Price per room or per person: occupancy-based pricing on Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo and Google (2026)

Updated: 10 November 2026

A double room doesn't cost the same for one person as for two, and a family of three doesn't pay the same as a couple. Each channel handles this differently: occupancy-based prices, an extra guest fee or a single nightly price. Set it up wrong and travellers see a price that isn't theirs. This guide sums up what the official help pages of Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo and Google say (checked on 10 November 2026) and flags what we could not confirm.

The short answer

The essentials:

Booking.com: its API documents four pricing types: standard (maximum occupancy + 1 adult), derived (maximum occupancy + % or fixed offsets), Occupancy-based Pricing (one price per number of guests) and length of stay.
Airbnb: the extra guest fee is a flat fee for each guest beyond a number you choose, and it is not included in the nightly price.
Vrbo: it has standard fees for extra guests, cleaning and pets, and says mandatory fees are always shown upfront to travellers.
Google: it accepts one price per number of guests (BaseByGuestAmt with NumberOfGuests); if you don't set the number, it assumes 2 guests.
Directive 2011/83/EU (art. 6(1)(e)) requires the total price including taxes before the contract: the price for 1 or 2 adults must be what is actually paid.

Booking.com: occupancy-based prices

What the official developer guide («Pricing models»), used by channel managers, documents:

Standard: you send a price for maximum adult occupancy and another for 1 adult. Single rooms only need the maximum-occupancy price.
Derived: a price for maximum occupancy and, for other occupancies, a percentage or fixed-amount offset (their example: base for 2, -20% for 1, +20% for 3).
Occupancy-based Pricing (OBP): you must give a price for every combination of room type, rate plan, date and number of occupants, with no offsets from a base price. Official example: 1 guest 100, 2 guests 120, 3 guests 140.
In OBP children are priced as adults, and you should not send prices above the room's maximum occupancy.
Careful: according to Booking.com, changing the pricing type removes all existing prices for those room-rates. Check your calendar afterwards.
Not confirmed: the exact extranet steps and what the partner help pages say about ranking or visibility with OBP (we could not open them).

Airbnb: extra guest fee

According to Airbnb's help article on additional fees:

It is «a flat fee for each additional guest beyond a default number you choose».
It is not included in the nightly price: guests see it as a price increase.
It is set in Calendar > your listing > Pricing > Fees, then Save.
Not confirmed: whether it is charged per night or per stay (the article we read doesn't say). Check the total a guest sees for 1, 2 and 3 people on your listing.

Vrbo: base rate and extra guest fee

What Vrbo's owner help pages say:

The base rate is the default nightly price, before discounts or date-specific adjustments.
Standard fees are «for extra guests, cleaning, and pets».
Vrbo states that all mandatory fees are always shown upfront to travellers.
Not confirmed: from how many guests the extra guest fee applies and whether it is per night or per stay; the help page we read doesn't detail it.

Google: prices by number of guests

What Google's Hotel Center help and technical guide document:

Non-double occupancy rates are those for 1 guest or for 3 or more; searchers choose the number of guests.
You can send several prices, one per number of guests (BaseByGuestAmt with NumberOfGuests). If you don't set the number, Google assumes 2 guests.
A rate defined for one occupancy also applies to lower occupancies unless you define them. If you only send the price for 2, someone searching for 1 sees the price for 2.
Occupancies above those you define are considered not possible, and Google discards rates above the room's capacity.
Children: Google assumes a child fits into an adult's space; through ARI, children are only sent as an additional charge.
Google requires every rate shown to be bookable and all potential fees to be available to users.

Why the price for 1 or 2 adults must be the real one

EU law and the channels' own rules point the same way:

Directive 2011/83/EU, art. 6(1)(e), requires information on the total price including taxes or, if it cannot be calculated in advance, how it is calculated, plus any other charges.
If the price shown for 2 adults leaves out a mandatory supplement, the price shown is not the total.
A price that can't be booked for that occupancy breaks Google's rule that displayed rates must be bookable.
If an AI assistant or a metasearch reads your price for 2 and the guest travels alone, it may give a figure that isn't theirs: publish the price for every occupancy you sell.

Checklist

Before you sign off your set-up:

Decide what you sell: a per-room price (same for 1 or 2) or a per-person price. Both are fine if shown correctly.
Use the same logic on every channel and on your website.
Run test searches for 1, 2 and 3 adults and with a child, and check the final total on each channel.
Check extra beds and cots: their price must appear before booking.
If you change pricing type on Booking.com, reload and review all prices.

How iQuota helps

iQuota publishes your details and terms for AI assistants, with direct booking, 0% commission and payment at the property:

In iQuota you set the base occupancy, the extra adult supplement, the child price and the single-use discount, and the price is calculated for the number of guests in each search.
We don't guarantee bookings or that a given AI will show your property: we help make sure that, when it does, the details are right.

Want AI to give your real details and terms, with direct booking and no commission? The first 30 hotels join free until 30 June 2027.

See the Founding Hotels programme

Frequently asked questions

What is Booking.com's Occupancy-based Pricing?

A pricing type where you set an absolute price for each number of guests, per room, rate plan and date (for example 100 for 1, 120 for 2 and 140 for 3), instead of a base price with discounts.

How does Airbnb's extra guest fee work?

It is a flat fee for each guest beyond the number you choose, not included in the nightly price. We could not confirm whether it is charged per night or per stay.

What price does Google show if I only send the price for 2 guests?

According to Google's technical guide, a rate defined for one occupancy applies to lower ones. Someone searching for 1 sees the price for 2, and a search for 3 shows no price.

Is it better to charge per room or per person?

It depends on your property. What matters is that the price shown for each number of guests is the real total and can be booked.

What does the law say about the price shown?

Directive 2011/83/EU, art. 6(1)(e), requires the total price including taxes before the contract, or how it is calculated if it can't be known in advance.

Sources

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