Service fee charges

[Hellen8]

This service fee business is doing my head in.  I read the information supplied and it doesn't really help me understand what's going on. 

So I went into my listing pressed preview listing and put some fake dates in.  The service fee read  $36.89 for 2 nights.  This got me curious so I went into search as a guest and clicked on my own listing, did the same dates and it read $63.86 for the service fee.  Well that really disturbed me.   I then looked at other listings in my area that were similar to my listing, put the same dates in and the service fee was nearly half that

I contacted airbnb and asked them to explain and they said it was a sliding fee, what ever that means.  But the upshot was, he couldn't explain.  

Can anyone shed light on this for me please.  It's very confusing indeed

[Lawrene0]

Hi, @Hellen8 . I just went to your listing and a two-night stay has a $30 CAD (approx $33 AUD) service fee showing. 

Still confusing that you are seeing the higher rate, but hopefully whatever was causing it is gone?

When you did your as-a-guest search, were you still in Australian dollars? It's all can think of, other than that sliding (super slidy!) scale...

[Sarah977]

@Hellen8  I just had a similar experience, altho I wasn't looking at the service fes, just checking if my listing was appearing. When I found it, it had a nightly rate of about 15 times what I charge. I freaked, then realized that because I was searching incognito, it was picking up my IP address here in Mexico, rather than the price in Can.dollars I see when previewing my listing, so the price was showing in Mexican pesos.As Lawrene said, make sure to check the currency.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Hellen8 

as far as I know Airbnb guest fee is around 15% of your nightly fee. Guests don't pay service fee on top of your cleaning fee.

€74 x 2 nights = €148

Cleaning fee =€12

Service fee=€21  (148 x 15%=22,2)

Host service fee is around 3%

the currency conversion fee is around 2%

So in total, Airbnb collects around 20% from every booking

[Hellen8]

Hey Branka and Silvia,  Yep that's about right, but as I said when adding more days the fee increases?  Have a check on yours, first putting 2 days then add a couple more days and see the fee jump.

Thanks for the calculations.

Cheers

[Sarah977]

@Hellen8  If you add more days, of course the amount of the service fee will be higher- it's a percentage of the total. Are you saying the service fee percentage changes when you add more days, or the service fee amount? 

[Hellen8]

Yes, the service fee gets higher (on my listing anyway) when I increase the days.  As well as, there is a cleaning fee.  

Something real weird going on since I have been talking about this.  I now can't get into my normal preview of my listing.  It's showing a totally different look that doesn't show the dates and costing.  Just a base rate??  I thought it was doing my head in before.... should have kept my mouth shut

[Hellen8]

[Tee206]

@Hellen8thanks so much for this explanation , i am a newbie on airbnb , i learn so much every day from all conversations , about guests , cancellation, hosts experiences   ect...

[Anna1607]

@Hellen8  Unfortunately, the cleaning fee is included on what guests pay service charges/fees on. From Airbnb:

''This fee is typically under 13% of the booking subtotal (the nightly rate plus cleaning fee and additional guest fee, if applicable, but excluding Airbnb fees and taxes). The fee varies based on a variety of booking factors and is displayed to guests during checkout before they book a reservation.''

I have a rant about this below 🙂 

[Hellen8]

Hey Lawrene,  Yes, very slidy indeed.  So yes it was AUD however I went in a few moments again to double check and the service fee was lower.  I played around with it a little and could see the more days I put in the higher the service fee, the less days the less service fee.  Go figure??  It's a little rich I think.  I would have thought if someone stays longer it should be a bonus.  But no, they get charged more by airbnb as the days mount up. I can't see it does anyone any favours.  Except airbnb.   

Thanks for your input

Cheers

[Lawrene0]

Oh, I see. No, @Hellen8 , as the others have said, it is not a flat rate. The more days you put in, the higher it goes. It is a percentage of the total. So all is well. 

The only way you can create a "bonus" for someone staying longer is to charge a cleaning fee. That is a one-time fee, and rewards longer stays. 

I don't do it myself, but it is a strategy that works for many hosts. 

[Hellen8]

Yes, I understand the more days will total up to be more, but why would the actual rate change?  On top of the cleaning fee?  Surely the rate should stay the same?

[Sarah977]

@Hellen8  You mean your nightly rate or the service fee percentage?

[Hellen8]

The service fee.  All good now.  Thanks so much all who offered understanding.  I understand how it works now.  I guess I felt the system a little wrong considering guests who stay longer are a bonus for us.  But yes there are definitely ways I can show appreciation through the different suggestions & or personally on their stay.

It's a great advantage having the community to talk to.

All the best to you all from me.  Happy festive season