Cleaning Fee

[Lori3658]

How much would you charge for a 4800 square foot home that sleeps 16? Should I keep it separate from the base price? Thanks for the advice!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Lori3658 we have a very low cleaning fee that just pays for laundry. Rather than putting it into the nightly rate we prefer to have a fee as it gives a cheaper per night stay for those staying for a week over our 3 day minimum.

If most of your stays are going to be a week or if most are going to be 3 nights then you can just divide the fee by 3 or 7 and add it to the nightly rate. 

[Kia272]

@Lori3658  With a property that large, and what is likely to be a high cleaning fee, i suggest that you work some of the fee into your nightly rate. Some hosts think that they have to charge dollar for dollar on the cleaning fee, and that's simply not true. The bottom line is that it's coming out of your profit, and the question is simply how the charge is presented to the guest. A guest will look at two very similar properties, and likely pass over the one with the higher cleaning fee. 

Also, it's not what we think you should charge, it's what a local cleaning company quotes you. Get that figure, look at other listings around you and what they are charging, and make a decision about how much you think guest will tolerate, and how much you can work into your nightly rate. 

Good luck. 

[Joan2709]

Hi @Lori3658 

Good suggestions given by @Kia272 and @Mike-And-Jane0 . I have Co Hosted on a similarly large property that slept 16. Many base a cleaning fee on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, not necessarily on the sq footage. Usually $50/bathroom and $35 per bedroom as a rule of thumb. I believe she charged $250 and put some of the cost into her higher nightly rate.  I also agree to try and keep the cleaning fee as low as you can by adding some of the cleaning costs to the nightly rate. You will not always have 16 people staying.  I believe she averaged around 10. However, usually all the bathrooms will be used regardless of guest count. The laundry is the biggest issue as she had 13 beds plus pullout sofas and cots. Thats alot of laundry! The house took about 6hours to clean, so no same day turnarounds. 

Generally speaking, guests booking large homes are still getting a fantastic value. If they had to book hotel rooms with a large groups they would be spending much more (even with a cleaning fee). Additionally they get a private property were they can all be together. Usually these large properties are in beautiful areas and very private. No way they could get the same experience at a hotel. Adults splitting the cost of stay usually worked out to around $100-$125/night including the cleaning fee (average 3 night stay). Much more economical than a hotel.

[Rebecca]

Hi @Lori3658 👋

Did any of the answers below help resolve your question? If so, it's always a lovely gesture to mark it as the best answer. It's like a big virtual hug to the member who supported you but also to support other Hosts who may have similar questions in the future. 😊

[Calvin173]

Of course @Lori3658 , there's a lot of factor that can change a property's price, but as an example, I would say $800 per night.

Base Rate (sleeps up to 16 guests): $800
Cleaning Fee: $200 (one-time)
Security Deposit: $500 (refundable)

[Lori3658]

Interesting.  I never even thought to request a deposit.  I just thought that if there are damages,  you request that Air BnB sort out the payment 🤔 

[Joan2709]

Hi @Lori3658 

Please be advised you cannot charge a security deposit on Airbnb. The only exception is if you are using a 3rd party channel manager. Vrbo does allow you to charge a security deposit:

Security Deposits

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/140

Hosts aren’t allowed to charge guests a security deposit through our Resolution Center or outside the Airbnb platform. Instead, we inform guests at the time of booking that their payment method may be charged if they cause damage during a stay. There is one exception: Hosts who manage their listings with API-connected software can set a security deposit using our offline fees feature. If a Host has done this, the deposit requirements will be clearly communicated during the booking process.

Please type in "Aircover" in the search box above and you'll see other Host's experiences and opinions about Aircover. I strongly suggest you have your own insurance policy specifically designed for short term rentals. I would not rely on Aircover. A typical homeowner's insurance policy will NOT cover renting your home as a short term rental. 

BTW...Airbnb specifically states that Aircover is NOT insurance. I suggest reading through all the limitations and exclusions for Aircover (there are many):

Aircover

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/279

[Lori3658]

Thanks so much! I appreciate your input and yes, I have additional private insurance just in case 😉 

[Calvin173]

Yes, this is correct. I do it through Hostaway, not Airbnb. Thanks for the heads up Joan!

[Shelley159]

Hi @Lori3658 - I'm excited that I know a good theoretical answer to this one, but it may not be super useful anyway! Cost accounting says you should try to match charges as closely as possible to how costs are incurred. In an Airbnb most cleaning costs are incurred when you change guests (laundry is a big part of it). A small part of the cleaning cost belongs in the nightly rate (because each extra night does make cleaning a little bit harder at the end). Most of the cleaning cost should be charged separately per booking, because most of the cost is due to cleaning after each booking.

But at a practical level I would agree with what others have said - it's important to look at what competitors charge as a separate item (because that's what guests will look at), and also to change your allocation of the cleaning fee over time to see what portion works best as part of the nightly fee vs the separate charge.

The most important thing is that you should try to work out as accurately as possible how much it costs to clean (adding up all the costs, not just the main ones that are easy to see) to make sure you recover that from your guests (especially when you run specials it's important to make sure you don't charge too little without knowing it). You have a big property, so cleaning is a big expense and I can see why you want to get this right.

[Greystone0 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Lori3658 - great questions and here's my philosophy. So far it has worked for us and no push back from guests.

- I charge $325-$385 for my cleaning fee. Sometimes if I feel my listing is stagnant I will lower the cleaning fee, hence the range.

- my cleaner charges $400-$450 (higher rate is if she needs to take laundry with her because it is a same day turnover).  So in all cases I share in the cleaning fee cost per turnover.

- I regularly check 'other' listings in my area on how they deal with their cleaning fees. In general I would say that the range that I charge is in line with listings a guest would be considering as alternatives.  I do check regularly on this to make sure I haven't gone out of whack.

- in all cases I have left my cleaning fee as a separate line item. I think that the way things are going in this space that the major platforms would like to see 'fees' go away, in general, so we may not have a choice going forward (that is my general feeling on where this may be headed).

- we have 6000 square feet and 5 furnished outdoor spaces, 9 individual beds, 4 bathrooms. It is a herculean effort to clean and prepare. Yours sound similar in effort. No matter what happens with fees on the listing side of things I plan on ensuring my cleaning crew is set up for success and is properly compensated.

- in your case, I would understand what your direct competitors are doing with their cleaning fee and keep it in line with that.

- I also think that the check out cleaning list should be as minimal as possible. We really only have two 'chores' - 1. start the dishwasher - not a hard chore  and 2. remove the kitchen garbage to garage cans. We don't ask to collect garbage but we want to remove the wet, icky, smelly kitchen garbage as early as possible to garage where it will then be double bagged.

Wishing you much success!

Greystone Lodge

[Lori3658]

So many great things to think about. Thank you for the invaluable advice! Much appreciated...