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Airbnb Total Price Sticker Shock

Understand the new total price feature coming to the Airbnb app

Sound Familiar?

Pesky Problem

You don’t know your total price.

Last week, Airbnb announced four new changes that will be rolled out in the app in the coming months. (Don’t worry! We’ll dive into each of them as they arrive.) Let’s start with the coming feature that’s garnering the most press attention: the new “Total Price Display.”

Starting sometime in December, this new toggle will allow guests to change how prices appear in the app. Instead of just viewing nightly rates as they search for their next Airbnb, they’ll be able to switch the view to show the total price before taxes instead. This total adds up everything except taxes: all nightly rates, the cleaning fee, Airbnb’s service fees, plus any discounts that might apply, like a weekly stay. Which leads to this question: Do you know your total price?

Let's Try This

Bite-Size Solution

Shift your perspective from nightly rate to total price.

We’re guessing off the top of your head, you could easily tell a friend what your Airbnb’s nightly rate is. And we’d bet, when you’re considering upping your price or calculating how many nights you’d like to book in the coming year, that nightly rate number is at the heart of your calculations.

But for the guests evaluating your listing, making that “to book or not to book” judgment call, the nightly rate can often feel like a bait and switch. They’re thinking “I can afford that!” while scrolling through your listing to “Are you kidding me?!” when the final total is presented on the checkout page.

Personally, we know that feeling well. As we were writing this, we pulled out the app, looked at our previous bookings, and did some quick math. The results were strikingly consistent. For every Airbnb we booked this year, 70% of the price was the nightly rate. The other 30% we paid was almost entirely fees. (Taxes accounted for just 8%, an expected addition to booking any travel lodging.)

As a host, that total price should take precedence in your mind over the nightly rate. It will help you empathize with your guests and know what booking your place actually feels. You’ll truly understand the amount of cash they’re actually dropping on this trip. And in turn, what their expectations will be for their stay.

5 Minutes

Here's Your First Step

Go book your Airbnb and see how it feels.

In the Airbnb world, the nightly rate has always been the core unit of measurement. Replacing it with a total price will take some time. Here’s a great place to start: go book yourself and see how it feels. You don’t actually have to press the final confirmation button, but go through all the steps up to that point and pay attention to the pricing.

Imagine you’re booking a three night stay. Look at your nightly rate. Then do the mental math to extrapolate out a rough estimate for your imaginary trip’s total in your mind. Then follow through all the way to the final price. Now what’s your total say? Is it what you imagined? Or is it noticeably (perhaps uncomfortably) higher? Whatever that number is, that’s the price tag guests associate with your place. There’s absolutely no need to change it! But that is the amount of value you’re striving to provide.

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