Has Airbnb increased their fees?

[Ngung-Huong0]

I’ve just received two new bookings. For the first one, my guest paid me $343 and the Airbnb fee was $65. For the second booking, my guest paid me $492 and the Airbnb fee was $100. This means Airbnb is taking 20% for each booking, which is quite a jump from their previous fee of 15%, which was already too high.

[Joelle43]

Hello @Ngung-Huong0 

Check if you are with the split fee option where hosts are deducted 3%+VAT for the value of the stay which also includes cleaning, pet fees, additional person charges and the guests pay around 14-15% commission on top of our fee.

The other option is that the hosts pays all the Airbnb commission - 15%+ VAT

When we receive a booking and under that reservation number, Airbnb details the commission that the guests pay and below that guest pay-out, we see the host amount that will be paid to us with the commission %

All the best
Joëlle

[Ngung-Huong0]

Hi Joelle!

Thanks for your reply.

I've reviewed my settings and confirmed that I haven't made any unusual changes. Additionally, I have verified that I consistently paid a 3% service fee for Airbnb.

Below is the breakdown of this Airbnb booking:

Guest Payment

• 14 nights at $35.20 per night: $492.80
• Cleaning fee: $15.00
• Guest service fee: $100.77
• Total (USD): $608.57

Host Payout

1. 14 nights room fee: $560.00
2. Cleaning fee: $15.00
3. Nightly rate adjustment: −$67.20
4. Host service fee (3.0% + VAT): −$16.46

Total (USD): $491.34
Best Regards, Huong

[Joelle43]

Hello @Ngung-Huong0 

Wow!  You're right - on the guest pay out, Airbnb charged nearly 20% commission!! I would query that with Customer Service and maybe we should also be checking what commission guests are being charged!  According to Airbnb, it is around 14 - 15% + VAT!!  Massive jump there I agree

I don't know what the VAT is for Switzerland but the deduction on the Airbnb fee seems coherent at least in the Host payout

Keep us informed

Good luck
Joëlle

[Ngung-Huong0]

Hello @Joelle43
I’ve finally received a response from Airbnb support. Here’s what they shared:

"The Airbnb guest service fee is a percentage of the booking subtotal ($507.80) that is added to the cost of a reservation. The fee is usually under 14.2% of the subtotal, but can vary depending on several factors.

Please keep in mind, if the guest pays in a different currency than the Host's listing, the guest service fee may be up to 16.5%. In this case it was roughly 16.1% at $81.87.

Airbnb charges a​ service​ fee from the reservation amount for use of the Airbnb online platform. VAT is charged at the time of payment and is based on the total guest service fee ($81.87) for a reservation. ​The VAT for Czechia is 21% the Guest service fee ($17.19).

This brings the final Guest service fee to be charged to $99.06, and due to currency this amount goes to $100.77."

Now everything is clear to me.

Huong

[Joelle43]

Hello @Ngung-Huong0 

Thank you so much for letting us know why your guests were charged so much commission.  A great response from CS so well done to them😊

Happy hosting
Joëlle

[Joan2709 · Accepted solution]

@Ngung-Huong0 

Just wondering if the new Airbnb cross-currency fee explains the different rates? Went into effect Apr 2024?

Cross Currency Fee

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1857

[Rebecca]

Hello @Ngung-Huong0, 

Thank you for coming back to us with a bit more detail about what you've noticed! Did you get a chance to ask customer support about this too? They would be able to look more closely at what happened with each of these bookings. 

I am also tagging @Joelle43 here for you, so she will receive a notification of your message and can hopefully come back to share more insights!

Quick tip: To tag someone, tap "@" and select the host's username from the dropdown menu 😊

[Joelle43]

Hello @Rebecca 

I was just writing back to @Ngung-Huong0 when I saw your message pop up! There definitely seems to be a mistake of some sort and also suggested addressing this issue with CS.

Warm regards
Joëlle

[Rebecca]

Great minds think alike! Thank you @Joelle43 for your help, as always 😊