@Steve482,
It's not uncommon for people to fall into the trap of wanting to withdraw from forwarding the legitimate fee that Airbnb is entitled to, on the basis of the agreement to which they [Hosts and Guests] signed up to.
The fee that you are referring to works out at $3 per day.
It is not really money out of your pocket, as it is essentially money paid from your guest fees.
It should be weighed up against the $700 that you have been able to earn via Airbnb exposure and the infrastructure that they provide.
That infrastructure includes the construction and maintenance of this website and community forum to which you have turned for advice in this matter. All constructed and maintained by a huge number of hardworking, often unseen individuals who deserved to be paid for their work.
I hope that you and others, can see the irony in this type of request to cut out your Airbnb fees.
It's a bit like guests who say that they won't be staying in their room very much only sleeping in it....... So does that make it less valuable a service?
Taking the risk of sidestepping your Airbnb fees to save guest money is a bit like avoiding your taxes and taking cash payments. Eventually it will turn out to have been the wrong decision. You cannot really hide this type of activity you may as well be upfront and inclusive of every person or organisation that has played a role in making the activity viable.
Apart from insurance benefits and dozens of other services I get from Airbnb, I just absolutely love that I can click on my reservations and transactions and see a complete list of everything that I have done, have coming up; and moneys recieved and paid out.
Once you start to mix it up to do someone else a favour, you miss all these benefits, and guests know that you are prepared to sell out yourself and Airbnb for them. There will be no true loyalty returned by them, as they don't respect the agency that you work with and are looking to short change them.
You each used Airbnb to find one another. Now the idea is being floated to skip payment for brokerage services rendered.
[You are not precluded from doing business with other people who have come to you via another source, Airbnb does not require booking or brokerage and site fees for contacts outside the website. So friends, family private referrals, that's all good, nothing is due to Airbnb. They even created the facility for you to note these items on your calender.]
I assume you realise that you will most likely be in breach of your Airbnb terms of contract as this person was introduced to you via Airbnb. This leaves you vulnerable to being removed from the site with little or no notice and existing bookings may be subject to cancellation. Are you happy to take this risk?
Research this type of event on the net; re-read the details of your contract with Airbnb. Then my advice is to politely refuse, and if you still feel the need to, let the guest know that such action would jeopardize your ability to host on the Airbnb platform. Decent guests will not want to contribute to such a loss on your part. [on the other hand some guests may not care, privately they wmay calculate that you are more likely to be vulnerable to discounting since your advertising and exposure to new business has been reduced by being removed from the site] Every other site has upfront pay first fees. Consider yourself lucky that Airbnb asks for nothing until after they deliver business to your door!
Your guests love what you do. Stay strong and stand by your current terms.
You and Airbnb are offering a great deal as it currently stands.
We are stronger together.
Best Regards, Christine
