Airbnb to show fees in price display to comply with FTC rule

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Airbnb Inc. announced it will by default show customers the total price of stays, including cleaning and service fees, to comply with a US Federal Trade Commission rule set to go into effect next month.

Customers in the U.S. and 200-plus other markets that didn’t previously have price-display regulations will now see the total cost of their reservation, including all fees before taxes, automatically when they browse listings in search results, the short-term rental company said Monday in a statement.

Airbnb is making the change as an FTC rule meant to crack down on so-called junk fees will become effective in the US on May 12. The rule, passed near the end of the Biden administration last December, requires businesses that sell live-event tickets or short-term lodging “to clearly and conspicuously” show the total price with mandatory fees in any display and advertisements associated with their goods and services.

Airbnb customers in parts of Europe, Australia, Canada and Korea have had total pricing display since as early as 2019 following local regulations imposing such requirements.

In 2023, Airbnb introduced an optional toggle button to display total pricing before taxes for customers in the US and the other markets that didn’t have such regulations. The ability for potential renters to see the complete price was among the efforts Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky said were necessary to fix the core of Airbnb’s product after online complaints from hosts and guests mounted against the brand.

At the time, the toggle was released to nudge hosts to lower their cleaning fees to make rentals more affordable, as the sometimes-exorbitant fees have become a key reason why some customers preferred hotels over Airbnb. Hosts behind nearly 300,000 listings removed or lowered their cleaning fees in the months following the feature’s launch, the company said in February 2024.