Additional fees that must be paid listed in house rules — is this allowed?

Manvir1
Level 1
Cambridge, MA

Additional fees that must be paid listed in house rules — is this allowed?

Hello, I booked a stay here: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/34904090?source_impression_id=p3_1645731188_ZrV7eDdTvYOSqyuY

 

After I booked, I was told that I would have to pay 45 additional Euros. This was to cover bed linens, towels, cleaning products (dishwashing liquid, garbage bags, toilet paper), basic groceries (tea, coffee, sugar, oil, vinegar, salt, pepper), and cleaning for COVID. I looked back at the post and realized that these are listed under house rules, where it says in French:

 

Forfait 45€ à régler sur place lors de votre arrivée incluant : Epicerie première nécessité : thé, café, sucre, huile, vinaigre, sel, poivre. Produits d'entretien : liquide vaisselle, sacs poubelle, papier toilettes... Linge de lit et de toilette. Ménage après le départ des voyageurs, blanchisserie et désinfection des draps literie et linge de toilette et désinfection des locaux en raison du protocole « Covid-19 ». Le logement doit être libéré à 11 heures.

 

which translates as:

 

Package 45€ to be paid on site upon your arrival including: Grocery essentials: tea, coffee, sugar, oil, vinegar, salt, pepper. Cleaning products: dishwashing liquid, garbage bags, toilet paper... Bed linen and towels. Cleaning after the departure of travelers, laundry and disinfection of sheets, bedding and towels and disinfection of premises due to the “Covid-19” protocol. The accommodation must be vacated at 11 a.m.

 

I'm wondering if this is permitted under AirBnB's rules.

10 Replies 10
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Manvir1  Hosts can list additional fees for whatever they wish. It is the guest's responsibility to thoroughly read all of the listing information provided, including the house rules before deciding to book.  

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Manvir1 

 

IMO this is not correct. For cleaning host can charge a cleaning fee (It is not in the this listing), there is also an additional option to charge for bedlinen. If amenities are offered in a listing (under "amenities"), there should not be an additional charge for it, at least it must be mentioned in the listing clearly. Also payments in cash are discouraged by Airbnb.

 

IMHO this hosts violates several Airbnb rules, especially when it comes to charging in cash for essential amenities and cleaning.

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Manvir1 All payments are also supposed to go through Airbnb.

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Manvir1 @Mike-And-Jane0 @Emiel1  

Looking at the listing, I suspect these hosts are just not aware that they haven't listed the extra charge properly and that they aren't really allowed to ask for cash on arrival (although there are tons of property-managed listings that ask for cash on arrival and seem to get away with it) .

 

Rather than them purposely trying to hide something or act against policy.  They have good reviews and as I guess no guest has complained about this before, they haven't realized that it would be an issue.

 

What I am getting at is that I would refrain from reporting this to Airbnb, as it seems innocent and if I were a guest, simply message them pointing out that this is against policy and that I would want to pay the extra fee through Airbnb, rather than in cash. 

 

As I read what the charge is for, as it covers many things, I guess they just decided not to list it as a separate cleaning fee, laundry fee, supply fee, etc, so as to keep it simple. Which they may indeed need to change, but I think they are simply unclear on how to list and charge these fees, as opposed to them trying to get away with something or contravene policy.

Elaine701
Level 10
Balearic Islands, Spain

We charge 15€ per night for energy in winter, and collect it separately.

 

If we included it in the price, it would be 15% more expensive as Airbnb would add their commission. Plus, it's taxed as income. 

 

I need not argue that keeping 300 cubic meters of air at 23°c when it's 5° outside is quite expensive. We've been doing this for 4 years now, nobody complained.

 

But as of this year, we've had so many misunderstandings about it by those who don't read the description, that we've decided to just raise the price by another 25€ per night to cover the cost of gas, Airbnb commission and income taxes, and include heating in the price.

 

Still fully booked. 

@Elaine701 Surely income tax doesn't come into it. Are energy costs not tax deductible in Spain?

All rents collected are reported as income.

 

Deductions are dependent on a number of factors; other deductions, total deductions, history of deductions. You can't, for example, deduct more than your total tax bill, nor deduct more than 80% for more than 2 quarters in a row. 

 

The tax burden is usually small, but Airbnb is now getting their commission on top as well.

 

That seems to be the choice of guests. They (suddenly) don't like paying extra "after the fact". So now they pay that extra + 30%... included in the price. Everybody happy. 

Colleen253
Level 10
Alberta, Canada

@Colleen253  Yes, my reading of that is that nowhere does it say that it is verbotten to collect cash for something on arrival, but that it has to be clearly mentioned in the listing information.

Annie1372
Level 10
Montreal, Canada

@Manvir1 

 

Did you paid at the end ?


how did you resolved that situation with the host at the end ??

.
Annie