I agree
I have seen a doubling in service fee without an obvious notification
I have dumped trip advisor because their fees far exceed the service they provide.
I have never encouraged a traveller to make direct contact with me - as I believe the fee charged by Airbnb was reasonable remuneration for the service they provide. I believe many hosts would have thought similarly.
This may change for many of us if the success of this platform leads to the same short-term profit gouging that has occurred with many other - low service/low cost data base drive platform
If this site is doubling its fee…. what service to us is it doubling?
Airbnb has been a phenomenon.
Hosts who feel abused with depart to other platforms
If its financial success makes Airbnb's decision makers, giddy with the belieff they have the right to pillage (in the name of "increased return to shareholder" and personal bonuses), as do other multi-national executives, the grass root support of its hosts will be lost.