Unexpected service fee with a special offer

[Bethany4]

I was sending a special offer to a guest and the Airbnb site gave me the net number that I would expect to receive from the gross...... but when the reervation came through Airbnb had deducted $35 that was not declared. In other words they are deducting an additional $35 from the amount they claimed we would receive. This seems to be unfair or a glitch in the process. Does anyone understand how this works? I would like to think that we are able to know ahead of time exactly how much money we are going to receive, and specifically that Airbnb would keep their word about what we are getting?

[Linda108]

Hello @Bethany4  You are an experienced host so I would imagine you are well informed about Air BNB processes and procedures.  If you believe there is a glitch in the system you are probably correct.  If you haven't had to contact Air BNB for a while, you may find that the best way to start an issue is using the Air BNB Twitter account.  Good luck and keep the rest of us posted.

[Evy-and-Lars0]

I just experienced the same. I need to send a special offer with 10% discount to a guest. Airbnb adds a large fee when  i quote the offer. Either the guest have to pay more than normal or I'll get much less than the standard price minus 10%. Airbnb - what is this all about?

[Jennifer672]

I just had the same thing happen to me. A guest wanted to book for one night instead of my usual 2-night minimum. I was going to send her a special offer, but noticed that Airbnb wants to charge a 9% service fee instead of the usual 3% fee. This really makes it financially infeasable to make a 1-night special offer because the room rate would have to be much higher than usual to cover the cost of Airbnb's excessive service fee. I'm not liking this at all.

[Matthew285]

@Jennifer672 I am not sure about exactly why that happens, but some people have said that the Airbnb fee is being based on what the *original* price would be (as if you didn't make a special offer).

For example, if your regular rate was $100 / night and you sent a special offer of $75/night, maybe the Airbnb fee is being based on the $100/night rate?

I am just guessing.

[Riki2]

My experience: before I made the customer the special offer - the fee was $70. When I reduced the price for the guest - now they are charging over $200 for the airbnb fee. Something is wrong!!! So I'm losing more money and the customer is too but I was trying to discount since she is staying a long time. This can't be right! -Riki

[Jennifer672]

Actually, I was going to send her a special offer at a slightly higher rate than my original price because she wanted to book only one night instead of my usual 2-night minimum. I charge more for 1 night stays (when I accept them) because I factor the cost of turning the room around based on a minimum 2 night stay. In this scenario, 2 nights would have been $124 with a $4 service fee (3%). For one night, I told her the charge would be $75. However, when I was typing up the special offer, Airbnb wanted to charge an $11 service fee, which means I would only net $64. This totally negates the upcharge I would need to offset my turn-around cost.

[Matthew285]

@Jennifer672 hm. I guess that my guess is not the answer.

Have you had a chance to ask Airbnb customer service why the fee is not as you expect?

Also: is the $11 service fee on the guest side or the host side?

[Jennifer672]

Thanks for trying to help me figure this out, Matthew.

No, I haven't called Airbnb customer service yet, but I will. This is the 2nd time I've noticed the upcharge in service fees. A couple weeks ago, I had a guest wanting to add a night onto their current reservation. They had booked 10 nights with me and wanted to make it 11. When I tried to change the reservation to include another night, Airbnb not only wanted to charge them a higher service fee for the all 11 nights but they also wanted to charge a fee for the change.

I was under the impression that the service fee for one night at $75 would be $2.25 (or $3.00 rounded up), not $11.00. The guest would pay $75 and I would only net $64 instead of $72.75 (or $72.00).

[David126]

Cash is good