Additional cleaning charge for children

[Bernadette82]

Is there a way to add an additional cleaning fee if they have children? What would be a cut off for that age? Could there be a refund offered of that cleaning fee if their kids didn't trash the place?

There is usually washing of the walls, door handles, spot cleaning the carpet etc. After kids I usually have to vacuum all the creases in the two couches and behind the beds. So there is a suffient amount of time and extra cleaning supplies that go into the room to put it back together. Some kids are really clean and leave the usual crumbs expected but there have been kids that have thrown soda all over the walls and baby hand prints from some type of red candy all over the walls and wood blinds. Suggestions? And I don't want to have to exclude children from staying either. Adults can be worse than children at times. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Bernadette82 

Unfortunately no. The only thing you can do is to charge infants as any other guest.

When Airbnb introduced "free infants up to 2 y.o. "   the first thing i thought was "kids should be charged double and not stay for free"

[Anonymous]

@Bernadette82  Generally it's considered discrimination if you apply extra fees based on age. Discrimination claims are the fastest way to get kicked off the platform, so I don't recommend trying that.

I do recommend charging children as additional guests at the same rate as adults. Whether or not you charge a cleaning fee, make sure that your room rates - and changeover time - for every party are sufficient to cover you when guests leave behind a big mess.

[Bernadette82]

Oh wow, I didn't think of it that way. Thanks for the heads up. 

[Ann489]

@Bernadette82    Andrew summed it up pretty well.  But there's always the option of not allowing infants/children.  We used to allow children--until we had a toddler fall into our unsecured pool and another one "beautifying" our couches with an ink pen.  Needless to say, that was the end of it.   We love children(we have six grand kids), but we are done cleaning up after other people's little ones!

PS: not accepting children has not affected our bookings in the least.

[Bernadette82]

Good to hear that it doesn't effect your business. 

[Emily487]

@Bernadette82 

I'm sorry that you have had bad experiences hosting families with children. With such a great backyard swimming pool, it's no wonder people with kiddos would book your room!

We have a 3 bedroom apartment and tend to attract lots of parents with kids and we have been lucky that these have been our most tidy guests! Our last family had 4 kids all under the age of 6!

Maybe in your welcome message to those with children you could add something like We know that traveling with children can be an adventure...please let us know what we can to do help you make the most of your stay. We have left some fresh fruit, crackers, and board books for your kiddos next to the chair. If spills happen, please use the spray cleaner that we keep above the sink.

You have a cleaning fee of $13. Is this too low for you to feel adequately compensated for your time and efforts? Would $20 or $25 push be considered too much for your area? 

[Bernadette82]

I have thought of raising the cleaning fee so I will look at what everyone else is charging. I guess that would make it better.

[Sarah977]

@Bernadette82  While it might sound like a good and logical thing and an "incentive" to return a fee, be it a cleaning fee, a pet fee, whatever, if the guests leave it super clean, that would just open a host up to "What do you mean, you're not returning the fee? We left the place just fine. You're just trying to gouge us." Your idea of clean and a guest's idea of clean can be worlds apart.

However there is nothing to prevent you from rewarding guests who leave the place virtually spotless, by sending them part of a cleaning fee back if you choose. Just don't ever mention that you might do that.

And I would also say that your cleaning fee is absurdly low for a place that is large enough for families.

[Bernadette82]

Good point. I do run a super clean house and that is a big comment from most of my guests. I guess I need to research cleaning fees in my area. Thank you