After facing years of “hidden fees” complaints, Airbnb is making some welcome changes. Next month, the rental platform is introducing a new feature called the “display total price” button. This feature will display an Airbnb stay’s total cost (including service fees) in your search results right off the bat.
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“I’ve heard you loud and clear — you feel like prices aren’t transparent,” Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky tweeted on November 7 alongside a video demonstration of the new feature. “When you turn this on, you’ll see the total price (before taxes), as well as on the map, price filter, and listing page. You can also view a full price breakdown with Airbnb’s service fee, discounts, and taxes.”
He noted that the site’s search ranking algorithm will prioritize total price, ranking high-quality homes with the “best total prices” higher in search results.
“We started as an affordable alternative to hotels, and affordability is especially important today,” Chesky added.
Next month, Airbnb will also prioritize helping Hosts. New pricing and discounting tools will help them understand “the final price guests pay and how to set competitive prices.” The company will also encourage Hosts to clarify what chores they expect guests to perform ahead of time.
According to a press release, Airbnb will provide “guidance to Hosts that if they have checkout requests, they should be reasonable and displayed to guests before the book.”
The release continued: “Guests should not have to do unreasonable tasks such as stripping the beds, doing the laundry, or vacuuming when leaving their Airbnb. But we think it’s reasonable to ask guests to turn off the lights, throw food in the trash, and lock the doors — just like they would do in their own home.”
Hosts and guests can expect further details about these updated tools to be announced in the near future. The price display feature will begin rolling out in December in countries without pre-existing price display requirements.
