October 27 Simplified Pricing Change

[Jenn24]

Hi there - 

The upcoming change to the simplified pricing model has me very stressed out. My concern is that now having the burden of the service fee baked into our rent rates, our already slim margins will continue to erode. Can anyone out there who was an early adopter of simplified pricing (either forced or voluntarily) please share the experience, particularly as it pertains to bottom line impacts?  Thanks so much in advance.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jenn24 If you do the sums then there is almost no difference (less than 1%) between the two pricing models. As such your margins will not change.

[Jenn24]

Hi @Mike-And-Jane0 Thanks for your response. I think as long as the total amount of a stay is shown to a prospective Guest when searching, it would have less of an impact. But if that presentation changes, and is shown again on a nightly rate basis, then prospective Guests may choose the lower nightly rate (even though ultimately both stays would be roughly the same). 

[Joelle43]

Hello @Jenn24 

Just to be clear Jenn - are you currently with the split fee model?  If so, this is unchanged but there is some confusion on this issue as some hosts think that we are all having to go over to Airbnb's simplified pricing.  This is true only for those that use a Channel manager.

[Jenn24]

Hi @Joelle43  thanks for your response. Yes, I am currently split model and I use a channel manager, mainly just for automated messaging and turn clean mgmt because we do the bulk of our bookings with airbnb. But I considering not using one any more to stay split model. That's why I am trying to determine how changing to simplified has affected others.

[Jason114]

It's understandable to feel concerned, but the change usually results in only a relative adjustment in pricing. And the increase in fee is fairly marginal. You can simply increase your nightly rate to match your previous payout, so your bottom line remains roughly the same. This update mainly affects hosts using a PMS (Property Management System), since Airbnb is aligning fee structures across those integrations. Once you adjust your prices accordingly, your guests will still see a fair total, and your earnings shouldn't change much at all.