clearning fee vs higher nightly rates

[Bex9]

Hello everyone,

I am a very new host with a full separate 2 bedroom 1 bedthroom suite.  I have been wondering about upping room rate and removing cleaning fee? I have to clean 6 rooms when people leave - ofcourse when people look at your listing and see the rate it includes the cleaning fee - so wher do people feel like they get a better deal - paying less with cleaning fee or no cleaning fee.

Also for longer stays I feel like I need to add something to say there will be an add for changing out sheets and towels.

Love to hear from people who rent out full apartments and suites.

Many thanks

Bex in beautiful BC

[Matthew285]

@Bex9 there is no perfect answer to what to do about cleaning fees. It really depends on what kind of guests you have and how long they stay.

In general, having a separate cleaning fee makes shorter stays more expensive, and longer stays cheaper (per night).

I noticed you have a minimum stay of 3 nights. This makes your cleaning fee less of an issue.

(The biggest effect of a cleaning fee is on stays of just 1 night.)

We prefer to have a cleaning fee because, although we allow one night stays, we don't want to encourage them. So our cleaning fee makes a one night stay pretty expensive. But if someone is willing to pay it, then they can. Plus it makes sure that our costs are always covered.

[Bex9]

thanks for the input much appreciated 😄  - this is why I don't like to do less than 3 days it's too much work 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Bex9

Agree with @Matthew285 - it really depends. 

I target guests looking for places to stay anywhere from 1 month to up to 4~5 months (mostly exchange students) and have different min night requirements according to the school year. I don't have a cleaning fee and have built everything into the nightly rate. There are times in the year (usually during school vacation months) where we have a 3 night min, and the rates are slightly higher than similar places nearby but add up to be more or less the same as places cheaper but with a cleaning fee. We don't want frequent turnovers or an endless trail of guests coming and going every few days, it would be too hectic and while we both enjoy hosting (and the extra income) we don't want to burnout or let hosting responsibilities take over our lives 🙂 so we price ourselves accordingly~

[Bex9]

great thanks so much 😄

[Letti0]

@Bex9  I charge a cleaning fee and allow 1 day stays, like @Matthew285 said if they want to pay for it they will. Most of my stays are between 1-5 days, with an occassional longer one here and there. I have a 9 day booking coming up and I will actually be changing bed sheets and towels at day 5 as I don't want guests washing my linens and towels, so in this case it costs me more time and money to do the longer stays, but I don't get too many. Also I'm making $2,201 for the stay, so I really can't complain. Oh by the way this is an entire house.