How to Avoid Vacation Rental Fees? Book Direct.

When a $104-a-night vacation rental more than doubles with an $89 cleaning fee and a $42 service fee, it’s time to ask: Is there a better way?

The answer is: partially.

You’re unlikely to get around that pesky cleaning fee — so ubiquitous as to make rental periods of a night or two discouragingly inflationary — but you can save the service fee, which is paid to the booking platform, by making a reservation directly with a host.

Along with the rewards, direct bookings come with some risk. Here’s how to find and vet short-term rental listings that avoid service fees.

The appeal of direct bookings

Booking platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo make money by charging users service fees. Terms can be complex and vary, but experts say they generally run 12 to 16 percent of the total.

“By booking direct, you’re avoiding opaque service fees that platforms overlay on the price,” wrote Tommy Ciaccio, the head of business development for North America at Avantio, which makes software for vacation rental managers, in an email.

Hosts also pay smaller fees to the platforms — Airbnb charges hosts 3 percent — which they can avoid with direct bookings. Many hosts that take direct bookings also mimic the same cancellation policies they maintain with third-party bookings.