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Category: Pricing & Revenue
By: Jake Anderson
Reply by Ingrid Svensson:
I removed extra guest fees a year ago and my revenue went UP. Here's why: 1. **Search ranking impact:** When guests search for 4 people, Airbnb shows the total price including extra guest fees. Your "$150/night" listing shows as "$200/night" for 4 guests, making it look overpriced vs competitors who bake it into the base rate. 2. **Guest confusion:** Many guests don't notice the extra fee until checkout. This creates surprise costs and bad reviews. 3. **Honest guests subsidize dishonest ones:** Honest guests declare 4 guests and pay the fee. Dishonest guests say 2 guests and bring 4. You end up penalizing the good guests. My solution: raise the base rate by $10-15/night and remove the extra guest fee entirely. This simplifies pricing, looks better in search, and earns roughly the same revenue. The exception: if your property sleeps 10+ people (like a vacation home), extra guest fees make more sense because the cost difference between 4 and 10 guests is significant.
Reply by Camille Dubois:
Disagree with removing them entirely. I keep a modest $15/night per extra guest for my 4BR cabin (sleeps 10). A couple using the cabin should pay less than a family reunion of 10 — the cleaning, utilities, and wear and tear are totally different. But I agree that the fee should be modest. $15/night, not $25-50. And it should be CLEAR in the listing description so there's no surprise. I mention it in the first paragraph of my listing.