Incremental cleaning fees for long term guests

[Jonathan90]

Hi,
I currently have a cleaning fee of $60 which the full amount goes to our cleaning lady to make sure the place is immaculate before the guest arrives. For longer term guests, there should be a larger cleaning fee based on a cadence that is added to the listing. For example:
Short term guests fee: $60 (under 1 week)
Long term guest: 8 week stay, cleaning biweekly= $240 cleaning fee

We had guests hat had never used Airbnb and came from India where they had a maid that cleaned DAILY and was paid $1/day. I think if there are clear expectations set for the cleaning cadence as well as the price that goes with it, this would ensure that everyone world wide will know what to expect.

[Michelle175]

Good idea! I agree completely!

[Katrina19]

I agree also! The cleaning fee and possible laundry fee for long term stays need to be adjustable for length of stay.

[Katherine41]

I clean my listing by myself and I get a lot of complaints from guests about other listings they see online with all these extra fees (I guess that means the Airbnb fee that every listing has and the cleaning fee that some hosts have) and it puts a bad taste in their mouth. I think it would make more sense to just increase prices by $60 or whatever it costs to have the listing cleaned so that guests can more easily compare listings and have an idea of what kind of pricing to expect. I don't understand why it matters to the guest how much the hosts puts into cleaning or other services like that.

[Anastasia5]

Oh, some guests expect its even ok to eat pomegranates on the bed, because "You just take it to dry cleaner and it will be fixed"  - they say....  (which is NOT true, nobody can clean up pomegranate juice from colored sheets without ruining them) so yes, its nice to make something added to list of the rules on airbnb, like,  "Please, don't eat on bed \carpet \ etc, only in designated area like table" and explanation  its NOT OK to turn listing into mess like spill food and sweet drinks everywhere and leave trash all around the room instead of trashcan.

[Melissa-And-Kurt0]

I agree with this completely. I've had to pay out of pocket for long term stays because you forget when you accept that the cleaning fee is taken once but our cleaner comes every week.

[Andrea218]

I am against Cleaning Fees being charged.  The Air BnB culture is "Leave it as you found it".   I think each host needs to build in whatever charge they feel is needed when they turn their place over for the next guest into their fee structure.   that would level the palying ground too when you pull up listings in a town.  now, you have to check each one out for what kind of "hidden" costs- like cleaning_ are involved.  Comparing apples to apples not only much easier, but also in keeping with the AirBnB culture.   

[Ryan37]

Andrea - i'm with you on the "leave it as you found it" but the vast majority of guests expect a hotel experience. Cleaning costs are usually fixed, regardless of the number of nights. Ie, the time it takes to clean the room and linens, the cleaning supplies, cost of washing, cost of a housekeeper if using one. If a turnover costs $80 it could be easy to build that cost into a week long stay but almost impossible to for just one night. Having a separate cleaning fee is the easiest way to make sure a reservation is actually worthwhile. Example: nightly rate of $100; cleaning fee of $80. If cleaning fee removed then how would one charge $180 for 1 night reservations? $140/night for 2 night reservations, $120/night for 4 night, $110/ night for 8? 

[Andrea218]

Thanks, Ryan.. We clean our entire house top to bottom no matter if one person has stayed or 7.  no matter if one nite or 7.  (there's no way i wouldn't clean all 3 bathrooms, the ENTIRE kitchen, etc.. the only difference is in the quantity of linen, SO our fee structure takes into account extra people, and even BEDS, and then we credit $50/nite for each nite stayed, no matter if 1 person or more.  realizing that the cleaning cost is spread out over the days booked.  (don't know if i'm being clear; so our starting fee, for the first nite is the highest, after that $50 is taken off each nite)  

[Jonathan90]

Hi guys! For the sake of everyone reading this post, please only post if you are referring to the original topic of this post "Incremental cleaning fees for long term stays" For the above 2 posts, it seems you have not read the original posting... (Short term=7 days and less) As I gave in the example, 1-7 days does not count as "long term" as that would be just one week and normal cleaning fees should pertain.... I am referring to long term stays that are multiple weeks.... we have had visitors that stay 4-8 weeks. For those of you that think it should be included in the listing price, I completely disagree because it is not comparing "apples to apples"... First of all, I keep my place IMMACULATELY clean and have 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a giant kitchen.... the cleaning lady comes and it covers the $60 fee and we still do additional cleaning on top of that to make sure everything sparkles.... Having clear expectations of cleaning and the associated fee makes sense because not all listing are comparable.... (Like comparing the "W Hotel" to a "Super 8 motel"...) Some guests that stay in Airbnbs will only have the place they are staying thoroughly cleaned upon their arrival and then they are responsible for keeping it cleaned and in "original condition" until the end of their stay. Others, expect a hotel-like service cleaning on a daily basis, making their bed, cleaning the bathroom etc. So I definitely think there is a huge incongruity between the listings offered and the expectations of the guests. Therefore, it would make the most sense to have that clear in the cleaning fees listed along with the cadence.

[Jonathan90]

Andrea, being a long-term host and guest at other airbnbs, the "leave it as you found it" culture can not be assumed for all airbnbs... sure that is what is assumed for most listings, however when it comes to the amount of times the guests expects things to be cleaned, (Sheets, towels, rooms, bathrooms, shared space etc) it is drastically different from guest to guest. Furthermore, what each host provides in terms of frequency of cleaning, changing sheets, towels etc is also drastically different.

[Gustavo0]

Hey Jonathan, I have the same problem, I put a cheap cleaning fee for just 10 USD, but that is not susteintable for my long term guests.

Cause I pay with my own wallet at the cleaning lady of my place.

Airbnb should provide us a different cleaning fee for the variable situations. 

Om shanti

Gustavo

[Bruce33]

Airbnb - are you listening!?!

Great ideas - it should be ... 1 week = "X" amount. 2 weeks = "X*2" or some other amount. 

There needs to be an option for additional fees for longer term stays. 

[Anuj2]

I am in confusion as new host. The guests are staying for 52 nights. They are using laundry products and also only 40 cleaning on 52 nights. They do not clean and every weekend it is me cleaning. Airbnb forces us to reduce the daily rate on long term stay but do not guide on how to deal with this situation. I had mentioned my pricing based on visitors. One of them is working from home all day. Now in the house hold where I am single and they are two they cook, they work at home and they dont clean properly and use my laundry products. Please guide me as this my second guests and there is no direction on the website Airbnb

[Debbie75]

Totally agree - we should be able to charge for weekly cleaning for long-term bookings. I usually offer them the option and they leave cash for my cleaner, but there was one guest who said his gf would do the cleaning and the place was disgusting after three weeks, so I am making it mandatory that my cleaner comes in at least once a week for long-term stays. 

Hard to bake this into the price though as it penalises those who stay 2 days vs 1 week.