This applies to properties that are being managed by sophisticated property management companies (such as Hometime), where a flat 15% fee is charged to the Host per booking.
Airbnb have two unique fee structures for Hosts on their platform. The first is called the 'Host Only Fee' (HOF) structure. This applies to properties that are being managed by sophisticated property management companies (such as Hometime), where a flat 15% fee is charged to the Host per booking.
Alternatively, if a Host is independent that is managing their Airbnb themselves, they are subject to the 'Split Fee' structure. This is where the Host is charged a 3% platform fee and the guest is charged 12% for using the Airbnb platform.
As you can see in both cases, Airbnb always receive a 15% platform fee on bookings.
For all Hometime properties, we are always charged a flat 15% by Airbnb under the HOF structure.
Please see the link for some further info: **https://www.airbnb.com.au/help/article/1857**
Although the HOF is more expensive on the Hosts side, some of the benefits that we have noticed from our experience operating under this structure include:
- Guest transparency - no 'service fee' is added to booking totals which creates more transparency (no unexpected fees) for guests when they move through the booking process.
- Increased bookings - no booking fee displayed on the listing, guests feel like they are getting a better deal compared to listing which show a booking fee.
- Improved Airbnb search ranking - by adopting the new fee structure you endorse a simpler, more transparent and better guest experience which should improve your ranking on Airbnb as your listing offers more value to guests.
- Airbnb research - Airbnb ran a study with hosts that were subject to the Host Only Fee model and found that by streamlining the fee structure for guests, properties saw an overall increase of +17% in bookings.
The Host Only Fee structure was only introduced by Airbnb in June 2022. When this change happened, Hometime slightly increased the nightly rates and cleaning fees being charged across our portfolio to compensate our homeowners for the increase in fees. This ensured that although the fees that were being charged were now higher from Airbnb, our homeowners weren't bearing more costs and we essentially passed the fee increase back onto guests.