Cleaning Fees

[Mark3179]

I am sure this has been discussed over and again. I have looked thru previous topics on the message board. I have an excellent cleaner who does a great job on what are mostly 3 day to one week rentals. However, in the off season I have guests who stay sometimes for a month. My cleaner wants to charge double her regular. I realize that staying a month will create some additional issues above what would be seen from a week stay. However double seems unreasonable. This is a 3 bedroom 2 bath home. My cleaning fee collected from guests is $150.00. Whether they stay 2 days or a month. 

[Anonymous]

@Mark3179 There is no reason that your Cleaning Fee has to be equal to the rate you pay your cleaner.

Read between the lines; a Cleaning Fee is really just a short-stay penalty. If you're looking to attract both 2 night and month long bookings, you could do away with it outright, raise your nightly rate propertionally, and implement a monthly discount.

Or, you could create a duplicate listing for long stays only, with a higher cleaning fee and perhaps a different range of amenities (like interim cleanings and linen changes) 

[Ann72]

@Mark3179  For stays of a month or more I send my cleaner in every week, for two reasons:  I don’t want her to lose income and I don’t want the housekeeping to be let go for that long.  I pay her and don’t charge the guest extra because my rates are already high enough to accommodate this.  I make it a requirement of stays longer than 10 days.

Your housekeeper is really trying to tell you that she needs to be paid more than once a month!

[Lisa723]

@Mark3179 for stays over two weeks we require mid-stay cleanings, paid by guest, for the reasons Ann mentioned.

This is obviously problematic with covid protocols and we haven’t had to negotiate that so far.

But for a month long stay I think it is absolutely appropriate to pay your cleaner double and build that into your rate however you need to.

[Colleen253]

@Mark3179 

I second what others have said. Will just add a thought. Double may seem unreasonable to you, but I would venture to guess that you have never cleaned an Airbnb after guests have been in there a month, with absolutely no cleaning whatsoever having been done in the interim. Cleaning typical houses is not a pretty job to begin with. Cleaning in an Airbnb, especially in the scenario described above, is orders of magnitude more involved, and nastier.

She is obviously worth keeping, as indicated by your solid 5 stars in the cleaning category. That rating is especially important for instilling confidence in guests to book with you, during a pandemic. You don't want to lose her.

[Sarah977]

@Mark3179 When you have someone who works for you on a steady basis, does a great job, is dependable and available to clean whenever you need it, be it every 3 days, once a week, or once a month, I think they should be considered as an employee, as opposed to someone you would hire by the hour or job, like a plumber. 

As such, they need to be assured of an income they can depend on, like a salary, not that you need to actually pay them a salary. Its like paying someone to be on call should something come up that needs to be dealt with, regardless of whether everything is smooth and they don't need to do anything. Just being available and dependable if needed is worth something.

It's not unreasonable for your cleaner to charge double for month's booking, considering if you had 10 changeovers in high season, she'd earn a lot more.

[Mark116]

@Mark3179  Why not build into the long term 1 month or more stay the cost of doing a cleaning every two weeks?  This should satisfy your cleaner and keep your property in better shape over time. 

[Lorna170]

@Mark3179   Your housekeeper is one of the selling points of your property.  Without her, you would not have 5 star ratings or good reviews from guests.  How much are you discounting for a month long stay?  I do not discount as deeply as Air wants me to (35%). and I require a mid rental cleaning that is charged to the guest so my housekeeper gets at least two cleaning payments a month.    Most of my older (50+) month guests have booked weekly cleanings with my housekeeper.

Look at your rental history with an eye to ensuring that your cleaner is being paid for her cleaning as well as her loyalty.  During the Covid hosting ban in my area, I paid my housekeeper for the missed cleaning opportunities.   For each booking I had to cancel, she received 50% of her usual cleaning fee.  Your housekeeper asking for double her fee for cleaning at the end of a month long stay, with no cleaning done mid month is IMO extremely reasonable.