On Monday April 14th (Pacific Time), Airbnb accidentally re-enabled the option for PMS-connected hosts to change their pricing structure.
The bug remained active through Thursday, giving a window of a few days where many of you were able to switch back to the split fee — and a lot of you did (alongside some truly fantastic memes).
Airbnb has confirmed with us that this was a bug. They do not intend to re-offer the ability to switch pricing structures. In fact, Airbnb is moving toward enforcing the host-only fee (15.5%) as the global standard — including for non-PMS-connected hosts across additional geographies. The split fee will be going away, the host-only fee is going nowhere.
What we've heard from Airbnb
I want to be transparent that some of this is based on what Airbnb has communicated to us, and is subject to unilateral change by Airbnb. Take it as informed context, but I am not in the room where the decisions are made, and there may be some lag before Hospitable hears about something. So trust what Airbnb tells you, first.
What has changed since Tuesday:
- Hosts who didn't switch no longer have access to the interface to switch their pricing structure.
- Hosts who have switched may still see the fee selection screen. This is expected, in order to give those hosts an opportunity to switch back to the host-only fee on their own time before a forced migration.
- Airbnb is sending communication to users who have made the decision to switch back to the split fee.
- Our understanding is that Airbnb is migrating — or attempting to migrate — anyone who switched to the split fee back to the host-only fee today (Friday).
If you have switched, I have some recommendations for you.
Since the change is inevitable, my personal recommendation:
The short window for a migration back has consequences on the prices that will be displayed on Airbnb.
We don’t have control (and extremely limited visibility) into the time of the pricing structure change. Because of this is nothing that will be done by Hospitable in anticipation or as a result of the Airbnb migration back to the host-only fee, for the users that have switched back.
So, you will have to take action to adjust your markup configuration if you changed it.
Because here is the kicker: Airbnb can change your pricing structure back, but they will not be adjusting your nightly rates.
Airbnb cannot change change your rates unilaterally. They cannot do a one-off pricing adjustment. Big no no.
If the migration moves you back to the host-only fee before you've reviewed your markup, your listings could end up meaningfully mispriced — potentially very discounted — depending on how you had things configured under the split fee.
That gap could cost you real money on incoming bookings, especially ahead of a WE.
My personal recommendation — but you know your business better than I do — would be to switch back to the host-only fee voluntarily (rather than waiting for the forced migration), and to review your markup immediately so your pricing reflects the structure you're going to be on regardless.
The goal is to make sure you're generating the same revenue you were targeting, with full control over the transition.
We'll update this thread if we learn more. And selfishly — I really hope this is the last post I ever write about fee structures. Check your markup, and let's move on.
PC