Should Guest be Expected to Clean when Host Charges a Cleaning Fee?

[Rob183]

Hi there, 

Curious on this one as a guest and a host.   My wife/friendsand I have been on opposite sides of the argument both as hosts and guests.

If a host charges a guest a cleaning fee (not small at $200 here in SF), what is the cleaning expectation of guests?

Some in our circles have argued guests should do the dishes and leave the place tidy.  Others have argued their paying a sizeable cleaning fee so why should they have to clean.

Curious what the community thinks and if there is a clear answer or it depends.

Thanks in Advance!

[Rachel1840]

I abide by whatever house rules a host gives me, but as a guest, I must admit it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to be asked to take out trash or otherwise clean someone's house, when I am being charged a separate cleaning fee (e.g., $150)  for the host to clean the house. Air B'n'B alternatives (hotels, B'n'Bs) would not expect me to clean their lodgings for them. Even if I were staying at a friend's house, I wouldn't be expected to take out the trash. 

[Sarah977]

@Rachel1840  Tidying up after yourself, taking trash out to the curb, doing your dishes, and wiping off the kitchen counter and the stovetop is just showing respect. It isn't "doing the host's cleaning for them". Your cleaning fee pays for in- depth cleaning- dusting, washing everything down, sterilizing the bathroom and kitchen, pulling hair out of the drains, vacuuming, washing floors and doing all the laundry. My listing is just a private room/bathroom in my home and guests share my kitchen. It takes me a full hour and a half to clean and prepare the guest bedroom and bathroom, no matter how clean and tidy the guest left it. 

Spending all of 3 minutes taking the garbage out hardly seems like a big ask.

[David8066]

@Sarah977 The original question I was answering was if someone's paying $200 cleaning fee should they have to clean spot on.

I've been a custodian I've cleaned my whole homes also even supervisor custodian at a college before until till I switch jobs. 

Cleaning a house is not that hard. I'm very sorry to tell you. It doesn't take days it takes hours. The original question was a $200 cleaning fee I don't care about your cleaning fees or other states. $200 to clean a house is pretty swell. Especially if you do it yourself. 

If you can't clean your house in a couple of hours top to bottom that's your problem. 

Include your cleaning fee in the price and move along buddy

[Summer64]

I'm both a guest and a host.

Guest: I leave the place clean. I don't break out cleaning supplies and scrub the toilet or anything, but I do wipe up spills, etc...basically any messes I make. I think that the cleaning fee is going toward floor scrubbing, toilet scrubbing, etc.....that is done between the guests.

Host: I charge a $10 cleaning fee to cover cleaning supplies/water for laundry/etc....I keep the cleaning fee down and do it myself. This fee is used to buy cleaning supplies and do laundry. It doesn't even factor in the time I actually take cleaning it between bookings....and boy do I clean.

I think you should be leaving things reasonably clean on the surface. Like-no trash left, rinsing dishes, wiping counters, etc....and the expectation isn't the deep cleaning that the maids (or host) do that is beyond surface cleaning.

[Hel13045]

Guest cleaning varies, tell you want doesnt - its airbnb poor responce to questions asked.  They withhold payments and make you jump through hoops all the while providing them with more of your personal data to onsell leaving your open to identity theft.

[David8066]

If you're at my AirBnB and I charge you $200 for a cleaning Fee.. I have had real jobs in life. So 4hr cleaning a Small house for $200 that's $50 An hour.... I'm not paying a cleaning crew. I'd do it myself. To clean hotel rooms 8hr straight your getting $18 an hour..... You're not above a hotel maid/house keeper.... So I'd say be an adult and clean the your own house........ Or include it in the original price 🤷🏽...... 

[Sarah977]

@David8066  The going rate for cleaners is wildly different depending where in the country or world one is hosting. And you can't compare hotel staff to cleaners who do gig work. Hotel cleaners are employees, and receive other benefits mandated by law for employees. They spend gas or bus money twice a day to get to work and back.

An independent cleaner may clean 5 houses in a day, meaning they are spending money on transport from place to place, they do not get medical or other benefits. 

And while it is possible for a host like me, who only lists a private room and does the cleaning myself and has a minimum night's stay of 3 days to figure the time spent cleaning into the nightly price, that isn't possible with entire house rentals that sleep several guests- it would make the total cost of the stay super expensive for longer bookings, whereas longer bookings require less cleaning, as cleaning is normally done only once per stay, regardless of whether it's a 2 night booking or a 2 week.

[Kyle621]

I have only been a guest and have always gotten great reviews. 

I am split on this. 

On one hand I always clean. regardless of the cleaning fee or whatever. I always strip the sheets and load the washer. I always do the dishes. (Worst I’ve ever done is load the washer start it and not put the dishes away. Didn’t have time) and I felt bad about that! Haha

On the other hand…. I would say about 50% of hosts ask you to do unreasonable things. My last stay in LA I was told to strip and wash all bedding. Sweep/Mop. Etc…. I mean…. I did it. I would have anyway. But the cleaning fee was almost $500 for the week. When we arrived the place was clean but you could tell the cleaners are playing a game with “how little can we do without the owners noticing!” So there were beer cans and bottles in the yard still and we found a condom in the trash. 

I have the hots a great review. I always do. Empathy tells me that a bad review could really hurt their posting and it’s not their fault the cleaners suck. (I let them know privately.)

I want great reviews and that’s why I do what I do. But over time I can honestly get what some are saying…. I think everyone here knows and agrees that cleaning up after yourself is sensible but also spends every visit mad about the 300 fee and the worry that even if they do clean up the hosts will still burn them in the review. I know I do…. Lol check my reviews. I say what I practice. Unlike others here I have no story about how they lied or how I really got screwed. All good. Lol

I’ll continue to do what I do….. but I shouldn’t have to worry so much about getting a bad review especially since a lot of time you are cleaning up what the cleaners missed. 

just like everything else. Good hosts and bad. Good renters and **bleep** ones. 

So thanks to all the great hosts out there! 

P.S. I saw someone here was from New Zealand! We are visiting next year and I’ll make sure to check your place out first! 🙂  

also. pic shows current rental check out instructions. They ask to strip the bedding. It’s very common. I have no issue with it but a lot of you think it’s too far so I wanted to provide an example! 

Again. No issue with this. I wouldn’t want to touch other peoples sheets either! Lol

[Sarah977]

@Kyle621  I would never expect guests to do more than wash their dirty dishes and clean up their personal messes. As a home share host, I really don't expect guests to clean anything, and I tend to get the kind of guests who leave their room and bathroom clean and tidy, mostly because they don't like living in a mess, so they keep their space clean their whole stay. 

I leave a broom and dustpan up there, not because I want guests to sweep the floor, but because I live in a beach town, sand inevitably comes home with people, and I don't think it's pleasant to walk around on a sandy floor in one's bare feet. So it's for the guest's comfort, not mine.

Stripping the beds is a strange one - I don't quite understand why hosts ask guests to do that. It takes, what, 45 seconds to whip the sheets and pillow cases off the bed? And most experienced hosts actually prefer the beds not to be stripped- it's far easier to check for stains that might need pre-treating before washing if they're left on the bed.

I think if a host has cleaning expectations beyond not leaving the place dirty, the stovetop swimming in grease, and cleaning up personal messes, they should make that clear in their listing, so guests can choose to book there or not. It shouldn't be sprung on guests as check-out requirements after they arrive.

There are some listings where a few more cleaning asks are reasonable. Like a remote cabin, where it's super important that garbage be covered and well-secured, beecause of bears and other wildlife. And if a host leaves a day or two between bookings, meaning the cleaner might not come right away, taking garbage to the outside bin is important, as it could stink up the house badly by the time the cleaner got there. Nothing worse than dirty diapers or fish dinner leftovers left in an open garbage bag for a day or two 🙂

You sound like a really good guest, but some of the guests who think if they wash their dishes and gather up the garbage and wipe down the counters and stove, they are doing all the host's cleaning for them really need to be given a list of what cleaning an Airbnb entails, so they understand. Because it never occurs to them that hosts or their cleaners have to do nasty jobs like pull hair covered in soap scum out of the shower drains and deal with strangers' bodily fluids on bedding and towels.

[Ashley1313]

I believe if you carry the same costs as hotels do then there’s no way a guest should be cleaning. I think it should be understood not to damage someone’s space, but if there is a cleaning fee then the guest should essentially not have to clean. Otherwise what are they paying for?

I see people are factoring in independent cleaners but that’s not the issue of the guest. If you can’t clean the place yourself and have to hire out, that’s the cost of business. Your guest shouldn’t pay a fee to also help you save money on the cleaning.

[Sarah977]

@Ashley1313  How do you think expenses for any business are paid for? They are paid for by charges to the consumer. If a host has a cleaner they have to pay $150 dollars to do a clean, where do you think that money is supposed to come from? They don't have to charge a cleaning fee, they could just up the nightly rate instead, but you, as the consumer, will be paying for it somehow. 

Do you think a hotel owner is paying the cleaning staff, the receptionist, the security staff out of his own pocket? Of course not- all of the expenses of running the hotel and paying staff is factored into the room rate. You just don't see it as separate charges in your bill. 

Every business is run like this. The owner decides what profit they need to make to make it worthwhile to run that business. Then they add in the expenses they incur and arrive at the price they need to charge for their service or product.

One of the differences in the cleaning costs with a hotel and an Airbnb is that a hotel has daily maid service and cleaning staff constantly on site. So it's easy for a hotel to figure out how much the cleaning costs them, on average, per night per room. 

With an Airbnb, there is a one time cleaning fee- the place gets cleaned once for each changeover of guests. So the cleaning fee can seem high if you are only staying for a couple of nights, but if  you are staying for a week or more, it isn't high at all spread out over the length of the booking. 

And a host can't just charge a much lower cleaning fee for a shorter booking, because they never know how much cleaning will be required- there are guests who can manage to make a huge mess in one night, and others who can stay for 2 weeks and leave it spotless. So the cleaning fee has to be averaged out.

It's like buying a plane ticket- the cost of fuel  is one of the things that is paid for by the consumer when they fly. Well, it takes more fuel to transport people who weigh 300 pounds than people who weigh 100 pounds. But airlines don't charge humans by weight. They average out the fuel cost to transport a planeload of passengers. My ticket doesn't cost less than Joe's because I weigh 98 pounds and he weighs 275. 

[Ashley1313]

@Sarah977  I understand how business works because I run two successful businesses as well as manage financials for a Florida State College department. However, not in any case do you pay that fee at a hotel (whether it be tied into your nightly cost or charged separately) and you still have to clean your hotel room. I've stayed at hotel suites with partial kitchens and full living rooms. Not once did I have to wash dishes before I checked out, take out the garbage, or strip the bed. This is a job for a cleaning staff and if I needed to do those partially cleaning tasks then my nightly rate shouldn't include cleaning. Which is what I said. No where in my response did I state that a cleaning fee shouldn't be charged in general or should be lowered just because. But it shouldn't be charged if your guest have to do any of it, no matter the level of cleaning being asked. 

If you don't have staff or have access to clean your space yourself within turnaround time then that is a management issue and should be corrected. Nonetheless, it is not an issue of your guest.

[Linda108]

I basically agree with you, @Ashley1313 .  I have neve r had a guest do any cleaning primarily because I am responsible for the quality of the cleanliness of my space, not a guest.  I actually gave up even charging a cleaning fee when I increased my nightly rate and required a minimum stay.

That being said, while Air BNB hosts and hotel managers are in the same hospitality business the fundamentals for hosts on a home share platform and the hotel industry are different.  While hotels, inns and other Bed and Breakfast establishments have a bandwidth to absorb the trashing of a space requiring additional housekeeping, most hosts do not.  An expectation of tidying up is not out of bounds, IMO, but actual cleaning chores (running the dishwash, loading the laundary) should not be trusted to a guest.  

[Ashley1313]

@Linda108 Agreed, I never when traveling leave the space actually dirty, I think its not a hard ask to tell guest to respect the space. I use makeup wipes not the towels, I pick up after myself and I just don't treat any space like I wouldn't treat my own home. Not trashing a place should be a given. I just think that anything you would consider a housekeeping task when you're cleaning up, should not be given to guest. I understand that not everyone is near their properties. But that goes along with being a business owner. If you can't get there then you need to hire someone to get there. It may be costly but that's business. I didn't start gaining in my first business until after the first year. You might lose a little but you gain so much more later.

I've stayed at hotels consistently time and time again because of good business, and there are Airbnb's I actually weed out because of a cleaning cost charge and house rules that require me to clean.

I think its smart that you added a minimum night stay requirement and increased your rate. It helps you out, and frankly, your guest will never know the difference. If I know I  have the comfort of only worrying about whether I'm forgetting something when packing to leave, or have everything for my next destination/trip home, without having to remember to housekeep before I go.... I could have a better stay. Its supposed to be a stay, not a chore. 

I'll be taking a looking into your space 🙂 

[Helen3]

Hello @Ashley1313 

As a business woman I'm sure you understand that the costs of providing a service can either be incorporated into the base rate or charged as an add on.

With Airbnb there is the option to do both.

With a hotel as you know you are paying for cleaning and other services - it's just incorporated into the room rate. 

Where I think there is confusion is be referring to what is actually a set up fee as a cleaning fee. My set up fee including providing flowers, cake, tea, coffee,  tea, chocolate, oils, spices, toiletries, cleaning, fresh linens etc.

When my guest checks out there is no expectation that they clean my home  ie wash floors, hoover, clean the cooker, clean all work surfaces, maintain the garden, change beds, set out towels, clean baths and showers, polish wood etc, my cleaners do that.

I do expect a guest to clean up after themselves such as wash their own dishes, flush the toilet after themselves, empty the fridge if they have leftover food and put any used towels/bathrobes in the laundry basket provided.  This is likely to take them about 15 minutes at the most.