Do you charge a cleaning fee?

[Sybe]

Hi everyone,

Cleaning is a big part of being a Host. Whether you do it yourself or you hire cleaners the cost of a standard cleaning needs to be accounted for. I’ve already seen Hosts discussing whether to charge a cleaning fee or include it in the nightly price, so I was curious to find out a bit more!

How do you charge your guests for cleaning? Why did you choose to do it this way, and what do you think are the pros and cons of this and other ways?

You can answer the poll above, and tell us your thoughts in the comments below. I can’t wait to hear from you!

Thanks.

Sybe

[Sarah977]

@Sybe  No, I don't. My listing is a private room/private bath in my home. It takes me about an hour and a half to clean and prepare.

I have a 3 night minimum stay, and the average length stay is 10 days, so the cleaning time required spread out over the length of stay didn't seem like something I needed to set a separate charge for. I just consider it part of the expenses, like utilities and amenities, factored into the nightly rate. 

[Kate867]

Yes, we do charge now.  Before Covid we didn’t, it was included in the nightly rates which I feel is a bit unfair as longer staying guests end up paying more.  Having said that, anyone staying a week/month or more gets a discount.  With the onset of Covid, we kept our rates the same, made a minimum 3 night stay, blocked out one night between reservations and added a £40  cleaning fee.  The cleaning fee just covers the extra hours and products for deep sanitising between guests.  I don’t see it as excessive, we have potentially lost a night of guest fees however we know our guests are safe, and also our Housekeeper feels more comfortable as she has more time.  With restrictions all but gone now in England, I have no plans to change this as I still feel deep cleaning between guests is essential 

[Quincy]

Hi @Kate867, thanks for sharing this! How much do you generally spend on cleaning e.g. cleaner/cleaning products on a monthly basis ? (if I may ask) 

[Kate867]

@Quincy To be honest, I have never worked it out per guest as all stays are different in length … for example, I have some there for a month at the moment.  I have a locked cupboard in the house which contains all the cleaning and extra products to leave out for guests, our Housekeeper has the key and does what she needs to do.  The cleaning products themselves are not that expensive in the scheme of things.  Ours is a two bedroom old ‘listed’ cottage with lots of beams (and I swear she hoovers all those… lol).   Pre Covid it would take her about four hours to do a thorough turnover… now it takes an extra 2-3 hours or so to do it as I ask guests to leave anything that they have used in a certain location so that she can sanitise them with the appropriate product and return them to where they belong.  Also of course, she is using appropriate products to clean all points of contact such as light switches, lamps, doors etc, and all laundry on a very hot wash etc… so, even though restrictions have been all but dropped here in England, I am keen to carry on with this regime as my lovely housekeeper and myself feel a lot more comfortable and we know the guests are also safe and will have no cause for complaint.

[Debra300]

@Sybe,

I used to have a cleaning fee for all of my listings.  Last year, when Airbnb changed my service fee set up to host pays only, on all of the listings I removed the cleaning fee and raised the nightly rates to cover it and the service fee.  I recently reinstated a cleaning for my Atlanta apartment which is rented for long-term stays, because I've found that it's necessary as a buffer for when I have to pay my cleaner for when she to put in extra effort, and to pay for damages not reported by the guest (towels with iron burned holes tucked in between other towels, broken coffee table legs positioned to prop up the table, etc.).

[Lorna170]

@Sybe   I charge a separate cleaning fee for all of my properties.  The fee is paid to the housekeeper and exterior maintenance man, and I pay extra when I am told that there was a less than stellar guest  There was no easy way to roll the cleaning fee into the nightly rate as I have both 2 night rentals and week long rentals.  

[Emiel1]

@Sybe 

No. Providing a clean accommodation is part of the hospitality business when it comes to offering rooms

Those costs must be included in the price per night.

Ever encountered a hotel charging a cleaning fee ?

(for entire houses etc a cleaning fee is a common feature)

[Laurelle3]

@Sybe i dont charge a cleaning fee because I am the cleaner. It takes about 5 hours to clean a 2 bedroom cottage which I  do over 24 hrs as I have blocked the night guest depart and between guests and I don't have to rush and pace myself.

I have been slowly increasing the price to cover the extras requied for cleaning, washing and ironing. Cleaning products initially cost to set up but are replaced as required and they are now have a minimal cost.

Products I use are disinfectant surface spays, vinigar, bleach, detergents for floors, toilet cleaners, gumption, oven cleaner, window cleaner, washing powder. I wash cleaning cloths, scrubbers and mop after use  and are reused. 

I also lock the spare bedroom if not required by guests, it is explained in rules and I explain to guests when showing them through cottage on arrival. No complaints so far, as I also remind I don't charge a cleaning fee as I am the cleaner. They are happy with this response.

I have to say the cottage is possibly cleaner than my home as I am providing a service to others.

[Gillian166]

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@Laurelle3 wrote:

I have to say the cottage is possibly cleaner than my home as I am providing a service to others.

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haha, I can absolutely say our cottage is cleaner than my house! Just today I was looking at my skirting boards and did a "tsk tsk" to myself. I cleaned the oven today, first time i've done that in 6months. 

[Sybe]

@Gillian166 I've been there, yes... it's high time I give our oven a good scrub again haha.

@Laurelle3 It is quite an investment to get everything at once the first time, but as you said once you have everything you just replace something every now and then. Is there a difference in how clean your cottage versus your home or do you use the same techniques/strategies for both?

[Huma0]

@Sybe 

No, I have never charged a cleaning fee for various reasons:

1. Personally I find it annoying to see something advertised at one price and then find out it costs a lot more. Guests already have hefty Airbnb fees to deal with. It would be okay if the accommodation fee + Airbnb fees + cleaning/linen or whatever fees were advertised upfront (i.e. guests put all their requirements into the search filter and then see what it actually costs) but they aren't.

2. I host long term guests. Airbnb doesn't provide any function to charge an ongoing cleaning fee, only a one off one which makes no sense for longer stays. I give the guests the option of cleaning their room themselves or paying me a small charge to clean it themselves (can be problematic as most choose the former, but very few actually clean the room even close to adequately/frequently enough) but with the rest of the house, it's down to me.

3. I worry that if guests pay a cleaning fee, they will think that they never need to clean up after themselves and that they get some sort of daily maid service and all hell would break loose, the house would often be a mess and I would get low cleanliness ratings to boot.

I find the whole cleaning fee system deeply problematic.

[Helen744]

@Huma0, when you think about it there is cleaning and cleaning . The guests who I have ,generally, not always , clean their own pots and pans and put rubbish out, wash the dishes and take out the rubbish,just like home, but they know clearly that someone else will vacumn ,make beds ,do washing ,cut the lawn etcetera. They pay for the right to walk into a clean home and leave a messy one but still they do their normal basics. H. when I have to clean up after guests I am amazed not at the amount of rubbish they generate but the understanding that every guest is a 'hair factory' with smellovision ,every guest. It takes a long time to clean every surface and here every one with a two or three bed house charges a cleaning fee and our rates are not high enough to compete if we add the cleaning into the rate,We would not get any bookings. Different places work in different ways . most guests now have learned to look for the cleaning fee. Fees vary a great deal too. from $25 to $120 so guests do like to check their bottom line . They can see what it is for if they look .They either accept it or not but I do find that any deviation from clean is quickly penalised and sometimes guests expect more. I would not necessarily attach this to the cleaning fee. H.

[Huma0]

@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.

[Helen744]

@Huma0, I do understand and agree with what you are saying, if I offer a weekly  clean for a guest I should be paid but the amount paid is never enough to cover a cleaner to do the same.So that would be a general kitchen clean benchtops ,sort out the sink ,put the dish washer on and mop the floors ,clean  towels or whatever products,bathroom  plus change all towels and linen plus a bit of a vac, but at the end of the stay it is double the amount so that when the next guest comes along it is super clean. In other words people can put up with their own mess but not someone elses. As Jerry Seinfeld says 'how come the hair on your head is beautiful but if it gets in the shower it freaks people out'. It does not mean really that the house is not clean but everyone sheds and I clean so that no one can tell someone else slept there before them but as you say not everyone does. H