What is the percentage of the guest service fee? What is the percentage of the host service fee?

[Sandy33]

What is the percentage (or $ amount) of the guest service fee?  What is the percentage (or $ amount) of the host service fee? Are these service fees a percentage of the monthly rate set by the host?  

I charge $1650 per month plus a $120 cleaning fee for the entire stay.  I am renting a fully furnished 1200 s.f., 1-bedroom, 1-bath apartment with a dedicated laundry room for the apartment only, an office with a wireless inkjet printer/scanner/copier (paper and ink supplied) and office furniture and a furnished, covered brick terrace overlooking a ravine -- all of this in a close-in location in Atlanta, GA.  

A potential guest (referred by a previous guest which is why she has my contact information) just wrote me and told me that Airbnb is quoting her $1903 per month for a stay of May 14 -- July 30. That is way out of line!  Her friend (the one who referred her to me) was here last summer for the same amount of time and she paid $1737 per month. As I was looking up these transactions I noticed that a guest who was here last summer for a month and a day paid $1829.  Meanwhile, my current guest who arrived February 1 and will be here through March 31 is paying $1690 per month.  None of this makes any sense.

I do not allow my rates to float (as Airbnb wants me to do).  My rates are always the same.  I rent exclusively through Airbnb, to business travellers who will be here for 30 days or more.  Looking at this wide variance I may have to re-think my loyalty to Airbnb.  But what do a tell the potential guest who is being way overcharged, I think -- and as a result may not stay with me?

Sandy

[Christy46]

I just spoke with someone at Airbnb about the guest service fee. It was over 12% for an $850 booking. I had no idea they were charging so much. The person on the phone was not able to explain what aspects are used to calculate the fee, except that it had to do with the total. As I asked more questions, she hung up on me. I kid you not. Does VRBO charge the guest 12%? I don't think so.  I just booked a place on VRBO and I only paid 4%.

[David1361]

@Christy46 (thanks @David126 for modeling good netiquette)
My search of VRBO resulted in 11.7% service fee estimate for the same stay via AirBnB (which charged 12.72%). The *difference*, IMO, is that the "Service Fee" is very clearly labeled on the first page of VRBO! Beatiful -- you know what VRBO is charging. End of story. (OTOH, neither site lists taxes in a clear way. Maybe VRBO does not collect the taxes directly, instead responsibility of the Host?)

[David126]

@David1361

This forum layout is a bit weird. Nothing like the normal ones.

https://airhostsforum.com/t/is-anyone-else-completely-disgusted-with-homeaways-latest-announcement/4...

An interesting current thread about Homeaways's charges.

I have issues with the way AirBnb operates but the fees if anything seem lower than their competitors, none of them of course operate quite the same. I have friends who use all the usual suspects, Booking.com seems the most expensive from what they were saying.

Booking.com did contact me to list with them but have yet to follow up.

[David1361]

@David126By the way, thanks for engaging me with your inquiries, as this motivated me to meet with (deeply bureaucratic) HR to discover the place where Service Fees are itemized (and thus reimbursed). Appreciated!

[David1361]

@David126 Great thread about Home Away's charges. Thanks 🙂

[Fred13]

Interesting. I have no clue what Airbnb ends up actually charging my guests and have no clue how to find out. I never discuss money with my guests, so the subject of who pays what or makes what never has a chance to come up.

  Personally, I always looked at the issue twofold: #1 - it is none of my business what Airbnb charges (6%-12%?) since I worry about what *I* earn not what Airbnb makes; #2 - I always assumed that the guest would not book in the first place if they found the cost from the outset prohibitive. I quite don't get what it is or can be 'sneaky' about it, since the cost of the booking surely is all up front and the guest then either books or doesn't.

 Having said that, I got the strangest ~JPEG~ from a potential guest that showed me a page that ~looked~ like it came from Airbnb and the price was exactly 2x what we charge and Airbnb shows as our base price. I just dismissed it as some crazy attempt by a sub-agency attaching their cut on top of it. I responded that it made no sense and then the interested party booked through Airbnb as I suggested to make sure to book via the Airbnb website only and I suppose they are happy.

[David1361]

@Fred13 
Being a highly conscientious person, I typically catch fees (or exceptions, etc.) that are added at the very end of a transaction, but this one snuck by me (apparently). I still have not seen a screenshot of my checkout page, but I trust Claudia (customer service rep) that I must have overlooked the item just before checkout. I suppose those working in the Room/House Booking website industry would be expecting Service Fees on top of the Rental Prices, but what other industries itemize something so generic (as to be meaningless), such as "Service Fee", *in addition to the Prices that are advertised*? All operating fees are typically built into pricing, no?

[Fred13]

I get your meaning, unfortunately not all charges are always build in, specially when one considers that the booking charges in all these bookings agencies are listed separately, though granted oftentimes via VERY 'fine print' . As the saying goes, make sure to read  the infamous fine print! If I undertand you correctly, nothing was added at the end, which would be absurd, just snuck by you because it was presented in a very 'tricky' way, an unexpected way.

I really do dig your point; I charge ONE price with ALL included and I am personally a fan of never, ever 'nickel and dime' guests about ~anything~. I follow this philosophy because it is a ~clean~ way to do business, most people just love that, including myself. All my competitors pull unexpected, extra-charge silly stunts,yet are forever dismayed why I am booked forever and they are not. 😉

[David126]

@Fred13

I assume they do it that way as in the US the price you list is very rarely the price you pay, Gas and Beer seem to be the exceptions. I would also like to see the gross price.

[Fred13]

Aye David. I am from the US, and always did it the same way there also. Always pleasantly surprise them. 😉

[David1361]

@Fred13 I am glad to read your understanding response. This has been a rapid education, and I now realize that I have been rushing my judgments of AirBnB due to ignorance; so I will pause & read the fine print & come up to speed.

Lastly, I fully agree with your statements about what I consider to be a window into your "ethics", and am happy to support such ~clean~ business mentality. Bravo! (and thank you). 

[David126]

I for one am interested in cheaper options, if anybody has any suggestions please post.

[Jerry26]

I was shocked when, as a guest rather than a host, how much the cost was above the advertised fee.  I feel a list of total fees should be available on the site even before guests plan to book.  I felt out of control once I decided on a place and a price and wham.  More money...

[David1361]

@Jerry26 
It's interesting that such (tech) culture *shocks* happen in our own homes/cities!
Many (most?) of these rushed-to-market companies (backed by billion$ of investment) cut corners, close eyes to mis-information or exaggeration, and apparently hope that the hype outlasts the seemingly unethical (or unoriginal) business practices. Nevertheless, as I am singed (small burn) by one of these emerging businesses at a time, I realize that each lesson is fairly cheap (our last stay for 5 nights cost me + host = $50 to AirBnB, which used to be known as a "Finders Fee" (now called Service Fee) & includes a Transaction Fee to host; further, one could try to remember when dealing with these sloppy companies:
1) to read the fine print and look everywhere for hidden fees (ignore the hype!),
2) contact a customer rep, and over the phone, itemize the costs (like an invoice),
3) lastly, after accepting the those costs for the service, then accept the charge to the card.

Overall we (guest+host) realized a 15% fee ($50 paid to foster a $330 exchange of value), assuming the host pays no membership fees. (I dunno ... didn't read ALL the fine print).

[David126]

15% seems on the Industry low end, one of the reasons I first listed as there was no annual just per transaction.