Feb up of Airbnb rip off pricing - help me find alternatives for UK s/c hols

[Montuaklighthouse]

As the title says, I am totally fed up of the rip off / random pricing of Airbnb, especially for UK short breaks / self-catering hols.

We typically go away 2-3 times a year in the UK, usually a week at Easter and the May or Oct half terms and sometimes in the summer and for years we’ve used Airbnb, but the last couple of years the extortionate ‘fees’ for Airbnb / cleaning etc have really put me off now.

I decided to start cross-checking Airbnb listings against the owner listings, when it was a company listing it and have realised there is sometimes a big difference in the price tag - one place was listed as £1,400 on Airbnb and then £960 via the cottage agency site! Obviously that’s a no brainer, but it got me wondering about which of these self-catering agencies are good / bad / known quantity.

Would like to hear any recommendations for alternatives to Airbnb, especially for coastal cottages around UK - Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Norfolk, Suffolk are our usual haunts!

I agree about hidden charges and extra ones for things that are not really optional. Should be outlawed as part of a modern Consumer Act.

Hope you find somewhere good and have a lovely time OP.

I don't clean an Airbnb if I am being charged a cleaning fee- why would you do that?

Air bnd usually charge one of the highest fees to hosts. Around 15%. V 12% booking.com or others around 10%.

So you will almost always find it 10-15% cheaper booking direct.

Host fees are very low - 3%. That's why hosts prefer it to booking.com. They charge 15% guest fee so the costs are passed on to guest not host.

@FortyElephants - no they def aren’t 3% to hosts. I am a host, and I have to pay 15% of booking to air bnb. ( most my guests are direct bookings luckily). I don’t charge any cleaning fees

@FortyElephants - host only fees are 14-16%
www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/how-much-does-airbnb-charge-hosts-288

Airbnb is just a platform that individuals and holiday cottage companies use to take bookings. It's up to the individual host what price they charge. I have a holiday let which I advertise via Airbnb and we don't change cleaning fees as I find them annoying personally.

I take pride in leaving our property immaculate and I want our guests to enjoy their holiday, in short, I treat our guests as I would want to be treated. There will be a lot of variation between properties on Airbnb as there will be with any booking platform. Best to read the reviews.

We book a lot via Vrbo but I do see cleaning fees there as well, I don't mind as such but I only empty bins and make sure no dishes are left behind dirty.

I also do check if the owner runs a website themselves. I normally find it cheaper as they don't have the booking fees taken away and when we are "repeat offenders" we always book directly.

Try ‘nature house’ also as a booking platform. It’s in several European countries now, not sure about Uk. But it’s usually rentals with lower environmental impact

I usually find a place on Airbnb (as their search function is good), then find the same property on Booking.com or privately.

I save £100s that way.

I'm also a host and we are both right

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/1857

Yes I see that. Though most listings don't work like this, most have split fees.

That changed some time ago for all new listings.
Any places who were already on there can choose whether to do the old service fee (low for host /high for guest) or go onto flat rate 15% + VAT host fee.
Newer listings don't have the choice.
I had mine listed both on bookings and Air and the commission was roughly the same to me for each.
Prices have gone up though but that's due to the new tax laws coming in for holiday lettings and usual
increase in utilities/ running costs.

Really??
I set up a new listing less than a year ago and I pay the split fee as usual. This link suggests that the split fee is still the most common - the year at the bottom is 2025. I can't see anything online saying that split fees have been phased out.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/1857