Improving price transparency for guests

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Improving price transparency for guests

 

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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?

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109 Replies 109
Jenny
Community Manager
Community Manager
Galashiels, United Kingdom

Hi @Martha943 

 

I've just replied further down to another Host who has concerns around the cultural differences surrounding check-out tasks:

At this time, Airbnb has not fully defined their checkout task guidance.  They look forward to workshopping this with Hosts in the coming months.

 

I hope this gives you some reassurance that your concerns will be considered during this process.

 

Jenny 😊

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Martha943
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

Hi Jenny, thanks for getting back to me. That's great. 

As I said, I do think it's a very good idea to make the checkout requirements clear on booking, precisely because of these cultural differences.

But I do think that it's not for Airbnb to say what they should be, I think guidance should be about how to make the process clear to guests, not what the process should be.

I think @Huma0 's point about camping and shared situations is a very good one, also remote and unusual situations (which are increasingly a big selling point of Airbnb)  could have very specific needs. 

Look forward to hearing the next steps and thank you for the update 🙂 

Charlotte7
Level 2
Toulouse, France

Airbnb telling hosts they can no longer ask guests to strip their beds is not taking into consideration larger properties like mine, which can sleep up to 22 people in up to 17 beds. It would take a huge amount of time for me to strip these, whereas, since covid, guests have been stripping their beds before checkout. It takes a couple of minutes per person and no one has ever complained. My prices won’t be as competitive if I am forced to add on even more time for changeovers (which is already approximately 14 hours in cleaning alone per changeover). I don’t think I am the only one in this situation. Having been a super host for the last 4 or 5 years, consistently receiving 5 star reviews, it’s a shame we have not been deemed able to gauge what is and isn’t acceptable for our guests, with details like these being imposed which aren’t feasible across all types of properties. 

@Charlotte7  I don't think they are going to stop you from requesting that.  They just want you to disclose before the booking what the checkout routine is. Should be fine 🙂

Agreed.  My biggest place sleeps 18-20.    It takes a cleaning crew of three , bringing in clean laundry done offsite, to get that cabin ready in five hours.  Cleaning people need to be paid for their work offsite ( doing laundry for hours, linens for ten beds and 24 bath towels ) and cleaning onsite.    I pay $385 for the clean plus another $70 for the hot tub clean maintenance.  So, $445 on every clean, but I only charge guests $295 for the clean.   I guess airbnb expects me to charge zero now for the clean to make guests happy.  LOL

In light of ABB wanting full sunshine on pricing with no surprises...

Will ABB also include up front their service fee, (14+%)   and inform guests that it is ABB charging and pocketing that fee -  not the hosts?

Exactly!  It’s hypocritical of Brian Chesky to focus just on cleaning fees which are not what dramatically drives up the cost of a booking vs stated nightly rate. Airbnb should disclose ALL fees upfront including it OWN portion of service fees if guests are to understand upfront what their stay will cost in total. 

@Donna1157  I was assuming this was the case, and you're right, so many guests don't realise that there's a large ABB fee tacked on.

@Donna1157 I am always amused when hosts talk about Airbnb charging a high fee and talking about them 'pocketing' it.

The truth is that Airbnb rarely has made a profit as they have significant costs providing visibility to our properties. 

Now I am sure they could be better run and more efficient but as there are few better options I guess we are stuck with them

Revisiting this section after a bit of a hiatus. You may find this information interesting if you did not get the memo earlier this year from Airbnb:

2022 was another record year for Airbnb. Revenue of $8.4 billion grew 40 percent year over year (46% ex-FX). Net income was $1.9 billion—making 2022 our first profitable full year on a GAAP basis. Adjusted EBITDA was $2.9 billion while Free Cash Flow was $3.4 billion, growing 49 percent year over year

@Donna1157 

 

Haha - yeah, I always think about these results whenever I read “Guests are fed up and are fleeing to hotels”. Me thinks not…

Jenny
Community Manager
Community Manager
Galashiels, United Kingdom

Hi @Donna1157 

 

Yes, When guests choose the total price display option, both the total nightly rate (inclusive of any Host-set fees) and the Airbnb service fee are listed as part of the pricing breakdown. We explicitly call it the “Airbnb service fee” as a line item.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Jenny

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Marie7084
Level 4
United States

What a joke!  Many hosts, including myself, are barely making it.  Guests want to do nothing upon checkout, guests want a super clean space but want to pay a lower cleaning fee, guests want early check in and late check out but do not want to pay for it, guests want a manager to respond 24/7 like a hotel, having no clue what after hours manager fees are.    Guests want a discounted rate, but not a discounted low rate property.

 

We will not even mention the power of getting 4 stars instead of five stars on a review because a guest did not like the weather or wifi was not fast enough when they had 12 devices connected at a remote cabin in the mountians.

 

I pay more now for cleaning than ever in my 15 years as a host.   I have been covering over half of the fee charged to me, taking it out of the nightly rate.  What happened to airbnb's attitude that cleaners need to be paid a living wage?   Gas is more, supplies are more, wages are more.    It gets to the point that a host can hardley even cover their bills, after they pay the cleaning company, the manager, the utilities, the mortgage, taxes, insurance, supplies.   Not to even mention all the little damages here and there caused by guests that airbnb cover never covers. 

 

I am thinking about selling all my airbnbs and going back to dependable long term rentals.  Never have to deal with a review ever again.  Yahoo!

@Stephanie   My guest interface has displayed "$XXXX total" in the listing search results for as long as I can remember, in both app and browser.  Click on it and you see the Price breakdown.  What's changed?

Lorna170
Level 10
Swannanoa, NC

@Stephanie  I charge a separate cleaning fee and have had no pushback from my guests about the fee for the 20+ years i've been in business, sending out invoices prior to the OTAs taking that over.  I live in a state where all fees have to be disclosed BEFORE the guest books.

 

My take on pricing transparency is as follows:  Service Fee should read AIRBNB SERVICE FEE.  Finally, the guest will know that this is NOT a fee that is charged by me, paid to me or able to be discounted by me.