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.

[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. 

[Elaine701]

@Jenn24 

What additional 15.2% are you referring to? 

Previously it was 17-19% (3% host + 14-16% guest depending on region).

Now it's flat 15.5%

This was applied to the nightly rate and all fees such as cleaning and pet fees.

In the end, the price is roughly the same. Nothing has changed, really. 

(?)

[David-and-Jenn0]

Totally agree with this and it's actually quite detrimental to some of us Hosts who don't do super short stays. For us, we can't just easily spread the new, additional 15.2 percent fee on the turn clean out into the rate because then we will be at a disadvantage when competing against other providers of mid-term stays due to a higher nightly rate. And our margins are already incredibly tight. This added fee on the fees is the component of this change that really affects hosts the most and it doesn't seem like it was even considered. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@David-and-Jenn0 The guest/host fees have always been applied to the cleaning fee so what has changed? Nothing........

[Jenn24]

As I explained in detail, the difference is an added 15.2 percent on the Host side for a fixed vendor fee that has to be accommodated for somehow. I thought this thread might be helpful but could not have been more wrong, unfortunately. 

[Shelley159]

@Jenn24 how is the 15.2% calculated? We genuinely don't know what this is.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jenn24 Surely this is just like the nightly rate. You need to increase the cleaning fee (as well as the nightly rate) to cover the increased host fees. The guest will see negligible differences as they no longer pay the guest fee (was 14.2%)

[Dinamarta-Jose0]

@David-and-Jenn0 Exactly — and I think the mid-term stay example shows why simply saying “just build it into the nightly rate” doesn’t solve the issue for every host.

The cleaning cost may occur only once per stay, but spreading the additional service fee on that cleaning cost across the nightly rate can make the listing appear more expensive in nightly-rate comparisons, especially for longer stays where hosts are competing with other mid-term accommodation options.

That’s why I keep coming back to the cleaning fee itself. If it represents a real turnover expense, charging the host service fee on top of that expense creates another cost that has to go somewhere — either the host absorbs it or the guest ultimately sees it reflected in the pricing.

Your example is a very good illustration of why this affects different hosting models differently.

[Elaine701]

@Dinamarta-Jose0 

The guests are unable to use the host interface to book a place. It doesn't provide that function. 

Can you provide an example of how guests can see any difference in the guest interface? 

And can you tell us where they find this elusive evidence of anything different? 

[Shelley159]

I'm confused @Dinamarta-Jose0 

The cleaning fee can  be whatever you want it to be. If you feel it spreads too thin over a long stay, decrease the nightly rate and increase the cleaning fee. If you think it heaps too much on a short stay, increase the nightly rate and decrease the cleaning fee. You can pay the cleaner's invoice separately from your bank account, it doesn't have to match the Airbnb cleaning fee.

Under split and single fee structures, the nightly rate and the cleaning fee both attract the same Airbnb service fee. It makes no difference how you structure them.

[Jenn24]

Unfortunately nobody else here responding seems to be truly reading what we are writing or if reading they are not understanding what we are saying. Same blanket response, "nothing's changed."  

[Dinamarta-Jose0]

@Jenn24 Exactly. That’s what I’ve been trying to explain. The issue isn’t whether we can move numbers between the nightly rate and the cleaning fee, or whether Airbnb charges the same percentage on both. We understand that.

The point is what happens when a real operating expense — such as a cleaning cost that occurs once per stay — is also subject to the host service fee, and how recovering that additional cost can affect the price presented to the guest, particularly across different lengths of stay.

So when the answer is simply “nothing changed” or “just restructure the fees,” it doesn’t really address the concern we’re raising.

Thank you for recognizing the distinction. I was beginning to wonder whether I was explaining it badly. 😊

[Shelley159]

I think we need a numerical example @Dinamarta-Jose0 

I think @Jenn24 is right, I do read through some of the posts and battle to follow the details about extra costs.

It would help if we could have a worked example of how the situation could occur where there's a noticeable financial consequence for the host due to the fee structure change.

It would also be useful if we could perhaps work on actual screenshots from before and after the fee structure change, that could illustrate the concern.

[Dinamarta-Jose0]

@Shelley159 I think that’s a fair request, and using my own listing may actually make this much clearer.

Before the change, one of my actual 4-night reservations was:

$95 × 4 nights = $380
Cleaning fee = $50
Booking subtotal = $430
Host service fee (3%) = $12.90
My payout = $417.10

When I used Airbnb’s own price adjustment tool for the move to the single-fee structure, Airbnb proposed changing my nightly price from $95 to $109 and my cleaning fee from $50 to $57.

So the equivalent 4-night stay becomes:

$109 × 4 = $436
Cleaning fee = $57
Subtotal = $493
15.5% host service fee ≈ $76.42
Host payout ≈ $416.58

So I agree with you on one important point: the cleaning fee was already subject to Airbnb’s service fee under the split-fee structure. I don’t want to suggest otherwise.

What changed is the percentage being deducted from the host side, and Airbnb’s own adjustment tool increased both my nightly rate and my cleaning fee to approximately preserve my previous payout.

These are actual numbers from my listing, so hopefully this gives us the worked example you were asking for and makes the issue clearer than trying to explain it theoretically.

[Shelley159]

Thank you @Dinamarta-Jose0 

The example shows the host payout side stays virtually the same: $417.10 vs $416.58

If you also post the guest total side, we can see that that also stayed virtually the same.