Should Guest be Expected to Clean when Host Charges a Cleaning Fee?

Answered!
Rob183
Level 2
SF, CA

Should Guest be Expected to Clean when Host Charges a Cleaning Fee?

Hi there, 

 

Curious on this one as a guest and a host.   My wife/friendsand I have been on opposite sides of the argument both as hosts and guests.

 

If a host charges a guest a cleaning fee (not small at $200 here in SF), what is the cleaning expectation of guests?

 

Some in our circles have argued guests should do the dishes and leave the place tidy.  Others have argued their paying a sizeable cleaning fee so why should they have to clean.

 

Curious what the community thinks and if there is a clear answer or it depends.

 

Thanks in Advance!

 

1 Best Answer
Skylar14
Level 3
Westminster, CO

As a guest, if the host is going to charge a cleaning fee, the listing - not a folder at the house - should state what the fee covers and what the host expects of the guest so that the guest can decide if it is worth it or not. If they want you to pay a large cleaning fee and aren't up front about their expectations, i feel like they are just being dishonest and trying to use scam tactics to make their place look more desirable. 

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222 Replies 222

@Lisa723 I am not saying all high cleaning fees are a trick, but many are. I found those hosts discussing about that in several community posts. The trick is they don't want one-day bookings to block potentially longer-term bookings or they simply want to make more profit from longer-term bookings. After the longer-term bookings are filled in their calendar, the gaps can still be filled with one-day bookings or any guest can still book if he doesn't mind seeing a ridiculously looking bill (say $60 nightly price + $80 cleaning fee). Doesn't this make sense @Sarah977? As a host, this might actually sound a good idea, doesn't it? But it's against my gut feelings. It makes guests who look for short-term stays vulnerable. I personally prefer a somewhat balanced cleaning fee and the nightly price set by the host. Or just let's use the honest numbers. I feel Airbnb should rename the cleaning fee to something like "additional charges from host" with explanations or use a floating cleaning fee to accommodate stays with different lengths.

@Te0   I understand what you're saying, but I doubt that a significant number of hosts do this as a "trick". If it takes 3 hours to clean and turn over a unit, it takes 3 hours, whether the guests stayed for 1 night or 7. There are guests, as evidenced by many posts on this forum, who can somehow manage to completely trash a place out in one day. So it might take 4 hours to clean after their stay. And it might take only 2 hours to clean after a 7 day stay if the guests left it super clean and tidy, which also happens. So cleaning fee averages out.

I don't see how this leaves guests "vulnerable". There are usually plenty of places to choose from that don't charge a cleaning fee at all, so the guest has choices. Or the guest can always message a host who charges a hefty cleaning fee to see if they would be willing to reduce it for a 1 night stay based on the guests' past reviews stating that they left the place really clean.

BTW I don't have any horse in this race- i don't charge any cleaning fee at all.

@Te0  What you're saying doesn't really make sense to me- if a host doesn't want one night bookings, all they have to do is change their minimum stay settings. Mine is set to a 3 day minimum. Some only take week-long or more.

What is more likely is that it's a hassle to turn a place over for one night stays so hosts set their cleaning fee to reflect that. While many guests leave a place clean and tidy, many don't. If a one-nighter trashed the place out and the host has a 3 hour cleaning job ahead of them and another guest checking in the same day, that's a drag and a situation the host wishes to be paid for. Unfortunately, hosts don't really have any assurance ahead of time who will be a respectful guest and who won't.

@Te0  I guess you won't be booking with me. I charge $170 cleaning fee, but actually pay $200 on average to my cleaning crew of 2. I also have a lot of one night stays. My nightly rate can range from $199 to over $300 depending on the amount of people and weekday vs. weekend rates. Whether the guest stay one night or more, I still have 6 beds to remake, maybe 1 or two cribs and a sofa sleeper. Towels for 12 people on average and no one uses just one.  Laundry costs and time are money. All the infant items need to be disenfected and cleaned every time usually a couple of booster seats and highchairs along with toys like legos and such that they put into their mouths constantly. Then you get some guests that stay one night and leave a huge mess like this below and that was only part of the total mess they left. The faucet base being moved was on easy cheap fix, the scratched new stove top was not.

 

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 55276755887__4D3199AE-2A25-4248-92F5-529FC5852F0B.jpeg

 

@Letti0 I guess you misunderstood me. Why would one person or a couple book a place that is actually for 6? I am not refering to the luxury places, big private houses or places that are big to host 6. The majority of Airbnb guests are singles and couples looking for a place to spend a couple of night. I don’t see it reasonable for a room to be charged $60 cleaning fee while the nightly fee is only $40 for a one-night stay. Not all the guests like messing up your place. The host should have more eyes on their places and have better control of the actual cost needed for the cleaning but not treat them all the same. Either way the guests have to pay it, it’s not thoughtful.

@Te0 "I don’t see it reasonable for a room to be charged $60 cleaning fee while the nightly fee is only $40 for a one-night stay."  -- why not? I pay my cleaner a living wage of $30/hour and it will take her two hours to do all the laundry, change the sheets, clean the bathroom, vacuum and tidy our basement guest suite.  My cleaning fee is $60 and it goes straight to my cleaner. Are you saying that due to this I should never lower my nightly rate below... what? In fact I have a two-night minimum and I would no longer lower my nightly rate to $40 now that I have a solid record of reviews, because I don't have to to stay booked and that low rate definitely attracts worse guests. But I don't see any logic to your "gut feelings." 

@Lisa723 You are totally entitled to your ways of hosting. It’s up to you how to manage the room cleaning. But what I don’t agree is that good and bad, short and long term staying guest should pay the same amount of high cleaning fee. That doesn’t sound nice to guests who only want to stay for 1 night. That’s it. You will always have guests and so do other hosts who manage differently. But there are always things that can be done better and Airbnb just doesn't have enough good features for the users, not now.

Ana1136
Level 10
Ohrid, Macedonia (FYROM)

Guests shouldn't be expected to clean but leave the place tidy. It is their vacation and it is not their responcibility to clean up the place for the next guest. I don't charge a cleaning fee at all and still don't feel like they should do it, let alone places who charge 200$ cleaning fee. 

You will stand out like a diamond and get many satisfied repeat customers and do well with your fair way of thinking...kudos ! 

Erick67
Level 2
Lansing, MI

I'm new to this as a host so I have a lot of interest in this. My plan was Not to charge a cleaning fee, but instead have the guests leave the place as they found it. This This would include changing the linen, setting out fresh towels, wiping down the counters and finally vacuuming. I have Bins made up with Fresh linen and towels. Soiled linen and towels go into an empty bin. Is this fair to ask?

@Erick67  How will you know that  the guest has tidied up to your standards and more importantly to the cleaning expectations of the next guest?  I think that is the real issue.  You may have guests that are very clean and others that only do a slapdash job.  A negative review due to cleaning issues can sink a listing and may set you up for refunds.  You could charge a small cleaning fee to have someone inspect after check out and notify if the place is not properly cleaned.

You raise a good point. I was thinking about having the guest call me when they check in to make sure it was clean properly, and call as they check out to report that they cleaned and and that they are out of the house. This Cottage in a bit of a  remote location. it's a beautiful place but it takes me 2 hours to get there to clean myself. I've been trying to find someone to clean for me but no luck yet.

Any luck on this yet? Im working on an automated process that facilitates guest check-ins and check-outs, and can automatically alert cleaning crews. Thoughts?

@Erick67, I stayed in one place which operated on that system once before. I didn't book it on AirBnb however. What they did was charge s $300 security deposit, and if you left the place as you found it or better, you got your deposit back. Now, I was a bit concerned that they might be the type of people, who would make sure they found something out of place in order to keep a portion of the deposit, but they didn't.

 

The problem with that system on AirBnb is that the 'deposit' isn't really a deposit at all, and would be hard to collect if need be.  The thought of doing that with my own place crossed my mind briefly, but I decided it would never be returned to my standards as @Linda108 stated, so I'm happy to pay my cleaning staff to take care of it for me.  

 

Like some others have mentioned on here, they are paid $30 an hour, but I have only a $50 cleaning fee listed, with the rest simply built into the nightly rate. 

 

 

Jeffrey197
Level 2
Cedar Rapids, IA

I harge a modest $15 cleaning fee and explain in my profile that this fee is for cleaning the bathroom, shower, changing bed linens, etc and that guests are expected to wash their dishes and leave the place tidy.  I'm impressed you are able to charge $200 for cleaning, wow!  If I was paying $200 I wouldn't throw trash on the floor but I wouldn't be wondering if leaving dishes in the sink was out of line either.