Option to "Choose how to include the Airbnb service fee in your price"

[Alexander65]

Any pros and cons of using one or the other option? I like the idea of the first option especially since it reduces the overall fee (host 3% and guest 16%) but the issue is that my price won't be competitive in the search results compared to hosts who select the second option where the fees are added at the end. Effectively the listing would be penalised in search results for looking more expensive.

[Alexander65]

@Nathalie-Et-Gilles0This is a very valid point which is definately worth being highlighted and emphasised which I had not at all thought of.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Nathalie-Et-Gilles0 Your point raises another point. In the UK the tax paid will be the same as the service fees are an expense that can be offset against tax. BUT if you are lucky enough to be earning an amount close to the amount by which you have to register for VAT the higher gross earnings could tip you over this limit and so you would have to add 20% to your prices to get the same net income. Would this be an issue in France?

Thankfully unless the VAT limit is reduced we are well away from this with our listings.

[Mary419]

Since "super strict" is being phased out and/or not offered to new hosts (it was available to me at one time but went along with their advanced payouts option for pros... i.e. sending payments before check in like VRBO does.... all of which I believe is being rolled back to extinction) , I am wondering if you are Strict policy how it works. So can you show us what the setup would be for a cancelation more than a week out? 

[Alexander65]

@Mary419  could you clarify your question as I'm not entirely sure what you would like to know exactly?

[Mary419]

On Strict normally if a guest cancels Airbnb keeps their service fee and I get half the rent (unless of course they get an EC refund which is the majority of the time). So I want to know, in this setup would Airbnb get the service fee in a cancelation by deducting it from my half of the rent? If you don't get many cancelations (lucky you) then maybe you have not seen enough scenarios to answer. Just curious. 

[Alexander65]

@Mary419I can't say at the moment because I put my property out to pasture in May last year when the C19 sh*t hit the fan and have been renting it out on 6 month leases a fully furnished but will be starting up coming April.

On a side note I thought Airbnb were no longer accepting extenuating circumstances cancellations based on C19 anymore when there is a strict cancellation policy?

[Nathalie-Et-Gilles0]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

There is a similar issue here.

Above a amount you are automatically considered as a professional by the tax administration and you must pay all the taxes paid by companies including VAT.

In any case professional and non professional hosts must declare the gross income which is higher with 16% fees than 3% fees.

I guess this point is mathematically the same everywhere.

It would be neutral in choosing to send an actual accounting to the tax administration.

This method is interesting when you buy or do serious home improvements because debits can exceed credits.
But it is a temporary solution because you won't rebuilt your home every year 🙂

But if you are a professional, you must declare with a balance sheet.

[Mary419]

@Alexander65 sure the blanket EC  for Covid is over (just nervous is all they needed to be) but regular EC covers literally everything. All they have to do is say they are sick. Just had that happen a week ago with a guy who said he was feeling sick and did not want to spread anything. He had been holding his weekend for about six weeks and canceled 2 days before arrival. I got a notice from an agent with the boiler plate EC terms and a handy dandy link for me to revisit their rights to take the $ back, and notice that I was getting the usual zero. 

[Alexander65]

@Mary419that's pretty bad... but doesn't surprise me... what irritates me is that ABB is probably not even asking for any form of justification from guests meanwhile won't share any justfiication with hosts on the basis of privacy. Do ABB keep their fee nevertheless if the guest cancels based on this reason?

[Mary419]

There is something about that pinned to the top of the community center, I think they are saying that they do refund their fees if EC refund is given.

I was told once by a higher level employee that they "almost never" refund service fees in a cancelation. Ironically she told me that when I was explaining why I need Strict policy and could never try moderate or flexible... I told her I need the guest to have skin in the game so they don't hold my properties until the last minute without penalty. She told me oh the guest does have skin in the game... they almost never get service fee refunded. I told her I meant THE HOME OWNER needs some money, I said great for Airbnb that they get to keep money from all those cancelations but not what I meant. That was days before the Covid circus began. I know they refunded service fees too in the 2 weeks March 15-30 time period. I think it has become a hybrid of answers since then. Who knows what the protocol is. They might give the guest a one time use credit coupon thing. I think the answer is not consistent.