Listing a homestay on Booking.com in Vietnam: commission, getting paid and calendar sync

HostBooking · Updated Nov 2, 2026 · 8 min read

Booking.com charges no listing fee, only commission on stays, often around 15% (indicative, 11/2026; your rate is in your agreement). The real decision is who collects the guest’s money: you, paying commission on a monthly invoice, or Booking.com through Payments by Booking.com, which then pays you out.

Which homestays fit Booking.com

Booking.com brings large numbers of both Vietnamese and international guests who book by the night under clear cancellation rules. It suits homestays with several rooms of the same type, mini hotels and serviced apartments. Unlike Airbnb guests, Booking.com guests compare many places in the same area, so location and review score matter more than the story of the house.

Signing up

1. Go to Booking.com’s property sign-up (join.booking.com) and pick a type: apartment, guesthouse, homestay, villa…
2. Enter the address, room types, number of rooms per type, beds, amenities and photos.
3. Set prices, cancellation policy, check-in and check-out times and house rules.
4. Choose how guests pay (see below) and read the Accommodation Agreement before accepting: your commission rate is in it.
5. Once live, you run everything in the Extranet on a computer or the Pulse app on your phone.

Have your business registration and a bank account in the business’s name ready. In Vietnam every guest still needs a stay notice to the police, whichever channel they booked through.

How much commission

Booking.com charges a percentage per booking, with no monthly fee. Partner and channel-manager documentation usually cites about 10–25%, commonly around 15%, depending on country and property type (indicative, 11/2026). Your exact rate is in the Accommodation Agreement and under Finance in the Extranet.

Two things push the real cost above the contract rate: Genius discounts you switch on (the guest pays less, commission is still charged on what they pay), and preferred-partner programmes that raise the rate in exchange for visibility. To see what to list so you still take home your target after commission and discounts, use the OTA price calculator.

Two ways to get paid

With Payments by Booking.com, bank transfers can run monthly, weekly or, in some countries, daily; a virtual card is loaded per reservation and you charge it yourself. Booking.com sets the schedule, and you see it under Finance in the Extranet. With pay at property, settle the commission invoice on time through the Extranet or by bank transfer, after checking each line against your own bookings.

Cancellations and no-shows

• The cancellation policy is yours, set per rate. A free cancellation within the policy costs no commission.
• Booking.com does not know when a guest fails to show: you report the no-show in the Extranet. If you waive the fee, no commission applies; if you charge a no-show fee, commission applies to that fee.
• If you choose to waive a cancellation fee for a guest, you are not charged commission on the cancelled booking either.

Do not leave a no-show sitting unreported: it may still be counted as a completed stay. For wording a policy guests understand, see homestay cancellation policy.

Syncing the Booking.com calendar

1. In the Extranet: Rates & Availability → Sync calendars, then pick the room type.
2. Export: choose booked dates only, not the dates you closed yourself, and copy the link.
3. Import: paste the other channel’s calendar link and give it a recognisable name.

Each calendar link belongs to one room type. iCal works most cleanly when a room type has a single unit; with several rooms of one type, check carefully after connecting. Some property types or regions may not see calendar sync yet; ask partner support. If you later connect a channel manager by API, Booking.com requires removing imported iCal calendars.

Pros and cons

• Pros: a large audience, Vietnamese and international; no fixed fee; you choose the payment method and cancellation policy.
• Cons: you must report no-shows yourself; monthly commission invoices are easy to forget with pay at property; Genius and preferred programmes raise the real cost; iCal works per room type, best with single-unit types.

Where HostBooking helps

• Pulls your Booking.com calendar every 5 minutes, gives a calendar link per room type (and per room) for the Extranet, and alerts you when a link fails or a night is double-booked.
• Reads Booking.com confirmation emails once you forward them. An email that mentions Payments by Booking.com marks the booking as collected by Booking.com; otherwise it is marked as collected by the property. Commission is recorded when the email shows it in dong.
• Records channel, OTA code and commission on every booking, so at month end you have figures to check against Booking.com’s invoice, and reports split revenue and fees by channel.
• Your own booking website so regulars book direct, with VietQR deposits to your account and no percentage per booking.

Calendar import and OTA email reading are included from the Basic plan (see pricing). See features or sign up.