Cleaning fee

[Barbara3229]

Here in Far North Queensland, Australia, a cleaner will charge anything from $35 - $50 an hour.  I have a four bedroomed vintage cottage which takes 3 hours (depending on number of guests; how tidy/clean they are etc) - I have timed myself and been very pedantic about the clean.  This does not include the time taken for laundry/ironing of the bedlinen.  The cleaning fee seems to be $50 regardless of how many guests/beds - am I missing something here?  How is anybody else finding this working out?  I do not live on the property and clean myself (is that how some hosts don't charge any fee at all?) and to put prices up then starts to make you uncompetitive.  I am interested to get some comment.  Thanks.

[Gwen386 · Accepted solution]

@Barbara3229 I do live above my studio rental and clean the property myself. However, it is an open space and appx 815 SF.

It does take me about 3 hours because I dust, clean and sanitize every square inch of the apt, which includes re-washing dishes, cutlery, pots & pans. It is truly hard work but I don’t want to chance paying someone to clean who definitely will not be as conscious about cleanliness as I am. So I do the cleaning piecemeal over a 24-hour period. 

I don’t charge a cleaning fee nor do I increase my price. I’ve been very fortunate and think that since my studio apt is spotless and I don’t ask guests to do any cleaning, I have found that my guests were more apt to leave my space clean and tidy. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Barbara3229 Our cleaning fee just covers the laundering of the bed linen. We then clean ourselves so the reward to us just comes from part of the nightly fee. As such our nightly fee will be higher than it needs to be.

[Bronwyn100]

Airbnb automatically put a cleaning fee of $110 on my site when I set it up. I reduced it to $50 for short stays and $90 for longer stays. I do not iron the linen. It is air dried and put on the morning guests are booking in. I check the crockery but do not rewash. My guests use the dishwasher. Yes it takes 2 hours @ $45 per hour. My guests get a cheese platter and a bottle of wine. They leave the miniature shampoos etc so I don’t add them anymore. The bottom line is you are doing more than you need to. It’s a home not a hotel.