Airbnb Hawaii receives the message

Hawaii visitors hate all additional fees, especially hidden ones that are not reflected in the price offered at first glance. This was recently acknowledged by Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, who called it a “huge problem”. And we agree that it is. Part of the problem seems to improve, another part doesn’t.

In our review today, we found that Airbnb Hawaii condo cleaning fees appear to have dropped significantly over the past few months. There’s a wide range of fees, but we’ve seen them go from zero all the way up to $100 or more per night. And of course it depends on whether it’s a one bedroom condo or a massive vacation home in Hawaii.

Airbnb Hawaii’s cleaning fees appear to be correcting.

Brian Chesky said: “Actually, I would like a customer never to see a cleaning fee. So we want hosts to be able to say that I need to add these fixed costs, but if you go to Airbnb in the future, I want you to see taxes and ideally nothing else, and that’s what we want to achieve. ”

Let’s say Chesky; you still have a long way to go.

Mystery Airbnb service fees in Hawaii still sting.

Airbnb plans to aggregate each fee into a total price that guests can see on the available listings map. It’s good. We discovered today that “service charges” can be 15% or more of the nightly rate. Airbnb says of this fee, “This helps us run our platform and provide services like 24/7 support throughout your trip.” Ouch.

Airbnb: Owners can pay for cleaning, but we still charge our service fees.

Maybe it’s just us, but Airbnb’s entire fees ecosystem seems flawed. If you stay in a hotel, you pay the price. They can have their ridiculous fees, namely resort fees. But even these quickly fall out of favor. See Hawaii Hotel Picks | Up to 50% hidden fees and taxes. Guests expect to only pay for the rent and the exorbitant taxes. Nothing more.

Airbnb is moving in this direction by allowing guests to see the total price.

We like that. Airbnb suggests that most rentals now don’t even charge a cleaning fee, although what we’re finding in Hawaii is just the opposite. Most charge a cleaning fee; It’s just that these fees have come down a lot lately.

Airbnb fees make the nightly rate somewhat irrelevant.

We were turned off by Airbnb because the cleaning fees and ridiculous service fees make the nightly price almost irrelevant for all but long stays. Airbnb says they know this is the case and others, like us, can quickly exit the site without completing any bookings for this very reason.

Chesky said we should expect big price changes. But maybe he just meant cleaning fees. Honestly the guests don’t care what you call them or who gets them. You’re fed up with all the fees.