Guests no longer charged a service fee, is this the future.

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Jeff158
Level 10
Caernarfon, United Kingdom

Guests no longer charged a service fee, is this the future.

We have a new host in the UK, Ireland, France and Italy with 21,000 properties, cottages.com now advertise on airbnb, and airbnb do not charge a service fee to the guest on these bookings.

We have no way of knowing if its included in the nightly rate, cottages.com could be on a paid subscription or getting a big percentage discount.

[Link hidden] and just to wind me up a bit more, they are all on superstrict 60 policy.

 

My local host is Mandy with 100 properties to look after

[Link hidden]

 

*[Link removed for privacy reasons out of respect for the host – inline with the Community Center Guidelines]

 

1 Best Answer
Susan17
Level 10
Dublin, Ireland

@Jeff158 @Cormac0 @Helen3 @Sarah977

 

Cottages. com is just the tip of the iceberg. There are literally thousands of similar outfits flooding the platform now.

 

One of the most important rulings made by the EU was that offerings from individual hosts, and those from professional/commercial operators, must be clearly identified and delineated from each other on the site, as not doing so gives an unfair advantage to the big players. (That's quite apart from the range of preferential policies and practices Airbnb favours the Pro's with - incl. SuperStrict 30 and 60 canx - that are denied to regular hosts) Also, consumer protection laws differ greatly for each. 

 

2. Identification of traders and commercial content

 "It is understood, from Airbnb’s Hosting Standards, that certain professional providers are allowed to use Airbnb’s platform to offer their accommodation services. However, when searching for accommodation on Airbnb’s website, the search result shows accommodation provided by both private individuals and professional providers with no distinction between the two.   

 In particular, with a view to avoid omitting material information, the collaborative economy platform should, as a minimum, enable relevant third party traders to indicate to users that they are traders, and the platform should inform consumers whether and, if so, what criteria it applies to select the suppliers operating through it and whether and, if so, what checks it performs in relation to their reliability

With a platform like Airbnb, which enables accommodation sharing, the distinction between professional providers and private host peers may influence the decisions of consumers using the platform to book accommodation. In fact,  on the one hand the distinction has implications for the question of whether the transaction is protected by consumer protection rules and, on the other, many consumers using Airbnb are looking for private homes with personal involvement and not necessarily for professional property owners. 

CPC authorities find that the lack of distinction between private host peers and professional providers on Airbnb’s website is likely to deceive consumers in relation to the nature of the trader, as set out in art 6 (1) (f) and 7(1) and (2), and is likely to cause a transactional decision that would not have been taken otherwise.   In order to comply with the Directive 2005/29/EC, Airbnb would need to change the manner in which listings are presented in accordance with the legal requirements described above.   CPC authorities would also like to draw Airbnb’s attention to the UCPD’s requirements to clearly distinguish editorial content from advertising content. Consumers expect search engines to display 'natural' or 'organic' results relevant for their search query based on sufficiently impartial criteria.   

It is not clear to the CPC authorities whether Airbnb has sponsored content in the search results as of now, but for future reference please note that, as explained in the UCPD Guidance, consumers should not be misled on the nature of the listings. For instance, it should be clear whether listings / search results are "natural" or "sponsored" or whether there are other serious limitations in the scope of the search" 

 

 I attended a meeting at Airbnb HQ here in Dublin last Tuesday evening and asked, repeatedly, why professional operators and commercial entities are still being listed alongside (and invariably, above) regular hosts on the platform, in clear breach of EU legislation, particularly when the company is fully aware that in failing to comply, it is blatantly - and illegally - choosing to put its original host base at a potentially disastrous disadvantage. I'm still trying to get an official answer - or any answer at all -  almost a week later, but I won't be giving up anytime soon. 

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50 Replies 50

@Melanie818  You say you received this as a email on Sept. 2nd. I received no such email, and I wonder how many hosts did.  They haven't even posted this in the Airbnb Updates and this major change, which will affect all hosts except the corporate ones who are already opting to pay all the fees, is only a month and a half away. 

 

And while it says it won't affect existing bookings, what it means is that hosts will need to all change their pricing on Oct.31 or get caught out on a booking that may come in on Nov. 1st. And if we change it earlier than that, it won't work for guests who book before Nov. 1st.

 

I can just foresee it- all hosts (except the tens of thousands who were never informed of this) trying to change their nightly price on Oct.31st with the site subsequently crashing from user overload.

 

And what's going to happen now when a guest cancels past their 48 hour window to receive all their booking fees back? The host gets docked 15%, even when they don't get the nightly booking payment??? 

@Sarah977  It seems that this will not happen in all regions, and I haven't received any emails on this topic yet.

Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

Tried to compare her listing with yours, is it your place she has listed? Not sure I get it, this is confusing.

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

it appears to me @Sandra126 that @Jeff158 is trying to point out that Airbnb gives property/management companies more advantageous terms than that which they give to individual hosts.

Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

If the fee is to drop to 15% or so I would welcome this, as I pay about 23% at the moment. Never mind if it was baked in. Obviously is better with greater transparency for guests to see it separate.

@Sandra126   What do you mean you pay 23%? Hosts are charged 3%. This "trial" is about the host paying ALL the service fees and the guest paying no service fees at all. 

Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

@Sarah977, the service fee added is approx 20% for me, this varies from place to place. 3% approx is taken from me, so the total on top of what I get is 23%. So if the total will be only 15% flat and then I pay Airbnb that, guests will pay substantially less and I will get the same.

@Sandra126 I still don't get what you're saying- with this trial you would have to pay the 20% service fee that your guests are currently paying. So you would be paying out 15% of your base price. Meaning you would be getting much less $ unless you raised your base price.

Yes, @Sarah977, that's right. But the end price would still be less than what guests are currently paying, if it was a flat rate of 15%. Obviously I would have to increase the price to include the 15%.

@Sandra126  Gotcha.

Jeff158
Level 10
Caernarfon, United Kingdom

Looks like I'm 3 days late, although I'm not convinced they're the same thing.

Rex posted this on Friday and I missed it.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/New-Service-Fee-Included-Option-charges-17-36/m-p/919019...

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

I believe there are two separate things going on.

 

Airbnb has let larger airbnb management /property companies have more advantage terms than individual hosts for some time.

 

There is also a trial in some areas where hosts can choose to pay some/all of a guests fee.

Alon1
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Helen,

 

Since this is what you 'believe....', it seems you were a bit too quick to previously question me: 'What is there to clarify?'

 

 

 

 

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

If you read my reply to you @Alon1 what I actually said was

 

"I can understand you wanting more information about this, but seemed a strange way to try and get it by contacting an Airbnb property company not involved in the forum".

 

So my query to you was why ask a airbnb property company not involved in this forum to comment when there were lots of experienced hosts here who can provide input, which as you can see from subsequent postings has indeed proved to be the case. 

Cormac0
Level 10
Kraków, Poland

@Jeff158

 

Airbnb pricing structure is getting more complicated and obtuse as the days go by.