Airbnb Fees Slammed By Guests As Prices Surge

Airbnb has faced increased criticism this week after disgruntled guests took to social media to express displeasure over increased prices.

Customers have been sharing their frustrations with outrageous cleaning fees, rules and intrusive hosts. Some have stated that hotels are a more suitable alternative.

Others pointed out how similarly popular service apps, like Uber, started out with reasonable prices but later became too expensive.

On Tuesday, Airbnb released a blog post that outlined why fees have risen, which explained cleaning fees, nightly rates, service fees and occupancy taxes.

“Hosts set their cleaning fee and nightly rate based on a number of relevant factors including the home’s size, location, guest capacity, amenities and more. We believe that Hosts having autonomy over their own pricing helps empower them to achieve success on our platform," the company said.

Hosts appear to be adjusting rates to growing demand.

Airbnb also shared that it gives hosts tips on how to keep cleaning fees down, like using this fee to only cover cleaning of the stay, not to make any extra funds. It also outlines that 45% of listings don’t require any type of cleaning fee.

Service fees are something that Airbnb sets, not the hosts, and as for the occupancy taxes, these are set by the local government the stay is located in, and are a fixed rate as well.

“Catherine Powell, Airbnb’s Global Head of Hosting, today assigned a team under her purview to focus on conducting a comprehensive review of our fees and making recommendations where appropriate — with the objective of making pricing even more transparent and easy for Hosts and guests to navigate. This process will include consultation with members of our community, including our Host Advisory Board,” according to Airbnb.

These reviews and recommendations are slated to be completed and put in place by Dec. 15.