The Enshittification of Airbnb
The Enshittification of AirbnbThrough 2022, Airbnb faced escalating complaints about cleaning fees revealed late in checkout, host chore lists assigned on top of those fees, and rising total prices. CEO Brian Chesky responded in November 2022 with an optional total-price display toggle and checkout-task disclosures, but the all-fees-included price did not become the worldwide default until April 2025, ahead of a U.S. FTC rule against junk fees. The company has also absorbed regulatory blows, including New York City's 2023 registration law that removed most short-term listings and a 576 million euro settlement with Italian tax authorities.
Alternatives
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The Paper Trail
| Date | Category | Symptom · rating · source |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-09 | quality | Travelers publicize chore lists layered on cleaning feesGuests shared examples of hosts charging large cleaning fees while also requiring checkout chores such as stripping beds, doing laundry, and taking out trash. The complaints circulated widely on social media and drew national news coverage.↳ CNN |
| 2022-11 | pricing | Total-price toggle announced after hidden-fee backlashAirbnb said it would let users opt in to seeing prices inclusive of all fees before taxes in search results, responding to complaints that cleaning and service fees appeared only late in booking. The change also reweighted search ranking toward total price and required hosts to disclose checkout tasks.↳ TechCrunch |
| 2023-05 | pricing | Chesky acknowledges affordability pressureAirbnb's CEO told investors that customers wanted affordability and that the company was cautious about the coming quarter, forecasting lower average daily rates. The statement followed sustained criticism that total stay costs had grown uncompetitive with hotels.↳ CNBC |
| 2023-09 | quality | New York City registration law removes most listingsNew York City began enforcing Local Law 18, requiring short-term rental hosts to register and barring platforms from processing unregistered bookings, which Airbnb called a 'de facto ban.' Short-term listings in the city fell from roughly 22,000 to under 7,000 within weeks.↳ The Washington Post |
| 2023-09 | pricing | Company posts updates on cleaning fees and pricing toolsChesky published progress updates stating that a majority of guests were now using the total-price display and that hundreds of thousands of listings had removed or lowered cleaning fees. The update also promoted verified listings and host pricing tools.↳ Skift |
| 2023-12 | pricing | 576 million euro settlement with Italian tax authoritiesAirbnb agreed to pay 576 million euros to settle claims it failed to withhold short-term rental taxes on behalf of Italian hosts between 2017 and 2021. The company did not admit liability and said it would not seek to recover the money from hosts.↳ CNN |
| 2025-04 | pricing | Total price becomes the default display worldwideAirbnb announced that search results would show the all-fees-included total price by default in the U.S. and more than 200 markets, ahead of an FTC rule on unfair and deceptive fees taking effect in May. The default ended the opt-in toggle era that began in late 2022.↳ Bloomberg |
The Wall
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