Cleaning fees

[Sam397]

I am sure this topic has come up several times but I am curios' as to how many host charge cleaning fees. I didnt when I first started hosting but with all the extra cleaning we have to do because of the virus I started charging a one time fee of $50.  That doesnt cover the cost to get it cleaned but I am worried if I charge more people wont book. So I was wandering what other host are doing and if they do charge a fee how did they come up with what to charge. Also is it better to charge a 1 time fee or to add on to your daily rates. Thanks. 

[Sarah977]

@Sam397  

I have never charged a separate cleaning fee. But I only have a private room/private bath to clean, and do it myself. It takes me about an hour and a half and maybe another half hour to make sure the kitchen and other space I share with guests is clean and tidy. 

But I also have a 3 day minimum and most of my guests stay an average of a week to ten days. So spread out over the length of the booking, the cleaning time averages to about a half hour per day max, and most times less.  

I mostly get clean and tidy guests who don't leave a huge mess to clean up. 

I have been closed to bookings for over a year due to Covid and sharing space with guests, but plan to open back up in the fall, when my normal tourist season starts. I basically always cleaned to Covid standards, sterilizing all surfaces guests touch, and I live in a climate that allows for windows to be always open, so I don't foresee the cleaning or protocol taking any longer.

That's what has worked for me, I guess you have to look at the average length bookings you get, the time it takes to clean, how your local competition is charging, etc.

[Sam397]

@ sarah977, Hi Sarah, its been a long time, good to see your still participating in the community. Thanks .

[Holly142]

In the beginning, I didn't charge a cleaning fee. Two years ago, I added it to my bookings mostly because all of the other cabin rentals in my area did charge a cleaning fee. By me not charging one, they could make their nightly fee look like more of a value than mine did. I do think when most people are shopping for a place to stay, the main thing they are paying attention to is the nightly rate. The other fees that are added in like cleaning and "owner fees" (not sure what that is, but I do see it often) aren't shown up front on the list of available rentals. 

So if cabin A is charging $150/nightly but no cleaning fee, and cabin B is charging $150/nightly but charging a $65 cleaning fee, Cabin A is missing out on that profit and their rental looks like a comparable rate to Cabin B.

[Lisa723]

@Holly142 this is a bad feature of Airbnb, but OTOH if guests plug in their dates to search they will see the actual cost.

[Holly142]

When I added in a cleaning fee to my bookings (here and other platforms), it didn't affect my number of bookings at all and nothing was ever said by anyone. The extra income per booking is nice. I should get paid for my time too and I'm the one who does all the cleaning after guests check out.

[Lisa723]

@Sam397 I charge a cleaning fee that is the amount I pay my cleaners for each turnover. That is $200 for a three-bedroom house, $150 for a one-bedroom cabin, and when we were operating a two-bedroom guest suite, $60 for that.

Building the fee into daily rates is not possible without either losing money or penalizing longer-term stays, neither of which I want to do.

We have no shortage of guests who are happy to pay it.

[Sam397]

@ Lisa723, you charge $200 cleaning fee and it didnt affect your bookings? Thats surprising especially in Oregon, I figured they would be one of the cheaper states to rent short term.  I have a 3 bedroom house that I try to clean myself because cleaners want so much money  ($225), if I dont theres not enough profit on 3 day stays to make it worth while. I cant see getting $200 but maybe I can charge more for that house anyway. 

And your right about adding it on to the daily fee, I never thought about it penalizing the guest that stays longer.

Your input it was very helpful, as was all the comments left by the other people so thank you everybody.. 

[Sarah977]

@Sam397  No offense, as your listings look nice, but all 3 bedroom houses are not equal. There are many factors involved in pricing aside from the size of a home or how many guests it sleeps.

Lisa charges more than twice the nightly rate you do, her place looks pretty upscale, it's a large lakefront property with lots of outdoor space. So she would be attracting guests who have more money to spend, and don't have issue with the cleaning fee she charges.

[Elisabeth40]

@Sam397 

Prior pandemic I used to charge $30, but during pandemic the pricing felt and cleaned like insane for no fee. If I ad $50 cleaning fee, no one would consider to book. $30 is  max I could get in NYC over all the years of hosting. Now I would not charge, because I think guests expect during pandemic being taken care of. Soon I will add the cleaning fees straight into the rental pricing. I believe pandemic makes people think, cleaning is for free, especially in NYC.

[Karol22]

I have always charged a cleaning fee. In my case, I hire cleaners to keep my sanity and I charge enough to cover all of my cleaning costs plus any linens costs. I find that as long as my listing is always clean as advertised, and people are reviewing my listings as clean, then prospective guests don't mind paying extra for cleaning.

[Chris1492]

This might be one of those that changes from country to country, culture to culture. I'm in the UK and I charge a one-time cleaning fee (£25 per booking). From my experience this is pretty common in the UK. It's never been called into question by by guests.