"Cleaning Fees" listed separately, deceptive AirBnB

"Cleaning Fees" listed separately, deceptive AirBnB

AirBnB is a joke with published rates. Hosts lowball on the nightly rate, then charge $70 for a cleaning?  That's for one night or 5.
Looking at a room in Nassua, $80 for the night, $69 cleaning = $149. Seriously, pathetic excuse for transparent pricing.

This site asks us to be nice to each other, how about being nice to travellers by being honest. Any Host can lowball the rate and rack up the cleaning fee. Anyone else agree this is deceptive?

 

They need to include all fees in pricing. 

 

Another host lists a $100 fee and $29 cleaning fee = $129.


It's impossible to compare without going through each listing.

And this is a good service?

162 Replies 162
Paul154
Level 10
Seattle, WA

Have you used the map feature?

They price everything in the map so that not only can you search for area, but total price.

 

As for keeping cleaning fees separate, it is a very good idea.  You understand what you are paying for.

Don't you want someplace that takes time to clean your room?

It does cost money and time to put clean sheets on the bed, shine up the bathroom... charging this fee allows the host to recoup this fee from a one night stay guest.  If you want a lower cleaning fee, extend your stay so that it averages out over more days.

Also with a cleaning fee, you the guest have a valid complaint and power if the room is not cleaned well. Kind of like a tip.

It's all good.

Re-read the comment. No complaint regarding the fee. Deceptive way to market.
An $80 per night fee with a $69 cleaning fee, is a bait and switch.
Ever see car leasing ads? $99 per month with $4999  down. Same thing.

ABB has a lot of work to do on this. One fee, just like a hotel or bed and breakfast.

Can't justify charging a cleaning fee almost equal to the made up 'rate',  deceptive. 

Have a nice day.

There are Hotels and B&B's on AirBnB, they do not charge a cleaning fee, I do not charge a cleaning fee.

 

You seem to think everybody does.

 

Like I say you see the prices before you book.

David

You miss the point, but is ok.

Have a nice day.

I get your point and I totally agree that it is difficult to compare without opening up each listing. Nonetheless, the fee can't be included in the nightly rate since it is only a one time fee. But the cleaning fee should be just that. Cost of cleaning....realistic and genuine. Not a way to camoflage pricing and have people open up the listing to find disappointing over inflated additional costs. 

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Yes he has missed the point. I agree with you. I just booked at a hotel as I was sick of having to open each property to thee the total price. I think Airbnb should make property owner list complete price including cleaning fee. I just don’t have hours and hours to search properties when in the long run it will be cheaper just to book a hotel room. Too bad. I did enjoy Airbnb before property owners started to charge craze cleaning charges and playing pricing games. 

Totally agree David, pricing should bake in any costs associated to the room rental in my opinion. Charging extra for cleaning accomodations seems strange and seen as a cash grab. 

 

Airbnb team should look at this again and re-think the ability to list a separate fee. It should be part of the price of your stay.  Glad I'm not the only one that feels this way 🙂

I've been managing several rentals for 14 years and have always charged a seperate cleaning fee.  In our community,  good housekeepers are very hard to find and I pay them well to keep them.  I  have been unable to find a way to build it in to the nightly price and make it fair.    If a guest stays one night or 7,  I still require a full cleaning.  Anything less would be unacceptable to me or my guests.  If I were to build the price into the rental rate, the guest will still be paying the cleaning fee but the nightly rate would have to increase to recoop the fee and that would affect all guests, regardless of their length of stay.  I would be open to new ideas but the fact remains the units need to be cleaned thoroghly after each stay and there is a cost for that.

Diane

Northern Michigan

Hi Diane,

I am considering  including the cleaning fee in the nightly rental fee. For example we have a two day minimum and currently charge 275/night and add a 150 cleaning fee (we pay well for our area and have a large home) - I am considering pricing at $350/night for the first two nights and discounting remaining nights so that additional nights are $275 (we offer further discounts for longer stays), thus lessening the likelihood of the shock I have felt myself upon seeing the total when I have been an airbnb guest.  I am concerned that fewer people will click on our link because of the higher initial sticker but I am also wanting to be completely transparent. Do you have any thoughts you would be willing to share?

Thank you,

Erika

When a guest has entered a date range for check in/out, and  is scrolling search results, they see your nightly rate, and right below it is the total for their trip including the nightly total, cleaning fee, and Airbnb service fee all added up for them.  

 

This  is transparent with regard to the contribution of your cleaning fee to the total cost, with the math done for them,  and an easy/fair way to comparison shop. Hopefully this is the most common mode for guests to search and compare listings.

 

Only when the guest does a search with no dates specified are they confronted with a list that shows only a nightly rate, and they are forced to click on each listing to look for "hidden fees"  and do the math in their heads. Even then, they could be way off because they might be seeing a generic or composite rate if the actual rate varies significantly.

 

Perhaps it would improve transparency and overall satisfaction if  Airbnb were to eliminate the ability to search and compare without specific trip dates. That way the "total cost" would always be right up front. 

I think that’s more like it ! A cleaning fee of 150 seems  much . We drove from Oslo to loffoten , Finland and Sweden stoping every other night at different Airbnb locations. No one charged that ridiculous fee.. 

Just make it a per night cleaning fee. 

charging a cleaning fee is acceptable if you want But don't be ridiculous either some of the fees some of these people charge is outrageous and when Im looking and I see high cleaning fees I move on