Airbnb MUST add a line item of 'Occupancy Tax or VAT' to Notify Guests of the Additional Cost!
Airbnb MUST add a line item of 'Occupancy Tax or VAT' to Notify Guests of the Additional Cost!
March 28, 2018
Brian Chesky, CEO
Belinda Johnson, COO
Nathan Blecharczyk, CSO
Joe Gebbia, CPO
Kenneth Chenault, Board Member
Michael Curtis, VP Engineering
Airbnb
888 Brannan Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Dear Madam and Sirs:
I very much appreciate that I am able to list my vacation rental on your site, but am completely frustrated with one single aspect of your site. A line item for Occupancy Tax or VAT.
I purchased my rental unit in Oceanside, California in 2012 for the sole purpose of renting it as a vacation rental until my retirement. From the time of my purchase until approximately two weeks ago, I had a part-time employee acting as the property manager in order to earn additional income as an older single mother. For some time, I suggested we list my property on Airbnb, and not exclusively on VRBO. While there were significant bookings on VRBO, I made the suggestion on more than one occasion that we list the property on your site, but each time I met with resistance from her. My employee told me that the Airbnb site was not ‘host friendly.’ Frankly, I am far too busy in my law practice to have pressed her with specifics; she has been a long term employee and I trust her judgment.
Just a couple of weeks ago, my employee unexpectedly retired. I was forced to take over the listing on VRBO. I decided to list the property on Airbnb. It has only taken me a very few days to realize what my employee was talking about with respect to not being ‘host friendly,’ it has to do with occupancy tax.
Attached as Exhibit 1, is a screen shot of a page of my VRBO quote sent to someone that booked my home. As you can see, there is a line item for ‘tax.’ Attached as Exhibit 2, is a form that the City of Oceanside provides to each and every property that is used as a vacation rental. It is due to be paid each and every quarter to the City of Oceanside. [by the way, VRBO/Homeaway also allows the renter to have an additional option of purchasing, for a nominal price, a renter’s insurance policy up to $1,000,000. I am not aware of Airbnb having this as an option for renters].
A copy of the pricing page for my listing on Airbnb is attached as Exhibit 3. Airbnb does not provide me, as a host, that line item for occupancy tax. It is absurd that Mr. Curtis, and the host of computer engineers that are at the heart of your site, cannot simply add a line item. At the very minimum, there should be a line item that explains the tax, and if you insist it go through the resolution center, then prior to charging the final amount, that should be included in the price that the renter needs to pay - and be known right up front.
When I was trying to determine how many cities have Airbnb hosts, I came across an old article that provided the following: “Pricing transparency:" When customers search for lodging, Airbnb displays per-night prices that exclude its own per-night service charges as well as possible additional costs such as cleaning fees. The total price is not revealed until the customer selects an individual property and is ready to book. In late 2015, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took action against Airbnb for this form of drip pricing. Consequently, users of Airbnb's Australian web site now see the total price of a stay including all unavoidable charges at every stage of the booking process.” Per this article, without the line item regarding occupancy or VAT being included, then Airbnb pricing transparency is still a problem that you have not rectified, at least here in the United States.
For hosts, the entire Local Laws section is a waste of space because it really explains nothing, except for a host to check local laws. I have to imagine that a majority of average renters don’t even realize there may be additional charges because there is no line item OR an explanation of the tax for them to be made aware of. While your site may be trying to appease each jurisdiction in which you have hosts, what you provide is useless, when there is no mention to renters or a line item for hosts.
As a host, who has been listing a property for more than 6 years, there really must be either a line item thata represents ‘Occupancy Tax’ or ‘VAT,’ OR, at a minimum a line item, that explains to the renter what the tax is and then immediately directs them to the resolution center. According to Bloomberg, there are more than 2.3 million listings on your site, yet, you are only micro managing a very few jurisdictions, leaving the rest of us with a problem that your site has created.
Attached as Exhibit 4, is about the most absurd proposition that I have ever heard. When a property is listed on Airbnb, YOU are in charge of providing the total cost through YOUR billing the prospective vacationer. However, that you do not make a guest aware of an additional cost, because YOU do not provide for the occupancy tax, is falling into the problem that is documented you experienced in Australia. You suggest in the literature for the host, in order to collect the tax, “ask your guest to pay it in person.” You have to be kidding?! That is an outrageous suggestion.
I phoned your help line, when I discovered that you do not provide a line item or any notice of occupancy tax. The poor young man on the phone told me that lots of people complain about this lack of functionality in your web site, and he directed me to write a review, send a comment and he would be sure to let his supervisor know he had another complaint. Seriously?! The alterative you provide is to go to the ‘Resolution Center’ AFTER a guest checks in, to ask them to pay the respective tax. This is absolutely absurd.
Your suggestions on collecting taxes that you are aware are mandatory in most jurisdictions, potentially puts all hosts in a position of either looking like we are falsely advertising, or getting a bad review because there is no where that you allow each individual host to give an explanation prior to a booking that the occupancy tax is not included in their charge, and is extra. The other suggestion that was made to me by the young man on your phone line was that I could raise my prices in order to include the 11.5% occupancy tax in my area. That is an equally absurd suggestion, when you don’t even allow an explanation of what the total nightly includes and represents.
Mr. Curtis, I can’t imagine that it would cost Airbnb any more than a few thousand dollars to add to the pricing menu ‘TAX,’ with a notation that allows the host to explain their respective jurisdiction charges x% occupancy or x% vat. If you then want to direct guests to the resolution center to pay it to the host separately, fine. However, you HAVE to allow us a place on the payment page to even have it as a line item, or something that guests will be expected to pay. Anything less is not being host friendly. Frankly, it is not being guest friendly, either.
I hope that you will take action to do something right by your customers in this regard. You are making billions of dollars off of our listings, and this aspect of your site is absolutely not ‘host friendly.’ And, neither is it ‘guest’ friendly.
Sincerely,