The issue isn’t airbnb charging fees, it’s what problems can they solve by investing those fees. And unfortunately for a free site like this, there are lots of things airbnb can do to stay ahead. AirCover is one of them and I am sure more are coming. Top of mind could be free esim for your destination during your days stayed in an airbnb.
The market doesn’t care that airbnb charges fees. The market just wants their problems solved by using those fees.
I will say there is a UX problem with fees in terms of how total price is revealed. Hosts don’t always separate cleaning fees and just up the price of their stays. Fees are shit but they are a reality of life. I have fee items on my ce phone bill and and “resort fees” when I stay in a hotel in Hawaii. Fees suck. But at the end of the day, just show me what I get for them. Are you going to put a few chocolates in my room and slippers? Or something a little extra? It’s all about the business behind the fees
I am just one person vs 1,200 full time airbnb developers, and just spent a weekend working on this vs the 15 years airbnb has had to work on their idea, and I spent zero dollars vs the 6.4 billion in funding they have had.
Please be gentle on me, it is only a demo, and I am doing my best. :)
Gonna be blunt here. Almost no one is going to care that the service is from a new small company. Nearly everyone will expect the same level of quality, reliability and service that your competitors (i.e. airbnb) provides. If anything, people will expect better than them as your firm is the newcomer.
I'm afraid this is just the cold, harsh, reality of the world. If you go out into the market hoping that customers and property owners will cut you some slack, your firm will not develop the great reputation you probably want.
Try not to take the criticism personally. I know when you post something like this online it can seem very disheartening, but much of it is good advice.
Based on what everyone is saying I think it's worth rethinking your business model to try and come up with some other features that would differentiate you from Airbnb.
It is a demo and investors have been nicer than people on here lol. They know this is the early days and they were impressed it was done in a weekend without any funding while working full time. They loved the pitch deck which was visually rich.
The market doesn’t care that airbnb charges fees. The market just wants their problems solved by using those fees.