cleaning fee increase

[Paola2808]

Why is the cleaning fee increasing as well? this is another cost that we need to swallow because we still need to keeo paying our cleaning crew and you are increasing our cleaning fee so you can deduct another 15.5%... airbnb is so desperate to polish their revenue reports to look like they are improving YOY at the hosts costs.

[Elaine701]

Can you provide an example of how the guest knows about any of this? 

Where do they see any difference? Can you tell us where they find that?

[Shelley159]

@Paola2808 's screenshot is from host view @Dinamarta-Jose0 

My screenshots are from guest view.

[Dinamarta-Jose0]

@Shelley159 Thank you for clarifying — I understand now. Paola’s screenshot is from the host view, while yours are from the guest view. I had interpreted Paola’s screenshot as showing what the guest sees, so that distinction is important.

[Paola2808]

Still omitting to show a true breakdown is misleading and unfair.

Cleaning costs are too high in the USA vs other countries like Mexico where you can pay a full time maid for all your airbnbs and still make money. In the USA, I pay per cleaning 130-150usd. In Mexico, my father has a full time maid that cleans 4 airbnbs. 

The guest should see the cleaning cost + they should be able to see that hosts pay a 15.5% fee.

[Elaine701]

@Paola2808 

Yes, indeed, commissions and cleaning costs are high. You also pay a lot for laundry, and water. And heating and electricity, and property taxes. And a lot of other things.

It's so misleading that Airbnb doesn't provide a means for hosts to list all those expenses in the price breakdown for guests. I suppose we'll have to list them in the listing description.

I'm sure guests are dying to know. 

Or maybe not. 

[Paola2808]

 

[Elaine701]

@Paola2808 

The host interface is very different from the guest's interface. It contains information that's of value to the host. The guest interface contains information that's of importance to guests. 

For example, in the host interface, the line "Guest Service fee $0" is shown both pre and post booking. That's where these hosts are seeing this. 

In the guest interface, no mention of a "guest fee" ever shows up at all,  pre or post booking. 

So the guest is not going to even know anything about any "guest fee". The theory that they'll be miraculously scared off is quite a stretch. 

Secondly, there's yet another point in the guest interface that strongly suggests that the guest is unlikely to even bother to look or know anything about any of this, nor sense any anomalies about it. Do you know what that is?

[David-and-Jenn0]

Do you have a screen shot of what the Guest sees? Not sure why it's necessary to show Hosts that the Guests paid zero service fee?

[Elaine701]

@David-and-Jenn0 

Well @Paola2808  just showed you the host interface, and it does indeed show guest fee $0. It does on my host interface too. 

But the guest interface looks like this:

 

[Jenn24]

Yeah I can get to that screen as well, and the price breakdown. I am trying to figure out if at the last stage when they go to actually pay do they see the cost of the clean fee itemized

[Shelley159]

I'm a host @Paola2808 

I went to one of your listings as a guest and took screenshots (see above) to show you that a guest doesn't see $0 service fee.

[Paola2808]

 Of course they do get a breakdown of everything once the reservation is confirmed. guests can even download a receipt and it will show all the breakdown

[David-and-Jenn0]

Seems like that message would be more beneficial prior to a confirmed booking? My concern is that they won't book with us because our cleaning fees will now seem outrageous with the extra 15.5 percent tacked on.

[Shelley159]

The cleaning fee has always been subject to the full Airbnb service fee @David-and-Jenn0 

Split fee model: 3% host side plus 14.1% to 16% guest side

Single fee model: 15.5%

[Jenn24]

I appreciate you trying to help, but I don't think you are understanding what I am saying. I know the clean fee has always been subject to a fee as you denoted above in the split fee model.

The issue is the shift of the additional 15.2 percent that now goes to the host. 3% was easy to absorb. 15.2 percent less so, at least for those of us paying a third party to clean and inspect our properties. 

I know I can set any clean fee I want. The issue is, most Guests--at least in my particular market--are extremely price sensitive. So, you have to be priced just right to get the booking; if your rent rate is too high above market you won't, and if your clean fee is too high above market, you won't. So, my point is, there is no easy way for me to incorporate that extra 15.2 percent, that is a fixed cost. If I only did short stays of 4 nights or less I could easily split up that extra percentage and apply it to the nightly rate. However, I primarily Host mid to long term stays.

So let's say today is Friday.  I could either get a request for 4 nights, Friday through Tuesday, or I could get a booking request starting Monday for 35 nights. How/where in advance, knowing that I cannot spring an additional fee/cost after someone sends a request, do I account for the additional $30 or so  for the new, higher clean fee percentage I have to payout without adding it to the clean fee or some other type of one time fee (which also would not be well received)? 

Hopefully that more specific hypothetical scenario helps explain the conundrum better. I am truly ISO of viable solution because I don't have any flex on the turn clean fee cost. Not sure if anyone from Airbnb reads these threads but perhaps they may know of something I could do in this case that's not apparent to me.