You are right - but hey, it is FAR MORE than 3%. And AirBnB are not going to change their minds about this! They USED to let customers pay in any currency, and since 2015 they have deliberately prevented customers from doing so.
Why? Because they seem to be making HUGE PROFITS from the process, and overcharging customers for forced currency conversions to an astonishing degree!
There are TWO ways that AirBnB charges for the currency conversion that AirBnB FORCE customers to use.
1. A 3% conversion fee - this is explicit and they make it clear.
2. Their currency conversion rates. This is not so obvious, much more hidden and a FAR bigger charge. Have a look at their help page on this. It says:
"Exchange rates and currency conversion
When the currency you’re paying with is different from the default currency of the country where the listing or experience are located, we convert your payment automatically.
The base exchange rate uses data from one or more third parties, such as OANDA. It’s updated regularly, but may not be identical to the real-time market rate. If you’re paying in a currency different from the default currency of the country where the listing or experience are located, we also charge a 3% conversion fee on your total cost; the conversion fee accounts for Airbnb’s holding costs and foreign currency risks.
The exchange rate used will display on the checkout page before you confirm your booking."
Now look at the OANDA site they refer to, and see what sort of exchange rate you get from it, compared to the ACTUAL interbank rate that Google will tell you about, and that your credit card provider would use, if you choose the right card:
https://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/
When I looked at what I WOULD have paid, had AirBnB allowed me to pay in the local currency of the booking (EUROS), using my credit card's exchange rate, it would have been GBP1,022.25. AirBnB charged me a total, iuncluding their 3%, of GPB1102. That's a difference of almost GBP80 - or about EIGHT percent on top of my booking.
It works out to be more than half as much again as the whole "AirBnB Service Fee" they say they took for my booking.
I'm going to say that again. AirBnB seem to be making almost 60% EXTRA MONEY for transnational bookings like mine out of their Currency Exchange charges, on top of of their full standard "Service Fee" for providing their service.
It also seems according to this website, that what they are doing is actualy in contravention of the rules of the Credit Card Services that we are usig to pay them, such as MASTERCARD and VISA:
https://danielpocock.com/disabling-dcc-on-airbnb
My credit card company said that AirBnB had not told me the truth about the way that they had charged my booking and prevented me from paying in Euros, and offered to dispute the transation for me. However, AirBnB then appeared to threaten me with the possibility of being BANNED FOR LIFE from AirBnB by saying:
"Please also note that disputing an Airbnb payment is a violation of Airbnb's Terms of Service in which may cause your account and any future accounts disabled.
We appreciate the time you’ve taken to share your concerns with our team. However, we have issued our final decision for this case and we will disengage from further discussion on this topic."
In view of this, I have some trepidation as to what will happen to me for posting this post. I hope that nothing bad will happen, but if you don't hear from me again, you can draw your own conclusions . . .
