New options about booking on Airbnb looking like copying from booking.com

[Rachel367]

Hi all,

I am wondering why Airbnb is now offering new options like sending messages to guests automatically, changing listing price to Service cost included. To me its like copy/paste from booking.com.

Will there be a merger or a sale to booking.com?

This has now all happened since Airbnb went public.

Your thoughts about this?

[Emiel1]

@Rachel367 

IMO it those features are inplemented because they are neccesary tools on a booking platform.

Booking.com is a Dutch company by origin, they needed financial support from the governement during pandemic, so they are on "surviving mode".....

[Debra300]

@Rachel367,

To add onto what @Emiel1 has said, Airbnb also wants to make its pricing model consistent with other popular platforms to be competitive, and it also makes it easier for hosts who use channel managers, because the pricing is consistent on all sites.  One of the primary reasons why I don't use a channel manager is because the fees are accessed differently (Booking and Expedia charge hosts 15%/20% and ABB charges 3%), and so my price is not the same on each platform.  The other reason is for flexibility.  If invalid payment reservation blocks a calendar on Booking.com for at least 24 hours, I don't want the Airbnb calendar to be blocked while I have to wait until I can cancel the bogus booking.