Booking.com commission for owners in Italy: what it really costs

Booking.com is one of the channels Italian holiday-home owners use most, and it's easy to see why: huge reach, guests from everywhere, payments handled for you. The price for all that is the commission. Here's how it works and what it really adds up to over a year.

How much the commission is

Booking.com doesn't publish a single rate card for holiday homes. Industry sources put the Italian rate around 15% in most cases, varying with location, property type and the programmes you join. Some sources cite commissions up to 17%, and in some cases 18%. The number that matters is the one in your contract: check it in the extranet.

What it's charged on

Many owners underestimate this: the commission isn't charged on the nightly rate alone. It's calculated on the booking value, which usually includes:

• the final cleaning fee;
• extra-guest supplements;
• any pet, linen or other service charges you pass to the guest.

The main exclusion is local taxes such as the tourist tax. If you charge €80 cleaning on a €700 stay, the commission is worked out on €780.

VAT on the commission

Since 2023, for properties without an Italian VAT number, Booking.com charges 22% VAT on its commission and issues the invoice itself. On a 15% commission that means an effective cost of about 18.3% of the booking value. If you are VAT-registered, the treatment is different, so check with your accountant.

One home, taxed twice

If you let your only home as a private individual, with no VAT number, you already pay tax on the rental income: the 21% cedolare secca, worked out on the gross amount with no deduction for commissions. So you pay 21% even on the share the platform keeps and you never receive.

On top of that, Airbnb and Booking.com charge 22% VAT on their commission. A business with a VAT number deducts it; a private owner can't. On the same booking you pay income tax and then a tax on the platform's service that you can't get back.

With a flat subscription there's no commission: no VAT on a percentage of every stay, and no tax on money that stays with the platform.

A worked example

A home at €150 a night, booked 120 nights a year, with €60 cleaning on 30 stays:

• booking value: €18,000 of nights + €1,800 of cleaning = €19,800;
• 15% commission: €2,970;
• with 22% VAT (no VAT number): about €3,623.

More than €3,600 a year, for one home. With a higher rate or more homes, it grows in proportion.

Visibility and higher commissions

Booking.com offers programmes that raise a property's visibility in exchange for a higher commission. In April 2026 Italy's competition authority (AGCM) opened an investigation into Booking.com over allegedly giving more visibility to properties that pay higher commissions. As of writing we don't know the outcome. If you've been offered one of these programmes, it's worth running the numbers carefully.

How to pay less commission

This isn't about leaving Booking.com. For many owners it's still the best way to be found. But every booking that comes in directly, from a returning guest, word of mouth or your own page, is a booking you don't pay 15% or more on.

That's why we built Italiando: a direct-booking page for your home, with a calendar synced to Booking.com and Airbnb, requests you approve, and deposits by bank transfer. You pay a flat subscription, not a percentage.

Read next: a practical guide to direct bookings, the Italiando vs Booking.com comparison and, if you're on Airbnb too, Italiando vs Airbnb.