Bonus: Airbnb’s New Off-Platform & Fee Transparency Rules: What Hosts Must Know by May 10

Thanks For Visiting

Airbnb Superhosts Annette Grant & Sarah Karakaian

Places & Travel, Education, Investing, Society & Culture, Business, How To

4.9 • 589 Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Big changes are coming to Airbnb's terms of service—and hosts need to take action. In this bonus episode, we break down Airbnb’s updated Off-Platform and Fee Transparency Policy, which officially goes into effect May 10, 2025.

From mandatory fees and upsells to off-platform communication, security deposits, and software compliance, we walk through the biggest updates, what they mean for your short-term rental business, and how to stay compliant without panic.

You’ll learn:

What must be listed in your Airbnb description now (and why)
How to handle upsells the right way under the new policy
Whether you can still use services like Hostfully, StayFi, or other API tools
The gray areas (and why you should be cautious)
Our personal take on why this might be a good thing for hosts in the long run

This episode is not legal advice—we’re sharing what we know and what we’re hearing across the industry. Be sure to do your own research, talk to your tech partners, and reach out to Airbnb directly for your specific circumstances.

Resources:

Airbnb Off-Platform and Fee Transparency Policy Update
How to Create a Direct Booking Site for Your Airbnb Business | Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Mentioned in this episode:

Host Checklist | Grab our Airbnb Essentials Checklist and make stocking your Airbnb a breeze – we've got all your hosting needs covered!

Quiz | Take our quiz to reveal your hosting personality style!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Can we make you a personalized podcast playlist? Head on over to thehostquiz.com, answer seven easy
0:08.0	questions, and get a unique to your hosting biz playlist of thanks for visiting podcast episodes
0:14.4	to help you smash your goals. The action plan and strategies that will elevate your business
0:19.1	is one quick quiz and a set of headphones
0:21.8	away. Again, head to thehostquiz.com and take our quick hosting quiz today.
0:32.6	You're listening to the thanks for visiting podcast. We believe hosting with Heart is at the core of every
0:38.6	short-term rental with Annette's background in business operation. And Sarah's extensive
0:43.4	hospitality management and interior design experience, we have welcomed thousands of guests
0:48.5	from over 30 countries earning us over a million dollars and garnering us thousands of five-star reviews. We love sharing
0:56.6	creative ways for your listing to stand out, serve your guests, and be profitable. Each episode,
1:03.1	we will have knowledgeable guests who bring value to the short-term rental industry. Or we will
1:07.6	share our stories of our own experiences so you can implement actual improvements to your rentals.
1:13.6	Whether you're experienced new or nervous to start your own short-term rental, we promise you'll feel right at home.
1:48.3	Welcome back to another great episode. My name is Sarah Caracan. I'm Annette Grant, and together we are. Thanks for visiting. All right, we got a bonus episode for you today. The past couple weeks, you should have been emailed by Airbnb alerting you to a policy update. And this is their off platform and fee transparency policy update. And first I sent
1:57.2	an email telling us that by May 10th, all of this would go into effect.
2:02.2	And then shortly thereafter, the next time you logged into your Airbnb account, a pop-up
2:07.0	was presented to you and you had to agree to these terms of services.
2:11.9	And since then, our community has had a lot of questions.
2:17.8	And at first, and even Annette and I before we hopped in the mic today, we're like,
2:21.3	you know, nothing is really changed.
2:24.1	It's just a tightening up of policies that have always been there.
2:29.6	But then, of course, we dig into the policy and we're like, well, this is gray and this is gray.
	...

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