Airbnb plans on making prices more transparent in the US and other areas by introducing a feature that will display overall costs, including fees. Also, hosts are encouraged to administer “reasonable” checkout rules for guests.
From the next month, the company will present the total pricing of a booking, enabling guests to go through a listing’s final cost, including the fees, which usually include the service and cleaning fees.
Airbnb also plans on prioritizing the total price instead of the nightly rate in the search engine algorithm. It means that listings offering the best total prices will be ranked higher on search results. The total cost will include fees before taxes, which users can see on the map, search results, and listing pages.
The company rolled out this tool in a few markets back in 2019, including the United Kingdom and Europe, and now it has been expanded to the United States. The Total Pricing feature is also available in Canada, Australia, and Korea.
Besides the pricing feature, Airbnb plans to offer “guidance” to hosts on the platform to checkout requests that fall in the “reasonable” category and to have them mentioned on listings before guests make a booking. The decision to guide hosts stems from memes about over-the-top checkout requests that have gone viral on the internet, drawing comparisons between Airbnb’s short-term rentals and hotels.
“Guests should not have to do unreasonable checkout tasks such as stripping the beds, doing the laundry, or vacuuming when leaving their Airbnb,” according to a statement released by the company. “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 when leaving their own home.”