Trying out the crazy idea of being upfront about cleaning and service fees
Whether you’re out for a vacation or just need a crash pad for the night, you’ve got more choices than ever when it comes to on-the-spot accommodations. If you’re going beyond the hotel, Airbnb is arguably the most prominent platform on the market — we think it’s one of the best apps for Android-toting travelers — with property-owning hosts listing rooms, apartments, or even entire houses. The biggest issue for would-be guests, though, is the whiplash they get trying to figure out what they’re really paying for your stay. Fortunately, the company’s CEO says there should be a remedy on the horizon.
Brian Chesky announced this morning that the app will introduce a toggle to allow users to see the pre-tax price for the full length of a stay in search results starting next month.
Currently, users on Airbnb’s search pages only see the nightly rates of each property, averaged for the period of their intended stay — hosts can set variable rates for individual dates based on a variety of factors such as days of the week or a high season.
After they go through the listing page and tap on “Reserve,” users will then see a full cost breakdown which includes the cost of the stay minus any applicable discounts plus tax as well as previously unseen separate fees for cleaning and service which can be set at an arbitrary level. We’ve seen bills at checkout double the presumed raw rate.
Chesky publicly acknowledged in October that Airbnb’s cleaning fees “were never intentionally designed” and that the company was working on fixing its pricing scheme.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that the company knew this earlier: independent developer Jane Manchun Wong first spotted Airbnb working on such a feature back in March of 2019.
Chesky also notes that the company will be rejiggering its search algorithm to focus on total pricing instead of nightly rates when ranking results. Hosts will be able to consult new tools such as guest-side price previews and a Smart Pricing tool which will be available early next year — more information is available from Airbnb’s Resource Center.
The executive makes one extra suggestion to hosts to make sure that their checkout requests are reasonable — leaving dishes in the sink as opposed to stripping the beds.
