@Helen744
I think the level of cleaning that hosts require varies enormously so it isn't necessarily obvious to guests. You expect guests to do their own washing up and put the rubbish out. Because I host long term guests and it's a shared space, i.e. they are sharing with other guests, not just with me, I expect them to do a bit more (bear in mind they are paying a lot less per night than they would for a short stay) but they NEVER put the rubbish out. They just don't see it as their job. They will empty the wastepaper baskets from their rooms into the kitchen bin, but that's about it.
Other hosts expect guests to do a lot more than you or I, but still charge a cleaning fee. You say guests are used to it, and maybe they are in your location, but I have picked up from speaking to guests about it (and there are threads on the CC reflecting this) that there is a lot of confusion about what the cleaning fee is for.
One guest told me that she paid a substantial cleaning fee and cleaned the apartment before checking out, but the host complained, saying the listing should be left exactly as it was found. Perhaps the guest's cleanliness wasn't up to scratch or perhaps the host is expecting the guests to clean for the next guests and charging them for the privilege.
A friend of mine rented an Airbnb in Paris for a weekend. She and her mother wasted a whole day out of their two day stay cleaning the place despite the cleaning fee. She showed me the photos and it clearly hadn't been cleaned in months. When she complained and asked to be refunded the cleaning fee, the host gave her a shockingly bad review. I have travelled with this friend several times, including sharing a hotel room with her for one month. I know that the host left a retaliatory review just because she wasn't happy about paying a cleaning fee and then having to deep clean the apartment herself. She didn't complain about anything else.
Several other guests have told me of issues they've had with hosts of other listings that revolve around paying a cleaning fee (often substantial) but the host getting angry that the guests did not thoroughly clean, and by that I mean they not only did their dishes and took out the rubbish but wiped down the surfaces and vacuumed, but it was not sufficient for the host.
A cleaning fee should be for cleaning, not for bumping up the nightly price. I am not blaming hosts who do this as Airbnb kind of forces their hand, as the cleaning fee is not included in the initial advertised nightly rate. Hosts are forced to add/increase the cleaning fee in order to look competitive and those that don't are at a disadvantage. However, it's just not a transparent way of doing business, especially if (unlike you) the host expects the guests to do actual cleaning and often even laundry.
I think that the cleaning fee should be incorporated into the nightly rate but that only works if it's a rule applied across all listings. Extra cleaning fees should be reserved for optional, additional cleaning, e.g. if a host offers housekeeping during the guest's stay.
