Airbnb is making changes in how it charges the hosts of properties listed on Airbnb that will result in customers getting a clearer picture of what they’re paying—even though it won’t be any less.
Along with changes made over the past couple of years that gives users a ‘final price’ with taxes and fees included rather than only showing it after selecting a rental, the new change will eliminate the Airbnb ‘service fee’ to customers, usually about 15% on top of the rental price.
Instead, property managers and hosts, who previously paid an average 3% fee to Airbnb while guests paid the rest, will now pay Airbnb 15.5% on the nightly rate. While that simplifies what guests will see while booking, it seems likely that in most cases hosts and property managers will raise nightly rates to make up the difference.
An estimated 95% of hosts have been using the ‘split-fee’ model. Starting October 27, the single-fee model will be mandatory for property managers, although it will continue to be optional for individual hosts renting their own property, but industry experts expect most will switch both for simplicity and because data indicates that customers are more likely to select rentals that don’t show a fee.
Image by Peggy from Pixabay
