TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Tencent reports first-ever sales decline

      17 August 2022

      Eskom to impose more load shedding

      17 August 2022

      Tiger Brands to go solar – to start with four manufacturing plants

      17 August 2022

      Google buys into African e-logistics firm Lori Systems

      17 August 2022

      A new normal is dividing the global chip industry

      17 August 2022
    • World

      Chip makers are flashing a big warning for the global economy

      17 August 2022

      Semiconductor boom turns to bust

      16 August 2022

      Tencent plans to offload R400-billion Meituan stake: sources

      16 August 2022

      Ether leaps higher on verge of Merge

      16 August 2022

      Institutions eye crypto but retail investors remain nervous

      15 August 2022
    • In-depth

      African unicorn Flutterwave battles fires on multiple fronts

      11 August 2022

      The length of Earth’s days has been increasing – and no one knows why

      7 August 2022

      As Facebook fades, the Mad Men of advertising stage a comeback

      2 August 2022

      Crypto breaks the rules. That’s the point

      27 July 2022

      E-mail scams are getting chillingly personal

      17 July 2022
    • Podcasts

      Qush on infosec: why prevention is always better than cure

      11 August 2022

      e4’s Adri Führi on encouraging more women into tech careers

      10 August 2022

      How South Africa can woo more women into tech

      4 August 2022

      Book and check-in via WhatsApp? FlySafair is on it

      28 July 2022

      Interview: Why Dell’s next-gen PowerEdge servers change the game

      28 July 2022
    • Opinion

      No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

      11 July 2022

      Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

      8 July 2022

      South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

      4 July 2022

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Africa Data Centres
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»Sections»E-commerce»Airbnb streamlines fees as it tilts toward biggest hosts

    Airbnb streamlines fees as it tilts toward biggest hosts

    E-commerce By Agency Staff7 December 2020
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    Airbnb is requiring most professional hosts outside North America to include all service fees in the rate presented to guests, a move that mirrors how rival platforms operate.

    Airbnb will require hosts who use third-party software to manage bookings to eliminate the “service fee” paid by guests that is traditionally tacked onto the listing price. Instead, hosts will pay a standard fee of 15%, up from the typical 3% they are assessed now.

    Hosts interviewed about the development said they expect most will raise their listed prices to account for the larger host fee, making the change cost-neutral for most guests and for Airbnb. But hosts with fewer properties expressed some concerns.

    Following feedback from hosts we recently introduced a simplified host-only fee structure for professional hosts…

    The new fee structure comes as the San Francisco-based home rental platform prepares to sell shares in its initial public offering this week. Airbnb said early tests show the simplified pricing helped drive 17% more bookings.

    “Following feedback from hosts we recently introduced a simplified host-only fee structure for professional hosts who connect to our API in certain countries,” said Airbnb spokesman Christopher Nulty. “Our fee structure for individual hosts remains unchanged.”

    But Airbnb declined to comment on some of the negative feedback from hosts about the change, citing a quiet period before its IPO. The fee change has been communicated to professional hosts but not reported widely.

    ‘Good for PR’

    Airbnb began with hosts renting out air mattresses in their homes. A former Airbnb host acquisition specialist said “individual hosts are good for PR”. But hosts managing hundreds or thousands of properties drive an outsized portion of revenue. As of end-September, 10% of Airbnb’s hosts were professional managers, and they accounted for 28% of nights booked, according to Airbnb’s IPO filings.

    Management software platform Uplisting’s CEO, Vincent Breslin, said hotels and professional managers of multiple properties have asked for the change to make it easier to list across different platforms with one sticker price.

    “Having fee parity across all platforms is a benefit to all,” said Ryan Danz, CEO of Air Concierge, which manages about 500 properties. “It makes a better apples-to-apples comparison for the traveler if they find the same home listed on various websites.”

    But some smaller property managers are worried the change could hurt them if they can’t raise prices enough to cover the increased host fee.

    Airbnb already gave itself a black eye with many hosts when it made them issue refunds for cancellations caused by the global pandemic. It now faces a class action suit and hundreds of arbitration cases stemming from that.

    Johnny Buckingham, who manages nine listings on Airbnb across the US, said he would not want to raise his listing price to cover the increased host fee and believed Airbnb was discouraging hosts from using software to cross-list on other platforms.

    They’ve made their message clear. Stick exclusively with us or pay us 5x as much

    “They’ve made their message clear. Stick exclusively with us or pay us 5x as much,” he said.

    Sarah DuPre, sales director at AirDNA, an analytics firm specialising in holiday rentals, said there’ll be a small impact on host retention but it could impact Airbnb’s “ability to be seen as the most economical source of accommodation”.

    Rowan Clifford, who helps Airbnb hosts improve visibility of their listings and is also a host, predicted in a blog post two years ago that host fees would go up as hosts become reliant on Airbnb. He expects individual hosts will eventually also see a fee hike and said smaller hosts could face price competition from professionally managed listings that don’t raise prices to cover the increased host fee. “They don’t need us as much anymore, basically.”  — Reported by Jane Lanhee Lee and Krystal Hu, (c) 2020 Reuters

    Airbnb top
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleWhy it’s time to rethink IT financing
    Next Article Early work already starting on building 6G mobile networks

    Related Posts

    Tencent reports first-ever sales decline

    17 August 2022

    Eskom to impose more load shedding

    17 August 2022

    Top cybersecurity challenge is inadequate identification of key risks

    17 August 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Top cybersecurity challenge is inadequate identification of key risks

    17 August 2022

    Acrobat Sign and Microsoft accelerate digital transformation

    17 August 2022

    HPE SimpliVity: addressing SMBs’ data conundrums

    16 August 2022
    Opinion

    No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

    11 July 2022

    Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

    8 July 2022

    South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

    4 July 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.