Absorbing the cleaning fee into the nightly rate

[Katherine845]

Just wondered about other people's thoughts... I've seen a lot of articles recently with people complaining about Airbnb fees - especially the cleaning fee being an add-on. It's obviously something that immediately sets your offer apart from a hotel and I get why guests find it annoying.

However I include a fee because I want to be able to offer short stays that don't leave me out of pocket. 

As it stands, the only way length of stay discounts are for a week or month plus bookings.

That means I'm left with a choice:

If I absorb the cleaning fee so it's spread over my minimum stay, an £80 cleaning fee split over two would mean my nightly rate would go up by £40... That way I wouldn't lose out on a two nighter, however those staying for 3/4/5 & nights would see the cost of their stays increase dramatically.

Or I take the hit on shorter stays.. Say increase the nightly rate by £15-20.. That would mean I'd lose out over a two nighter, but would have made the cleaning fee back over 4/5 nights... 

What I would really like is for Airbnb to add bespoke length of stay reductions - so you could set a percentage reduction for a 3/4/5/6 night stay... That would mean I could get rid of the cleaning charge without being out of pocket.

What do other hosts think? And is there a way of effectively  flagging an idea like that up to Airbnb?

[Rhonda45]

We don’t have a cleaning fee because Airbnbs fees are so high.  We are fortunate that we are retired and can do our own cleaning, plus I only trust my husband and I to do a thorough cleaning.  

[Ted307]

@Katherine845 

You can make a custom discount. We have one for 4 days, I called it a long stay discount. It is a rule set and cancels out the cleaning fee for longer stays.

Here is a shot of where you do this:

[Helen744]

@Katherine 845 In my opinion fees should be charged per stay or if over a week then weekly H

[Helen744]

Katherine ? there is already a longer term discount .A week or month discount . These should be used to balance out your longer bookings . We can add fees and ask for a variation to be accepted by the guest for extra cleaning. We just need and extra fee for extra cleaning to be added. H

[Erin6219]

I appreciate the information and advice you have shared.

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