Cleaning Fee $0-$150-$300 which is best?

[Jeff541]

As an Airbnb Host we are allowed under the Airbnb system to offer a posted room rate (just like any hotel) and also charge a "cleaning fee" which the guest making the reservation will ONLY SEE once they proceed to make a reservation. Both are added together to in essence equal a "TOTAL nightly room rate" (before taxes etc.).

After reading Airbnb and others advice I offered my home at a very low room rate with a high cleaning fee (encourage long term stays etc.). My "TOTAL nightly room rate" was still far less than the local hotels, and all the other Airbnb listings in my area...however a recent guest (self-admitted "anal retentive clean freak") seemed motivated by (her words) my "extremely high cleaning fee" (ignoring the low "Total Room rate"). This seemed to prompt her to fabricate stories about the cleanliness of my home and request that the entire fee be paid to her directly.

The average cleaning fee charged in my area is $150...I charged double or $300 (don't want short term stays etc.) but after the hassle-time of dealing with the former guest I am considering dropping the fee entirely to $0...and increase my room rate (Hotels use this format all the time...in essence cleaning & damages & consumables etc. are included in the room rate)

What’s your thoughts???

Charge $0 (increase rates a lot)… Charge $150 (increase rates to match others) ...Keep it at $300 (my low room rates remain)

IT IS NOT worth it to me to go through arguing over "cleaning" refunds again...was a pain!!! I am thinking this guest was motivated by high fee???...but maybe such requests happen no matter what the fee is?...I don’t know… Thanks All

[Robin4]

@Jeff541 @Emilia42 @Linda1351

Well personally I consider this cleaning fee outrageous.....

Set the listing amount to what it costs to present the property for occupation!

To set an artificially low listing amount and be a 'fine host'  and offer a further discount and then turn around and whack them with a $327 cleaning fee is nothing short of dishonest as far as I am concerned.

If the relevant price had been displayed in a general search most of these properties would not warrant a second glance,  but people get sucked in thinking that what is on offer is good value only to be bruised on the check-out page.

I would never book a listing that had a high cleaning fee!

Cheers......Rob

[Jeff541]

Thanks...this was my first ever Airbnb reservation...and I took the advice of Airbnb...set low room rates but use set (what Airbnb unfortuantely terms the "clenaing fee") high to discourage short term stays and cover many other variables such as consumption of amenaities, minor breakage-damage and minor items missing. The "cleaning fees" are very visable to the person making the reservation as are all other taxes and fees etc.

As I stated above "Perosnally I wish Airbnb would eliminate the fee...rename it...or make it standadrized i.e. equivilent to 1 nights room rate"

I am leaning toward either making mine $0 to reduce all the hassel...it just seems to motivate guests to complian and make a claim for cleaning funds... or forget about being a Host...not worth the hassel and time...

PS would someone definitively define "clean" to me please?

[Fiona332]

Hi Robin 

What do you consider a realistic cleaning fee. I have mulled this over as I hate one night stays but feel in mid and low season will  be essential.  My apartment is 2 bedrooms and asleeps 4-5pax.  My cleaner charges $60-$75 for changing beds, cleaning appliances and the apartment she is pretty thorough and 1 nighters can leave it alot worse than 3 nighters. laundry charges approx $22- $30. So I'm a total of $82- $105 costs per stay, but feel this to high. So charge $60 cleaning. I do look on it as a 1 night supplement if I'm being honest.

I am fairly new since Oct but have been fully booked so feel this works. However next year in high season no one night bookings.

What do you think?. 

[Jeff541]

sooner or later a guest will complain about your cleaning fee and want a refund,,,and how do you argue that your place was clean????...Airbnb is going to side with the guest...Include it in your rate do the math and be done with it....thats my current thinking

[Robin4]

@Fiona332

Hey good on you, you are being honest and using the cleaning fee as just that, and not a price gouge to get the listing base price up where it should have been set in the first place.

I have seen Private room listings that charge $45 per night with a $112 cleaning fee....seriously!

$75 AU is reasonable in this country Fiona and that is about what a professional cleaner would  charge for the 1.5 hours it takes to turn an average listing around. I feel your fee of $105 while being reasonable is going to meet some resistance in you $80 per night listing.

Guests think they are already paying for a clean property in your listing amount and they don't realise that this is the cost to return the property to the state they entered it in. They feel the host should supply the property, the power, the water the condiments, the nice grounds for nothing, so either the listing amount should go or the cleaning fee....they think we are double dipping!

I set a cleaning fee of $10 although it is not a cleaning fee as such. I price my listing amount to cover how I present the property. My cleaning fee goes into a damage fund account to cover breakages and upgrades to the cottage and because I host around 10 one nighters a month that amount builds up relatively quickly!

As far as your one nighters policy goes, see how it works out Fiona....remember 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing!!

Cheers......Rob

[Rubén16]

@Jeff541  Adding any additional fees will bring you down on the airbnb search engine and its algorithm, in my listing I have zero additional fees. However the main point is that guests do not like suprises when it comes time to book, I had a guest check in today who said she booked my listing because there were no additional host charges. 

Therefore if I were you I would put a fair listing price without additional fees, your future guests will thank you for it:)

[Jeff541]

Trust me that is where I am leaning...its amazing how guests react "to a seperate cleaning fee" while as we all know Hotels have it built into their nightly fee...I tried charging an extremely low room rate of $89 for a 2 bed 2 bath luxury condo in Phoenix...and with the cleaning fee included brought the rate up to a total $105 EXTREMELY cheap (compares to 1 brm hotel in worst parts of Phoenix)...and still the guest complained and requested refund of every dime of cleaning fee