Are guests required to follow cleaning instructions by hosts?

[Lani20]

My friends and I have stayed at a few Airbnb’s over the past couple of months and I noticed all of them left cleaning instructions that they were expecting us to follow. They wanted us to wash our towels, take out trash, wash our dishes, strip the beds/pillows of sheets, etc. They all charged us a hefty cleaning fee, so I don’t understand why they expect us to do most of the cleaner’s job. I mean I definitely believe in respecting the units and keeping them tidy, but normal mess like laundry, trash, dishes should not be the guests responsibility.  We had to wake up extra early to ensure all those tasks were done on top of packing our things and getting ready to check out by 10 or 11am. And I’m sorry, but when you’re on vacation, having to wake up early and clean is very annoying. For that reason alone I will most likely not be using airbnb again. At hotels, they don’t require you to do anything. So why do we pay 200 dollar cleaning fees when we do a lot of the work?

[Elena87]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 

It's almost a pyrrhic victory to go through cancellation and rebooking though.

[Gwyn6]

I am currently experiencing a similar problem. I have booked a place where there was no mention of a cleaning fee. 5 days before my arrival they tell me a cleaning fee is payable (but is optional!). Its now too late to cancel as I would only get a very small part of the price back. They also now tell me the cost of hiring linens-something else that had no mention in the description. I am not happy.

[Ann72]

@Lani20 I charge similar cleaning fees and I would never, ever, ever ask guests to lift a finger to clean - exactly for the reasons you state.  If I were staying in a place with an 11 am checkout time and a list like that of things to do before leaving, I'd be in a panic!  My guests come to relax and enjoy a vacation or a getaway.  I want them to feel that everything is taken care of and that they don't have to worry about a thing (except, of course, what they're going to eat - they do have get their own food! :)).  It's so nice when guests message me and ask if they should strip the beds or something, but I always say absolutely not, you're on vacation!  They almost always leave the place orderly, and then my housekeeper comes in and does the actual cleaning.

Yes, I know how long laundry takes, and how helpful it would be to have that started, etc. etc. etc., but I'm hosting for the guests' convenience, not mine.

[Lisa723]

Ann (can't tag), @Lani20: Yes, it's a trade-off. I could do the same, but the cleaning fee would then have to rise. It's not about convenience-- I'm not on site at my vacation rentals and the cleaners are happy to be paid for their time. It's about cost vs benefit. We don't tell guests they must start a load of towels; we mention in parentheses that it is helpful, and guests generally seem happy to do it. If cleaners had to regularly wait an extra 45 minutes for the last load of laundry to dry, that's an additional $22.50 on the cleaning fee. I think most people would rather throw a load of towels in the washing machine than pay a 13% higher cleaning fee. There's also the question of same-day turnover time, which if not kept under control would force us to have later check-ins and/or earlier check-outs.

On the other hand, in our guest suite at home, where I am on site and can start the laundry before the cleaner arrives and take out the garbage if she's coming on a later day, I never ask guests to do anything.

In any case, one great thing about Airbnb is that it makes it easy for hosts and guests with aligned expectations to find each other.

[Anonymous]

@Lani20  to the best of my knowledge,  @Lisa723  and @Jessica-and-Henry0  are correct that the host can not hold you liable for not fulfilling cleaning instructions that weren't disclosed in the listing (though they can leave a punitive review). The only mechanism hosts have to enforce the checkout rules is through a Resolution Request, in which they must request a specific amount of money (generally for damage), which if you refuse will be reviewed by a caseworker who will demand evidence to support the value of the claim. Obviously the hosts in this scenario have a very weak claim.

If you have any further correspondence with these hosts, I recommend providing them the feedback that the cleaning rules should have been disclosed before booking, and stress that it caused an unpleasant end to your holiday. Most hosts would rather make the appropriate adjustments than risk negative reviews from future guests.

[Huma0]

@Andrew178  (not sure if you are tagged correctly), @Lisa723,  @Jessica & Henry, you are all assuming that when @Lani20  said the cleaning requirements were not disclosed on the listing, that that was actually the case.

However, how many times have you had a guest not read your house rules (or just read those few bullet points that show BEFORE you have to click 'read all rules')? Had the guest not done this and the host sends the same rules via message as a reminder, the guest then thinks that this is being sprung on them for the first time. I'm not saying that's what happened with @Lani20, but it is a possibility.

Then again, perhaps the host didn't mention tasks to do before checking out, assuming that what he/she required was the 'norm'. As we can see here, there is no norm. I don't usually discuss check out with my guests until the end of their stay, but then I don't expect them to do much, just leave the key.

I do, however, expect them to be reasonably tidy during their stay as it is a shared space, i.e. do their own dishes (put them in the dishwasher - they don't even have to turn it on), clean up any spills and dispose of any food waste/packaging, or other waste (if they have a large amount) in the bins in the kitchen. It's not a big ask, especially as I don't charge a cleaning fee. Not all guests do all of this, but I would say dishes are a must. I think it's pretty direspectful to leave dirty dishes lying around or to leave rubbish on the floors or furniture. I even had a recent guest leave chewing gum stuck to the floor.

Also, @Lani20 there is no point comparing an Airbnb to a hotel, unless the cleaning fee means you are paying the same amount. Most airbnbs are significantly cheaper than a hotel and so you cannot expect hotel-style housekeeping, which you are paying the hotel for in your room rate.

Not only are my listings way cheaper than hotel prices in London, but guests save a considerable amount by being able to use a kitchen. In order to keep my prices that low, I need guests to not create hours of extra cleaning for me by leaving their dishes and rubbish strewn around. I'm not saying that's what you do, but plenty of guests do do that, so I can sympathise with hosts who charge a cleaning fee.

[Lisa723]

@Huma0 no, I'm not assuming that. I said "If..."

[Huma0]

@Lisa723Fair enough 🙂

[Paul154]

What makes a solution the "1 Acccepted Solution"? And gets highlighted in green and repeated twice on this board?

Is it Airbnb? 

The host contributors  to this board?

I thought this board was a democratic, all ideas shared space.

I also thought that Airbnb is  a democratic, diferent styles for different hosts platform.

I am concerned with the concept  "As a host, I do not charge a cleaning fee"

and I do not believe it should be the "1 Accepted Solution" 

[Lisa723]

@Paul154 it's the original poster, in this case @Lani20.

[Paul154]

@Lisa723 , @Sandra856 

Thank you. That makes sense. Of course, the guest will choose the "most for the least" answer.

[Sandra856]

@Paul154 @@ Yes, the original poster got the possibility "to mark" an answer as an "accepted solution"

[Lani20]

@Paul154 I chose that answer because I only received a few responses during the first day and assumed those were the only responses I was going to receive. If I could go back, however, I would not have chosen that answer

[Maree25]

Call me strange..I am fairly new to hosting but I don't ask/request the guests to do anything other than have consideration for our neighbours..we are a flat in a block of units..I take it as I find it after they leave

Personally I prefer they don't strip the bed as I to like to check to see if stain remover is required..towels are of no consequence as long as they are all there when I do a count (have had the odd one do walkies) and I definitely prefer to wash my own linen and on the one occasion that it was done..I redid..guests rarely wash dishes properly so again I do if needed

As people have different standards for what they consider clean I am happy to go in and just do over..it gives me satisfaction and peace of mind that it is at the level I want it to be

Plus out of 19 guests to date..including the one guest that was 'not nice'..we have been fortunate..and it is probably down to good luck as opposed to good management..to have had our place left in an more than acceptable state

However that could all change in the future..who knows?..I find that hosting is a journey that as it evolves is leading me down a road that you just never know what might be around the next corner

[Lisa723]

@Maree25 you're not strange. You're just not hosting a large vacation rental that you have to pay other people $200 to clean after every stay, even if it's just one night.