Airbnb Service Fee Options

[Josh Ball]

I've recently switch to the "simplified pricing" that takes the 15% from each payout but doesn't display the additional "service fee" to the guests booking. I'm curious your take on it & whether you believe it to be beneficial? Do you find guests lean towards properties that have it already included in the nightly rate or would rather see the "service fee" charged by Airbnb?

[Collin Hays]

All that matters is the grand total. And with the ever-increasing fees of Airbnb and VRBO, the totals are getting larger all of the time.

Interesting, in the first quarter of 2025, our direct bookings are DOUBLE what they were in 2024.  They are now about 22 percent of our bookings.  We are not doing anything different. I suspect guests are doing a lot more work on their own to find direct booking sites, due to the level of fees.  

As is normal in a free market economy, greed eventually consumes itself.