What Is Airbnb Host Payment and How Does It Work?
Last updated: July 2025
Airbnb offers a variety of payment options. These options allow hosts and guests the flexibility to choose what works best for them. As a host, if you have a preferred payment method for collecting your nightly rates and Airbnb fees, it’s important to communicate this clearly before your guest swipes their card.
Offer multiple payout options, and allow guests to choose the method that best suits them. This flexibility ensures a smoother experience for both you and your guests, making the process more convenient and hassle-free. To make it simple, here we’ll cover everything you need to know about your Airbnb host payment options.
Disclaimer: Lodgify is an Airbnb Preferred+ Software Partner. This guide, including any claims or statements within, is solely from Lodgify and is not endorsed by, directly affiliated with, authorized, or sponsored by Airbnb in any way.
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When do Airbnb hosts get paid?
Understanding the timing of your payments as an Airbnb host is important for managing your business. Knowing when and how you’ll be paid allows you to plan accordingly. This section will break down the payment process for short- and long-term stays.
Payment timing for short-term stays
Airbnb typically releases the payment by the end of the business day that follows the check-in date. For example, if a guest checks in on Friday, payment would be released by Monday evening.
Payment timing for monthly stays
If a booking lasts 28 nights or more, hosts will be paid on a monthly basis. However, hosts will receive the first payment by the end of the business day that follows the check-in date. Subsequent payments will be released in 30-day increments.
Note that if you are hosting in Canada, these payment terms went into effect on June 26, 2025. If you already have a listing up and running, these Airbnb payment terms will go into effect for everyone on September 8, 2025 with no action required by you.
Types of Airbnb payment methods
Below are the key factors that can influence when you receive your funds based on the Airbnb payment method you’ve selected:
- Bank transfers: Payments can take 3–5 business days to arrive, depending on your bank.
- ACH transfer: Funds will arrive within 3 business days for hosts in the United States and Puerto Rico.
- PayPal: Payments are often available within a few hours but can take up to one business day.
- Airbnb Fast Pay: Funds can be transferred in 30 minutes or less, but it’s only available to hosts in the United States.
- Payoneer account: Processing times usually take 24 hours.
- Western Union: Generally 1 business day.
- International wire: An international wire takes 3-7 business days.
How does Airbnb pay hosts?
As mentioned above, Airbnb offers a variety of flexible payment options for hosts. This section will cover everything you need to know about setting up and managing your payout preferences.
How hosts receive payments
- The host decides on their preferred payment method when setting up their Airbnb account.
- Payments are released according to the processing time of the chosen payout method.
- Hosts can update their payout preferences at any time through their account settings.
Setting up payout preferences
- Go to the Menu and select the Account settings tab.
- Select Payments.
- Click Payouts and then choose Add payout method.
- Add your country and region.
- Select your payment method.
Airbnb will verify the account by sending a test deposit of $1.00 or less.
Note that you can add more than one payment method. This can be done by setting a default method for general use or linking specific payout methods to individual listings through the Split Payments section.
How does the Airbnb co-host payment work?
If managing your Airbnb feels overwhelming, you might consider hiring a co-host to help with the workload. The specific responsibilities of a co-host can vary, but their payments typically operate in a consistent manner. How much a co-host earns depends on the amount of work they are responsible for and is calculated by the host’s potential earnings amount per booking and the host’s selected payout option.
How to split payment with a co-host on Airbnb
Paying your Airbnb co-hosts is easy. Follow the following steps to set up a split payment:
- Open Airbnb’s website on your desktop and log in to your account.
- Click Listings and select the specific listing you want to modify.
- Under the Listing editor, click Your space.
- Navigate to Co-hosts and select the co-host for whom you’d like to set up payouts.
- Click Payouts and choose one of the available payout options:
- Cleaning fee
- Cleaning fee plus percentage
- Percentage
- Fixed amount
- Confirm your selection by clicking Confirm with co-host.
The co-host must then approve your request.
What is Airbnb Fast Pay?
Airbnb Fast Pay is an optional feature that allows eligible hosts to get paid faster than the standard payout timeline. Hosts may regonize it from its previous name, Host Early Pay.
With Airbnb Fast Pay, hosts can receive their earnings just 30 minutes after Airbnb releases the payment. This feature offers added flexibility and is especially helpful for hosts who want to get paid outside of banking hours.
Common Airbnb host payment problems and how to resolve them
Managing payouts as an Airbnb host can occasionally come with unexpected challenges. This section covers a few common issues with Airbnb host payments and how to solve them.
Missing Airbnb payments
If you’re missing a payout, follow the steps outlined in this section identify and resolve the issue.
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Verify the payment timeline: Airbnb typically processes payouts by the end of the next business day after a guest’s check-in. If there are multiple check-ins on the same day, payments may be grouped and processed after the last check-in. For long-term stays, payouts are released in monthly instalments.
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Check for delays: If your payment hasn’t arrived after 24 hours, it may simply be delayed. Wait a bit longer and double-check your payout methods for accuracy.
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Contact Airbnb support: If the payment is still missing after the expected timeline, contact Airbnb’s customer service to resolve any issues.
Switching payments
If you decide to change banks or update your payout method, you’ll need to manage this directly through the Airbnb platform. Usually, the process is straightforward, and the updated payment information is reflected in your next payout.
However, this isn’t guaranteed. A common mistake hosts make is adding a new payment method instead of replacing the old one. This can lead to issues if the previous method is no longer active or accessible. To prevent problems, ensure you remove the old payment method from your payments dashboard to avoid payments being sent to an inactive account.
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