Putting the Clamps on the Platform Land Grab (Transmission #321)
Airbnb recently updated its Off-Platform and Fee Transparency Policy. The two big buckets are off-platform payments (such as external damage deposits) and the more strategically interesting one—off-platform bookings. With a take rate between 5-15%, Airbnb knows that hosts moving guests off platform risks disintermediation. I’ve been thinking about this for years, as it was one of the use cases for Horizon all the way back in 2016.
Under the updated rules, hosts are now explicitly prohibited from:
- Asking or encouraging users to move any bookings—current, future, repeat, or extensions—off Airbnb
- Including off-platform links in listings or messages
- Offering or soliciting discounts to book off platform
- Canceling an existing reservation to rebook elsewhere
This reminds me of a certain other household portal leveraging its audience dominance to protect its achilles heel from attack.
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CRYSTAL TRANSMISSION: Thought-provoking long-form articles covering a wide spectrum from innovative shipping container co-living spaces to the battle for listing acquisition in the first iBuyer world war to the implications of floating cities seen from beaches far and wide.
Curious? Additional examples.
Proptech's Leader has Been Crashing Our Couch the Whole Time // Stock in Down Payments // Banking Real Estate in the Clouds
Curious? Additional examples.
Proptech's Leader has Been Crashing Our Couch the Whole Time // Stock in Down Payments // Banking Real Estate in the Clouds
Thibault Masson sees three driving forces for shoring up these policies:
- Regulatory compliance (especially FTC and EU price transparency rules)
- Platform protection (keeping interactions, payments, and reviews within Airbnb’s ecosystem)
- Enhanced trust and safety (mitigating scams and fraud)
I’d add a fourth reason: