Cleaning Fee

[Dana-and-Vance0]

Hello Hosts!

About 4 months ago I stopped charging a cleaning fee.  . . 

What I have found is that guests leave my house much cleaner than when I was charging a fee.  I rent my whole house and there is a lot of cleaning, I figure my cost of cleaning into my daily rate.  I know what some of you are thinking . . . I get people hooked because I charge a lower rate for the room and then add the cleaning fee to it to make up the difference.  Personally I don't like it done that way and have not booked a reservation when I figure out that is what a host did.  I felt this was good food for thought and wanted to share with you.

P.S.  I was charging a $200 cleaning fee per stay prior to changing it to no cleaning fee and had a 2 night minimum.  Now I have a 7 day minimum and no cleaning fee.

I realize this will not work for everyone, but you should try it and see what results you get.

Cheers !!

[Elizabeth429]

@Dana-and-Vance0,

As a host, I have never charged for cleaning services. There are several reasons for that, but I dont want to bore you with it.

As a guest, I hate seeing charges that most of the time dont match what I am getting in return. And things I take care of when checking out are making sure towels are hanging to dry off, removing any lose hair from the shower and putting dishes away. 

I hate to think the host is expecting me to clean floors and sinks and strip/make the bed.

[Rebecca160]

@Dana-and-Vance0I have a very small cleaning fee ($10USD). This does not cover the cost of cleaning, as I do the cleaning myself. It does help with restocking the cleaning supplies. I could add it into the room price, but I already include some fees that other hosts locally do not (such as Gross Receipts Taxes - which I have to pay), so I do not wish to price myself out of the market. 

Happy for you that you can have a 7 night minimum! That would not work for me, but I do have a 2 night minimum and it works pretty well.

[John1080]

@Dana-and-Vance0 I started out without a cleaning fee, and just factored it into the nightly price, but have added a fee, recently. However, I'm still debating which way to go about it. Cleaning costs me about $100-$150 each time depending, which is not a small amount of money over the course of a month. 

I know this has been hashed out before, but I have yet to see any emperical evidence which is better, to factor it in or to add it on, or if it makes a difference in the booking rate. It seems the savings potential is that they leave it cleaner as you stated, therefore saving some money on cleaning fees. 

[Gillian19]

@John1080 I don't think there is any evidence or true stats. I charge a cleaning fee and some guests leave the property so clean I only know they have been as the beds are obviously used. Others leave it in a real mess after less than 24 hours. I expect the same guests would leave it in the same state if I didn't charge a cleaning fee. I don' tthink it's the fee but the guests that are the issue. I generally find guests of specific backgrounds are more likely to leave a mess.

[John1080]

@Gillian19 This makes sense to me. So far, I've not had any guests who have left a large mess, as I have pretty strict rules and screen well which hasn't changed one way or another since I added the cleaning fee. My cleaning fee of $50 doesn't cover my costs of cleaning, so I'm considering reverting back to including it in my nightly price. Can't decide.

[Gillian19]

@John1080 Also depends on whether you allow 1 night stays. I do. So I need a clenaing fee as I can't absorb 3 hours of a cleaner and bedding/towels for 12 in the nightly fee. 

[John1080]

Right. I do a three night minimum except for Fri-Sun, which is 2 with increased prices. It usually costs me $100-$120 for cleaning.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Dana-and-Vance0

I've always viewed the cleaning fee as a way for hosts to make 1~2 night stays manageable. I get a lot of longer-term guests (1~4 months) so I don't have a cleaning fee and just factor in the cost of all hosting related activities into the nightly rate. With longer stays I provide new sheets every 2 weeks, towels (Henry and I handle the laundry for guest sheets & towels), we also manage all trash disposal and continue to provide all amenities such as TP, soap, and an endless supply of coffee during the entire stay. We prefer to do our own cleaning/housekeeping mainly because Henry is a bit OCD and he's never met a professional cleaner he liked 🙂

When we do accept shorter stays (in between the long-term stays), we have a 3 night minimum and adjust the nightly prices accordingly. Henry and I talked about bringing it down to a 2 night min but decided against it - too much cleaning and laundry - the money we'd make from a 2 night stay just wasn't worth the extra work. 

In the end, I think it should depend on the individual host's preference & pricing strategy and type of guests they target/cater to.