New Stats on Cleaning Fees

[Peter1]

I'm sure there have been countless past conversations on the topic of Cleaning Fees, but The Hustle recently published some new and noteworthy stats from The Wall Street Journal:

"Some cleaning fee stats:

• Fees increased 9.8% between 2020 and 2021, and then another 6.6% by 2022.
  
  
• The average fee for 1-bedroom properties is $73 (up from $59 in 2020), and $410 for a 5-bed coastal property."

https://thehustle.co/04142022-airbnb-vs-hotel-chains/

Every property is different, so it would be almost impossible to judge simply from the amount and size of the listing whether the cleaning fees charged is reasonable.

But, have you raised your cleaning fees recently, and given the stats above, are you more likely to raise them in the foreseeable future?

Tip: A member of my local Host community group told me how he raised his daily rate to incorporate his cleaning costs, and then advertised (in the listing title) that his listing did not charge a separate cleaning fee.  He saw his booking rate immediately go up.

What strategies do you use to determine what is the best level of cleaning fees for you?

[Louise1073]

My cleaning fee for one private room is only $20-40. Maybe I should advertise I don’t have one 😂😂

[Pat271]

@Peter1  It’s always a curiosity to me when guests say they would prefer the cleaning fee to be incorporated into the nightly rate, or that they would not book a rental that had a cleaning fee.

What possible difference does it make? It’s the total booking amount that counts. 

I guess it’s some sort of psychology at play.

[Suzanne302]

@Pat271  For a guest, the cleaning fee makes a BIG difference if you are only staying 1-2 nights vs. a week. It's simple math. The longer you stay, the less the cleaning fee becomes "per night."

[Pat271]

@Suzanne302  I was referring to the comment @Peter1  made:

Tip: A member of my local Host community group told me how he raised his daily rate to incorporate his cleaning costs, and then advertised (in the listing title) that his listing did not charge a separate cleaning fee.  He saw his booking rate immediately go up.

This implies that guests tend to values properties more that has no cleaning fee and are more likely to book them, even though the bottom line total is identical with or without the cleaning fee incorporated into the nightly rate. I find that odd.

Of course, a cleaning fee that raises the price of short-term stays to an exorbitant level is an issue, but that’s an entirely different subject. For that, Airbnb needs to implement additional custom settings, like setting the cleaning fee to a percentage of the nightly rate, or setting  different cleaning rate tiers depending on length of stay (one rate for 1-2 nights, another rate for 3-5 nights, etc.).

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Pat271 There is also the case whereby with a strict policy the guest only get 50% - 0% of the nightly rate back but they get the full cleaning fee returned. By incorporating this fee into the rate the guest will actually lose out in the event of a cancellation.

[Gillian19]

I have had to increase my cleaning fees as the amount I pay per hour has increased by over 10% this month.

[Mary419]

Frankly the bottom line total is what guests look at. Has been since over a decade ago when I started this business and still is. They stop looking at the breakout and look at their grand total. 

If airbnb believes the psychology of seeing the fee broken out as it is in reality is costing them bookings I would just beg to differ. @Peter1 I haven’t seen you engage in any of the hot and heavy TOS posts in the last few weeks. Did airbnb ask you to post this nicely formatted thing about how if you include it in your rate you’ll get more bookings? How do they mesh this with their desire to have us use “smart pricing” and other tools to encourage rock bottom rent rates? 

Is someone totally forgetting how much it costs to get reliable help this year?

Guests are going to book the place they want to book. They might be annoyed about the cleaning fee and more so than ever due to the “anti” sentiment on social media. But it truly won’t stop someone from booking what they have pinpointed as their ideal rental. 

@Property2  I hope you catch this one to see what we were talking about earlier 

[Suzanne302]

@Mary419  As a guest, if I need a 1-2 night stay, I am 100% looking at the breakout and will book the place with the lower cleaning fee. It makes no sense to stay at a place with a high cleaning fee as it only increases the cost per night.

As a homeshare host who is only looking for 1-2 night bookings, I increased my nightly rate and eliminated my cleaning fee. The positive to having a cleaning fee as a host is that Airbnb does not take out fees and you get the entire fee.

[Pat271]

@Suzanne302  You said:

“The positive to having a cleaning fee as a host is that Airbnb does not take out fees and you get the entire fee.”

For me, Airbnb takes 3% of the total rent plus the cleaning fee. Is it different for you?

[Suzanne302]

@Pat271  On my old listing I received 100% of cleaning fee. This was pre-Covid so maybe it changed?

I don’t charge a cleaning fee on my new listing. 

[Suzanne302]

@Pat271  I just checked my reservations with pet fees and where it shows the payment breakdown, 3% is only taken out of the nightly rate. 100% of the pet fee goes to me.

[Pat271]

@Suzanne302  Airbnb takes 3% of the cleaning fee. I believe the difference is that the cleaning fee is a mandatory fee charged to all guests, whereas the pet fee is an optional fee customizable for each guest. They make the same distinction for accommodations taxes (at least in my jurisdiction).

[Suzanne302]

@Pat271  Well dang! I don't know why I thought that! It must be the Mandela Effect! (if you haven't heard of that, look it up, it's fascinating!)

[Jennifer2682]

I've been hearing rumblings of Airbnb wanting to eliminate the cleaning fee and the first thing I thought when I read this post is that it seems like a very sly and sneaky way of testing the waters and maybe even convincing us hosts that eliminating the cleaning fee is what we really want.  (Even if we don't).  Airbnb needs to step back and let individual hosts and guests decide what works for them and give hosts the tools to add (or not add) fees as the host sees fit.