In January 2016 HomeAway & VRBO were bought out by corporate giant Expedia for 3.9 BILLION dollars. The next month they rolled out a new Service Fee that they are charging to travelers who book through their websites in an effort to be more like Airbnb. 

While Expedia said originally that the fee will range between 4% and 9%, more recently they've raised the service rates to 6% to 15%. AirBnb has already increased their service fees to 20%. We've heard about internal memos from HomeAway/VRBO stating their end goal is also "a 20% take rate".   Expedia tells home onwers "travelers don't mind paying a service fee", then why try to hide it and not own up to it?

We are a local Management Company.   We use VRBO ONLY as an Avertising site -- to reach customers like you. We manage all aspects of the reservation whether you book one of our properties  through VRBO or through our site: BAJA-RENTAL.COM.  

When some homeowners have sought to offer clarification in their listings or communications with travelers, HomeAway/VRBO/AirBnb has penalized them and even gone so far as removing rental listings if a listing contains any mention of the fee. Owner communications through their system to travelers on an inquiry are also not allowed to discuss the Service Fee.

The Service Fee these big companies are charging the travelers is for booking through their sites do not go to the homeonwer. These companies keep all the money. The homeowner gets none of it. However, they label it simply as “Service Fee” on their site. 

Understandably, renters are often confused, as they think the homeowner is charging this Service Fee, and are unaware that it is charged by HomeAway/VRBO/Airbnb and the homeowner has no control over it.

In some instances, travelers don't even know they are paying a Service Fee because these sites have gone to great lengths to hide it from plain view or identify that it is their fee.