Not sure how your comment relates to what was posted?
It was pointing to a specific post in a thread. You just need to click the link.
I agree that many of these listing services are fleecing people (host & guest) with rates approaching 20%. However, this article is pretty silly acting like hosts are going to be hand-wringing over whether to increase their prices to absorb the new cost, or that it really has any financial impact. They’re just playing a shell game that makes them look less greedy.
Most homeowners will be unable to absorb a 14% decrease in revenue for their vacation rental and survive. This leaves only 2 options for them to continue in the business:
- Raise their rates to include the 14% (which would result in lodging taxes being charged on the rental rate and service fee) or
- Add the 14% as an additonal fee themselves to their rental.
Like, Duh? THIS 14% DIDN’T JUST MAGICALLY APPEAR! It was always charged - it’s just that now it shows up on the host’s line total, not the guest’s. Any host that doesn’t immediately react by rolling the cost into their nightly rate is a victim of their own stupidity.
On a $100 market rate room, guest and host pay $12 and $3 in Air fees, respectively, and the host takes home $85. If Air gets rid of guest fees, the traveler still pays $100, they’d just think the host was a greedy bastard, not seeing how much of a cut Air takes.
One could argue that the host comes out ahead by including service fees on their side. At least now we have proper accounting of Airbnb’s actual take (market value minus what the host receives). In the example above, the host would only write off the $3 host fee as a business expense while Airbnb’s services actually cost them $15 ($100 market- $85 net after fees).
Much ado about nothing, IMO.