Airbnb to Include Fees in Prices Displayed Globally

Travelers browsing Airbnb will now see the total price — including all fees and in some cases taxes — in search results, the company said in a Monday (April 21) press release.

Airbnb first launched this “total price display” in parts of Europe, Australia, Canada and Korea in 2019, added an optional toggle to turn it on in the U.S. and more than 200 other countries and regions in May 2023, and has now made it the standard pricing format globally, the company said in the release.

The total price displayed will include taxes in some countries and territories, but not all, according to the release. The total price, including both taxes and fees, will be displayed prior to checkout in all countries and territories.

“As a leader in pricing transparency, we know that value matters — especially today,” Airbnb said in the release. “With the global rollout of total price display, we’re making it easier for guests to better understand the price they’ll pay, and for hosts to succeed in a more transparent marketplace.”

In the nearly two years the optional toggle has been available for the total price display, almost 17 million guests have used the feature, showing “how much our users appreciated this option,” the release said.

Airbnb has also introduced several tools over the past few years to help hosts understand how much guests pay and to help them set more competitive pricing, according to the release. More than four out of five hosts used at least one of these tools in the past year.

It was reported in November 2022, when Airbnb announced its plans to start enabling customers to choose to see the total price of rentals, that the company had faced a backlash on social media from customers complaining about fees that were not immediately displayed as part of the price.

In some cases, the Airbnb fees, taxes and cleaning fee greatly increased the price that was displayed to the customer.

During a November 2022 earnings call, Airbnb Co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said the company had heard from guests “loud and clear” that they would like more transparency when they first get to Airbnb.

“I think the north star for us on this matter is transparency,” Chesky said.