There is no end in site for these platforms to play games. They just don’t want guests to see how much they charge. I’m on the higher end and guests end up paying Airbnb $2-3k which is outrageous. Now they want to disguise that fee and make it look like I over price. Hopefully more will come to my direct booking site now.
From the view of the consumer WHO CARES? The customer is just concerned with their total cost, not how the pie is divided. It’s not like the customer is going to say, well, since the host is only getting $200 of the $275 then I’ll go $75 over budget because it’s not their fault. The point (from the users point of view) isn’t that the Airbnb fees aren’t disclosed separately; it’s that those fees increase the cost to a certain amount. Since Airbnb fees increase the total charge, either of the following result - (1) host lowers amount charged so TOTAL amount still attracts customers (2) total amount is enough to decrease demand and hence increase vacancy time while consumers find cheaper alternatives either through less expensive platforms, direct with host, or at hotel, or (3) consumer stays home or goes somewhere else.
Here's what I don't understand. How can someone be in the STR business for the long haul and NOT do everything possible to establish a business model where they're almost exclusively direct to customer of through low fee platforms? I understand that 10 years ago (when I owned some STRs) competition was less, Airbnb fees were lower, and Airbnb was all you needed to have an outsized profit - if you were in the right location. But now? It will only get worse as Airbnb growth slows down - they will look to "make it up" by "squeezing" hosts even if it's detrimental to themselves long term.
thats easier for someone with say 20-40 properties. For the owner that has 1-3 properties, you can have a website but its harder to generate the traffic to the website vs the eyeballs that see properties on Air/VRBO. Yes, after awhile you may have repeat guests that know and book with you directly. But as mentioned, you need educated guests also that look to save those booking fees the channels charge also.
It .. depends. These platforms making getting warm leads easy, and it takes a lot of warm leads to get enough bookings. While inching toward more direct bookings is a good goal, for most STR operators getting the eyeballs needed in order to hit conversion rates is a lot more skill and time than paying these platforms to do it for them, esp. in markets where direct booking was never a thing. I would also note hospitality science research tells us the biggest driver on the "buy" decision is trust. The platforms offer that immediately. An operator with a listing or two ? Much harder sell with trust in the equation. I agree from the consumers standpoint this is a non-issue and frankly probably not worth the hype its getting There are SOME muncapalities where there are minor tax implications but most folks just want to know how much their stay costs and compare it to other options based on total cost.
While there is a large percentage of guests who trust Airbnb, I would say a large percentage of guests, like hosts, do not "trust" Airbnb. When reading your remark on trust, it reminded me of the movie Tommy Boy Guarantee clip. Easy to find on youtube. As a guest and a host, I find Airbnb guarantee to be the same as the guarantee on the side of my oil filter box.
Very well said.
Just like we don't disclose that we pay 1k for insurance, 3k for utilities, and 3k for cleaners, Airbnb doesn't need to tell the guest how much they are charging. It is the business owner who makes the decision in the end.
The only thing I want to add is that Airbnb doesn't just provide a platform. They provide great customer service, multi-billion dollar-sized marketing, and incredible insurance on top of letting us chip in on their reputation. (Airbnb became a pronoun for traveling stays) From my experience, 15% is a very reasonable price for the insurance and background check alone.
do they provide great customer service? not to hosts, at least not in my experience and many that i have talked and listened to. And their insurance isnt really insurance and many have their claims denied. so to me, they provide a platform and market share of being known, but thats about it
In my opinion, Airbnb actually provides a really great service for both hosts and guests. A lot of the frustration comes from hosts not fully understanding how the insurance process works, which is why some claims get denied. But honestly, they’d face the same challenges with any other insurance company. It’s just that big claims like crime, floods, or fires don’t happen very often, so fewer people talk about them.
Most of the time, Airbnb doesn’t even send an adjuster to your home. Instead, they look at the photos and information provided by the host and usually resolve things within about two weeks. That’s pretty impressive, and to me, that’s the definition of good service.
On the guest side, Airbnb often gives out coupons for future bookings, even if the guest wasn’t completely right in their claim. What’s nice is that Airbnb absorbs the cost of those coupons themselves—they don’t pass it on to hosts. That’s rare in this kind of business. (For example, DoorDash usually makes restaurants cover the cost of their promotions.)
I think a lot of the bad reputation comes from people not really understanding how these kinds of businesses operate. Many hosts want the simplicity of a retail shopping experience, but also expect to make a big company money. If you want to make a big money, hosts need to act like a real business owner.
Calling it "insurance" is generous, given that they attempt to recoup the money from the guests at the expense of the host's reputation and future revenue.
I am not sure what kind of experience you had but sorry to hear that. That is why you need to hire a professional property manager who understand the Airbnb policies and have a system to meet their requirement. I have 99% success rate with Airbnb resolution. (I self manage all my listings) I got 14k+ on resolution this year. Hopefully you changed your system after they denied your claim.
What are you talking about? I didn't say denied the claim, I said it's not really insurance, more like arbitration, because they are primarily trying to facilitate a repayment by the guest, at the expense of the host's reputation (retaliatory reviews). They didn't pay you $14k out of their own pockets like insurance would.
I think you are misunderstanding their system. Reimbursement comes from Airbnb’s pocket under the liability protection. The money comes from the guest is, you request money from the guest, and you involve Airbnb after they deny. (commonly used for late fees, extra cleaning..) It really sounds like you need a good property manager who can explain all Airbnb policies clearly!
Wow you have a lot of problems with your Airbnb guests to have to fight to get 14k on resolutions. I have never had this much problems.
What do you attribute these problems to? Your property, location or just the "Airbnb" crowd?
