Airbnb Now Shows the Full Price of Your Stay By Default (theverge.com) 38
Airbnb is rolling out a global update that displays the total cost of a stay upfront in search results. The only fee that won't be included are taxes. The Verge reports: The company first started showing the full price of its listings in some locations in 2019 after facing scrutiny from the European Union over how it displays its fees. It later launched a toggle in the US and hundreds of other countries that shows the total cost of a stay across Airbnb's search results, individual listings pages, and other areas of the platform.
Airbnb says nearly 17 million people have used the toggle since its launch in 2022, and now, you won't have to worry about turning the option on when making a search. Instead, you'll now see a banner at the very top of your search results that says, "Prices include all fees."
Airbnb says nearly 17 million people have used the toggle since its launch in 2022, and now, you won't have to worry about turning the option on when making a search. Instead, you'll now see a banner at the very top of your search results that says, "Prices include all fees."
Tax (Score:2)
Why NOT INCLUDE the cost of tax?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
It would be an additional pricing disadvantage to hotels which display neither taxes nor resort fees nor any other fees?
Re: (Score:3)
What hotels don't display all taxes and fees when booking?
Re: (Score:2)
What hotels don't display all taxes and fees when booking?
Hahahahahaha, you have never booked a hotel in your life.
Re: (Score:2)
or maybe just not a hotel in the US? Do you even own a passport?
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, zero fucks given about that. Inclusion of all fees, surcharges, gratuities, and service fees, taxes, et cetera, in the displayed and advertised prices should be mandatory across the board in all cases. I don't give a goddamn if it's a retail store, a hotel, a restaurant, a gas station, a ride share, or any other business. Go ahead and include a detailed breakdown of the price if you want to bitch to the customer about the cost of business going up because you are being required to be a responsible
Can't give up on the tax scam right away (Score:2)
Those stupid tourists don't have any idea what the real taxes are anyway.
Re: (Score:1)
Why NOT INCLUDE the cost of tax?
Computing taxes in the USA is extremely complicated, and the inputs change constantly on the whim of the governments at every level. You need a full-time staff of experts just to keep up with it. I imagine that's why Airbnb just punts.
Re:Tax (Score:4, Insightful)
That's like saying 'oh shipping fees are very complicated, they change based on where you live and what you buy, so we're just not going to bother show them!'
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's fair, but sometimes you have listings that are e.g. $z each plus $(x * quantity + y) shipping. There are even cases like Amazon Marketplace where $y is zero (i.e. shipping is a flat "$3.99 per book", even from the same seller). Just add the $x into the price dammit!! If your shipping cost is a linear function of the quantity then you're just trying to hide some of the product price in the shipping.
In some contexts it's fine to assume the cheapest shipping option and no combined shipping. eBay has a "
Re: (Score:3)
You need a full-time staff of experts just to keep up with it.
It your argument is that it's too complicated for a computer and needs humans, then how does anyone, including Airbnb, manage to charge you the full price anyway when you click on BUY, without you asking a clerk on the phone?
On every website, at any minute, if you click BUY and then you pay the full price with taxes. This means it was able to display the amount of taxes also before you clicked on BUY. Even if the taxes change every second, it's still able to display the changes before you click BUY.
Privacy and cost per query (Score:2)
If I had to guess, web shops hide the total for things like tax and shipping for two reasons. First, billing address is one of the inputs to tax calculation. A lot of customers are reluctant to divulge their billing address until the last step of checkout. Second, sales tax calculation service providers charge the merchant per query. Spending the cost of one query per page view throughout the ordering process rather than at checkout would probably noticeably reduce the merchant's margin.
Re: (Score:1)
That's only true if you're shipping.
The tax on a hotel room does not depend on your billing address, only the location of the hotel room.
Re: (Score:2)
First, billing address is one of the inputs to tax calculation.
It could guess based on the IP geolocation. When I visit electronic components websites like mouser, digikey, farnell (US sellers, I am not in teh US), even through a direct link to a specific item, the first thing it does is pop-up and asks is which version I want to see: USA, EU, $MY_COUNTRY (based on IP geolocation). A list of countries is often located topright corner of merchant websites.
In the case of US states, it could guess based on IP, and any mistake could be corrected at checkout time, or throug
I get geolocated 100 miles away (Score:2)
I wouldn't be entirely certain that IP address geolocation is adequate to provide an estimate of sales tax by subnational entities, such as state, county, and city tax, that is accurate enough not to mislead the customer. I routinely get geolocated to cities 100 miles (160 km) away from my home until I key in my postal code.
On the other hand, as registrations_suck pointed out, the situation differs between physical goods and services. As I understand it, sales tax on physical goods and download services is
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I did support and installs for a European company which was trying to break into the US market for restaurant point of sale systems. They were able to adjust their program for individual state taxes, but when we informed them that many locations had county, city and even township taxes which would vary from one restaurant to another in the same chain they threw up their hands and gave up. They were planning a major re-write of the program and said they would add those to the new version. I left the compa
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It was going to be a rewrite of the database structure to add the additional fields, and they contracted DB work since they didn't have anyone on staff. They were using some outdated Soviet DB system, which they wanted to replace, so they figured it best to do everything at once.
Re: (Score:2)
Here (in Denmark), you have to include ALL costs, including tax.
I think it is the same in all of EU.
Re: (Score:2)
Why NOT INCLUDE the cost of tax?
Because taxes are subject to change at the whim of local governments (usually in the form of additional taxes, or taxes expiring or being suspended.) The "tax rate" is actually a combination of several different taxes, each with a start and expiration date (and possibly a suspension for certain events). They are announced and published in advance (usually quarterly, but some announcements go out monthly) and can vary significantly based on government desire for more income or to encourage attendance at ce
Years late (Score:2)
This was always so scammy and it messed up any apples to apples comparisons. "oh just $60 a night sounds like a good deal...$1500 cleaning fee".
Re: Years late (Score:2)
This was always so scammy and it messed up any apples to apples comparisons. "oh just $60 a night sounds like a good deal...$1500 cleaning fee".
A trick that worked for years was going to the Australian site to browse listings in the US, because their laws required the price including fees. Convert your price range to Australian dollars and set the filters, then go back to the American site to book.
Companies who scam and call it "marketing" (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
They passed a rule last year about that very thing, of course who is there to enforce it today might be a question.
FCC cracks down on cable ‘junk fees’ [cnn.com]
Just like not mentioned here is an FTC rule about these very lodging fees.
Federal Trade Commission Announces Bipartisan Rule Banning Junk Ticket and Hotel Fees [ftc.gov]
What backwater was this legal??? (Score:3)
I assume third world countri... oh. It was the US, right?
Mandatory (Score:4, Insightful)
This should be mandatory standard practice for ALL industries. My ISP, Omni Fiber, charges exactly what they advertise. I was skeptical at first, verifying a few times with the company before switching. I'll be damned, for over a year now that EXACT SAME PRICE. No hidden fees, no gotchas. And the best part, they are less than half of the cost of the local cable ISP.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's not entirely true for hotels. Many cities have a small tourist tax, something like 2 euros per night per guest (depends on the city), which many hotels charge on arrival. It's not much but it's annoying to have to pay it on arrival, they should have added it to the online system. Sources on the internet said there was no obligation to do this way, it's just more practical for their accounting to charge the tourist tax separately from the other things. A recent review of these local taxes https://www. [euronews.com]
It's about time (Score:2)
I'm a host, and have been for many years. This really should have been the default all along.
Airbnb is dead (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
One of these: https://www.qantas.com/traveli... [qantas.com]