual structures
Geography	Global, part of Expedia Group’s distribution network including Expedia.com and Hotels.com	Global, single-brand distribution
Core audience	Families and groups booking a whole property, often for longer stays	Broad, from solo budget travellers to families and business guests

Two notes on reading that table. First, Airbnb’s split-fee structure is being phased out, so the 3% host fee most hosts remember is on its way to becoming history. Second, the two guest-fee columns are not directly comparable: on an Airbnb single-fee listing the guest pays no service fee at all because the host absorbs it, which makes the nightly rate look higher for the same take-home.

Property Types and Listing Policies

Airbnb allows hosts to advertise a wide variety of accommodations, from entire homes and private rooms to shared spaces like a bed in a shared room or unique structures such as treehouses and yurts. This inclusivity results in a diverse range of listings catering to different traveler preferences and budgets.

In contrast, Vrbo exclusively accepts entire property rentals. Shared spaces or individual rooms cannot be listed on Vrbo. This policy ensures that guests booking through Vrbo will have complete privacy and full access to the entire property, which is particularly appealing to families and groups seeking a home-like experience during their travels.

Cancellation Policies

Both platforms offer predefined cancellation policies, but the specifics differ. Vrbo now publishes seven options, two more than most guides list, and you pick one per listing.

Airbnb’s cancellation policies for stays under 28 nights:

• Flexible: Full refund up to 24 hours before check-in.
• Moderate: Full refund up to 5 days before check-in.
• Limited: Full refund up to 14 days before check-in, then 50% between 7 and 14 days. Added on 1 October 2025.
• Firm: Full refund up to 30 days before check-in, then 50% between 7 and 30 days.
• Strict: Invitation only. After the 24-hour cancellation period, guests who cancel 7 or more days before check-in get 50% back, and nothing after that.

A 24-hour cancellation period sits on top of all of these, and it applies to bookings confirmed at least 7 days before check-in. Stays of 28 nights or more run on separate long-term versions of the Firm and Strict policies rather than a policy of their own.

Vrbo’s cancellation policies:

• Day-before: Full refund up to 24 hours before check-in; no refund after that.
• Lenient: Full refund up to 5 days before check-in; no refund after that.
• Relaxed: Full refund if canceled at least 14 days before check-in; 50% refund if canceled between 7-14 days before check-in.
• Moderate: Full refund if canceled at least 30 days before check-in; 50% refund if canceled between 14-30 days before check-in.
• Firm: Full refund if canceled at least 60 days before check-in; 50% refund if canceled between 30-60 days before check-in.
• Strict: Full refund if canceled at least 60 days before check-in; no refund if canceled less than 60 days before.
• No Refund: No refund offered once the booking is made.

These policies provide varying degrees of flexibility, allowing hosts to choose the one that best fits their needs while offering guests clear expectations regarding refunds. Two mechanics are worth knowing. Travellers must cancel by 11:59 p.m. in the property’s time zone on the last day of the applicable window, and you can set seasonal policies that tighten or loosen the rules for specific check-in date ranges.

Unique Features

• Airbnb Experiences: Airbnb offers guests the option to book “Experiences,” which are activities designed and led by local hosts. These can range from cooking classes and guided tours to unique adventures, providing an immersive way to explore a destination beyond traditional sightseeing.
• Vrbo’s Trip Boards: Vrbo features Trip Boards, a collaborative tool that allows travelers to save, organize, and share favorite properties with friends and family. This is particularly useful for groups planning a trip together, facilitating communication and collective decision-making.

Pricing Models and Service Fees

Comparing pricing models between Airbnb and Vrbo can be complex due to the uniqueness of each property and varying additional fees. Both platforms charge service fees to guests and hosts to monetize their services, but the split between the two sides is where they diverge.

Airbnb fees:

• Split-fee model, now being phased out: hosts pay around 3% of the booking subtotal, and guests pay a service fee of 14.1% to 16.5%.
• Single-fee model, which most hosts are now on: most hosts pay 15.5%, and guests pay no service fee at all.

Vrbo fees:

• Pay-per-booking, the only model open to new hosts: 5% commission plus a 3% payment processing fee.
• Guest service fee: a percentage of the reservation total that varies with the size of the reservation.

Impact of Fee Structures

Airbnb’s single-fee model can lead to higher nightly rates, as hosts may increase prices to offset the higher fees they incur. This could potentially make listings less competitive if guests compare total costs across platforms. The practical lesson is that headline nightly rates are not comparable across the two marketplaces. Compare what the traveller pays at checkout, and what lands in your account afterwards.

Vrbo for Canadian Hosts

Listing in Canada works the same way it does anywhere else, with two extra layers: registration and knowing who collects the tax. Neither is optional, and the platform will not sort them out for you. A Vrbo Canada host carries both obligations personally.

Registration and licensing

Rules vary sharply by province and municipality, and they have changed a great deal since 2024. British Columbia now runs a provincial short-term rental registry. Hosts must hold a registration for each unit and display the provincial registration number on the listing, alongside a business licence number where the local government requires one. Registry fees run $100 a year for a rental in the home the host lives in, and $450 a year for a property the host does not live in, a secondary suite, or a strata hotel unit listed on a third-party platform, plus a small service fee on top. Non-compliance can bring administrative penalties, compliance orders enforceable in court, and removal of the listing from the platform.

Elsewhere in the country the pattern is similar in spirit and different in detail, so treat your city’s rules as the binding ones. Confirm current requirements with your municipality before your first booking, not after.

Who collects GST/HST on your Vrbo bookings?

This trips up more Canadian hosts than any other single issue. The answer depends entirely on your own registration status.

Your GST/HST status	Who charges and collects the tax
You are registered for GST/HST	You do, including on bookings that came through Vrbo
You are not registered	The platform operator must charge and collect it on those bookings

The Canada Revenue Agency’s wording is direct: a registered supplier of taxable short-term accommodation in Canada “continue[s] to be required to charge and collect tax on those supplies, including those supplies that are facilitated by an accommodation platform operator.” So crossing the registration threshold changes who remits, and assuming the platform has it covered is exactly how hosts end up filing late. Talk to a qualified accountant about your own position rather than copying what another host does.

Practical notes for the Canadian market

• Canadian demand here skews toward whole-home stays for families and groups, which suits cottages, chalets and multi-bedroom houses far better than a downtown studio.
• The entire-home-only rule removes a whole category of Canadian listing from consideration, since a private room in a principal residence cannot be listed at all.
• Seasonality bites harder than on Airbnb in ski and lake markets, so a cancellation policy that works in July may be far too loose for a February booking.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is Vrbo a Canadian company?

No. It is American, founded in Colorado in 1995 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, and owned by Expedia Group of Seattle. It runs a Canadian storefront and lists properties across Canada, but the company itself is not Canadian.

2. Is Vrbo owned by Airbnb?

No. It belongs to Expedia Group and competes directly with Airbnb. The two companies have never had any ownership relationship.

3. How much does Vrbo charge hosts?

New hosts pay 5% commission plus a 3% payment processing fee per booking. The annual subscription plan is closed to new partners and is available only to hosts who already hold a listing on it.

4. Can I list a private room on Vrbo?

No. Properties where space is shared with a host or other guests are not accepted. Shared community amenities such as a pool or hallway are the only exceptions.

5. Does Vrbo collect GST/HST for Canadian hosts?

Only if you are not registered for GST/HST yourself. If you are registered, you remain responsible for charging and collecting the tax on those bookings.

6. Is Vrbo cheaper than Airbnb for hosts?

On headline percentages, yes. A Vrbo host pays roughly 8% combined, against 15.5% for most Airbnb hosts. Two caveats stop that from being a clean comparison. The 5% and the 3% are charged on different bases, so they do not sum to 8% of any single figure, and Airbnb’s single-fee listings charge the guest nothing, so the same take-home needs a different nightly rate on each platform.

7. What happens if my listing scores badly?

From 15 September 2026, listings with an acceptance rate of 50% or below, a host cancellation rate of 10% or above, or an average review rating of 2.0 or below are removed. You get warnings before that point.

Conclusion

In summary, Vrbo offers a robust platform for homeowners and property managers to tap into the lucrative vacation rental market by listing entire properties for short-term stays. Understanding its evolution, from its inception in 1995 to becoming part of the Expedia Group, provides valuable context for its current operations. By familiarizing yourself with Vrbo’s fee structures, listing requirements, and the distinctions between Vrbo and competitors like Airbnb, you can make informed decisions to maximize your property’s earning potential. Working within the pay-per-booking model that new hosts now join, adhering to Vrbo’s guidelines and leveraging its extensive reach can transform your vacant space into a profitable source of passive income.

If keeping up with platform rule changes, registration deadlines, and pricing across two marketplaces sounds like more than you signed up for, that is precisely what professional Airbnb management services exist to absorb.

Read What You Should Know About Google Vacation Rentals: A Complete Guide for Hosts.