Airbnb CEO Says He’ll Fix Fees 17 Months After Launching Review
Photo Credit: An Airbnb kitchen in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Skift
Skift Take
From a technical standpoint, Airbnb already has the ability to show the total price up-front. Clamping down on host-set cleaning fees would create a firestorm — among hosts.
Some 17 months after Global Head of Hosting Catherine Powell designated a team to review Airbnb's fee structure and the way it displays fees to travelers, CEO Brian Chesky tweeted that redesigning pricing for an Airbnb stay is a top priority.
In responding to a fintech investor on Twitter who complained that sometimes Airbnb prices nearly double because of fees when it comes time to pay compared to the initially displayed nightly rate, Chesky tweeted Monday: "You are correct — the cleaning fees were never intentionally designed, which is why we’re now playing catch up. This is one of my top priorities — we are redesigning how pricing on Airbnb works."
Chesky's tweets, which kicked off last week with a shoutout to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs about the primacy of user experience, came as Airbnb has received a torrent of criticism about its cleaning fees, which are set by
