cleaning fee

[Carol80]

I am new to Airbnb but not new to hosting.  In general are propertys returned clean after a weekly let?  I have decided not to charge a cleaning fee and request that guests return the property in the condition given.  I feel if I charge a fee there will be a chance of guests just leaving the property in a bad state...?  What has worked for my property in the past is getting a cleaning fee in cash on arrival that I will refund if property is returned as found??

What do other hosts think?

thanks Carol 

[British1]

Do you feel that adding a cleaning fee has decreased the number of people booking your listing?  Particularly if it is just one bedroom in your home?

[Leila68]

Hi there! I would very much like an opinion. It'

 A bit of a two part situation so bare with me.

So I was an entire place guest for a week and was charged a 250 cleaning fee upon booking. No biggie.

Here is my first problem, the host is requesting 200 to hire a repair man to fix a hole she is claiming I did. (Which I did not do) The "hole" was there upon arrival and I took a walk through video just in case because I saw the hole as soon as I walked in. I offered to share the time stamped video to no avail. 

Part two: When I stated that the "hole" was already there ect. She then turns her focus to the disusting mess that was left (one pan, two glasses, two bowls and a couple spoons) but I paid an inclusive cleaning fee of 250. Shouldn't it cover a few dishes? I assure you that if there hadn' been a fee the place would have been left with no dishes in the sink. 

What are your thoughts on the additional requested fee of 200. As well as your thoughts on the dishes with a 250cleaning fee already in place?

[David3267]

best response! It is ultimately up to the host to clean, but it is really nice to go in and find the guest has done a lot (but not all) of the work for you.

[Rebecca178]

To add a cleaning fee, Airbnb says: "Because the cleaning fee is included in the total guest payment and host payout, service fees apply." What does this mean? Is this a service fee for the guest or for the host? Is it an extra service fee? How is the amount determined?

[Helen3]

Hello @Rebecca178

If you go to Airbnb's help section, it will explain both the cleaning fee and service charges.

They charge both hosts and guests a service charge.

You decide whether you want to add a cleaning fee. That is then added to the total cost for the guest and Airbnb add their service charge for the guest to the total cost.

[Rebecca178]

Thank you, but does that mean the guest pays more in service fees than they would if the host didn't charge a cleaning fee? In other words, if there's a cleaning fee, are the service fees higher? I don't know how Airbnb figures the amount of its service fees for guests. Do you know?

[Annie-and-Carlo0]

Hi - we have been renting a small but complete property in our grounds this season only- so we are new Airbnb hosts. We live in the other property in the grounds- in Puglia in S.Ita

ly (having moved there ourselves last autumn).

We would not dream of expecting our guests to do a complete and thorough "change-over clean" between bookings. This would be deterimentsl in every way, as we want to insure a certain standard for our property to make sure our guests all have as enjoyable stay as possible! My husband attacks the pool and grounds and I clean the Trullo. This is an old stone building which needs detailed cleaning of the living area, fully equipped kitchen, shower room and bedroom. Dependent on the length of stay this can take us both between 4 and 5 hours...but it is completely worth it, as we have only had 5 star reviews so far and are completely full for this season and starting to take bookings for next.

We actually regard this as part of our commitment to hosting...our guests are on holiday.

As others have commented, many travellers are choosing Airbnb properties instead of boutique hotels now...we want to offer the same standard.

We DO NOT CHARGE a separate cleaning fee, as no hotel would do this! 

I feel strongly that this is a service and should be simply reflected in the nightly rate.

Several of our guests have commented that they really appreciate the fact that the price they see on line includes everything, and that they have been "put off" from bookingothee properties once they have seen the actual total and realised that "extra" has been added for cleaning...I would be put off too, so we made a positive decision not to do this. We are extremely happy to put in the effort so the property always has a standard which we ourselves would hope for when travelling! 

[Beatriz-Almeida0]

Hello, there.

Can a cleaning service report a host for don't paid up £1000 of cleaning services?

Thanks

[Michael3107]

I agree that a cleaning fee is reasonable in theory.  But there should be limits!  $350 for one night and a $150 cleaning fee?!?!  No way is it going to cost $150 to clean up after a one night stay!  However this seems to be the norm around Boston, anywhere from $75 to $200 cleaning fee for one night!  You could never convince me this isn't a total gouge and money grab and you spend that much per clean.  It certainly would motivate me not to do one lick of pick up after myself if you're charging so much to clean.

And yes, I am choosing to stay at a hotel since the markup of a cleaning fee makes it comparable to a super nice luxury hotel!  WTF AirBnB hosts?!

I'm sure the answer will be the usual snobbery, "Well if you don't like it stay somewhere else."  "People pay it all the time and never complain, what's the big deal" "You don't understand I use platinum grade swiffers, and those aren't cheap these days you know!" etc.

[Mick-And-Briyith0]

Can someone please direct me to a link with Air BnB Policy on Cleaning.

We had to open a Resolution Centre case for a Host who delivered a dirty uncleaned apartment for our reservation. 

The Host actually declined to return the cleaning fee. We provided detailed photos of the dirty sheets, dishes, floors, etc. 

It it will be nice to have the Air BnB Policy in writing to send to the case Manager.

Thanks in advance to all.....

[Helen3]

If what you mean is there a check list on what should be included in cleaning in Airbnb terms?,  then the answer is no and if there was one, your case manager would already have it @Mick-And-Briyith0 .

You could look at the terms on the Airbnb Guest Refund policy.