Worldwide: In a bid to increase competition with Booking.com, Airbnb has decided to eliminate guest fees for some property managers and hotels that sign up for its service from 4 June.
Under the updated business fees model, property managers that create accounts from that date and connect to Airbnb via software in the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions will be charged a 14 per cent host-only fee by default. Before now, the default was that Airbnb charged hosts a three to five per cent fixed fee, and guests paid a fee of between 0 and 20 per cent of the rate for the listing.
The home-sharing service has since informed hosts in an internal memo that existing and incoming property managers will have the choice to switch to a 14 per cent host-only fee “or a shared host and guess fee”.
Meanwhile, Skift is reporting that Airbnb now has a plan to change how booking fees are operated for professional hosts who sign up for its service beginning 4 June. From that date, the updated fee structure will be rolled out for professionally managed properties in Asia Pacific (except Japan), Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
The vast majority of hosts on Airbnb will still maintain access to the shared host (at three per cent) and guest fees. The new model will only be required for incoming professional hosts in the hospitality / hotel space that join Airbnb after 4 June.
In addition, Airbnb said the new fee structure was already working in positive fashion for those who had tested it out after hosts revealed it had led to a noticeable increase in bookings.
Airbnb said: “Many hosts provided feedback that our guest fee made it difficult for them to maintain full control over the price displayed to guests. We created the host-only fee structure to solve for this and give hosts more control.”
In other news, Robin Clifford, Airbnb territory manager for Northern Europe and serviced apartment lead for EMEA, will be appearing in a special session at Serviced Apartment Summit Europe in London in July.
Clifford will participate in a short, snapchat conversation on Day Two of the event, in which he will discuss issues surrounding the short-term rental and serviced apartment sectors as well as his company’s role in the space.
The only leadership conference for the serviced apartment, extended stay hotels / aparthotel, and short-term accommodation sectors, Serviced Apartment Summit Europe 2019 will take place from 1-2 July at Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge, London.
The event site can be found here.