Recently, Airbnb started charging its short-term rental hosts a commission of 15,5% in place of the 3% service fee, and has removed the guest-facing service fees.

The question is: Why?

Simple answer: Airbnb is mimicking Booking.com. Why? The volume of short-term rental roomnights generated by Booking is already exceeding 85% of Airbnb’s volume of roomnights. Airbnb feels threatened for its core STR business and these are all defensive moves by the company.

The novelty of Airbnb has worn off. Short-term rentals has become a mainstream, commoditized product. This is why Airbnb is becoming another boring OTA and is venturing into hotels, local experiences, why not air?

The only difference is that Booking and Expedia have mastered the science of being boring OTAs. Plus, they have amassed huge 200 plus million member loyalty programs, while Airbnb has none.

Max Starkov
Hospitality & Online Travel Tech Consultant & Strategist

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