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A guest has brought a payment query to my attention but I couldn’t explain why there was such a huge difference in what he has paid to Airbnb and what I the Host has received.
I hope there is a reasonable explanation for this or maybe I’m just not getting it.
Anyway, I hope someone can help out.
I charged my guest 100 per night for 13 nights minus 7% discount. To which I received the correct payment of 1164.39
(93 x 13 = 1209 minus my airbnb service fee 44.61)
However, my guest has paid airbnb 1400.83
(100 x 13 = 1300
7% discount = 91
His Service fee to airbnb = 191.83)
Payment made to airbnb from guest = 1400.83
1400.83 - 1164.39 = 236.44 is the amount we can’t figure out. We don’t know why airbnb have taken this amount as well as the service fee.
As you can see, we both paid our service fee to airbnb but there is a huge discrepancy for the guest.
There could be city/county/state taxes. One location I looked at a $100 per night unit for 3 nights, and the taxes on that were over $150 for those 3 nights.
But I am sure you would know if that was the case, unless they were just applied?
I had a look on the airbnb website help page and it states the following:
"Guests pay a service fee to Airbnb in addition to the cost of your listing, which is why the total price guests see is higher than your payout.
Where applicable, Value-added tax (VAT) may be added on top of the Airbnb service fee"
Air gets a lot more money from guests than hosts on top of the nightly fees. And yes your city/county occupancy tax (@8-13%) may have been added to the guest bill as well. One of my 2 night bookings guest payout = 342.00, my host payout 296.00. Your and your guests payout difference at 13 days is likely not unusual.
If a guest searches on air they do get a total amount they ill have to pay per the parameters of their booking. Right there before they click on your listing. I was just looking for a snow cabin and @150 2 nights became 384%. Also cleaning fees.
Avoid fees altogether on Houfy.com
One thing I do is search my own listing, put in some dates, and see exactly what the guest pays, and how airbnb breaks it down. I search other listings too to see what differences I can see.
Also when a guest asks about prices, I say… “My nightly fee is $100 weekdays, and $150 weekends with a $50 cleaning fee. I cannot see the other fees that airbnb adds on top of that.”
The guest may have been charged the standard 23% VAT in Eire. However, I totally agree with Jumoe’s comments about telling guests that you don’t see what they paid to Air. I’ve rarely had anyone ask but if I do, I advise them to contact Airbnb with any queries; I don’t have the info they are seeking my end.
And it would raise a red flag for me, particularly if I had given them a 7% discount already.
In the past Airbnb had tools in place to allow hosts to see what each guest paid in full and the breakdown of the amount among rent, taxes, fees & etc. Now I think it only works for an inquiry.
I think your best option is to Ask your guest to contact Customer Service. You may wish to call CS too and ask what % vat your guests are paying so you know for the future.
The guest Itinerary should have a complete breakdown of how much they paid for what. As does your Reservation Details for them. There are no “Hidden” costs or expenses.
@ColetteP My recommendation is that you should not be trying to figure out or trying to explain to guests why they were charged X; it’s up to the guest to reach out to Airbnb and determine how the fee was calculated…
None yet but that’s not their fault, it’s mine. This site is designed to empower the host and with that comes the responsibility for doing activities to drive bookings. I haven’t done as much as I could and will once I retire from my 9 to 5.
