Cleaning fees

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Satya8
Level 2
Pennsylvania, United States

Cleaning fees

Sorry if this is not the appropriate place for this question.  Looked the best to me among the options.  From a guest perspective, I have always left the host facilities in pretty much the state I found them (cleaned up before leaving). Now I am looking at some places which have a very high fee for leaning included ($65 to $85+). I am wondering if in such cases, it will be reasonable for me not to clean up?  I am not talking about trashing the place of course, but things like making the beds, washing dishes, sweeping floor/s, garbage disposal etc...?

1 Best Answer
Dave333
Level 2
Chicago, IL

Read a thread earlier this week with an excellent answer which really resonated with me. I apologize to the originator because I don't have the exact citation nor will I plagiarize eloquently.

 

My takeaway was hosts following the Airbnb Living Wage Pledge pay cleaners minimum $25/hr (or company employed cleaners at least $15/hr because they presumably get benefits on top of wages - which I assume get translated into higher charge to host)

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1975/what-s-airbnb-s-living-wage-pledge

 

So if it takes 2-3 hours to turnover a unit the cleaner would be paid $50-75.

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74 Replies 74

I had the same question last year. Airbnb doesn't have a place to charge cleaning fees for longer than a week. This is what I go by I change the sheets once a week and pillow cases every 3rd day. I just go in and freshen up the room. I do notify the guests that I will be changing towels and sheets and pillow cases. If they ask for it more often I put in clean items and let them change their own items. I let them know what to do with the dirty ones. This works for me. I also have extra towels in the bathroom and sometimes they just help themselves. I just keep a lookout for changes. As for cleaning fees, tell the guest you charge cleaning fees and airbnb doesn't have a way to charge them ask for the amount you need. I pay my cleaning people 65 dollars an hour and they can do the room change in 20 minutes. I always pay a full hour and I make sure they are working the whole hour because there are always things to clean.

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Carmen1479 

 

I have never had a cleaning fee on my listings, so I can't really respond specifically on that, but it is still something to consider with hosting long-term guests.

 

I normally offer long-term guests the option of cleaning their own rooms (cleaning materials supplied if the want to do this) and an extra set of linens and towels for them so they can change/wash them as required. Or, I offer to do it for them for a reasonable fee. If the guest is only staying for a duration where they would need one clean/one linen change, then I just do it for free, but after that, the fee would kick in.

 

Some guests (mostly female) say they'd prefer to do it themselves while male guests usually prefer me to do it. The problem with the former is that they don't always clean. I had one guest who stayed six months and never cleaned her room once. I did it the first time for her for free, but she was supposed to do it herself after that. She did change her linens, but I usually had to wash them for her as well as her towels. I'd rather do that though then the sheets not being changed for weeks! Another guest regularly vacuumed her room, so I assumed she was keeping it clean, but she never dusted or mopped in the five months she stayed.

 

So, my system is not perfect, but it has worked with most guests.

Lessoned learned.

Cleanliness is a trait people have or don't have. Male or female. 

 

I need to see a room and have it cleaned weekly. Bed changed weekly. Rooms are on loan and guests understand this. 

 

Some people are OK to live in fifth. Pizza boxes with a slice left. Glasses beside coasters. Bedsheets dirty like they never shower yes some people do not ever shower or bath. 

 

Bookings now longest monthly so a thorough cleaning can be done.

Not everyone has cleanliness standards of living. BE AWARE I CARE

 

 

Susie209
Level 2
Hoopeston, IL

I've recently stated renting a 2 bedroom house thru Airbnb. I charge $120.00 per night. We are a small community with the closest hotel 25 miles away. I'm charging a $25.00 cleaning fee, but am wondering if that is too much, and if I should charge it only after a 3 or more night stay. We do a thorough cleaning after each guest.

Pam1344
Level 1
Scottsdale, AZ

I think some hosts want to show their place as the cheapest, but make up for it with high cleaning. I am wondering why, when I stay for 6 days without any cleaning done, I am charged six cleaning fees. In fact one host chewed my out on the last day because I left a dirty pan on the counter. There wasn't any soap to wash it with and I didn't think rinsing only was fair to the next user. 

AirBnB needs to get their act together and deal with fairness. Hotels.com also has similar listings. Maybe they need looking at. 

Pamela914
Level 1
New Braunfels, TX

I allow pets, so I’m thinking about charging $50 cleaning fee for pets and my usual $30 without pets.  Can anyone tell me if they charge more for pets?  I have to clean twice as much when the have pets. 

We charge a flat rate of $175 for our  1 bedroom cottage which sleeps 4  and $300 for our 4 bedrooms bungalow which sleeps 11. I think charging anything less is unfair to the cleaning crew, especially these days because they have to do more due to the pandemic. However lately, we have been getting larger groups in our bungalow and they totally trashed the place, it mostly happens when it all guys and then we have to come out of our pockets to pay for the extra time because they have shampoo rugs and upholstery and one time it was so disgusting we had to pay an additional $800 to have a company come in and sterilize the whole house because these guys left it so filthy that I feared that Covid was left on furniture. These guys came in wearing hazmat suits to do the sterilizing.  (here's the link to pictures on how disgusting they left our home)   https://photos.app.goo.gl/NAWn2H9uo21HqPtTA

 They broke our couch, had to replace it, broke some of the wood planks on one of the beds, and had to purchase new ones to replace the broken ones.  We do not book this property to anyone under 21 years old anymore. I do wish there was a way to charge a range depending on the condition of the house. 

Jean5856
Level 2
Takoma Park, MD

From the Guests perspective: I have been a AirBNB guest all over the world for over 10 years now. It isn't the cleaning fees, per se, that are the problem. But once (high) cleaning fee, plus service fee, plus taxes add up, the "$100.00 per night" quickly exceeds $200 per night and just isn't worth it for a one or two night stay and a 4 star hotel is significantly cheaper. The service fees and cleaning tend to be per stay, not per day so longer stays are more reasonable. I booked 2 night stays in several Colorado tourist areas and the fees were deal breakers. Some added a deposit on top. Just not worth it.

@Jean5856  I can definitely see that if you're just one or two people for a couple of nights, places that charge hefty cleaning fees aren't going to be financially a better choice than a hotel. 

 

If it's a group or family of four and up, staying somewhere for a week, the one time cleaning fee wouldn't be a big deal. 

 

I don't charge a cleaning fee myself, but for hosts that do, I know it's a bit of a dilemma for them, too. Hosts can't really lower the cleaning fee for a 1 or 2 night stay, because the place has to be cleaned the same way between guests, regardless of how long they stay. 

And there are people who can manage to make a huge mess in a few hours, while others leave it spotless after a week- hosts never know how they'll find it.

I can understand. We are going to Colorado (from the East Coast) for the first vacation since COVID began. My niece is getting married near Denver on Saturday but my husband and I have never been to the Rockies in Colorado. Of course, everybody wants to go to the same places we do. But we are so tired after the last year, and worrying about upsetting a host in addition to the high prices is just more than I can deal with. Too bad, but when the cleaning and taxes increase the nightly cost by so much it isn't worth it. Like I said, maybe worth it for a longer stay. It seems the service fees have also gone up, but I wouldn't swear to it. I think they should combine the service and cleaning to the base fee posted on the listing. Even the hotels don't include taxes in the listed prices. Let's face it. This is a business relationship and properties are competing with each other. Hopefully, your choice not to charge a cleaning fee makes you more competitive.

 

@Jean5856 I agree with you about the way Airbnb displays prices-- hosts have no control over that. But when you search with dates and guest counts you do get the total cost including all fees (but not taxes, I think).

 

Speaking as a host who charges substantial cleaning fees: I charge what I pay the cleaners. And yes, shorter stays incur a much larger cleaning fee overhead percentage than longer ones. I greatly prefer longer stays so if someone looking for a shorter stay decides it's not worth it, good-- someone for whom my place is a better fit will book instead. There is nothing wrong with choosing the type of accommodation that best suits your needs.

@Lisa723  I'm not really sure what you mean about "search with dates and guest counts".  I would give my feedback/complaint directly to AirBNB but it wasn't obvious from the website how that was possible. I sent them a tweet but don't know if they pay attention to that. For Colorado, at least they should combine everything, except maybe taxes,  so I wouldn't waste my time on places already out of our price range.

@Jean5856 searching with dates and guest count means that you enter your dates and number of guests in the search bar, not just the location. Then the search will produce only properties open for your dates and the total price including fees for each.

@Jean5856  There are reasons I don't need to charge a cleaning fee that wouldn't be viable for other hosts. My listing is a private room/private bath for 1 guest only. My minimum is 3 days, and most  guests stay an average  of a week or more. I clean it myself. So the 1 and a half-2 hours it takes me to clean and do the laundry, means even if a guest only stays 3 days, it works out to about half an hour's work per night, and 15 minutes if they stay a week.

 

But a host who has a 2 or 3 bedroom house for 4-6 guests and hires a cleaner who needs hours to to a thorough cleaning job can't really not charge a cleaning fee.

 

Pat-And-Bar0
Level 2
Coppell, TX

I don't mind the 3% fee off the total nightly rate. Since Airbnb doesn't require cleaning fee and the are not the one cleaning, I don't think Airbnb should be charging 3% off the cleaning fee. All should go directly to the host. I know it doesn't seem much but it all adds up after so many guests.