My wife and I are celebrating a significant wedding anniversary next year and we are off to New Zealand and Australia, and some of the Islands off the coast of Australia.
We have been recommended to give AirBnb a go and on first look it seems very encouraging, starting with a week in Singapore.
However, I am not 100% too sure on the finance side.
1 As I understand it, all bookings have to be paid upfront front. For our three month trip, at least, I am not happy to do this, not least the likely total cost involved.
2.VAT will also have to be applied on the Nett cost shown ?
3. A 3% surcharge will also apply ?
I assume I am correct with the above points ?
Thankyou for your valued advice.
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Yes – you will be paying the cost of the booking on your credit card prior to the booking. I booked Mearns’ island for March 2018 (earliest opening he had!) and I will see that charge on my next bill. I look at it this way, I’m making very little interest on my money (and I have to keep my money liquid because I buy foreclosed houses at auctions) and – I won’t have that expense after my trip.
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Depending on where you go, the VAT may or may not be collected by Airbnb for the host. You may have to pay that in person upon check-in. Ask the host prior to booking. Airbnb is not collecting tax for me so I build it into my price. In LA and other cities, Airbnb does collect the tax and it is listed in the fee breakout.
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Airbnb will charge you a fee. Hosts are charged 3% on our end. In other words, we are paid out the price of the entire booking less 3%. You will be charged, as a guest, 6-10%, depending on the cost of the booking. You will see the fee listed when you choose a listing and fill in the number of people and the dates.
Other costs to look for are cleaning fees, added guest fees, extra for children and/or pets (doesn’t sound like that’s applicable in your situation). The host may also have charges for extras when you get there, so make sure to ask.
Hope that helps and congratulations on your significant anniversary!
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Hi @Mikeact,
You should be able to make a booking inquiry, which incurs no obligation, though it does require your prospective host to answer you, so don’t do it lightly. That inquiry should give you precise information about costs.
You can also ask hosts questions, though don’t do that unless you are planning to book. Hosts get lots of questions, frequently clueless ones, from people who then don’t book. It gets tiresome.
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Yes, on what Faheem said. Before you start asking questions that can be answered in the description, read the entire description. If you read some of the posts on this forum, you will know that some (not all) hosts sometimes decline a guest’s booking request because they asked too many questions that have already been addressed the listing. Why? Because that’s a clue that the guest could be overly high-maintenance.
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