Combining cleaning fee with total fees charged

[Autumn63]

Hello,

I have been hosting for five years and currently hold a rating of 4.99 based on 177 reviews and counting. Recently, I’ve noticed a decrease in bookings, which seems to be related to how fees are displayed. Many guests have reached out, mentioning that the nightly rate appears too high.

While I understand the necessity of posting the total cost, the way it is currently formatted can be misleading. For instance, our nightly rate is $189.00, but when potential guests scroll through listings, they see a total of $392.00. This creates confusion and likely contributes to the loss of bookings.

I’ve added a note to the description indicating that the cleaning fee is included in the nightly rate, but many guests still do not grasp this information unless they click on the listing.

I’m looking for suggestions on how to improve this situation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!$392.00. There must be a better way, were losing bookings. What do you suggest? I have now added verbiage to the description that the cleaning fee has been added to the nightly rate, but the guest is not understanding that unless they click on the listing. Any advice would help, thank you. 

[Helen3]

Much more likely to be related to an oversaturated market  and the current crisis in the US rather than whether you show your cleaning fee separately @Autumn63 

[Joan2709]

@Autumn63 

This is a direct result of Airbnb including their service fee in the nightly rate and not showing that as a separate line item. I feel this is deceptive; it's a way of hiding their service fee and possibly an attempt to get Hosts to switch to simplified pricing for the service fee instead of split fee. Please send feedback to Airbnb. Some states require that all fees be included in the price.

I suggest they:

1. Return to showing their service fee as a separate line item in states that allow that

2. Add a callout to where guests enter dates to reserve that the nightly rate includes all fees including their service fee (for states that require all fees be included)

I would add to first line of your description that the price per night includes ALL fees including Airbnb's fee and cleaning fee.

[Greystone0]

Amen!

@Joan2709 

[Lorina14]

@Joan2709 

Done! Just submitted feedback about that. Maybe if enough people (hosts and guests) do this we will hit a critical threshold for them to change the interface to show all fees broken out during the checkout process and only the total fees when searching. 

They should have a highlight stating that total fees include all of the following on the search area so guests understand that it is not the “nightly rate” set by the hosts.

[Joan2709]

@Lorina14 

That is exactly what I think. How about adding to the callout guests see:

Nightly Price includes all fees including:

- Airbnb's Guest Service Fee

- Cleaning Fee ( and any other Host added Fees such as Pet Fees)

(Taxes are displayed separately)

[Lorina14]

@Joan2709 

Maybe if we tag @Rebecca @Quincy @Elisa - can they send this up the chain to the right team and keep tabs on the threads discussing this issue and address it on the callout for guest clarity? There are several threads discussing how this is negatively impacting hosts as the callout for all fees while nice to show a new feature, does NOT specify what all the fees are so guests “assume” it’s a ridiculously high nightly rate that the host is charging.

[Greystone0 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Autumn63 ,

Thanks for posting about this topic. 

I concur that representing the fee in this combined approach will lead  to a direct and noticeable decrease in reservations.  It most certainly makes the individual host look like they are charging a crazy nightly rate and not worth a second look. It is a terrible change. And far, far,  far less transparent.

I hate this update.

If you haven't already you should log a comment to support. The more voices the better.

Factors like over saturation, market conditions, etc are always important. But this representation of fees is extremely deceptive.  The value for services is mis-matched under this method. Guests are generally reasonable and can relate value accordingly. A reasonable cleaning fee? ok, fine. A reasonable nightly rate? ok fine? an AIRBNB fee, ok fine? But all combined looks like a crazy host with a warped reality.

[Autumn63]

@Greystone0 Greatly appreciated your insights! Exactly..the breakdown should be clearly shown