What is the Simplified Airbnb Pricing Tool and what’s changing?
On Dec 7, 2020, simplified pricing will be applied to all your listings. Simplified Airbnb Pricing Tool is a fee structure that gives you more control over your price and helps attract more guests by eliminating the guest service fee. Split-fee pricing will no longer be available for your listings. That means a 15% service fee will be deducted from your payouts, and no fee will be charged to your guests—what you set is what guests will pay. Existing bookings won’t be affected, but this change will apply to all bookings made on or after December 7th.
Is this host-only fee completely new? No, it isn’t. The host-only fee is not new. It used to be an option, but now is now mandatory. For several years, bigger property managers had been offered the choice to switch to the host-only fee.
What do you need to do for Simplified Airbnb Pricing Tool?
- Check your prices – Since a larger service fee will be deducted from your payouts, you may want to adjust your prices through our VRMS to ensure your earnings don’t change. Before adjusting your prices, keep in mind that it’s important to stay competitive. Airbnb will also highlight the fact that there is no guest service fee added to the host’s rates, making the listings more attractive to guests. According to the platform, hosts that have decided to switch to the simplified Airbnb pricing tool have seen an overall increase in their bookings of about +17%.
- Add your VAT number. To prepare for this change, please make sure that you have added your VAT information to ensure Airbnb does not withhold VAT on your host fee on Airbnb.
*Average observed bookings increase for hosts using simplified Airbnb pricing tool in Europe between November 2019 and February 2020 . Actual results may vary for each host.
How to adjust your prices?
- Your new service fee structure will apply to all bookings made on or after December 7th, 2020 at 00.00 UTC. Wait until right before then to make any adjustments.
- Use [your vacation rental channel manager] to check the prices on all of the platforms you use.
- On December 7th (or earlier if you switch before then), check that your prices are what you expect. You can test this by searching for the same trip dates across the different platforms you use. For example, compare the prices for a trip from December 20-23 to make sure your prices are still consistent.
- Finally, keep in mind that there may be additional factors like discounts and promotions that are causing price differences.
How to update pricing in Avantio ?
You can set it up in the Price Increase box located in the Airbnb wizard pre-configuration:
Can a host switch to Simplified Airbnb Pricing Tool before Dec 7, 2020? You can switch now. It will make the transition smoother and you can update your prices before the switch. The Simplified Airbnb Pricing Tool helps you set the same prices on different platforms and on meta-search. It may also help you access the benefits of more control over your price sooner, such as improved guest visibility and more competitive pricing.
Updates to Airbnb’s guest and host reliability standards
Airbnb is updating their guest and host reliability standards to continue to foster a foundation of trust within their community. They are expanding their guest reliability standards to include new criteria in the following areas:
● Unauthorized late checkouts
● Disregard of check-in time periods
● Unauthorized pets (excluding any assistance animals)
● Interference or removal of approved security devices
● Lack of respect for your house rules that reflect Airbnb’s policies
Between now and the end of the year, Airbnb is going to invest in improvements to their systems and processes to help make progress toward ensuring consistent enforcement, quicker response times, and more overall accountability with their guest community.
Airbnb has also identified a few signals that point to good hosting on their platform, which includes:
● Accuracy of listing descriptions and photos
● Dependability as a host
● Host responsiveness
● High star ratings
● Hosts that uphold Airbnb’s community standards
In the same way that Airbnb will be removing guests to help protect the Airbnb community, they will also be suspending or removing listings that show a consistent pattern of serious issues or that regularly received low review ratings and failed to meet guest expectations. In most cases, hosts with impacted listings have already been notified. Please visit your Performance Hub on Airbnb for more info.
Airbnb has built an appeals process to help address any concerns. To learn more about submitting an appeal, please visit Airbnb’s Help Center. To stay up-to-date on Airbnb’s responses to host feedback, please review their Leadership Updates and provide feedback within their Community Center.
Airbnb hosts need to commit to Covid-19 safety practices
Airbnb has developed a standard of cleaning, made specifically for hosts. Earlier this year, they partnered with health and hospitality experts to create their enhanced cleaning protocol, a set of guidelines for cleaning and sanitization. These guidelines were developed with your well-being in mind, from recommended gear to step-by-step checklists.
Airbnb is now requiring their host community to agree to their 5-step Enhanced Cleaning Process, and wear masks and socially distance when interacting with guests. Airbnb’s guest community will also agree to wear masks and socially distance when they confirm a booking on Airbnb. Hosts that don’t agree to these requirements by November 20, 2020, may have their calendars blocked from future bookings.
Please login to your Airbnb account to review and agree to these commitments.
By following this cleaning process, you’ll help guests feel more comfortable staying in your space, and take significant steps toward protecting yourself, your guests, and the global Airbnb community.
