Airbnb will add about 2% to its guest service fees when guests pay with a currency different from the one set by the host in their listing.
This additional amount for cross-currency bookings will be added to guest service fees, beginning April 1, the online marketplace for lodging said in an “Airbnb service fees” article on its website.
While most guest service fees are under 14.2% of the booking subtotal, those that include the additional amount for cross-currency bookings can be up to 16.5% of the booking subtotal, according to the article. Guests can see the fee during checkout.
Airbnb said in the article that for cross-currency bookings, “we adjust our fees to align with the value we provide our guests.”
This change comes at a time when the company is looking to boost growth by adding more international markets, Bloomberg said in a Friday (Jan. 26) report about the additional fee.
As both bookings and revenue slow after a post-pandemic travel boom, Airbnb is looking to expand in Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region and other underpenetrated markets, the report said.
Airbnb reported in November that its international expansion markets showed significant growth in the third quarter, with cross-border night bookings up by 17% compared to the previous year.
Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia were among the markets experiencing particularly strong growth during the quarter, the company said.
The firm said it is actively investing in underpenetrated international markets, building upon its successful performance in Germany and Brazil over recent quarters. It also highlighted South Korea as one of its fastest growing markets compared to 2019, where gross nights booked in the third quarter were 50.4% higher than they were in the same quarter four years earlier.
In September, Airbnb expanded its partnership with FinTech Payoneer, with Payoneer saying the collaboration now allows Airbnb hosts in multiple countries to get paid in local currencies.
Payoneer’s platform and network of bank partners “not only [allow] Airbnb hosts in such locations to get paid locally but also to access and spend funds in a variety of ways, among other benefits,” Payoneer said when announcing the expanded partnership.
