r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • 8h ago

Society New Airbnb rules ban hosts from making guests wash dishes, do laundry & other checkout chores

https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/new-airbnb-rules-ban-hosts-from-making-guests-wash-dishes-do-laundry-other-checkout-chores-3420832/
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69

u/Imaskeet 8h ago

I'll never understand why they even made the cleaning fee a separate line item in the first place. Like, how hard is it to just have hosts bake that into one single line item cost? Would have been way less irksome to customers IMO.

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u/ssaall58214 8h ago

Hoping people don't notice when they are booking. It's very scammy

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u/KReddit934 7h ago

Because if it's more accurate pricing for a long stay. They only clean once after weeks. I don't want to be charged for daily service I don't get.

2

u/nephelokokkygia 7h ago

Just because it's one line item doesn't mean it needs to increase the price of the stay. They could have extended stay discounts, or any other way of making it balance out.

1

u/yagwa 4h ago

I don't really understand the complaint here. It's a once per stay fee, not a nightly fee.

It's a minor annoyance that it doesn't say anything on the search page but it's at least very prominent on the listing page.

11

u/RandomlyMethodical 7h ago

This is why I like VRBO site better. They make it easier to search and filter by the total cost with all fees

2

u/Development-Alive 4h ago

Typically, VRBO will often have the same property listed for cheaper which tells me that AirBnB listing costs are driving many costs.

1

u/EssenceofSalt 7h ago

AirBnB also lets you see total with fees now

5

u/-hellozukohere- 7h ago

Competition is good. VRBO seems to be giving airbnb enough of a hard time they are finally doing improvements 

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u/EssenceofSalt 7h ago

Absolutely agree. More options is almost always better for the consumer.

1

u/csmicfool 6h ago

I worked in this industry for about 10 years and our team helped build channel pipelines for sites like AirBnb, Homeaway and VRBO (both generations).

We pushed really hard for "all-inclusive" rates early on since our platform was originally built for boutique hotels.

The hosts/property-managers DEMANDED the fees. At first they would be conditional based on length of stay, and even included mid-stay cleanings in some cases. Usually very reasonable prices. When AirBnB got big they had a big price inflation where nightly rates quadrupled in about a year. The next quick way to raise revenue for the less creative hosts was to add more fees so their nightly rate doesn't look higher than a competitor.

The fees are not the same on one platform from another because the hosts often use them to also offset the booking platform fees. VRBO often cheaper than AirBnB for this reason.

There's a lot of strategy that goes into the fees for the most "benevolent" managers, but for the small hosts with just one or two properties, or in an exclusive location without competition, they tend to start taking advantage.

1

u/Bobb_o 6h ago

Because consumers like (and convert more) when they see a low price first. Getting to the checkout page is a big hurdle.

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u/OvulatingScrotum 5h ago

It looks cheaper. It’s just a different ways to look cheaper without actually being cheaper. Sneaky shit.

People accuse corporates for doing this sneaky, hidden fee shit, but guess what? Normal people do it too

1

u/CogentCogitations 4h ago

Because there is no cleaning while you are there. Renting a home is more catered toward a slightly longer stay. And there is no reason to charge someone staying for a week 7x as much for cleaning as someone staying for a night when in both cases it will only be cleaned once.

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u/MultiGeometry 7h ago

I’ve had issues with hosts. While I didn’t get any money taken off my stay I did get the entire cleaning fee returned.

Anecdotal. I still think it should be built in. There’s so much corruption related to the cleaning fee. I know someone who charges a cleaning fee and then does the cleaning themselves. That feels scummy. As the owner, you should only be passing on expenses when you’re actually incurring them. And then there’s all the times you get charged a $300 cleaning fee and you walk in and you question what exactly the cleaning crew actually did for cleaning.