Air B &B ridiculous charges

[notjudgingjustasking]

Just wondering what others think. We've used Air B&B amongst other sites very many times very successfully in the past but now that they seem to have marginalised other options like home away owners direct etc their prices seem crazy high.
They give a headline price of say £200 per night but then when you look at booking there's now a service fee and a cleaning fee. Surely all this should be in the headline price?
I love staying in a private property because of the freedom and privacy but looking at our plans for this year it actually works out a similar price to stay in a nice hotel wi th breakfast.
Am I imagining this? I doubt the property owners are benefitting from these extra charges.
What is a service fee?

[Kazzyhoward]

Too many amateurs using AirBNB as it's so easy to set yourself up as a host. Luckily, their listings are usually poor, so you can tell which ones are professional and who are the amateurs/chancers. Unless there are lots of photos and a very detailed description of the property, I won't even think of booking. Then I go on to check reviews etc - the first sign of any themes (i.e. the same issue repeated or lots of average/low reviews) and I walk away. But then again, I only use AirBNB as a last resort anyway. Last time was in Venice about 3/4 years ago - it was OK, kind of, but still pretty poor despite good ratings - location not as described, amenities not as described, faulty shower, no iron, only 1 cooker ring working (out of 4).

[Oliversmumsarmy]

I won't use Air BnB again after an owner cancelled a week before our trip to Legoland in Denmark

This is one of the things I look at before I book.

Sometimes you can tell if a host has form for this.

[BritWifeinUSA]

Another thing I don’t like with Air BnB is that the hosts can give the guests a rating. Yes, yes, I get it that if someone absolutely trashes your place you hosts want a platform where you can “warn” others about the guests. But such damage is a matter for the police. Leaving a bad score on air BnB is not going to punish the guest or get your place fixed and back in the shape it should be.

My score as a guest dropped when I stayed a week in a room (where no cleaning products were provided) and the host complained that the carpet had to be vacuumed after I left! He charged a cleaning fee anyway! And surely you would vacuum a room at least once a week anyway and certainly after a guest has gone and before the next one arrives. He left a review saying he wants to “make sure no other host has the same experience”.

[ritzbiscuits]

I won't use Air BnB again after an owner cancelled a week before our trip to Legoland in Denmark. No other suitable accommodation available so I ended up paying double the price to book a campsite chalet last minute! Only compensation was a refund and 10% off booking an alternative which was useless. I know friends this has happened to as well, just too risky when travelling with kids.

Service and cleaning fees have risen astronomically. For our latest holiday to Copenhagen we're going in a hotel instead. It was cheaper and we get a lovely buffet breakfast included.

[MinnieMountain]

It seems to work best when staying in a room only.
I find it hard to find reasonable value hotel/b&b single rooms when I go away by myself.
I've just booked a room for a night which only has £5 in added fees.

[bakedbeanzontoast]

I've noticed this in Edinburgh, I have relations there and used air bnb and noticed the prices have went far higher. I generally stick to premier inn et al now.

[Sportsnight]

I flot between the two. It’s easier when travelling with young kids to have multiple rooms so that you don’t have to stay awake on the dark in a family room post bedtime. If I’m travelling alone I’ll usually go for a hotel instead as facilities are better. There are some ludicrously highly priced places - but still some decent bargains.

[Oliversmumsarmy]

Personally you know how much the rental is before you pay.

If you don’t like the amount you can always not go ahead.

Dp was a firm advocate of hotels and took a lot of persuading to try a villa holiday.

Even on the plane he was saying if we didn’t like it we could always book into a local hotel.

He now sees the light and doesn’t want to go into a hotel again.

Dp has some quite bad scarring on his torso because of his cancer operations and won’t use a public/hotel swimming pool so having our own private pool is for him a definite plus.

We are moving in a few months and I am keeping an eye on the AIRbnbs in certain areas as we will probably put furniture and cats into new place and we will go into an Airbnb for a month so we can get the place sorted. (New kitchen new bathroom, new flooring, painting etc)

They have their place and getting rid of them will just make things a lot awkward for those trips and stays when a hotel just won’t do

[Dowser]

I’ve never used them. Much rather book direct with the owner.
Wouldn’t even consider it now after reading this thread

[HelloClouds]

What's a cheaper alternative to airbnb? I think it's a bit tedious trying to track down a host directly, there must be another similar reputable site out there

For villas in Spain a better alternative is //spain-holiday.com. Most enquiries go directly to the owners (at least at the moment!) and so you're not paying the extra service charges.

[MaudebeGonne]

I live in a tourist hotspot, and it is really hard to get a long term family home to rent because so many landlords seem to prefer Air BnB lets. I am hoping the arse falls out of it before we need to move again.

[Kazzyhoward]

What's a cheaper alternative to airbnb? I think it's a bit tedious trying to track down a host directly, there must be another similar reputable site out there

Just google for uk holiday homes. There are loads of "directory" style sites. Although some have minimum numbers of nights, plenty offer 1 or 2 nights. Full variety of homes from studio apartments through to 3/4/5 bedroom homes. You could also google for apartments in your specific city - there are also city/location specific directory sites and plenty of private websites. Yes, it'll take some time and effort to find what you want - if you don't want to do that, then you need to use a site like AirBnB - people are willing to pay for it for a reason - usually ease/convenience!

[astrorosa]

What's a cheaper alternative to airbnb? I think it's a bit tedious trying to track down a host directly, there must be another similar reputable site out there

[seltaeb]

And just to add the map locations on Airbnb are not necessarily accurate - a place out in the country down a rough lane is shown as being in the middle of a town in the area I visit.

[seltaeb]

Borneobabe has summed up Airbnb nicely. I have stayed in many of the AIrbnbs in a particular area and would be very unlikely to return to any of them.

[Sallysize14]

I’ve just been considering AirBnB for the first time and was appalled at the completely unrealistic rates versus a decent hotel.

Thought it must be me........

[CodenameVillanelle]

Airbnb takes their profits from guests not hosts. Hosts pay a very small fee from each booking but the bigger charge is the guest service charge.

[JoeGargery]

Or Perhaps the fees Airbnb charges hosts are much higher?

[JoeGargery]

Sure, @codenamevillanelle, I understand what you are saying. But even the place we stayed last year has a vastly different price on Airbnb and other sites. So perhaps it’s the effect of seeing what others charge on there. I dunno. I’m just saying what I observe.

[CodenameVillanelle]

@joegargery the hosts set the per person fees. The hosts set every bit of the fees apart from the service charge, and that is a % of the fee set by the host.
None of what people are complaining about it set by Airbnb.

[JoeGargery]

The per person fees have changed, I believe. Booked last year in Italy and it was way cheaper as a big group (2 families). Now, even searching using no of people and exact dates, the headline prices seem reasonable but then when you click through to booking, you’re being charged multiple times the price you clicked on.

We went through another villa booking site that very obviously charges per property and saved thousands.

Even trying to book for a work trip to a UK city recently worked out way more than a hotel, or even booking.com.

[CodenameVillanelle]

Airbnb hosts set their own rates
Airbnb add a service charge (which is their commission) but the nightly rate, cleaning fee, extra person charge are all set by the hosts. Cleaning fees and extra guest charges are optional, as are deposits. And hosts will only charge what they think people will pay...

[Oliversmumsarmy]

We just add on the cleaning and booking fees and divide by the number of days we are there for,

It always works out cheaper than a hotel

[Oliversmumsarmy]

The only problem with hotels are there are 4 of us.
Booking 2 rooms becomes very expensive and even then we like to come back in the evening and watch our own TVs or go to bed or have a quiet drink and you can’t do all of that with 4 people in one hotel room.

We also book villas with their own private swimming pool and again you don’t get that in a hotel

We find because we spend the day lazing around the pool and having brunch and drinks that we have bought from the local supermarket it works out so much cheaper than ordering from a waiter by the pool and being charged hotel prices

[BritWifeinUSA]

We have had many successful air BnB stays. There has been the occasional problem but that’s life. We were looking last weekend at Air BnBs for a trip we are taking to my husband’s home town in Southern California later this year. Found the perfect place just around the corner from the restaurant where he had his first weekend job as a teenager washing the dishes. When we went to book it we saw a $275 cleaning fee! We were only wanting to stay 3 nights. Just 2 of us. No kids or dogs. $275! Who’s doing the cleaning? Madonna? Or does the owner clean it for 10 hours? We didn’t book it and opted for a hotel instead.