Skift Take
Airbnb is clearly now well down the path toward a host-only fee structure. Chalk it up to its push toward onboarding hotels, which don't charge guest fees, and Airbnb's competition with Booking.com, which sees guest fees as unholy.
In a game-changing move to better compete against Booking.com, Airbnb is eliminating guest fees for many property managers and hotels that sign up for its service beginning June 4, Skift has learned.
Under the new business model, property managers that create accounts starting June 4 and connect to Airbnb via software in the Asia Pacific (except Japan), Europe, the Middle East, and Africa will be charged a 14 percent host-only fee by default. Until now, the default was that Airbnb charged hosts a 3 to 5 percent fixed fee, and guests paid a fee of up to 20 percent of the rate for the listing.
Existing and newly enrolled property managers will have the choice to switch to a 14 percent host-only fee "or a shared host and guess fee," Airbnb has informed hosts in an internal communication.
The fact that the business model change applies to property manager enrollees in Asia Pacific is significant. Speaking at
