Shorts Stays Complaining about Cleaning fee

[Chamaine0]

Hello

I own a small elite cleaning Service and I co host for a few Super Host and Clean for others.  Here is the problem. Lately we have had reviews complaining about the cleaning fee. These are whole houses or condos some located on the beach. We have nothing but 5 stars for our cleanliness and the in the same review that one raves about how clean the home is they also complain about paying a fee. 

We are in a tourist area (Destin FL) and my fees are below that of local management companies. 

The complaints have mainly come from people on short stays who think they should pay less. Rather they are there 1 night or 10 the house doesn’t get any smaller the work still has to be done. Bedding has to be washed and changed in every room , towels and so forth. The furniture still has to be vacuumed as our beautiful sand gets everywhere. Every surface has to be cleaned , floors mopped. 

I’ m just be fuddled how someone can leave a hand written note for the cleaning staff about our attention to detail and how they have never stayed in a rental so clean then complain about the fee which was clearly listed at the time of booking.

Now with the new Supper Host requirements my owners are nervous over the 4 stars for Value Because of fees bringing down their standings. They have asked me to come up with something to include in their listings but I’m unsure if this is what to do. Any Ideas ?

[Brittany321]

An overly-high cleaning fee makes guests want to leave it dirty.  I personally always clean up before I leave, therefore I feel we should have options.  maybe do tiers, Those of us who want to clean before we leave pay a smaller fee, a bride-groom couple who want to do nothing and leave as is can opt for a higher cleaning fee. But its not fair to those who clean up and do half the work which someone else is being  paid to do. 

[Sarah977]

And how would a host know ahead of time if the guests were going to leave it clean? Just because they say they will? That isn't doable at all.

Do you thoroughly vacuum the house when you leave and mop all the floors? Do you wipe down and dust every nook and cranny? Do you sterilize the kitchen and bathroom? Do you wash the windows? Do you wash all the bedding and towels and bath mats and remake the beds? Do you replenish all the supplies? Do you take the garbage out to the dumpster or can and put new bin liners in the garbage receptacles?

Cleaning up your personal messes isn't doing half the work someone else is paid to do.

@Brittany321

[Matthew1279]

The bottom line is this. You can rail on about a livable wage and fair pay for the cleaning services but at the end of the day (and the stock market shows this) air Bob has suffered greatly. There is an obvious reason. When you click on a place to stay for a weekend and it says 120 a night and when you see the final price at over 500 dollars, as a customer, you go nope. I’m not going to pay that. Airbnb needs to flat rate their fees. Contract out cleaning companies that will work within that umbrella or it will fail.

[Matthew1279]

If can stay at the 4 seasons for 400 dollars a night, then why would I want to stay in your stock home for nearly the same price.

[Sarah977]

@Matthew1279  You don't get an entire private home to yourself at the 4 seasons.

And as a consumer, you have the choice to rent a hotel room, or an Airbnb- no one is forcing you to do one or the other, it's your choice.

No, cleaning fees can't be set to some standard amount, because the cost of cleaning varies greatly depending on the location of the listing, even in different areas within the same country. Cleaners charge about the equivalent of $5 US an hour in the area of Mexico where I live, but in other areas of Mexico, the going wage may be as low as $3/hr. 

And in the US, it could be anywhere from $20- $50/ hr.

I do think, though, that hosts who advertise a low nightly price to lure people in, only for the guest to find some exhorbitant cleaning fee tacked on that is twice the nightly booking fee are guilty of very bad business practice and I can see why guests would be angry about it. 

But I hope the majority of hosts don't do such things- normally what you see as the cleaning fee is actually what the host pays directly to their cleaner- they aren't making a profit on the cleaning fee (Airbnb is, though- they base their service fee on a percentage of the total booking cost, including the cleaning fee).

[Keisha63]

If it’s a 3 bedroom home and you’re booking 1 night why would a hist charge $75 for cleaning. They’re not going to clean the entire house! They’re going to do a turn over service specifically for the room! I was about to book a quick one day for business trip. If it’s $37 a night why is the cleaning & service fees 3xs the actual stay? That’s not an ethical practice. I’d rather book a nice hotel for $123 then pay $147 for an air bnb. It’s just not worth it to me🤷🏾‍♀️. And I can eat in my hotel bed & have immediate service and security. 

[Sarah977]

@Keisha63  Then book a hotel. You are uninformed about cleaning practices at Airbnbs. Yes, many things in the house are going to be cleaned, regardless of whether you only stayed a night. Everything has to be cleaned and sterilized. But why would you book a 3 bedroom house if you only require one bedroom? Obviously that is going to have a higher cleaning fee than a one bedroom.

Of course, if you are low impact, and only slept there and showered, the cleaning fee will seem high to you (my son-in-law who also travels on business has the same issue). But what you need to realize is that if a host wants to retain a good cleaner, the cleaner needs to be able  to depend on getting paid a set amount for a cleaning.  I doubt you would want to check into a place to find the previous guest's hair in the shower stall or food spilled in the fridge or microwave, or dishes with food crusted on them.   

And hosts have no way of knowing how guests will leave the place. There are guests who can manage to trash a place out in one day, and others who can stay for 2 weeks and leave it spick and span. It isn't the length of stay that determines how much cleaning will be required, it's the respect level of the guests. So cleaning fees have to be averaged out.

If you are travelling on business and only staying one night, then Airbnbs are likely not viable for you if you object to the cleaning  fee. That's fine- Airbnbs do not lend themselves to all situations. We can't be everything to everyone.

 FYI I only host one guest in a private room and have no cleaning fee. But I also have a 3 night minimum stay- there's no way I'm going to spend the hour and a half it takes me to clean for a one  night stay. 

However, eating in bed and getting food on the linens is disrespectful no matter where you are staying, regardless of the fact that a hotel doesn't review its guests. In case you aren't aware, hotels use professional laundry services. They also buy linens in massive bulk. Airbnbs do not- the host or the cleaner has to work to remove stains left in linens and towels.

[Lisa9071]

"They also buy linens in massive bulk. Airbnbs do not."

Accountant here...you are conflating YOUR cost of doing business with a service for which you should charge a fee. And this is why lay people who do not understand business charge stupid cleaning fees that seem tortious, because they are.

A hotel also pays employees, payroll taxes, health insurance, and a whole slew of costs of which you are unaware, and do not have to concern yourself. They pay for a huge portion of land, and pay higher taxes as a business property. You have to sweep a floor that YOU own and are not losing money on. Perhaps you start to see the difference but I doubt it...

If you are doing a full cleaning instead of turnover every time then that is just further proof that you are out of your element. As a hotel manager, I can tell you a change down costs around $35-50, I can do it in the middle of the night myself if I have to.  A room sitting empty makes no money, if I charge more than the $50 to clean it, I am recouping my costs. It does not cost more than the cost of a single night to clean a home, period.  

If YOU want to rent the room so YOU can make money, YOU need to provide a clean quality room, including linens. If YOU want to advertise it as clean, YOU need to hire someone to clean it or do it yourself. 

Do not promote yourself as doing the public a favor by "sharing" your home, you are not. You are trying to make money off of them, period. REPEAT, you are trying to make money off of people NOT doing them a favor, be honest with yourself if not the rest of us. Now you are just complaining because they finally see through the BS you have been shoveling. 

[Debra300]

@Keisha63,

Not too long ago another person posted a question about the cleaning fee, and the following is the combined list of tasks that @Sarah977  and I noted that hosts have to do in preparation for every stay regardless of duration, number of guests, or the guests' claim that they will only use XX items or rooms.  

"What is the cleaning fee for"?

Scrubbing and sterilizing the bathroom.

Sterilizing all high touch surfaces.

Vacuuming thoroughly.

Mopping floors.

Cleaning baseboards.

Cleaning window blinds.

Dusting.

Washing windows, wiping down window sills.

Checking to make sure the dishes the guest washed are actually clean.

Cleaning fans, vents, etc.

Checking for and removing any cobwebs.

Cleaning out  drawers and  cupboards.

Washing down drawer and cabinet fronts.

Cleaning light fixtures.

Laundry ( even if the guest puts  linens in the machine and turns it on, they still need to be transferred to a dryer folded, and put away)

Remaking beds, putting out clean towels.

Restocking provisions like toilet paper, soap, laundry soap, coffee, etc.

Cleaning up any outside areas, like patios and yards.

Replacing any burnt out light bulbs, remote control batteries, etc.

I could probably come up with at least 10 more things, but I hope that's enough for you to get the picture.

If you like, think of the cleaning fee as cleaning for your arrival. Would you really want to rely on the previous guest's "cleaning" as adequate for you to move into?

I will had a few more items to @Sarah977's list:

- cleaning all of the small kitchen appliances (coffee makers, tea kettles, toasters, microwaves, blenders, mixers, air fryer, etc.)

- cleaning large kitchen appliances (refrigerator, freezer, range top and oven, griddle and range hood)

- cleaning the bar-b-que grill

- removing automobile fluid stains from onsite parking

- touching up walls where guests have marked/dinted with their luggage, shoes, dirty hands

- cleaning out the guest's hair from the drains

- cleaning out the lint trap or filter in the dryer, washing machine, and dishwasher 

- cleaning the  buildup from detergent tray in the washing machine and dishwasher

- removing stains from towels, linens and furniture

- disposing of vermin and bugs that were attracted by the open food left behind by guests

Please note that a properly cleaned ABB goes way above just "not being nasty" or good enough for friends or family to pass by.  On average, it takes 8-10 hours to clean our 2 bedroom apartments, and about 6 hours to clean our studio suites.

[Lisa9071]

That does not all need to be done every time and that is why people think it sounds ridiculous. Also, your timeframes are insanely long, either you do not clean well or you are milking the clock. It does not take 8-10 hours to clean a single apartment, or my housekeeper would need a second job, and she does not.

[Gillian166]

also not mentioned here is how guests will suddenly channel Goldilocks and try out every bed, every room, every bowl..... we don't know if they went into the other rooms to try out the bed (or in the situation recently, god knows why but they sat on the bed in the 3rd room, mussed up the doona and then left some kind of pink jammy stain on it!), so they still have to be checked, and I always do a quick vacuum and mop in those rooms too. 

[Leonard932]

I was given a less than stellar review for some items that were left, saying that even though it was pretty clean when I left I'm probably a better fit for a hotel.  In which case, I am wondering why would I pay for cleaning fee that is almost worth a days rental? And whoever wants to say that cleaning should be done on an already clean place, these prices don't reflect that.

It's not just the cleaning service that be the pain, Airbnb has some issue to deal with.  However, high cleaning prices should just price out many places, what the site NEEDS to do is factor in cleaning fees on price searches as currently that is what doesn't work. 

[Jesse591]

Because a rental that cost $59 a night, but comes to $150 because of the cleaning and airbnb fees is insanity.

[Debra300]

A common misunderstanding about a cleaning fee is that it's to pay for cleaning up AFTER the guest leaves (that's housekeeping), but it's really the fee for getting the place prepared for the guest to check-in.  Every guest rightfully expects a space to be properly cleaned and prepared for their arrival and stay, and when it's not, they can request a refund of the cleaning fee.  However, they can't ask for a refund if the space isn't cleaned and turned over after they checkout because that's not the purpose of a cleaning fee.

The length of a rental period is not an indication of what will be used or dirtied during the stay.  Typically, it takes about the same time to clean and turnover a rental after a one night stay as for a week-long stay.  Everything needs to be cleaned and checked, even if it looks like it hasn't been used.   Cleaning fees should reflect the cost of hiring a local cleaning person, and the cleaning supplies, if not provided by the cleaner.

Generally, a $59 p/n short-term stay probably shouldn't have a $150 cleaning fee unless the nightly rate is discounted due to a promotion or length of stay.  For example, one of our apartments has a nightly rate of $67 and a $150 cleaning fee, but we usually rent it long-term.  In between long-term reservations we could rent the space for a short-stay at a nightly rate of $97 with no cleaning fee and a 5 night minimum stay, because it will still take 8-10 hours to thoroughly clean and turnover the apartment for that guest's arrival, e.g., thoroughly clean, re-stock supplies that guests will use, check and confirm that furnishings, appliances and services are not in disrepair and all work properly at check-in.  

The non-discounted rate is still a great rate for the apartment, but guests staying longer than 5 nights would actually pay less if there was a separate cleaning fee,  but we've found that short-stay guests don't want to see (or pay for) the real costs of having a place prepared for their stay.  For a logical reason unknown to me, guests think that the length of their stay or a nightly rate should dictate the cleaning fee, but regardless of the effort, time and resources it takes, they expect a space to be in pristine condition for their stay.  

[Lisa9071]

"A common misunderstanding about a cleaning fee is that it's to pay for cleaning up AFTER the guest leaves (that's housekeeping), but it's really the fee for getting the place prepared for the guest to check-in."

I think you need to reread the Air B&B page on this..."The cleaning fee is one of several fees that MAY apply to a reservation" ... "This fee covers the extra expenses Hosts incur when getting their place ready for guests to arrive or after they leave. 

This should be YOUR cost to absorb because you want to make money off of the room.  You are effectively saying "I rent a room for $100 per night but if you want it cleaned first, that will be $250."