Guest feels paying too much but it is not what host can control!!

[Helen-And-Mario0]

Recently I have received numerous guests asking to negotiate the rate. When I look their total cost, it really surprises me of how much more they are paying on top of what we actually received, two inquiries I received yesterday: one booking is that as a host I will receive $450 for a week long stay, but on guest side, their total is $620!! Another case $275 on host side, guest is paying $380!! In some reviews, guests commenting that the "value" is not good, but the thing is guests counting everything including airbnb fees and taxes together!! In numerous occasions, I told guests that the actual payment host will receive, but additional service charge and taxes are applied everywhere no matter where they book on the platform. I am afraid Airbnb's fee is too high to scare away both hosts and guests....

[Helen-And-Mario0]

And I know, many of you will probably say that you prefer not to deal with guests who negotiate, because the price is out there for them to compare in the first place, guest should look for pricing within their budget instead of going the higher one and asking to lower the price...But those inquires still come and it stirred the mood and I started to self-doubting the pricing strategy. BTW, i am using smart pricing so my rate is always the lowest already, cant' cut more from my side.

[Helen3]

I wouldn't use Smart Pricing, or rather use it, but set a minimum that you will be happy with for weekends, week days, special events etc @Helen-And-Mario0 Look at what comparable listings in your area are charging.

Yes Airbnb charge commission but it seems far lower than other listing companies and represents great value for hosts in terms of their marketing fire-power.

I don't have many guests ask to negotiate the rate. If they do I let them know my listing already represents amazing value for what they get. I always suggest they use the function on Airbnb that enables them to set their budget and then they will only see available listings that come within their budget when they search.

[Lisa723]

@Helen-And-Mario0  @Helen3  When you think about "smart" pricing it is evident that Airbnb has a conflict of interest. They can lower your rate, raise their own service fees, and still charge guests the same. I think it is a host rip-off and do not use it. If you want automatic pricing consider third-party tools whose incentive is directly tied to your revenue. I've had great results with usewheelhouse.com.

Regarding the root issue of Airbnb's service fees, well, they charge them because they can, and they are careful to obfuscate them by making it hard for hosts to see what guests actually pay and for guests to see what hosts actually receive. There is not much for a host to do about that except to diversify, listing on other platforms and/or their own direct booking site.

[Helen3]

I do use smart pricing but set a minimum I am happy with and would have set anyway @Lisa723 - if it increases it's a bonus. I never lose out.

I think the host fee is very clear but the guest fee does vary. When I did a comparison with other relevant listing sites. Airbnb was by quite a long way the cheapest combined host and guest fee.

As you say @Lisa723  if hosts aren't happy/don't get enough bookings they can diversify and use other platforms. And yes you can do direct bookings but you would never be able to compete with the huge global brand awareness generated by Airbnb.

[Susan17]

[Helen3]

Thanks for sharing these @Susan17 but I am a little confused by this table. I wonder how they estimate  13% as the Airbnb fee.

As we all know Airbnb varies in terms of the guest fee it takes. My guests don't normally get charged 13% more around 7 - 11% with Airbnb.

[Susan17]

That's very interesting, @Helen0. It's been a long time since I've heard of any host saying their guests are only being charged 7 - 11%. Airbnb itself says that guests are now being charged up to 20%, and I believe the creators of the charts above used a mid-range percentage as a conservative estimate (which of course, they had to do, on account of Airbnb's secrecy and complete lack of transparency around who pays what, exactly) 

Perhaps the service fees on private rooms are lower? (Which would be odd in itself, given that one would expect that the higher the payment, the lower the service charges) 

[Susan17]

[Sarah977]

@Helen-And-Mario0  When guests complain abut this, I think the best route is to commiserate with them. "Yes, I know, the booking fee can really make the price jump. Unfortunately hosts have no control over the service fees Airbnb charges, they don't even let us know how they calculate the percentage they charge. If you feel the fees are too high, I'd suggest you contact Airbnb to make that known to them. They tend to listen to guest complaints more than hosts'."