Reasonable Cleaning Fee for Homeshare Hosts

[Suzanne302]

I just saw a homeshare listing with a cleaning fee of $50! The cleaning fee was higher than the nightly rate. Which got me thinking...Are there guests out there who would actually book this place?

I don't see how the host could justify a $50 cleaning fee. Mine is a modest $10, which I think is fair. I was thinking of raising it to $15.

What do other homeshare hosts charge? And does your nightly rate influence what you decided to charge? How do you justify your cleaning fee?

[Lisa723]

@Suzanne302 my two cents... it's the total cost that matters to me as a guest, not how it's structured. This host is perhaps not likely to get one-night bookings, and perhaps doesn't want them unless they are renumerative. My listings aren't shared spaces, but at our vacation rentals the cleaning fee is a fixed cost that goes directly to my cleaners, and the nightly rate is set automatically and varies according to local supply and demand. Sometimes it drops below the cleaning fee. Why is that a bad thing for a guest?

[Fiza1]

We pay our cleaners a living wage, which forces us to charge far higher than $10. Places that are professionally cleaned will be more expensive. 

[Suzanne302]

@Fiza1 

Oh yeah, that's totally normal for a whole house listing. My question was specifically for HOMESHARE hosts, who actually rent simply a room in their home, and usually do the cleaning themselves.

I was just wondering what other homeshare hosts charge and see as reasonable, and how they decided on/justified that cost.

[Jarrick--Ferris--Rita0]

We charge $10-$15 for our bunk hostel (average $25-$40) for rooms depending on how many guest a room accommodates. Hosts or Maid has more work to do than changing a bed as there is always daily cleanup and should be compensation. We ask guest to clean up behind themselves to keep cleaning cost down. Some guest adhere and of course others don't but its always a good sign to post in kitchen for all to see! 

[Christopher187]

I have cleaning fees set to $400 on rooms where I prefer longer (multi-month) bookings.  People still book, since for 2-3 months my space is still cheaper than places with $40 cleaning fees.  $50 is nothing.  $10 is absurdly low.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Suzanne302 

I don't have a separate cleaning fee for my private room listing where I host long-term solo guests. Henry and I manage everything ourselves and we are specific in defining what housekeeping activities are included/provided vs. what the guest is expected to do themselves. 

Although I agree the total matters more than the breakdown at the same time as a guest user I've never been partial to places that charge a high cleaning fee. I completely understand the need for a cleaning fee to offset the costs/expenses for 1~2 night stays, especially with the way Airbnb pricing rules are set. But a cleaning fee that significantly exceeds the nightly rate? double or triple or even more? It just doesn't seem like the easiest way to set prices or the most logical.......so I'd be wary. 

[Alice595]

@Suzanne302Cleaning fees varies a lot depending on the listings as long as the host can justify it. There are following factors which determine the cleaning fees

(1) The actual cost of cleaning job, which includes labor cost and cleaning supplies. The actual cost varies by location, whom to hire etc.

(2) The minimum length of short-term rental. A one night minimum stay normally does not charge very high cleaning fee. A one month minimum stay normally will charge cleaning fees more than nightly rate.

(3) Marketing strategy. Some hosts don't charge cleaning fee. The cleaning fee could be distributed to the nightly rate in such case.

[Helen3]

@Suzanne302  It takes three hours to clean my shared home and prepare it for guests. No way would you be able to do this for $10 dollars. That wouldn't even cover an hours cleaning where I live.

Whether you clean yourself or have a cleaner, there is a cost to cleaning your place and you should factor that into your pricing.

$50 certainly doesn't sound exortionate. And perhaps they don't want short term bookings.

[Suzanne302]

Thanks for your insight @Helen3 ! I think several people didn't understand what I was asking.

Similar to you, it takes me about two hours to get the room/bathroom cleaned and make sure the rest of the house is prepared. My cleaning fee has always been $10 because I factor some cleaning costs into the room rate and based the $10 strictly on average cost of all cleaning supplies. I was thinking of tinkering with it to factor in the extra wear and tear of one night bookings to see if it has any effect.

I set it low because as a guest, I hate "sticker shock" when you see  a low rate and then it jumps up when you factor in cleaning fee. $10 doesn't really cause sticker shock. I'm hoping $15-20 won't either!

[Sarah977]

@Suzanne302  It takes me about the same amount of cleaning time as it does you- private room with ensuite bath and like you say, making sure the shared spaces are presentable.

I've never charged a cleaning fee, but I have a 3 night minumum and the average length of guest stays are a week to 10 days, so I don't feel like I'm working for a pittance.

My rental is on the budget end for my area for what I offer, and I get wonderful guests who leave the space quite clean and tidy, so I don't feel like I should change anything- if it's not broke, don't fix it.

I do think it's odd, though, to have a cleaning fee for a private room that's more than the room price.

[Ann72]

@Suzanne302 Think about how much time you spend cleaning and what the hourly minimum wage is.  Also remember that Airbnb's fee comes out of the total, so your $10 is really $9.70 (assuming a 3% service fee).  

When I started hosting, I charged a $250 cleaning fee (big house).  I assumed no one would pay that for one night, so I had a 4-night minimum.  I had so many requests for shorter stays that I went to a one-night minimum and I get one- and two-night stays with no one saying a word about the cleaning fee.  It's now $210, because I have a cleaner who is paid $35.00 an hour and it takes about 5 hours to clean the house.  If there are more than 6 people it's $50 extra per person per night, because cleaning up after more people takes longer than 5 hours.  I don't mind short-term bookings but I'd never allow anything longer than two weeks, because when people get comfortable there's a lot more wear and tear.

[Alice595]

@Ann72 Cleaning fee is one time charge. Definitely the large amount charge stops some guests to book for one night only stay. I checked your 3 bedroom house. It is over 3000 sqft. Definitely it requires a lot more time to clean up. $210 cleaning fee is reasonable in New York city because of the higher labor cost.

I notice that you had a 25% off under the booking. I am just wondering how you could put a discount note in the booking section in your listing. 

[Ann72]

@Alice595 Thank you.  The house is actually in Maine but my cleaner there makes more than my cleaner in New York.  It's supply and demand - tons of house cleaners in New York, few good ones in Maine.

The discount offer is something that pops up next to my calendar from time to time.  I use Smart Pricing so that might be why - I'm not 100% sure.  Anyway, if it pops up in the off-season, I offer the discount, because it raises the place in the rankings.  When you do the discount, Airbnb says it will send an email to people looking at those dates, so if they really do that, that's free marketing.

[Suzanne302]

@Ann72 

Oh yeah, no doubt if you have a whole house it makes a difference. A cleaning fee of $100-250 or even more is totally reasonable and normal for that.

I was wondering about homeshare hosts, most of whom clean the room themselves.