Cleaning fee

[Dee2234]

What should I be charging for a 3400 sq. ft. home that has 5 bedrooms, 5 king needs, 5 full baths and 2 half baths with all wood floors? I feel what I'm make for it now isn't enough because it takes a lot of effort and time cleaning the entire home. 

[Dee2234]

Correction *5 king beds 

[Shelley159 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Dee2234 

The answer used to be easier - you could look around the Airbnb map for similar homes and see what cleaning fee they charge. Now it's a bit more complicated, because Airbnb no longer shows the cleaning fee as a separate line item in searches.

I can think of 3 options:

1) Hopefully someone from nearby responds to your question here and gives you some indication.

2) Ask a local cleaning company for a quote (they may want to visit the listing, but you can try to get a quote by sending the listing link to them), or ask your local Airbnb host club.

3) Calculate the average cleaning fee. Identify some homes in your immediate area that are of similar size, select a range of nights and note the total price. Then select the same start date, but make the stay longer or shorter. From this you can calculate what portion of the charge changes with the length of stay (the nightly rate) and what portion is constant per reservation (which is likely the cleaning charge if the listing's pricing structure is fairly straightforward).

When you select the date ranges, choose ranges of at least 3 nights throughout. This is because Airbnb allows hosts to select a different cleaning fee for short stays of 1 or 2 nights, so you don't want that to throw your calculations off. To keep things simple, try to calculate the average regular cleaning fee in your area (that hosts tend to charge for 3 or more nights) and then you can decide afterwards whether you want to reduce your own cleaning fee for short stays and by how much.

If you use option 3, I hope you like algebra! 😀

[Joan2709]

@Dee2234 

***Edited - What are you charging right now? It looks like you are not a Host, but you list your employment as "cleaner"?  In that case, find out what other cleaners are charging in the area as @Shelley159 mentions. Cleaning fees vary widely by location.

The biggest issue I see is laundry with 5 King bedrooms and 5 full baths/2 half baths. Thats alot of towels and linens!

I work with a Host with a very large home (approx 5,000sqft) with 16 beds but 3 bathrooms/6 bedrooms. None of the beds are King size (I always suggest the master be a King).

This is just an estimate rule of thumb: 

$50/bathroom

$35/bedroom

That brings you to $425 plus add a bit for the half baths.