How much do I need to clean the place if I was charged a high cleaning fee

[Elle85]

I am new to airbnb as a guest. We recently stayed at a place for 3 days where the cleaning fee was over $100. The listing said « we hope to find the place as clean as you found it». I found this strange given the cleaning fee. I would think it was reasonable to wash the dishes, put trash in the bins, pick up any trash off the floor ( I have children), and wipe the counters. What are the cleaning expectations of the hosts normally?

[Kelly149]

@Elle85 there really is no "normally", every place is different. Are you already gone??

for my space, the cleaning fee isn't really there to clean up after messy guests but rather it is more of a booking fee that is designed to give a discount to a guest who stays extra days. Also, I expect my guests to tidy, much like what you described, but we of course are coming in after them to mop, change bedding etc.  My house manual says to treat us like they've visited friends of friends. Yes, a fee was paid, but it is my home, not a bargain motel.

[Emiel1]

@Elle85 

I do not charge a cleaning fee. A guest should be provided a clean accommodation on arrival. Cleaning costs must be included in the nightly price. Let's get rid of the cleaning fee worldwide !

[John47]

@Emiel1 
i disagree with your premise as I have a hired cleaning service that i pass on the cost of to guest. Now, I only rent for a week minimum in most all cases and the cleaning crew helps do most most of the job but not all (like checking dishes, and such).
The other reason why i won't include cleaning in rent is because of the new short term rental tax in my state which is 12.45% and by having guest pay cleaning fee directly to crew, it is NOT taxed. 
I only have a handful or less of Airbnb tenants per summer season as most are repeats.

@Elle85 
It could be a situation similar to what i deal with: I have cleaning crew for the 'grunt work' but the checking dishes, making beds, checking for missing/broken items, etc falls on me so maybe they have a similar setup? As other said, each place is different and one needs to make sure before rental what the details of expectations are and what's not. I expect guests to NOT leave dirty dishes, misplace furniture (if they do, put it back and thats ok), etc. - I don't expect them to vacuum floors BUT if the rug looks like the outside welcome mat, then they should at least get it back to semi-vac'd

[Mark116]

@Elle85   A $100 cleaning fee and the host expects you to clean seems a little much, but you should follow whatever directions they give you, which hopefully they have given you more details on what to do than 'leave it as you found it'.   We don't charge a cleaning fee any more but we've always expected guests to do about what you listed, deal with trash/recycling, wash their dishes, clean up major spills.  Once in a while it appears that someone has done a light clean/sweep/wiping stuff down but it is very rare. 

[Elle85]

They only put « leave it as you found it » but given the cleaning fee for a tiny apartment I assumed they were exaggerating... My house is 3-4 times the size of their apartment and I pay $150 for cleaning

[Helen3]

Hi @Elle85 

It's not really relevant how much you pay your cleaner. Commercial cleaning services charge more than individual cleaners. Cleaners in high demand areas cost more than in lower demand areas.

At the end of the day you chose this place and agreed to the cleaning fee. If you weren't happy with the cleaning fee you could have chosen somewhere with a lower fee.

In terms of how you should leave the place, what you have suggested sounds fine to me and what I do when I use Airbnb as a guest, but it depends on what the host says in their guide book/check out rules.

[Alice595]

@Elle85  Some hosts may use different pricing strategies. If the overall total of booking fee is comparable to other listings you searchEd for, it really means something.

Some people put low nightly rate purely to attract people to read their listings first. In Airbnb ranking, the lower nightly rate may get higher ranking in the search.

What you think about cleaning by guests are most guests expected as well. You may ask the host his checkout procedure. Normally the requirements of cleaning and trash collection are included there.