Cleaning expectations

[Thomas2429]

Hi, I've been an Airbnb host off and on since 2013. I've also stayed in many Airbnbs with no issue. However I've just had the interesting experience of being a guest and being asked to pay an additional cleaning fee as we apparently left the place in a 'terrible condition'.

For context, we paid £1,500, including the Airbnb service fee and an £80 cleaning fee for a 7 night stay in a large 3 bedroom/3 bathroom house. This was a quiet family stay of 6 adults and a baby across 3 generations. The host is new to hosting, and lives several hours from the property and relies on a cleaning company to turn the property around between guests. We had to wash the towels on our arrival as they smelled quite musty, like they'd been sitting in a damp washing machine for some time before being dried. 

Apart from being horrified at being accused of this, I just wanted to gauge opinion to see if we might be in the wrong here. I'll try to give the facts as neutrally as possible. 

I did the final walk around before leaving the house. I looked for instructions on what to do with bedding and towels, but there were none, so we left the bed turned back and put the dirty towels in the bath. I went through every room, all crockery and glassware was washed and put away (dishwasher was left empty), all rubbish was sorted into recycling bags and stacked in the bins outside the house (collection day was not for a few days, so aside from going to the dump, we had no option but to leave it here). 

The host asked us to pay a further £80, as apparently it took the cleaners 8 hours rather than 4 to clean the house. There was no documentary evidence, just what the cleaner had told them. This is the sum of what was passed to us:

- house in a mess

- kitchen was 'filthy'

- grease on worktop

- bins left full

- some pants were left in a bed

- toilets were dirty

As an Airbnb host myself, I feel 100% happy that we left the house tidy. It is absolutely true to say that the house was not cleaned before we left, and the pants in the bed thing was definitely unfortunate.. but my feeling is that cleaning of the property is the responsibility of the host between stays, particularly if a cleaning fee has already been charged. I also feel that 4 hours to clean a property as large as this, along with changing the beds etc. is possibly not long enough anyway. 

We refused the charge, the host said he'd cancel the request as it was just our word against the cleaners, and without being on site, he'd have to give us the benefit of the doubt. He said he would expect people to leave the house much as they found it, but admitted that there was no instruction of this anywhere in the house manual. We left a polite but honest review to which we had a very angry response, calling us liars and telling us to never book his property again. 

Feeling somewhat wounded by the whole affair! But some honest opinions would be helpful for our future stays, maybe we should have cleaned the place, or maybe this host expects too much of his guests. What do you think?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Thomas2429 who knows....... Not sure the host has done themselves any benefit with their response to your review.

[Emiel1]

@Thomas2429 

This new host is clearly at the start of the learning curve of hosting and will hopefully do a better job with future guests.
Like providing evidence regarding a claim

As it seems there is no review left behind for you ?
Then forget about the whole experience !

[Mark116]

@Thomas2429  I would say you are right not to pay if the most specific thing they had to say was the stove was greasy, and okay the bins were full, but if no directions were given as to what else you were supposed to do with them, then that is on the host.  A super greasy stove is somewhat annoying, me, as a guest, I would at least wipe it down, but I would never ask for $$ because a guest left it dirty.  Unless by toilets were dirty, the host meant something was very 'off' same for the stove, its nice if people leave things in good shape, but in no way should guests be expected to clean toilets on their holiday.

It sounds like maybe the host needs a private message to tell them if they want the house left completely clean then that needs to be made very, very clear, because that's not standard.

For comparison, we ask guests to wash dishes, hang up towels so they don't get musty, depending on the stay, we either get the trash or direct them when/where to dispose of, and ask of course to clean up major spills. We even tell them if they have extra food they can't take to leave it, because we found that our disposal technique is better than guests throwing half full bottles of juice in the trash, LOL. Also, it takes us 4 hours working at a steady speed to clean our apartment..2 bedrooms, 1 bath, kitchen...that is assuming its dirty but no damages.

[Thomas2429]

@Mark116 thanks for your input, completely agree with what you say. Perhaps we should have paid more attention to the stove- it's a big AGA (British range cooker which is always on) which has a black top so it's not that obvious if it's dirty. 

In our message exchange with the host before the review we did point out that there were no instructions regarding expectation, he said he would make this more clear. But I must say, I'd be reluctant as a guest to book a house I knew I had to clean before leaving, particularly as they already charge a cleaning fee.

In the Airbnb I currently co-host with my Mum, we don't charge a cleaning fee and we expect to fully clean between stays, but it's interesting when you hear another take on this from other hosts as we have just experienced.

[Sandra4415]

I think the host expected too much from you.    I have hosted for a few years.    I charge an 80$ cleaning fee per stay for a 3br house and 60$ for an RV.   Cleaners charge around $25-$30 per hour in my area.  Many guests leave our place spotless and the cleaners get done early.     Occasionally- usually a guest with children- leaves us some extra work to do and I pay my cleaners more than I charge guests. It all evens out.    I do expect guests to “pick up” and wash their dishes but I don’t expect them to clean surfaces or floor or toilet etc.   Travel is stressful enough.   I have never billed a guest who didn’t do a full cleaning.