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

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Sandy33
Level 3
Brookhaven, GA

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

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

Top Answer
Jd23
Level 2
Las Vegas, NV

I really don't understand what's so hard to understand.

 

Say you're a farmer selling eggs. I'm an egg broker. You tell me what cost you want for your eggs. You apply whatever value you think is fair.

 

I then buy your eggs at your price, go out and build a market that didn't exist for your eggs prior, add 18%, 20%, or even 30% markup, find customers who are willing to pay that cost consistently -- creating sustainable revenue streams for us both -- and you cry foul, suddenly feeling like you deserve more of the cut??? Who's the real greedy one here hmmmm. 

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125 Replies 125
Rosanna51
Level 4
Queensland, Australia

“is calculated using a variety of factors—these include the reservation subtotal, the length of the stay, and characteristics of the listing. In general, the service fee gets lower as the reservation cost gets higher.”

What characteristics of the listing?

Rita311
Level 2
Atlanta, GA

I am seeing 13% service fees added to my listing - just as a data point in fact:

airbnb13percent.JPG

Erin439
Level 1
North Vancouver, Canada

my account was hacked and i lost my reservation. upon having it reinstated, i rebooked the exact same place for the exact same dates and this time around my service fees are higher. the house plus cleaning and occupancy fees comes to $1285. first time i was charged $153 for service fees and then the second time $167. not a huge difference but still. and i have no clue why. the only difference was that the first time i booked, i had entered 5 guests into the search field; the second time i was just rebooking and only had in myself as the guest. not sure why that would make a difference in service fees tho.

Jess78
Level 10
Eugene, OR

It REALLY leaves a bad taste in my mouth that the service fees are not more transparent. Giving a range and saying it depends on circumstances is pretty sketchy. “we’ll charge you whatever we feel like and  you’ll never be the wiser.” I’d be much more comfortable with either a flat fee per reservation or a universally applied tiered system.  More reasons to leave the platform!

Molly297
Level 1
Bethesda, MD

i am currently experiencing this as a guest. can't get a simple line-item bill from airbnb to figure out exactly how much fees they are charging on top of the booking subtotal or rate per night. my host is telling me the rate per night they want to charge, airbnb just gives a lump sum amount in a confusing sentence structure within a text message. why not just send a bill with fees clearly delineated. oh wait, cuz then i would  do the math and see the fees are 27% !!!!! previous to this ridiculous text exchange with ABB, i was just sucking up the fees as a disappointing loss. now with this stupid way of them communicating very unprofessionally, about large sums of money, i am just over the top disgusted. was going to book 2 maybe 3 months. now only 1, and never again. 

Mike-And-Jane0
Top Contributor
England, United Kingdom

When I try and book a place I only have to click on 'show price details' to see a breakdown of fees taxes etc. Is this not visible all guests?