3 ms·

I believe the real problem is pricing. The ability to advertise $30 (bait) and charge $50 (switch) basically begs for scams like this.

spaetzleesser 6y ago
Exactly. Same for phone plans. The advertised price should be the price you pay. They shouldn’t be able to add random fees they just make up.
- ghaff 6y ago
  It's unfortunately true with a ton of things: hotels, rental cars, etc. Taxes, franchise fees, other taxes, facilities charges, etc. can all add on 20% or more. Especially if you're comparison shopping, you really need to verify whether you're looking at a base fee or the final tally.
  - baskire 6y ago
    Airbnb does this all the time. Their advertised prices don’t include cleaning fees. If Airbnb included those fees the pricing would often come out higher than a hotel in many cases. And hotels include cleaning costs as part of the nightly rate
    - josho 6y ago
      Many hotels have responded by adding “resort fees” on top of the base rate. This is all attributable to weak consumer protection laws.
      - ghaff 6y ago
        Resort fees aren't new. Perhaps they've become more common but I haven't noticed. The more common issue with hotels, which isn't really their fault, is you might have 5 different taxes added to the bill which can add up to a good 20% of the total bill.
    - arebop 6y ago
      If you search for a certain date range, Airbnb will calculate and display the full price for each property on the SERP. It makes sense to compare asymptotically when you don't know the length of stay. The cable and telephone companies billing practices on the other hand are purely deceptive with no utility for the consumer.
    - loftyal 6y ago
      Try airbnb.com.au Australia made legislation requiring companies to give the full price.
      - spaetzleesser 6y ago
        I think requiring to advertise full price is even more market friendly than sneaking in more fees. This just incentivizes dishonest behavior. It’s hard to advocate against such a rule. The US health system is also in dire need of such a rule.
    - spaetzleesser 6y ago
      I have had several cases recently where the added fees almost doubled up the final price making the search feature almost useless.
- tyingq 6y ago
  Airline fares are easy to compare because the DOT compels them to make it so. https://www.transportation.gov/policy/aviation-policy/airline-rules-fares#DisclosureFullFares https://www.transportation.gov/policy/aviation-policy/airlin... This is one area where regulation is probably the only real solution.

spaetzleesser 6y ago

Exactly. Same for phone plans. The advertised price should be the price you pay. They shouldn’t be able to add random fees they just make up.

ghaff 6y ago
It's unfortunately true with a ton of things: hotels, rental cars, etc. Taxes, franchise fees, other taxes, facilities charges, etc. can all add on 20% or more. Especially if you're comparison shopping, you really need to verify whether you're looking at a base fee or the final tally.
- baskire 6y ago
  Airbnb does this all the time. Their advertised prices don’t include cleaning fees. If Airbnb included those fees the pricing would often come out higher than a hotel in many cases. And hotels include cleaning costs as part of the nightly rate
  - josho 6y ago
    Many hotels have responded by adding “resort fees” on top of the base rate. This is all attributable to weak consumer protection laws.
    - ghaff 6y ago
      Resort fees aren't new. Perhaps they've become more common but I haven't noticed. The more common issue with hotels, which isn't really their fault, is you might have 5 different taxes added to the bill which can add up to a good 20% of the total bill.
  - arebop 6y ago
    If you search for a certain date range, Airbnb will calculate and display the full price for each property on the SERP. It makes sense to compare asymptotically when you don't know the length of stay. The cable and telephone companies billing practices on the other hand are purely deceptive with no utility for the consumer.
  - loftyal 6y ago
    Try airbnb.com.au Australia made legislation requiring companies to give the full price.
    - spaetzleesser 6y ago
      I think requiring to advertise full price is even more market friendly than sneaking in more fees. This just incentivizes dishonest behavior. It’s hard to advocate against such a rule. The US health system is also in dire need of such a rule.
  - spaetzleesser 6y ago
    I have had several cases recently where the added fees almost doubled up the final price making the search feature almost useless.
tyingq 6y ago
Airline fares are easy to compare because the DOT compels them to make it so. https://www.transportation.gov/policy/aviation-policy/airline-rules-fares#DisclosureFullFares https://www.transportation.gov/policy/aviation-policy/airlin... This is one area where regulation is probably the only real solution.