No cleaning fee - what to expect?

[Øyvind25]

Hi, I have no cleaning fee - and therefore I expect my guests to tidy up the home pretty nice before they leave. 

My text for this is something like:  

"There is no cleaning fee for this home, so we kindly ask our guests to tidy up before departure and leave the home in good condition to make the final cleaning easier for us.
We would greatly appreciate it if you could vacuum and clean some surfaces."

And then some more info about how to do it. Where to put the trash and so on.

This is specified in several places in the listing and in the booking message. With a few exceptions I think the guests have left the home in very good condition. 

But then I got a 4 star review and they privately wrote me that they were very upset because they had to "clean with rags". 

What do the community here think?

[Shelley159 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Øyvind25 

I looked at your post and thought I had to check whether you're Scandinavian - I see that you're in Norway. I've noticed a number of times that Scandinavian hosts request that guests should clean, and that guests are usually happy to comply, as you say. Somebody explained a while ago that some of the listings are in remote mountain locations, so it would be impractical to have cleaners there - this, along with the fact that relying on guests to clean is the way things are traditionally done, means it's not unusual for Airbnb hosts in your region to have rules similar to yours.

I'm perhaps in the opposite situation - here it's traditionally a bit frowned upon to ask someone who is considered a guest, to perform cleaning tasks. Even when I look at the tasks that hosts in the US require guests to perform (like remove trash), I often think "we couldn't try that here!" I think much of it has to do with the availability and cost of labour - where unemployment is high and labour is not too expensive, the business owner is expected to pay for cleaning. In Scandanavia the situation is the opposite.

About the Airbnb cleaning fee - I don't think the absence of a cleaning fee can be interpreted as a sign that guests should clean. Many hosts choose not to charge a cleaning fee because they simply don't want their pricing structure to be complicated (they worry that a cleaning fee may look like an add-on or a hidden cost). These hosts don't necessarily expect guests to clean. Many other hosts use the cleaning fee to cover general expenses that arise at guest changeovers, not only the cost of cleaning and laundry. So I don't think a cleaning fee indicates who is responsible for cleaning.

I'd say if you want guests to clean and it's generally done that way in your area, stick to it and just make this very clear in your listing and in your communication (so that guests who are uncomfortable with it, will not book). You seem to be communicating this in advance already. But I think you can expect that over time, an increase in the number of foreign guests may cause some issues, as some of them are less likely to expect this arrangement.

[Øyvind25]

Thank you for your long and detailed reply. @Shelley159 

I would like to clarify that the word clean - for me - is not washing the floors and so on. Maybe 'tidy' is more relevant in english?

I personally clean the home after the guests have left, but I ask them to leave the place tidy to make the process easier for me.

You are probably correct about your thought on unemployment. If I use a cleaning agency here I would probably have to pay 100-200usd for a cleaning.

Maybe I can change my tone to more asking than demanding?

PS 99/100 guests are foreign(norwegians prefer hotels).  Mostly asians and european. They come here to see the northern lights and experience the arctic winter. So 99% of the guests are great people.

[Marie8425]

@Øyvind25 

Was the 4 for cleaning or they didn't like "rags".

Might just be invest in some cleaning towels because yes a rag could make someone uncomfortable.

[Øyvind25]

No I just think that was the translation. I have a wide selection of disposable one use only towels if they need.

[Marie8425]

@Øyvind25 

Just seems odd in a private note.  Your very public with the requirement, usually an unhappy guest would be very public about displeasures.  Private note is usually a happy guest but uncomfortable about something.  Make sense?

[Øyvind25]

Yes makes sense. He was uncomfortable with what he felt was a requirement to clean surfaces, I think. 

Thank you guys for replies. I’ve decided to change the wording in my manuals to make it clearer for guests that this is not a requirement, but that we would be happy and grateful for any extra effort on their part.

[Marie8425]

@Øyvind25 

Very smart.  I think you hit the nail on the head the wording.  You don't mean what someone's impression is. makes more sense to reword rather then define for everyone. Haha