Our town is about to require short-term rental (STR) hosts to collect a 9 percent hotel occupancy tax (HOT). Some citites cal it a lodging tax.
Because we live in a small town, Airbnb doesn't automaticallly collect HOT taxes and remit them to the local taxing authority. I get that; you can't provide that service everywhere you have hosts.
But at the very least, please add a line in our pricing settings that would allow us to include the HOT tax as part of the up-front total price that guests will be paying, and identify that amount as a tax.
The current options for doing this are terrible: either respond to every guest booking request with the unwelcome news that we'll be charging 9 percent more than what they thought they were paying and then ask them to accept a "Special Offer" for a higher amount, or handle the HOT tax transaction off the books with an in-person transaction, which utterly obliterates one of the key advantages of Airbnb as a reservation platform.
I realize I'll have to pass those dollars on to the city; that's my responsibility as a host and I'm fine with it. But if the tax amount is built into the platform, then we can avoid a lot of hassle with guests. (Honestly, if I sent a booking request to an Airbnb host and received a response saying they want 9 percent more "for taxes" and I can pay in person, I'd probably pass on that listing. This is just bad business.)
Seriously, guys. Is that THAT HARD to just add a line for occupancy tax percentages? You do it for extra guests and deposits. How about one more?
At least one of your competitors, HomeAway, provides this option for hosts. It's mystifying to me why Airbnb doesn't.