10/23/2026
As some may know, I have been an Airbnb (& VRBO) host for 3 years. Our property is among the top listings.
Right now, in the owner groups on Facebook, thousands of vacation rental owners are posting that they are pulling their homes off Airbnb and Vrbo, selling, or leaving the business altogether. This is an uprising, and it is happening in plain sight. Before you book your next family getaway, I'm asking you to understand why.
THE HOTEL STANDARD
Can you check into a hotel without showing your ID? No. Hotels verify who is staying in their building, require agreements, and enforce rules, because that is how you protect a multimillion-dollar investment.
Airbnb announced that hosts can no longer require a rental agreement or verify the identity of the people staying in our homes. We don’t know their last name, address, or their phone number — NOTHING! To use their platform, we must allow complete strangers into our home!
We can't ask guests to take out their trash. We can't even ask them to put their dishes in the dishwasher and press start. And we can't post house rules in the home.
Hotels are allowed to protect their property. We are being told to hand over the keys to our homes and hope for the best. Imagine a serious issue happening in your home and you need assistance. 🆘 Hello 911 — “The guest is someone named Joey from Airbnb. I don’t have a last name, where they’re from, or a phone number.” Their response, sorry it’s a civil matter because you allowed them into your home.
THE FEES
Last fall, Airbnb just raised its host fee from 3% to 15.5%. Airbnb dropped its separate guest service fee, but the 15.5% now comes out of everything we charge, including the cleaning fee.
Vrbo looked at that and went bigger. Starting October 29, Vrbo raises its host commission from 5% to 12%, and it still charges you a guest fee on top of it.
WHO PAYS
Owners can't absorb this. We have mortgages, taxes, insurance, repairs, and cleaners to pay. So nightly rates go up to cover the platforms' cut, and your taxes are then calculated on those higher rates. Margins disappear. More owners quit. And the homes that disappear are the family cabin, the lake house, and the place you take the kids every summer.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
If you love renting an entire home for your family to get away, please understand what is happening to the people who own those homes.
1. Find the property or management company name on the Airbnb or Vrbo listing.
2. Google that name and look for their own booking website.
3. Book direct. You deal with the people who actually care about the place, and the platform markup is gone.
I speak from 3 years of experience, and am asking you to seriously consider supporting the owners of the vacation rentals you love by booking direct. It is the best way to keep these getaways alive.
Book direct with us at:
https://www.houfy.com/l/missiondestinations
Please share this with anyone who loves a good family getaway.
Thanks for being great guests. We hope to welcome you soon!
