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I was going through my listing to try and figure out why I’m virtually empty (except for scam requests, more on that another time) and I looked under “Opportunities” and saw the Simplified Pricing menu. I was noodling around with pricing and percentage options and comparing my listing to other local listings (in an anonymous browser) to figure out if it was worth it for me to make the change.
When I backed out of my browsers, I accidentally kept the Simplified Pricing on.
Does anyone know how to revert back to Split Fee pricing?
Lesson learned - don’t “noodle around” while drinking wine…
TIA.
PS I’ve been through all the “Help” sections and for whatever reason, can’t find the freaking button to revert. I’m on a PC running Windows 10 in Chrome, if that helps.
Can’t find it in my account and that will be because I’m in Canada and not software-connected or property-managed. But Google says the switch is in Payments and Payouts.
If it even exists?
Best of luck.
@casailinglady, I am missing why this didn’t increase your bookings - assuming you didn’t bump up your prices to cover the larger host fee that comes with simplified pricing.
And just to help me better understand, this simplified pricing is something hosts with multiple listings on multiple platforms managed using PMS or CM software would possibly want to use?
It gives you full control over the amount the guest pays. No vague amount of guest fee added to your rates.
It’s easier to match rates between OTA’s
It lowers the price a guest has to pay. With normal pricing Air adds between 15%-20% on fees (host and guest combined). With Simplified it’s a fix 14 or 15% depending on your cancelation policy.
Thanks, Chris. So I think that explains something I saw but didn’t understand. I saw a listing hosted by a PM company that had a “Service Fee” they added on themselves. Overall their total price & $/day were aligned with comps.
And how does your cancellation policy impact what Air charges? I’m going to google also but love to hear what you know.
Now I’m wondering if this is something I should try. I don’t use a channel manager or other PM software, though. And, I’m only on one other platform but it gets exhausting trying to line the pricing up between the two.
Yes, professional hosts have some options to add fees.
I list the VAT and Tourist tax seperately so AirBnB does not calculate their 15% commission over it.
This lets me set my rates a bit more competitive.
AirBnB asks a higher commission when using stricter cancelation policy.
The Guys at BDC are a lot smarter than the ones at Air. They let you setup different rates for different conditions. So instead of squeezing the host, BDC gives the guest the option to pay less for stricter policy’s.
Air is now only allowing host only fees for new listings around here. The only problem with that is that I will loose a bit of advantage against the hosts that do not understand the host only system is actually better, and want to stick with the split fees.
Oh, wow. I had no idea. Just found this (but not on AirBnB website, all I found there was them saying 3-5% with the typical host paying about 3%):
“Airbnb Hosts pay between a 3-5% service fee
The fee is higher for:
-Strict cancellation policy
-Plus host
-Italy or mainland China (10%)
It seems they wish to deter “strict” so it’d be nice if that fee hike were more clearly communicated (sure someone will find on their site somewhere…I gave up after 3 min)
Just checked our listing this afternoon. They are showing “Upfront Price” even if you have AirBnB fees added to your rates/fees and they no longer show the breakdown between your rates, your fees, and their fee (maybe they do when you actually book, but not when just shopping)
Maybe I should advertise “Stay for seven nights, pay for eight with AirBnB fees!” That’s what bothers me the most - the lack of transparency.
But I think it’s a valid comment in this thread, too. If AirBnB is going to show the “Upfront price” regardless of whether you include their fee in your rate or not, then it makes financial sense to pick the pricing structure that has the lowest fees. I’m guessing that’s “Simplified Pricing”.
I’ve avoided Booking.com because of their lack of transparency on fees (among other things), but I might take another look at it now.
At least on Vrbo, they show you the breakdown between rates and fees before you book.
TBH, there’s not much to hide, for hosts it’s a straight (for us) 15% and if you use them as a payment processor, and additional 2.2% payment charge.
For guests, it’s pretty much what you see is what you pay. They break it down into a per night price, show the VAT and then any applicable discounts are deducted.
Yes, but the guests didn’t see the breakdown of the amount going to the booking agent vs the owner.
We are where the hotel industry was about 10 years ago. The big OTAs such as Expedia charge 15% booking fees on top of the hotel rates but travelers didn’t know that. Now, savvy travelers are aware of those fees and use the OTA to search, but then go to the hotel website to book. I suspect “alternative accommodation” travelers (I can’t call my home an AirBnB or a Vrbo!) will become aware of the fees over the next few years and save money booking directly. Frankly, I’ve already seen an uptick of bookings through our own website this year.
We’re at approximately 75% full this month, and over half of that is direct.
We always advise guests that we’ll discount bookings by the OTA fee if they come direct to us. Recently we’ve had folks getting in touch, having been referred by previous guests, all have mentioned that we discount for direct bookings.
Happy days. Especially when they pay cash, or Oloroso vouchers as it’s known in our household
I don’t have my own website but over time I’ve built up a small group of repeat visitors who know to contact me directly. Between them, my friends who always have priority over paying guests and not taking bookings on certain dates because of being out of town or too many dogs, I’m hardly open to strangers recently.
