Host-only Fee Structure

[Twenty-Nine-Nights0]

In January 2025 Airbnb changed my fee structure to mandate that all 8 of my listings were adjusted to host-only.

This means that I went from paying 5% in host service fees to 'typically between 14-16%' [see host-only service fees https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1857].

Airbnb states that "This fee is mandatory for traditional hospitality listings–such as hotels, serviced apartments, etc., as well as software-connected hosts (unless most of their listings are in the USA, Canada, the Bahamas, Mexico, Argentina, Taiwan, or Uruguay)."

ALL of my listings are in the US, so I should therefore be exempt.

I noticed this in early February and have been going back and forth with Airbnb customer support for over a month with zero success.

All I keep hearing from the 'managers' I speak with is that they're waiting to hear back from the engineering department on when this technical glitch will be 'fixed' for my 8 listings, and that they don't have information on when or how much I'll be refunded for the 168 reservations I've hosted between 1/1/25 - 3/25/25 until the engineering department fixes it.

The 'managers' tell me there's no way to put in my touch with their supervisors or ANYONE above them.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Elaine701]

@Twenty-Nine-Nights0 

I can't explain why your account was changed in that way, but I understand that if you're a professional property management firm, then it's mandatory to be on the "simplified" commission plan. Maybe that's why they've changed it?

I'm a sole proprietor not a property manager, but I eagerly changed to the simplified commission plan, because it's actually slightly less expensive and just easier to account for.

I know Airbnb commissions vary slightly in different jurisdictions, but on the "standard" plan, I was being charged 3% and the guest was being charged 15%. So if the nightly price to the guest is say,  100 (currency of your choice) then 18 of that is being paid in commission.

With the "simplified" plan, the host pays 15%, and the guest pays nothing (at least in my patch. It may be different in your patch).

So I simply raised my prices 18%, so the guest doesn't see any difference, but I gain an extra 3%. And, it's more consistent with other platforms, so it's easier to maintain consistent end-user  pricing across platforms.