Airbnb charging guest more than 30% fees for long term booking

[Nikki4]

Hi Airbnb Community!

I wanted to start a discussion regarding Airbnb's fees for long term (30 day plus) reservations.  I have several properties that I rent out on a 30 day minimum, and recently have been very surprised to learn how much Airbnb is collecting for these listings.

For example, I just had a guest book one of my homes for the month of March.  The guest paid Airbnb $9,930 for the month, but my payout was only $6500.  That means that Airbnb is keeping 31% of the total booking amount for the long term bookings, which seems extremely high to me.  

I'd like to know if there is any way we can talk to Airbnb about possibly reducing their fees for long term guests?   Its very hard to be competetive in this market with a 31% markup!  

Thanks so much!

Nikki

[Rebecca181]

@Nikki4 30%??? Wow!! No wonder they are always telling us to lower our prices!

[Sarah977]

@Nikki4   I've also read that the booking fees on cheaper listings are higher. I think that they are determined to charge as much of a booking fee percentage as they can get away with and also why they are always urging us to reduce our price and offer discounts. The fee % rises in more or less direct proportion to the lowering of the listing price, it seems.

[Nikki4]

HI all!

I also want to say, I absolutely love love love the service that Airbnb provides, and want them to be profitable and earn money.  The issue is that the percentage they are taking from long term reservations makes it difficult for us to compete.

  In San Francisco, there are many options for booking long term, furnished rentals.  My listings are competing with companies such as Sonder, Zeus, and 2nd Address, which have many 30 day plus rentals.  Its hard to justify why a guest would book my home at $9300 per month, when they could go to Sonder and book a similar listing without such a significant mark up.

I think Airbnb needs to take into consideration the long term nature of bookings, and realize that hosts cannot compete in this market if Airbnb adds such a high markup to listings.

[Althea12]

Well that’s not ok because air B and B ask us to give discounts for weekly and monthly guests we should only be giving them 20 at most and that’s still a lot the hosts should be getting more of the money we are the ones stuck with cleaning fees maintenance etc which is all costly I’m not ok with that

[Nikki4]

Hi all!

Ok I figured it out!  I called Airbnb and learned that the reason the numbers looked so high is because for some reason it was showing the payout in CAD instead of USD!  I live in SF, but for some reason my account was set to Canadian dollars.  So strange. 

Anyway, I can't see how to delete this posting.  It is no longer relevant because the fees are definitely not 30% . Please disregard!

[Ron-And-Carol0]

30 day mimimums is the new norm.  We are located in a City next to LA where you cannot rent for less than 30 days.  If, as you say, ABnB is Charging 25-30% of the gross as fees, that's rich.   It is a single reservation and should have a normal fee which takes that into account.  

Since the game is changing and becoming less profitable, perhaps its time for a new website which handles only longterm rentals, 30 day Min.  

The current ABB format is designed for short term rentals, but if you rent for less than 30 days and the city tags you it will cost over $4,000 a day in fines.  That makes being an outlaw expensive..

In cases where the min. is 30 days, the weekly discount should be dropped.  Actually, it may be best to list as X price for 30 days and allow a pro-rata amount for linger periods; and to include the cleaning fee in the rental rate.

[Alon1]

@Ron-And-Carol0 

Please note that you have overlooked Nikki's request to 'disregard' this post due to exposure of error with explanation that price accidently showed in Canadian dollars.

Rental was USD 6,500. 

- Price showed in Canadian dollars 9,930.

   Nikki initially believed this price in USD meant service fee was USD 3, 430

- Today's conversion rate shows CAD 9, 930 = USD 7, 460

   So, Guest actually paid service fee USD 960.

- Total:paid by Guest USD 6,500 + 960 = $ 7, 460.

   It means the service fee was a little under 15%.

It still seems high % for such a substantial payment.