Cleaning fees

Julia-And-Hugo0
Level 6
Gold Coast, Australia

Cleaning fees

What is the consensous out there?. Should we charge cleaning fees seperately or should we not?.

I have a special Indonesian style house on water in a very quiet spot and thought to add it into the cost instead of charging seperately.

30 Replies 30
Deb0
Level 9
Mendocino, CA

I've been charging a separate cleaning fee of $49 for years. My rental is a studio apartment with 1 bathroom. Here in the US it is common for vacation rentals to charge cleaning fees. I charge the guest the same amount I pay my cleaning person. If guests comment on it sometimes helps explain that it actually helps keep the cost down for longer stays since guests pay one cleaning fee per booking whether it's 2 days or 7 days. I just raised the cleaning fee to $60 in hopes of giving my helper a raise. We'll see how it goes. Just got my first reservation with the new amount and he didn't mention a thing, yay!

 

 

Dave-and-Deb0
Level 10
Edmonton, Canada

Hi @Julia-And-Hugo0,

 

I am afraid you won't find a consensus on this issue as it is one that has been asked on many forums.  I do charge a $35 cleaning fee for a self contained 2 bedroom suite and I have not had anyone complain.  Many other people do not charge a cleaning fee but build it into the price.  Many people have brought up the fact that if you charge a cleaning fee, the guest may leave the listing dirtier than if you do not charge a cleaning fee as they believe they have paid for the cleaning.  I have not found this the case but as @Deb0 mentioned, in North America, many vacation rentals charge cleaning fees.  If we were renting a room in our house, I don't think we would charge a cleaning fee but since we have a suite, there are two beds to wash and change, lots of towels, the bathroom to clean, etc. 

 

From reading many topics on this issue, I would say not charging a cleaning and building it into the price is more popular than the latter.

 

Cheers

 

Dave

David

Superhost Ambassador ~ Host Club Community Leader ~ Community Expert ~ Experienced Co-Host

I am a newly active host for about 6 months....I have steadily raised my cleaning fee.  It seem that some people are just 'neater' and some....not so much.  I charge a full day rent as my cleaning fee and will up it for long term guests.  Why?  I do the cleaning and it literally takes a full 24 hours to clean my 4 bedroom house, two bathrooms, launder and change the beds, haul the trash to the dump, replace items damage or used up etc.  I'm not sure yet if it's better to fold it into my pricing.....time will tell.  I'd also love to hear others experience/opinions on this.

I think the cleaning fee should always be built in. As a guest, when I'm looking to stay somewhere, I want to know what the total price is. I don't care if it's 100 plus 30 for cleaning or 130, but I want to be able to compare like with like. Also, all hosts clean - whether they do it themselves or pay someone else - so why should some listings get extra money for that and some not? When I'm hosting I don't charge a cleaning fee. I think that's the fairest way to do it.  If there is an additional cost during a long-term stay, build it into the long term price and explain it in the overview. 

@Giselle1,

 

The way I look at it, the prices are built in even if you have a cleaning fee.  When searching for a property, I put in the dates as I am sure most guests would.  The prices per night get displayed with the cleaning fee averaged in.

 

David

Superhost Ambassador ~ Host Club Community Leader ~ Community Expert ~ Experienced Co-Host

Ahhh, I hadn't figured that out. That makes more sense. I still have to admit though, that if I'm tossing up between two places that ultimately cost the same, something about the cleaning fee puts me off. It's kind of like charging extra for electricity or hot water - cleaning to me is one of those base things that you expect when booking a room. 

ha! It's like how we all view taxes and all other extras! Just tell me what the total is unless I can do something to change the add-ins!

Cathy62
Level 1
Hong Kong

Hello,

I've been charging cleaning fees per booking but would like to have a weekly cleaning fees for my longer staying guests. Would appreciate any guidance on how to go about doing that, thanks.

David262
Level 4
Australia

 

Hi Julia,

 

In North America, as others have pointed out, they are use to seeing base prices; with the plus, plus, pluses... only added up when the final total is displayed. As you are no doubt aware, this pricing practice is illegal in Australia, and all prices (including taxes) must be displayed as the full and final "all inclusive" amount. Our local regulators took Airbnb to task over this, and Airbnb amended their system to comply with Australian regulations - so now, when a guest attempts to search online, Airbnb requests all relevant information from them, so it can display the price inclusive of all fees (including its own), for all options which it presents. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/airbnb-to-improve-pricing-after-hidden-fee-crackdown/news-story...

 

So, again as others have pointed out, in most cases it doesn’t matter whether you are charging a cleaning fee or not, as guests are only presented with the final price when searching, and they don’t really look at the detail about how it was calculated.

 

In terms of managing my costs, I look at it from two angles; the costs I accumulate per booking (regardless of the number of nights stayed) and the costs I accumulate per night. I therefore recover all my fixed costs “per booking” using the “cleaning fee” which I refer to as a “set up” fee.

 

I feel this is the most equitable approach, as it doesn’t penalise guests on longer stays (in the way that it would if my cleaning cost recovery was built into the nightly price, as that would lead to them over-paying) and makes it economically viable for me to take shorter stays (as my high fixed costs are covered independently of the nightly rate).

 

It probably also comes down to who does the cleaning: The thing that might shock hosts in other parts of the world (who may be use to poorly paid migrant labour) is how much you need to pay a cleaner in Australia. The going rate for a professional service up in the tropics is about AUD$40 per hour, so it has a significant impact on my pricing strategy. (With more competition and a longer season on the Gold Coast, you might be lucky and have lower rates there.)

 

But, in the end, I think it’s great that Airbnb leaves the choice up to us, and as you see there is no consensus on the “cleaning fee”.

 

@David262 but how do you factor in the "fixed" costs post-booking; with different types of guests and different levels of cleanliness? I have a nominal sum as my cleaning fee and that's charged per booking but I'm finding that the longer-stay guests tend to require more attention post-checkout because the property might need a "deeper" clean. It comes down to each individual guest but if the longer a dirty guest stays, the dirtier the property becomes.

ah it's a slippery slope of what ifs.

Hi @Lai I limit my longest stays to 16 nights, but most bookings are normally 4-8 days. So I build my cost structure around this type of booking, as much as I can, by juggling nightly rates, fixed cleaning cost and the additional person rate per night, all to get the most suitable outcome for my situation. If I allowed gests to stay more than 2 weeks, then I think that I would have the same issue that you have with longer stays.

 

Luckily, in terms of attitude, the guests using Airbnb to book my place in Port Douglas are still typically "old-school" Airbnb - that is people committed to a more community type of stay in someone's real home (in my case, my holiday home), as oppose to simply a cheap alternative to a hotel room. I also provide them with all they need to clean up after themselves (including laundry access), or the option to pay my cleaner to come in during their stay and do it for them. (Most choose to DIY, and thankfully leave the place tidy when they depart.)

 

 

C-C0
Level 10
Memphis, TN

Agree with @Giselle0. There's a psychological component to having this seemingly extra charge and that seemingly extra charge.
Giselle1
Level 3
London, United Kingdom

I find too that if I use the map search, it shows the price per night without the cleaning fee and I then have to click through to find out the "real" price - which means I spend a lot longer searching than I should have to, because I want there are plenty of places that don't charge the fee and they're the ones I want to stay at. Hotels don't charge cleaning fees for a reason - surely as hosts we should be offering a clean room/apartment/house, not charging people for it.

I jumped thru the roof when I saw the new "Cleaning fees".  Because it told me that AirBNB allows hosts who do not clean rooms!  I have an acupuncture clinic.  I do not charge extra for sterile needles (or cleaned towels and linens), it is expected that the needles will be sterile, (the sheets clean, the placed vaccumed), just as it is expected that a room we rent for the night be cleaned!