Expedia's HomeAway to Follow Airbnb's Lead and Add a Booking Fee for Travelers
Skift Take
From a financial perspective, charging a booking fee to travelers was the missing piece from HomeAway -- and the company telegraphed several months ago that it was coming. Charging travelers fees will enable HomeAway to lower commissions to vacation rental owners to be more competitive with Airbnb and Flipkey.
HomeAway, which announced it will be acquired by Expedia Inc. for $3.9 billion, has been sitting on a potentially very lucrative asset in a traveler booking fee, and has now decided it will introduce one for all online bookings starting in the second quarter of 2016.
During a call November 4 about the acquisition, HomeAway CEO Brian Sharples said the company's "traveler's fee" would average around 6 percent of the booking but would be leveled on a sliding scale.
In turn, travelers would get access some under-development new products that would enhance their trust in HomeAway despite lots of fraud in the vacation rental space.
While HomeAway's consumer customers would face booking fees, hosts that have chosen to list on HomeAway sites for free and pay 10 percent commissions per booking wo
