5 ms·

airbnb lost me forever at, "Oh, that'll be another 10%" and then again at "Yeah, that $89/night place is actually $264/night after all the fees and ridiculousne

airbnb lost me forever at, "Oh, that'll be another 10%" and then again at "Yeah, that $89/night place is actually $264/night after all the fees and ridiculousness." Fraud all the way down... I don't care where they are. I will never stay at one of my own free will.

deadmanoncampus 7y ago
That's not true. For some of my properties, they charge about 25% more including taxes and service charge. For some properties, it's 31%. SYou won't end up paying three times as much, obviously.
- valley-green 7y ago
  I feel like this is a paid post #ad #advertisement
starpilot 7y ago
That'll be a $300 cleaning fee for 2 nights, oh and here's a snippy message about how you left hair in the drain and used an extra towel. Be a dear and don't use the toilet next time too, that's extra.
- deadmanoncampus 7y ago
  The cleaning fee isn't supposed to be higher than 10%. You can ask for a refund through Airbnb.
  - starpilot 7y ago
    If you charge a high cleaning fee it's utter bullshit to expect guests to leave the place spotless. I am paying you to clean it. The hair in the drain thing actually happened. Any human in your house will leave hair, that is part of normal cleaning in an occupied place along with washing sheets and towels. This is why I've switched to hotels and hostels. The hospitality contract is far more explicit, I don't need to deal with asshole hosts on vacation.
    - nitelord 7y ago
      In the roughly 10 times I've stayed in an Airbnb I've never had an issue with the condition I've left the place. Often times my family (and dog) have made a mess, but always do some clean-up before leaving. Cleaning fees are typically $20-60 for the stay which seems reasonable for cleaning an entire home. Normally the airbnb service fees are larger than the cleaning fee. There are certainly some hosts who are charging high cleaning fees to lower their nightly amount, however.
      - deadmanoncampus 7y ago
        There's a rule it shouldn't be higher than 10%. In India, nobody I know charges a cleaning fee.
  - reverend_gonzo 7y ago
    Where do you get that? And 10% of what? If someone books a day, yes, the cleaning fee is more than 10% of that. Don’t like it? Go get a hotel where it’s baked into every night.
  - PakG1 7y ago
    If this is true, then how do people get charged more than 10%? That's simple webform input validation on the listing process.
- monksy 7y ago
  Oh you've gotten that too? The last time I stayed in an Airbnb house I got a laundry list of accusations. I challenged them as well. (They even went as far as saying that I used too many rolls of toilet paper that weekend) It's a good thing I'm not easily embarrassed.
- artiscode 7y ago
  They lost me there as well. €200 per night, cleaning fee on top and yet they had the audacity to leave a handwritten note instructing to leave around €3,- per guest, per night, as pillow money. They tried justifying it as tourist tax, which was odd. Long story short, I did not end up paying and now I cannot book at any property this particular company lets out on airbnb. Next time I stayed in a hotel for €60,- per night and ended up getting exactly what I paid for - a room with a bed and shower, Mr. Coffee in the morning and no extra fees on top. Didn't get charged extra for the mess I made when I hurried out in the morning, leaving towels on the bathroom floor and everything. edit: spelling and formatting
ganitarashid 7y ago
Weird, my Airbnb experiences have almost all been awesome. So much better than hotels in my opinion
Lucadg 7y ago
They are experimenting with fees paid totally by Hosts now, as in Booking.com. At the end it's always the guest who puts the money on the table but it may be less painful as you don't see it. Ultimately the problem is that the fees are too high considerig the service provided by the platforms.
Carpetsmoker 7y ago
Hidden fees like that are not legal in the EU, although enforcement differs per country.
- kortilla 7y ago
  They aren’t hidden. They show up right on the details page for a rental. The frustrating part is that they aren’t incorporated into the nightly rate which is what the listings page shows.
  - Carpetsmoker 7y ago
    Well, we could argue semantics, but that sounds like a hidden fee to me: advertise with one price, while there is a second "hidden" one later on. Can also call it "additional charges" or something. Either way, it's not legal: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/unfair-treatment/unfair-pricing/index_en.htm https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/unfair-treat... and https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4453_en.htm https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4453_en.htm I dealt with this issue a few years ago at a job I worked at for a similar service to AirBnB, the original design was list an accommodation for, say, €500, and then add-on €25 booking costs and insurance later on in the checkout process. We had to change it to list the full price up front. Enforcement varies per country; in the Netherlands it's quite strong and you run a real risk of fines, but in UK it's very weak and it's common for there to be additional or hidden charges. It's interesting how the "sell an item" pages for ebay.co.uk and ebay.nl differ: on the .nl site it's very clear up-front what you will pay exactly, on the UK site it's not even clear you have to pay anything unless you follow 3 links.
    - kortilla 7y ago
      You’re not following. It’s not that they change the total between screens, it’s that they advertise the nightly rate. This is not illegal since this is how it works in Europe as well.
      - Carpetsmoker 7y ago
postsantum 7y ago
Booking does this as well. I almost paid an exorbitant cleaning fee in Portugal once. I noticed the tiny block of text informing me of "cleaning fee" that was two times the rate only after reading reviews

deadmanoncampus 7y ago

That's not true. For some of my properties, they charge about 25% more including taxes and service charge. For some properties, it's 31%. SYou won't end up paying three times as much, obviously.

valley-green 7y ago
I feel like this is a paid post #ad #advertisement

starpilot 7y ago

That'll be a $300 cleaning fee for 2 nights, oh and here's a snippy message about how you left hair in the drain and used an extra towel. Be a dear and don't use the toilet next time too, that's extra.

deadmanoncampus 7y ago
The cleaning fee isn't supposed to be higher than 10%. You can ask for a refund through Airbnb.
- starpilot 7y ago
  If you charge a high cleaning fee it's utter bullshit to expect guests to leave the place spotless. I am paying you to clean it. The hair in the drain thing actually happened. Any human in your house will leave hair, that is part of normal cleaning in an occupied place along with washing sheets and towels. This is why I've switched to hotels and hostels. The hospitality contract is far more explicit, I don't need to deal with asshole hosts on vacation.
  - nitelord 7y ago
    In the roughly 10 times I've stayed in an Airbnb I've never had an issue with the condition I've left the place. Often times my family (and dog) have made a mess, but always do some clean-up before leaving. Cleaning fees are typically $20-60 for the stay which seems reasonable for cleaning an entire home. Normally the airbnb service fees are larger than the cleaning fee. There are certainly some hosts who are charging high cleaning fees to lower their nightly amount, however.
    - deadmanoncampus 7y ago
      There's a rule it shouldn't be higher than 10%. In India, nobody I know charges a cleaning fee.
- reverend_gonzo 7y ago
  Where do you get that? And 10% of what? If someone books a day, yes, the cleaning fee is more than 10% of that. Don’t like it? Go get a hotel where it’s baked into every night.
- PakG1 7y ago
  If this is true, then how do people get charged more than 10%? That's simple webform input validation on the listing process.
monksy 7y ago
Oh you've gotten that too? The last time I stayed in an Airbnb house I got a laundry list of accusations. I challenged them as well. (They even went as far as saying that I used too many rolls of toilet paper that weekend) It's a good thing I'm not easily embarrassed.
artiscode 7y ago
They lost me there as well. €200 per night, cleaning fee on top and yet they had the audacity to leave a handwritten note instructing to leave around €3,- per guest, per night, as pillow money. They tried justifying it as tourist tax, which was odd. Long story short, I did not end up paying and now I cannot book at any property this particular company lets out on airbnb. Next time I stayed in a hotel for €60,- per night and ended up getting exactly what I paid for - a room with a bed and shower, Mr. Coffee in the morning and no extra fees on top. Didn't get charged extra for the mess I made when I hurried out in the morning, leaving towels on the bathroom floor and everything. edit: spelling and formatting

ganitarashid 7y ago

Weird, my Airbnb experiences have almost all been awesome. So much better than hotels in my opinion

Lucadg 7y ago

They are experimenting with fees paid totally by Hosts now, as in Booking.com. At the end it's always the guest who puts the money on the table but it may be less painful as you don't see it. Ultimately the problem is that the fees are too high considerig the service provided by the platforms.

Carpetsmoker 7y ago

Hidden fees like that are not legal in the EU, although enforcement differs per country.

kortilla 7y ago
They aren’t hidden. They show up right on the details page for a rental. The frustrating part is that they aren’t incorporated into the nightly rate which is what the listings page shows.
- Carpetsmoker 7y ago
  Well, we could argue semantics, but that sounds like a hidden fee to me: advertise with one price, while there is a second "hidden" one later on. Can also call it "additional charges" or something. Either way, it's not legal: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/unfair-treatment/unfair-pricing/index_en.htm https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/unfair-treat... and https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4453_en.htm https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4453_en.htm I dealt with this issue a few years ago at a job I worked at for a similar service to AirBnB, the original design was list an accommodation for, say, €500, and then add-on €25 booking costs and insurance later on in the checkout process. We had to change it to list the full price up front. Enforcement varies per country; in the Netherlands it's quite strong and you run a real risk of fines, but in UK it's very weak and it's common for there to be additional or hidden charges. It's interesting how the "sell an item" pages for ebay.co.uk and ebay.nl differ: on the .nl site it's very clear up-front what you will pay exactly, on the UK site it's not even clear you have to pay anything unless you follow 3 links.
  - kortilla 7y ago
    You’re not following. It’s not that they change the total between screens, it’s that they advertise the nightly rate. This is not illegal since this is how it works in Europe as well.
    - Carpetsmoker 7y ago

postsantum 7y ago

Booking does this as well. I almost paid an exorbitant cleaning fee in Portugal once. I noticed the tiny block of text informing me of "cleaning fee" that was two times the rate only after reading reviews