Excessive cleaning

[Chris-and-Rochelle0]

Hello

I am a host with a house on the Central Coast in NSW Australia. It's a large house (6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 2 lounge areas etc). I have been having trouble with excessively messy guests leaving the house not only messy, but also dirty, with wet/stained doona covers, furniture moved all around, insides of cupboards a mess and also a filthy BBQ (even though I ask for it to be cleaned).

My cleaner took an extra 3 hours to clean after the last guests! I am trying to find the best way to ensure this doesn't happen, or to charge for excessive mess, stained doonas and the like and the BBQ not being cleaned. I would appreciate any advice please on the above and also what you think a reasonable cleaning fee is, and if I should charge more in holiday periods (my cleaner charges holiday rates).

Thanks very much

Rochelle

[John1080]

@Chris-and-Rochelle0, the issue of cleaning fees has been widely debated and discussed. It is my belief that we have to set a cleaning fee that is not too high because many guests will then assume they don't have to clean up at all and can leave things dirty because there is a hefty fee. 

I personally charge a fee of $60, but that does not cover my cleaning bill, which is generally $100-$120 for a normal stay. Obviously, the rest of the cleaning fee is factored into the daily rate. I feel this amount lets guests know that there is a cleaning fee/staff, but also that we expect them to clean up after themselves per our rules and instructions. 

I have only twice had people leave what I would call a mess, so I believe that this strategy has worked for me and my listing.

[Colleen253]

@Chris-and-Rochelle0 I have to agree with @John1080. The optics of your high cleaning fee may actually be contributing to the problem. If you add more and higher fees, it might even get worse. And, collecting 'damage' money from guests for extra cleaning is difficult to do. Consider experimenting with lowering the fee and factor the rest into your nightly rate to compensate. Food for thought.

[Deborah350]

No matter how you put it, they never ever clean the BBQ! I sing when I find it unused because it is the worst job. I have upped my cleaning fee just for that.

[Chris-and-Rochelle0]

Hi Deborah - yes it's very annoying! What do you think is a reasonable charge to clean it?

[Rowena29 · Accepted solution]

HI @Chris-and-Rochelle0 

I'm also in Australia, also with a fairly large house ( not as large as yours, nor as upmarket).

Here are a some strategies I employ which i find useful, 

1. I charge a substantial security deposit.  ( airbnb DON'T hold this, and all up it's pretty toothless, but in the case of houses I think airbnb do actually go to the trouble to ensure there are at least sufficient funds on the guests credit card to cover the security deposit)  I don't know if it helps ALL that much, but it certainly doesn't hurt.  At best I think it helps to discourage the wrong sort of guest

2. I have IB, so I have a pre welcome message.  In that message I say, amongst others things - have you REALLY read my house rules?  What's the code word?   not foolproof but it means guests usually have at least a bit of a glance at my rules, and often genuninely read them through

3 I no longer charge a cleaning fee ( at least not in the cleaning fee section)  I have a 2 night minimum so I halve what I would charge for cleaning and add it to the nightly rate.  I offer a discount which equals the extra charge for stays 3 days or more so the extra amount added is negated for stays more than 2 nights.  I then point out in my check out proceedures that I don' t charge a cleaning fee, therefore I expect guests to be neat and tidy and to.......  and I list what I expect ( basic stuff, wipe counters, clean crockery and utensils, take out the garbage)

4. 

we've recenlty bought a BBQ and so far not one guest has cleaned it despite being great guests in every other area.  I have a large note on the grill of the BBQ telling guests they're welcome to use it, so long as they clean it.  No joy. My husband keeps telling me people won't clean BBQ's because they dont' think they NEED to be cleaned.    I'll give it one or two more goes, then if still not cleaned, I'll either remove it as an option OR I'll make it an optional extra and say I want $50 up front which I'll return if it's kept clean. ( haven't thought about it deeply, most likely I"ll just remove the option)

5 If I get a booking for a large group I inform the booker that I must have all the names of the group added to the "who's coming" section OR I need to sight their ID at check in ( this is actually a requirement of my insurer). At the same time I say it's the bookers responsibility to make sure ALL their party are aware of the house rules 

6. I talk about the review process in the checkout procedures  - I begin by saying i  ALWAYS leave a truthful individualised reivew for my guests - almost always 5 stars  unless there is a problem     and I explain how critical this is for them to be able to easily book in the future ( a lot of guests don't "get" that bit - they think they have all the power, or they just don't think at all) 

None of those things is foolproof, but collectively it all helps. I still get messes - the BBQ is always filthy with grease, but on the whole nothing too dire ( fingers crossed)

Hope this helps

Regards

[John1080]

@Chris-and-Rochelle0, @Rowena29 makes some good points, particularly 1 - I list an $800 security deposit prominently on my page and in my rules and policies. As she said, we know this isn't a real deposit/bond, but many guests do not know that. 

Also, with regards to her 2nd point concerning the pre-welcome message. I send a pre-booking message (have turned off IB) and a pre-welcome message with my rules and policies detailed, in hope that at least some of it gets through to them, so they know exactly what to expect. I like the idea of a codeword. Rowena, do you place it randomly within the text? 

All good points here from everyone! 

[Rowena29]

Hi @John1080 

I use the phrase "the code word is gotcha" Its a sentence at the end of a house rule.  Its probably not THAT hard to find, but I figure the fact that I ask suggests that the rules must be taken seriously,  and that the process of scanning through looking for it makes guests aware of the bulk of my rules, which are just basic common sense rules anyway ( read your messages,  let me know when you're arriving, no extra guests, eat drippy foods at the tables, the usual stuff.  ) I try to  have lots of white space so it's easy on the eyes  - I think that also helps - looks less like "fine print".  I also try to inject a little humor so reading them is not so arduous and also so guests get a "feel" for me as a host. 

[John1080]

@Rowena29, I think it's a great idea! 

[Rowena29]

@John1080 

Feel free to steal it! 

  I'm a bit perverse I guess. As a high school student I would occasionally write in the middle of a sentence of a 10000 word assignment " the concept of osmosis dear Mr Skinner  if you are actually reading my assignment please underline this in red can be said to occur when......"     (The sentence was rarely underlined in red when I got the assignment back)

[John1080]

@Rowena29 , mwhaha!! I may very well follow your example! I haven't really had many issues, other than one guest who broke my flue, but I hadn't stated explicitly at that point that the knob should be turned and not pulled - I have since included that in many places lol!  

Lovely place you have, btw! I traveled around Australia back in 2008 for 6 months, with Queensland being the only state I didn't make it to - have to get back someday! 

[Rowena29]

@John1080    Aagh, poor old Qld often dips out - it's the humidity scares people off I think.  You should try and get back and check out the Great Barrier Reef before we manage to kill it off with all the temperature increases.  Anytime from April to September is a good time to visit QLd, usually.   WE love our listing. Think we might have to retire there one day....

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Chris-and-Rochelle0 

I would never offer a BBQ without extra charge.

I even disabled the oven for the same reason - we don't have time to scrub it within a couple of hours between guests.

[Piotr48]

I sometimes want to throw my ovens out of the window when guests leave burned trays inside, especially with chicken leftovers sitting there for days. Yum.

[Cormac0]

@Chris-and-Rochelle0 

you can do one of two things,

1. accept human nature for what it is and clean the barbeque yourself or

2. get rid of the barbeque post haste.

personally I get rid of the barbeque and see how not having a barbecue in the land of the barbie effects your occupancy levels... 

edit:

one other thing you could do is have two barbeques and hot swap them, so you can clean the other one  at your leisure.