Avoiding the Foreign Transaction Fee

[Terrence0]

I have a suggestion for Airbnb.  Currently, they have a very inefficient policy that they pass off onto the traveler.

I have a credit card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees (like many other avid travelers) - my bank covers these fees for me.  Airbnb charges foreign transaction fees to book based on location - in fact, if you are booking and you switch the currency to the local currency of the listing, you will see a 3% lower cost (the foreign transaction fee cost) than if you look at it in another currency.  For my last 2 trips I have attempted to pay in the local currency (for example, if I am travelling to France, I will try to pay in Euros), but Airbnb will not let me do this.  Instead, they force me to pay in US dollars because I live in the US (even though I want to and have tried to pay in Euros), then they take my US dollars, convert them to Euros themselves, charge me a 3% fee (which my bank would have done for me for free!), and then pay the host in Euros.  This is dumb and inefficient - even worse, they pass this inefficiency off on me.  Give customers the option to pay in the currency of their choosing.

[Nina442]

I am in Australia and am getting charged the additional fees on my credit card. I am annoyed because I am not advised of this charge at checkout. My last booking was $700 and I was slugged $20 on currency conversion. This booking was for a group of friends where we all split the cost of accommodation at the time of booking. However, as I was not advised of the additional charge, I was later out of pocket $20. If I knew at the time of booking, my friends would have chipped in. I hope there is a class action one day and Airbnb are not only fined, but also forced to give everyone's money back for the additional charges.

Any lawyers out there wanting to volunteer? I am sure many people here will volunteer to help the case along.

[Dorelle1]

If I book Australian accommodation in Australian dollars, I am now being charged international fees to send my payment via a GB merchant.

I haven't encountered this in previous bookings.

There are so many extra/hidden/surprise costs now when I book Airbnb accommodation, that I am really deterred from using the platform again.

[Nina442]

Ditto

[Danielle709]

I booked a rental in the US from the US using a US credit card. I noticed an international transaction fee from Airbnb on my account. Is this normal for them? I would prefer to use other booking sites but unfortunately property owners continue to list with them and they have many properties not available on other sites.

[Christy132]

Hi Danielle,

I don't think that is supposed to be the case. Have you tried calling up your local bank to understand?

[Phyllis100]

“I’m so angry with this entire “extra fee that’s hidden.” I’ve booked my accommodation in Korea FROM Singapore, using my Singapore bank card, paying in Singapore currency. Split my payment because during checkout, no extra fees were mentioned. Now checking my bank statement, Airbnb has charged an extra 2.8++%. Which means the next payment to them will also incur an additional 2.8++% charge.

Brought the issue up to their support team and they insisted it’s the bank that imposed the charge. Requestes for their resolution specialist and customer service person ghosted on me. I called my bank and they verified it’s Airbnb and their UK payment gateway that imposed that charge....... seriously Airbnb.

[Christy132]

I abhore how intransparent airbnb is with their hidden charges and fee. 

I just booked an accomodation yesterday in South Korea for my trip, and i realized there was an additional 2.8++% charge per booking.

Puzzled, i did my research.

I saw that Airbnb was charging travellers like us with the 3% Currency Conversion Fee [CCF] in 2017, then i came across to a post on this thread in 2018 that they removed the CCF stating in their FAQ that what is shown on the payment page is what we will be paying.

That doesn't tally at all, does it?

So I called up my local bank less than 5minutes ago, they verified that airbnb was the one who converted my local currency to the host's currency to pay them, and that the transaction was out of my country, and judging by bad the bank rates usually are, I calculated that i ended up paying more than i should.

E.g. I booked an accomodation for 1 night, at SGD$47.50, so 3% should be $1.425 for the CCF.

However, i only paid SGD$1.33 for the CFF, which means my accomodation was only supposed to be around SGD$44.35!

They are earning the CCF + extra money in between, how ridiculous.....

they must be earning truck lots of money...

I saw online on PRO tips... which is to pay in the host's currency... so void off the CFFby airbnb.. but i think that is provided that your bank doesn't charge you foreign transaction fee and your local currency is stronger than the host's currency...

[John2852]

The last two times I booked with Airbnb, they charged a foreign transaction fee.  The thing is, both times, the airbnb apartment was in the US, Airbnb is based in the US, and so am I.  The bill was paid in US dollars with a US bank credit card.  The first time, we called airbnb, and they denied it.  Our bank denied it to, and forgave the change. The second time, it became clear what was going on--airbnb is doing this deliberately, a corporate scam, one which is ongoing as of July 2019.  We now have a travel Visa card, and we will use is for all airbnb reservations.  We will see if that works.  

[A-J-17]

The same thing just happened to me. Bill paid in US dollars with a US bank credit card. The airbnb apartment was in the US, airbnb is based in the US, and so am I. This is unbelievable. Glad to see I’m not the only one. There are 215 replies to this post, surely we have Airbnb’s attention? This has been happening for 4 years. Sad.

[Michael3502]

You might also question whether they use the previous days close of the interbank rate for any one currency exchange, OR do they add a margin to provide still another revenue stream for AirBNB. It looks as though they do. By comparison, Costco Visa card from Citi uses the interbank rate and does not add fees. Use the local paper, read the ads, and caveat emptor.

[Amee109]

I was charged 820CAD and the host cancelled, I was to get a "Full refund" but only received CAD784 😞 I paid in a different currency, and Airbnb told me to check with the bank for a refund on the currency exchange, and the bank is saying AirbNb converted the rate from LKR- USD - CAD and vice versa for the refund, and they can't do anything because Master/Visa policies apply when currency is exchanged. So i had to bear the charge. This usually never happens for refunds on Ebay / Amazon. Does anyone know if they can appeal to the bank or master/visa for this refund?

[Anita915]

Airbnb- beware of hidden currency exchange fees. 

I made the mistake of booking an apartment in Spain using USD, my credit card currency. My host told me he would charge me 150€/ night. Airbnb charged me US$184/ night which was much higher than any rate I found on the internet. When I took it up with them, the “specialist” kept saying they charged me the prices in USD and they didn’t do any currency conversion, which was of course a blatant lie. After a protracted conversation he finally admitted that the “ automatic currency converter” they used was OANDA. 

According to OANDA, 150€ came out to be US$178. I had conversations with more than one Airbnb representative on this. No one was willing or able to explain the 3% discrepancy between this and $184, which was actually a hidden fee Airbnb would not admit to.  I found from the internet that other travellers also wrote about this 3% additional currency conversion charge which Airbnb never mention anywhere in its website. 

In addition, Airbnb also calculated their service fees  based on the jacked-up room prices. In other words, I was overcharged twice. Luckily my host agreed to give me a full refund when I cancelled, and I was able to rebook  in Euros. 

Lesson: always pay Airbnb in the local currency. You can go to your Profile to make the choice. 

[Jamie779]

I have a credit card that offers the same so I dont usually worry about what currency I am charged in. However during my last stay I used a business account (without the same exchange service). I made sure the payment was in GBP but a foreign transfer charge was applied by my bank as it was taken in Euros. How is that even legal? The invoice is now in Euros, the payment was charged in GBP but Euros were charged to my account costing me a stupid amount in fees. AirBnB seem to think as the invoice was in Euros I would have been charged that, when the payment page clearly states GBP? 

[Nicole2652]

I got charged even though I booked a place in Miami and I’m in New York.. I don’t understand but I’m calling my bank tomorrow since I want my $24 back 🤦🏼‍♀️ 

[Paul8290]

I agree 10000% Im pissed