News about the co-hosting split payout feature

[Airbnb]

We recently shared that as of August 1, 2018 we’ll no longer offer the co-hosting split payout feature. Many of you use and appreciate this feature, and we understand that this change has implications for the way that you do business as hosts. It’s always our intention to improve your experience in any way we can, and we’re sorry for the inconvenience this change will pose for you. We’d like to give you some background on why we’re making it and offer some alternatives for paying your co-hosts.

It’s important to note that we are not removing co-hosting. We’re invested in helping you succeed, and co-hosting overall has been a valuable tool for many of you. So why are we removing the split payout feature? When we added the ability to pay co-hosts through this special feature, the number of co-hosts was rather small and we built a system that handled the volume well. But in order for this feature to meet the needs of a much larger community of hosts and work seamlessly with Airbnb’s evolving platform, we would need to completely rebuild the feature so that it grows with your needs and meets our internal reliability standards. We’re not building a feature to replace this one yet, but we know it’s important to certain hosts and co-hosts and will continue to evaluate ways we can improve and grow the co-hosting program.

The good news is we’re exploring the best way to introduce a new and improved feature. We can’t give you a date yet, but will keep you informed. In the meantime, you can still pay co-hosts through the Airbnb platform by changing your Payout Preferences to split your payment with your co-host. To do this, with your co-host’s permission, enter their payout information in your Payout Preferences tab, and set the percentage you would like to share. If your co-host is not comfortable sharing their account details or ever withdraws their authorization, you can pay them outside of Airbnb through secure online payment apps, bank deposits, cash, or checks.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and we’re grateful for each and every one of you who host and co-host—and support local businesses while you’re at it! We look forward to building a feature that will be useful to you and better meet the needs of this growing community.

[Meredith17]

@Airbnb4 Thank you for the update! Will all future co-hosting payments be cancelled after August 1, including already scheduled transactions? Or is it only for payouts for reservations confirmed after Aug 1? 

Confused... 

Appreciate any response!

Meredith

[Melissa584]

@AirbnbThere are some very important questions being posted on this thread. Why have you not responded to any of the comments since you posted the original message?

Specifically, as Meredith just asked, will bookings after Aug 1 automatically be paid to the host at 100% or only new bookings?

Also, with the payout options, what do you suggest for paying out cleaning fees which are flat, not a percentage?

Please demonstrate that you care about your community.

[Victor384]

This is a BIG inconvenience to everyone, and affecting every single host that rely on cohost or property managers to manage their listings, and every single vacation rental companies in the world. Many property owners are not even in the same area, or even out of the countries, and are relying on local property managers to cohost for them. How can they get paid then?

And also that will involve a ton of invoicing, transaction fees, sending 1099 tax forms, and complicate the whole process and everyone. If it's Airbnb's intension to make hosting experience seemless, this action is totally going backward. Why don't you have a better system in place to replace it first, but stopping it without an alternative?

For the payout method split, it can't route cleaning fees, that's a BIG part of cohosting.

Only a year ago Airbnb was promoting cohosting and it's the cohosting that makes Airbnb hosting more powerful and having more owners to open up their houses to short term rental, you are really killing your own business and giving ways to other vacation platforms like Booking.com and HomeAway.

[Kris120]

My co-host and I were a bit panicked at first got the news on the non split change. We decided to open a joint account and have all funds placed there. We keep extra money to buy toilet paper and soap, ECT. My co host and I are related so that helps. But I will be glad when you have a feature to split embedded in the Airbnb program.

[Clare-And-Mike0]

Hello fellow Co-Hosts!

I spoke with Airbnb this morning and they provided an excellent solution to the problem we all have with the cleaning fee. What they suggested is to go into the payout preferences and split the payment in 3 ways - A fixed amount for the cleaning fee (paid to the co-host) and then the remaining payout split by percentage between the host and co-hosts. This would have solved our problems EXCEPT when I logged into Airbnb they have now removed the "fixed" option and only have the percentage option left. I called Airbnb back again and they were suprised to hear that the solution they provided would no longer work. The Airbnb contact asked for us to send feedback stating that we want the "fixed" payout option back along with the percentage. 

The example is if a booking is $100 and cleaning is $70 for a total reservation cost of $170 (not including the airbnb fees for this example) then the payout routing method would send the fixed $70 to the co-host then would split the remaining $100 between the host and co-host as per their split i.e 80/20.

One more obstacle is that when you add a new payout routing method it only counts for new reservations and not existing ones! This will be a hassle for the first few months to decifer what's been paid and what hasn't but worthwhile if they get this problem sorted.

Can everyone please send feedback asking for the fixed amount to come back to the payout preferences?  

Also, it's stated that when Airbnb stops the existing co-hosting method on Aug 1 it will be for all payouts as of Aug 1 and later. This means existing reservations will not be split by the new routing method, only new reservations.

Lastly, I let them know that the co-hosting community is really disapointed in their lack of communication. There are several threads of upset co-hosts that Airbnb hasn't even responded to. The Airbnb guy agreed the co-hosting community had been deglected and that we need our questions to be responded to. He said that he will message the communication team to get online and respond to us. Fingers crossed!

Thank you fellow co-hosts! This is frustrating but together we can (hopefully) get it fix and get back to what we do best, showing our guests an amazing hosted experience with their accomodation!

PS: The Airbnb contact said it was the first time they had heard about the cleaning fee issue. Please send feedback and CALL the help desk so that they understand the impact this change has to our community.

[Sunny72]

I just want to add my voice to the chorus of people saying PLEASE DON'T DO THIS. If Airbnb is really listening to its hosts, then they will send out an announcement telling us that they've decided not to take this feature away from us. This is going to make hosting on Airbnb far more difficult, and filing taxes will be a nightmare. Since Airbnb sends out so many emails, the majority of hosts I know have a separate email account that they never check, so the majority of hosts probably aren't even aware of this change yet. I predict a HUGE backlash once people find out. 

[Avery14]

If Airbnb had any idea how much business they're going to lose because of this, they wouldn't do it. Horrible, horrible move Airbnb.

[Jessie66]

I implore everyone: please bombard Airbnb's phone and email support with complaints about this until Airbnb realizes that they must not do this to us. This is truly the worst news ever, and Airbnb's dishonest announcement only makes it worse. 

[Nicole271]

CAN AIRBNB ADMIN PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW TO PASS CLEANING FEES TO COHOSTS. THE SOLUTION PROVIDED DOESN'T ADDRESS THIS. THE CLEANING FEES WILL BE SPLIT ALONG WITH THE TOTAL. PLEASE ADVISE THIS IS CRIPPLING PEOPLES BUSINESSES!

[Beverly38]

We pay AirBnB a commision because their platform manages the money for us. If this is now not possible, then AirBnB is no longer worth the money.

My friend has 274 London properties, some produce over £400 per night and many are famous spaces that have featured in everything from music videos to high brow television programs and hollywood movies. He is currently in the process of migrating over the booking.com because of this change. I know many others that are leaving because they have no other choice.

Has anybody came up with a solution other than leaving? If I have to forkout extra for a holiday management business software I won't be able to afford airbnb's commision rates anymore.

[Gene59]

what's more strange is that when I go to Payout Preferences, I don't see any buttons or CTA under Payout Routing Rules anymore. It seems the feature has already been removed?! Anyone experiencing this?

[Colin---Vamonosco0]

IN ADDITION to removing the co-host split payout feature, Airbnb has changed the process of adding a Paypal payout method... Previously, like every other online marketplace, adding a Paypal payout method required only the email address associated to the Paypal account. 

Now Airbnb requires you to log into the Paypal account of the third party with the email address and PASSWORD to register the Paypal account as a payout method.

@Airbnb you are suggesting that the solution to splitting payouts with a co-host is to add their payout information and set the split percentage in payout routing preferences.... but now you are requiring the thrid-party co-host to provide the host with the Paypal email address AND PASSWORD to enable the payout method? This is like requiring you to ask your third-party co-host for full access to their online banking, requiring their login (username and password) so you can add their bank account and send them their payouts.

[Jonathan426]

For those concerned with the cleaning fee: I just got off the phone with support. Airbnb has no intention of fixing the issue.

I would suggest you submit all future complaints to the Better Business Bureau, as it is pretty clear Airbnb is ignoring all forums and feedback forms.

www.BBB.org

[Elaine257]

o-oh... that is not good.

[Ben458]

why fix something thats not broken? horrible idea in my opinion, expect to lose a lot of host/co-cost