Airbnb Inc. will make cleaning fee costs more transparent earlier in the search process, potentially solving some of the longstanding customer complaints.
Starting sometime in December, the company will allow guests to filter their search results by the total cost of the stay before taxes but including the cleaning costs.
This means that the sometimes-exorbitant cleaning fees will be included in previewed prices. Airbnb users will have a toggle switch to display the total cost of nightly rates and fees instead of just the nightly rate, which is currently the only cost customers see in the early stages of a rental search.
Once a customer selects the feature, the total price will display on maps, in wish lists, in itineraries, and when searching by price range, Airbnb Chief Executive Brian Chesky said.
“We want everyone to see it. We want people to turn it on,” Chesky, one of Airbnb’s co-founders, told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The feature will stay turned on as long as the person is logged in, so he says it doesn’t need to be selected every time.
The decision comes after Airbnb fielded several complaints and received social media backlash in 2021 after announcing a review of its fees. Airbnb initially said it had plans to make the change in December 2021.
The CEO said it took nearly a year to make the change because the company sought feedback from hosts and guests, which turned into a general pricing review.
The company tested defaulting to displaying the total cost of the stay, a feature already required by law in certain countries, including those in the European Union, said the WSJ. When Airbnb displayed the total price without any reference to the change, however, people were confused, Chesky said.
“The prices do look more expensive. They don’t know why they’re more expensive, and certainly, that’s not helpful to business,” he says. He added that Airbnb needed extra time to get the design of the display right, noting that tapping on and off allows people to become aware of what changes were made in the display.
Airbnb also said it plans to make pre-departure requirements related to cleaning easier to find on listings so people can evaluate them before they book, Chesky said. Airbnb is also updating guidelines for hosts on what is considered a reasonable task. Some requirements, such as locking doors and turning off lights, are reasonable, but Chesky said that others, such as vacuuming and doing laundry, cross a line.
“These are chores, and we don’t think that people should have to do unreasonable chores,”
