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No breakdown at all before booking. Not sure how they think this is full transparency.
Well airbnb has blocked my whole calendar since I made a change, so I will be opening a support ticket. It seems pretty related.
I don't currently add a cleaning fee, I never have. I know I should, but in my situation I have chosen not to.
So are they not showing your cleaning fee in the breakdown?
Thanks for the update. If Airbnb is neglecting to show the breakdown, I will provide the guest an invoice/booking confirmation printed from OwnerRez showing the breakdown, given to them on arrival or placed in the unit for their arrival.
NEW THOUGHT - or even trigger a 'Channel Message" as a booking confirmation showing the breakdown.
I am going to go with the surcharge, otherwise anything else calculated off the rent will be affected. I use Beyond Pricing and they due to based on rent, so I would be giving up more to them just because airbnb is greedy.
UPDATE: I just made this change and despite the airbnb "fee transparency" the show it as part of the nightly rate somehow. They aren't showing any breakdown beyond nights and taxes.
I am thinking of trying the same approach as you mentioned about adding a Surcharge of 15.5% (or 18.?? % which some are saying is a more accurate calculation) instead of a "Rate Adjustment" to my Airbnb integration settings. I feel it is important for the customer to see the additional costs they are paying to use the Airbnb platform as opposed to booking direct. The Surcharge method would allow them to see the Airbnb Fees where a simple "Rate Adjustment" would not.
Does anyone else have any input as to whether or not this will violate any Airbnb rules?
I adjusted ABB rates upward by 15.5% as OR suggested for Rent & Surcharges. But now my cleaning fee, pet fee, and Safely Trust & Safely Fee all show 15.5% higher to the guest. Problem is that my listing states my pet fee is $75, but for people booking through ABB, that pet fee is showing as $86.83! To the guest, this is disceptive advertising!
How to address this?.....
Can I take off the ABB adjustment & add a surcharge line for ABB guests ("ABB Surcharge") of 15.5%? Or will ABB object and delist me for doing this? OR
Can I jusr change the % mark-up on ABB listings to a higher rate (so it would cover the extra cost on my surcharges) but only apply that to nightly rent? At least my pet fee charge would match the description in my listing.
Any ideas?
This has been a constant issue with many guests.
Extracts
Now I contact support. And post the following link.
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/140
However, select software-connected hosts may collect a security deposit off of the Airbnb platform. In these instances in which security deposits are permitted, they must be disclosed in the appropriate fee field so that it is disclosed to guests at checkout.
I give in and request via the resolution center.
Now he wants to cancel because it was not a line item at checkout.
How do you suggest I handle this?
it is clearly stated in the house rules.
How do you do this “security deposits are permitted, they must be disclosed in the appropriate fee field”?
This seems to be something OwnerRez needs to work with Airbnb, so their help matches how it works in practice or they are allowed to disclose the security deposit at checkout.
Summary response to Airbnb.
Also, please note it is not 15.5%. You have to account for snowball effect of fees on top of fees. I did a xlx ss to calculate it last year and came back with about 18%. Pricelabs just sent an email on the same topic and they came up with 18.34% adjustment to nightly rate and fees. They can probably explain it better than I https://youtu.be/PxeCISyAb9E . And I completely agree that hiding airbnb fees behind our backs is immoral at the very least.
PS I have a few more details on the same topic here https://www.ownerrez.com/forums/general-help/how-to-protect-your-payout-after-airbnbs-fee-update . I should've probably check the forum before posting - my bad. If admins are reading this and can move it, please feel free to do it.
I too believe what you are recommending is necessary. The customer needs to be able to see the cost of using the Airbnb service as opposed to booking direct.
I do not agree at all with this change Airbnb is making. Sure we can do a channel rate adjustment of 15.5 % to our Airbnb pricing to recoup our fees, but I believe the customer needs to know the "additional cost" they are paying to use the Airbnb service as opposed to booking direct. Without some sort of breakdown to show the guest the additional cost of using Airbnb, Airbnb comes out looking like a free service to the guest. Airbnb claims this is all about "Fee Transparency" in fact a direct quote from their site is; "Updating our fee structure to a single fee is part of Airbnb’s commitment to improving pricing transparency". But in reality, It's Airbnb's attempt to hide the cost of using their service from the customer.
I agree with you. I do not agree at all with this change Airbnb is making. Sure we can do a channel rate adjustment of 15.5 % to our Airbnb pricing to recoup our fees, but I believe the customer needs to know the "additional cost" they are paying to use the Airbnb service as opposed to booking direct. Without some sort of breakdown to show the guest the additional cost of using Airbnb, Airbnb comes out looking like a free service to the guest. Airbnb claims this is all about "Fee Transparency" in fact a direct quote from their site is; "Updating our fee structure to a single fee is part of Airbnb’s commitment to improving pricing transparency". But in reality, It's Airbnb's attempt to hide the cost of using their service from the customer.
This letter came into my email box from Pricelabs which IMO was interesting b/c I was forced into this host based model about a year ago (I was able to get back to split fee model eventually) and came to the same calculations - 15.5% are really 18.5% because of snowball effect of fees on top of fees. And to the most customers Airbnb will look like a generous benefactor with a greedy host charging them ridicules fees. IMHO I don't want that fee and possible displeasure and associated questions directed to me. I am not charging that fee so I do not think it is fair to expect me to represent it on Airbnb behave. YMMV
"Airbnb’s new 15.5% host-only fee takes effect October 27 — and if you’re connected to Airbnb through a property management system (PMS), this change directly affects your final payout.The fix is simple — and quick. You can keep your net payout the same by updating your Airbnb channel markup in your PMS, not in PriceLabs. PriceLabs pushes prices to your PMS, which then sends them to Airbnb — so the change must happen in your PMS settings.You just need to:
Watch this 2-minute video to understand the math behind it.
Want to go deeper?Join our live webinar in which PriceLabs experts break down the math behind the markup in simple terms and get your questions answered.Best regards,
Your PriceLabs Team"
PS Adjusting nightly rates and surcharges to higher values (from 17.2% total in split fees model to 18.5% in host based model obviously will increase the total the guest will have to pay by 1.3%. So, this upcoming Airbnb initiated change won't only shift the blame for ridicules fees to us but will make our listing more expansive and less attractive to our guests making our listings less competitive. Thoughts?
Same problem
Hi Claudia,
Instructions for setting that up can be found here - https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/capture-additional-fields-on-checkout-quote-acceptance
If you have any trouble with it, please reach out to help@ownerrez.com and our Helpdesk will be happy to assist!
Where do I add that renters have to provide ID while signing the rental agreement?
Hello, I'm 2 mo into using ownerez and have primarily had my property on Airbnb, which itself is a pretty well oiled machine. Now I want to have an option for direct booking that I can guide my family n friends to, if they ask. Is there an article on step by step directions on how to go about direct booking? What all agreements and coverage i need to have in place? Also, how do I market my property thru ownerez website? Where do I post it??
Would appreciate insights. Thank you
Hi - I'm curious if anyone is using Extenteam to handle their guest communication, and if so, what your experience has been like using their services.
Yes, we were aware that Airbnb was sending us notifications that messages had changed when there had not been a change in the message. Yesterday we rolled out a hotfix to avoid marking the old messages as unread. You can mark all of those as read.
If you see any old messages popping up as unread occurring today on forward, please send us a screenshot to help@ownerrez.com with additional detail and we'll take another look at it.
If you'd like to drop us a line at help@ownerrez.com, we can better help you there.
When you write in, please provide a few example bookings (the booking number will begin with ORB) where the commission is not calculating correctly, letting us know what you are expecting to see for each. If you have any screenshots, that will help as well.
We'll be watching for an email from you!
I’ve noticed recently that super old messages are resurfacing as unread even though I previously had a cleared inbox with no unread messages. Now I have to keep scrolling to find the boldfaced message to then click ‘all messages’ to show as read. (Clicking all messages no longer works if the boldface ‘new’ message isn’t showing on my screen) This example shows a message from April that had already been read, but shows as new in my inbox….confused.
Thanks. I thought I was posting in the feature requests. I'll repost at the link you sent me.
Hi Shannon!
This sounds like it would be a feature request! You should submit this here: https://www.ownerrez.com/forums/requests
Our team looks here to see what our users want, and others can upvote it to let us know they'd like to see this feature added!
Thanks you kindly, Blue!
For anyone who wants a more detailed walkthrough, what you do is go to the Hosted Websites page (under My Website section), press the "Menu Layout" button, then drag & drop the newly created page under the Links category and drop it into the Hidden category. Press Save, and it is now no longer showing up on the menu.
You can create a page and set it to "hidden from menu". That way, only those who have exact URL can open it (you can send them the URL) . in this example, access instructions are hidden from the menu, but when I email guests an email with URL, they can click and open it.
Hi, everyone!
We spoke with our contacts at Airbnb who have assured us that this Airbnb feature is limited to a small number of non-API connected hosts.
The article referenced in the feature request linked above is nearly a year old, and it should also be noted that the article makes no mention of September 30th for a start date. https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3764
If you are an API connected host with OwnerRez and received an email from Airbnb regarding this, please forward that to us, ensuring we can see the email address Airbnb sent it from and the entire message you received. Please also include your Airbnb Host ID.
I am looking to create a webpage that does not have the menu at the top: it is a page people click to collect information, and the only way they find it is because it was sent to them. I don't want it a part of the menu because I don't people that start at the home page or any of the other pages to accidentally stumble upon it: it would be too confusing and create too much unwanted noise for anyone other than the specific people that are targeted via email or SMS to visit.
Is this possible without having to use a widget?
I saw OwnerRez integrated with DPGO recently and decided to give it a try. They advertise that they use AI to analyze 200 market parameters and increase occupancy. It has a 30 day free trial so it was no risk to test drive the software. Integration was easy and seamless, linking listings was also very easy. The setup process for the pricing was fairly simple. You set a style (aggressive, conservative, recommended, etc.) and it adjusts the rates a bit from that first setting. You can adjust seasons, nights of the week, or let it do it for you. Then it of course has the dynamic pricing. It will run rates out 365 days. Everything seemed to work OK, nothing special, but not bad either. The problem I have is the customer service. I had a few simple questions I wanted answered. When first signing up, I received an email from a rep stating to reply to her if I had any questions. I tried replying but the emails will not go through. I tried manually typing the email in multiple platforms but they all come back undeliverable. So I jump on their website. On the website there is a live chat feature, the email (that doesn't work) and a phone number. I decided to try the phone number first, it disconnects you each time. Then I jump on the live chat feature, get connected with an agent (same name from the email I received), she somewhat answers one question (not sure if it's an AI response), then takes over 6 hours before the next response comes through. The last question I asked was about support and she stated that only chat support is available. I felt like the software had some potential but some sort of customer support is essential. I can't trust a software setting my rates if I can't address a problem with someone. Just my experience with this so wanted to share.
