Let's talk about the new "Price includes all fees"

[Ralda95]

I am a Super Host with 92 straight 5 * reviews and have been hosting for over 3 years.  My house is listed as a Guest Favorite.

My bookings have dropped to nothing with the new pricing.  I charge $340 per night and with the "all fees included" the nightly price is listed at $497 for 2 nights. Yikes!  

The "Price Details" simply list $497 .... These are NOT "Details" There is NO breakdown of the Host Nightly Rate, Airbnb Fees and Cleaning. The cleaning at $200 really hikes up the rate for the 2 nights.    Three or five nights would obviously be a cheaper nightly price because the cleaning would be spread for the stay.. but who is going to check that if they don't know the actual price breakdown!!!!  A potential guest would think it was $497 for three or five nights!!!

While I understand that there is pressure from the Federal Trade Commission to include all costs, I think a breakdown of the costs- Host Nightly Fee, Airbnb Fees and Cleaning- would go a very long way and is essential!!   AND the cost breakdown has to be done while a potential guest is browsing!

[Elaine701]

@Ralda95 

The guest is searching for a specific number of nights and persons. The price given should be the total for that booking. 

The guest pays that amount whether it's fully presented at first or not. Many guests (particularly the better quality ones) will view these "hidden costs" as insincere profiteering. It's much better that they see the full price in the first view. 

And frankly, if you're competing mainly on the basis of price, then you may be attracting a less desirable guest profile. The cheapest is always the most attractive to the less desirable guests. 

But I don't do extras. No cleaning fee, no electricity charges, no lists of house extras with a price on each. I just build it all into the price and have a minimum stay requirement. It works for me. 

But also, it's the law here. Full price with every extra, taxes and so on must be shown up front. That's how it is. And it's fair. 

I for one, am delighted that it's all shown up front. And so are my guests. 

Good luck and happy hosting. 

[Greystone0]

Hi @Ralda95 ,

I agree! The issue is that the AIRBNB fee and cleaning fee is now wrapped up in the nightly rate displayed to a guest. This is extremely deceiving.  I am all for providing a transparent cost structure! But this is not that.

Our guests are logical and can recognize the value associated with the booking process but when it is all lumped together it is impossible to recognize the value. In our case the AIRBNB fee is usually over $500 for a reservation, and often above $1000, and so it is significant for a guest. Wrapping it up in our nightly rate skews the value of what we as hosts are offering. There is just no way that the value is there. We can't absorb that cost. We offer a lot as a rental, have enjoyed excellent guests, we do not have issues with  'less desire-able' guests as mentioned.

Our guests recognize value and when the cost structure is segmented to show the AIRBNB fee, a reasonable cleaning fee and a nightly rate, guests can judge for themselves where the value is. In our case, we end up with a full calendar and guests that we are happy to host in our home. 

This update renders AIRBNB a non-viable resources for reservations for us as the nightly rate is just so skewed in terms of value. 

[Elaine701]

When I search for a place to stay, if I'm given a price of 250 and then when I go to book it, it's suddenly 550... Then naturally I assume something is off... and move on. 

The same thing for flights. 59€! Great. But when you book it... It's 259€. 

Sigh 

[Greystone0]

Hi @Elaine701 ,

yes to offering a total that has ALL the fees added in! Of course there should be no hidden fees!That is not the complaint here. What is missing is the underlying info that creates this total. And no, the total price should not 'suddenly be something different'.  That is not the argument - to display a total or to not display a total. Yes, display the total!

The issue is that if you click on the "more info" you no longer see what is going into the nightly rate total. Every single reservation has an AIRBNB fee that is based on a percent of the host fees. Once upon a time this was a separate line item and guests understand that this is going to AIRBNB, not to a host. Now, it is all a nightly rate. This is deceiving.  It implies it is a rate designed by the host and it is not.

In our case we also have a cleaning fee - our cleaning fee is totally in line with our area and is a value in light of the size of the home (6,000 sq ft, 9 beds, 4.5 bathrooms, 5 outdoor spaces to clean and so on).  By allowing the guest to review this as separate line item they can determine for themselves if it is a value that makes sense.  Without this info it becomes hard to understand where the value is.

I am not suggesting that the total not be made available. That is simple math. The missing element is what that total is made up of (nightly rate + cleaning fee + AIRBNB commission fee).  Show the total! AND show what makes up the total! Guests can and do easily decide if they believe in the fairness and value of the nightly rate, the value (or not) of a cleaning fee as well as the value or fairness of the AIRBNB fee.  Don't hide any of it. Display all of it. With out this data, the underlying value of everything is  muddied and nothing looks appealing.

[Joelle43]

Hello @Greystone0 

I seem to remember that there was a recent discussion on how the total price is now displayed for the US.  Initially there was some confusion between European hosts and NZ hosts I think it was,  because we have had total costs showing up for guests for a while now but that's not what you're disputing.  It's HOW it's displayed to the guest - all the fees rolled into one big total and no longer itemised with the cleaning fee showing on one line or the Airbnb commission being shown on another line like it is for me as a European host.

 It was only when a host showed a screen shot that we understood that Airbnb were using a different strategy for US hosts and the guest needed to click a second time to get the breakdown - far from obvious and not in keeping I think with Airbnb's wish for transparency for guests because most guests won't look further than that one click.  

So there is a perfectly fine fee structure being used for some countries so why can't it be used for the US??  

[Elaine701]

@Greystone0 

I'm not sure why the guest would care all that much. They still either agree and pay the price or not.

By the way, I don't use the old split fee  3% host, 15% guest system. I was delighted when Airbnb finally offered the "simplified" commission system of 15% host and 0% guest. Aside from working like any other platform, This is just another one of the confusing things that it eliminated.

I want this.

Ok, the price is €x

Agree | Disagree 

Choose one.