Improving price transparency for guests

[Stephanie]

Today, CEO Brian Chesky announced that we’re updating how prices are displayed to guests in Airbnb search results. Our goal is to maximize price transparency in places like the U.S., where showing nightly prices (before fees) is currently the travel industry standard.

Guests who currently find nightly prices in search results will be able to switch to showing the total prices. The total price includes the price per night, Airbnb service fee, and any Host fees for cleaning, pets, or extra guests. 

We’re making this change, along with a few others, to help you stay competitive and meet guest expectations. Get the details on the Resource Center. 

Displaying total price and simplifying checkout

What’s your strategy: Build your cleaning costs into your nightly price, or charge a separate cleaning fee?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Stephanie Finally Airbnb has sorted out their pricing display. There is nothing wrong with cleaning fees but when they are hidden until checkout it becomes a huge problem.

[Jenny]

Thanks for the feedback @Mike-And-Jane0 - we appreciate hearing your thoughts!

[Richard531]

I'd like to see prices inclusive of EVERYTHING.  Right out of the gate.  Especially when I'm using the sliding $$ ruler to gauge how much a place is going to cost per night when I'm traveling.  The price per night should include EVERYTHING. 

The tacking on of taxes at the end is still awful. 

I guess as a host, it maybe gets me more bookings?  As a traveler, it drives me nuts.  

[Lenore22]

So true! Since taxes tend to be standard within the same area, the thinking is probably that taxes (typically a %) will be the same across listings, so this helps guests compare listings. But you're right that if you truly have a budget of $200/night, $220 after taxes doesn't really help in your search, especially if you're traveling and aren't familiar with VAT, TOT, or whatever local taxes might apply.

Good point, but the option to include everything helps and it's a start...

[Jenny]

Hi @Richard531 

I understand what you're saying about taxes - I've added that feedback to our list!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Jenny

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Richard531 I assume it is because everything in America is advertised without tax. It really confused/annoyed me when I lived there that you had to add on tax to prices in shops.

Interestingly the default is non-inclusive prices and guests have to switch on inclusive prices as Airbnb are concerned they may alienate guests by forcing them to see the full price upfront.

[Pat271]

I’m a software engineer, and I would think it would be quite complicated to keep track of every tax from every jurisdiction, not to mention that sometimes taxes are collected in-person, so Airbnb would have no way of knowing what those are, short of parsing through every property description and trying to glean extra charges to be paid in person. It wouldn’t be 100% foolproof  and it would be prone to error. Not to mention individual tax laws are subject to change.

I notice most if not all of the hotel listings I’ve seen have “plus tax” after the price, so I guess it’s a fairly common practice.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Pat271 there is no difficulty in keeping track of taxes in each jurisdiction because Airbnb does show them at the point of check out. 

[Pat271]

See my clarification to Emiel1.

[Huma0]

@Pat271 

This is true in a lot of European destinations. I just stayed at a 5* hotel in Barcelona and was charged a nightly tourist tax on check out. Had never been mentioned before...

[Inna22]

I can not build the cleaning fee into the nightly price, I do not think. My places are huge so the fee is high. Majority of my guests book for 2-3 nights. I will either loose money on short stays or loose out on longer stays. I guess I can do some sort of really complicated discount system. Instead I do not charge any other extras- no pet or per person fees

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Inna22 thankfully Airbnb is just ensuring guests see the total cost (if they wish) rather than the low nightly cost plus add ons later in the process. It has been this way for a long time in Europe and allows hosts to use cleaning fees properly (ie make short stays more expensive/longer stays more cost effective without the guests feeling duped in some way at checkout.

[Helen744]

Hello stephanie, I think that is a great improvement . As someone who had a fifty dollar standard cleaning fee ,which in my market is low then , to still have people ,especially those who are used to other platforms continually questioning price per night , just went to show that most customers do like to know what they are paying for.If it is clear that they are paying a one off cleaning fee if its a week or a day then they will still be confused. Cleaning should be cumulative over a week I think, so if you only stay two days it is less than if you stay a week with the ability to charge for 'super cleans ' without gouging customers , and without putting the need for the original booker to shoulder all the fees , so maybe a sliding scale of extra guest fees as well ,but it may be too complicated plus extra   fees , like pet fees or 'hooking up experiences' like , 'a day with a local' experience. Gold detecting or hiking or some special experiential  'day out ' event . We have been lumped with standard fees and everyone is different and need guests to see upfront ,because all guests like to feel they have 'snagged the best berth' . I tell people to wander around and choose a room , children love it especially if they get a 'big room ' with a big bed and outsmart mum and dad , but the way my house was set up the children assume that the first room is the master but its not. Yes I am all for transparency of pricing H

[Gillian166]

@Helen744  they already have 2 levels of cleaning fee anyway. 

There's a bit of a bug though, you can't set $0 for the short stay else it won't activate the "long" stay fee (which is 3 days+), so I have it set to $1 for a short stay. 

Even my "long stay" fee is only $20-30. So far all my guests have left the place super clean.