Trash Pick Up & Charging for Extra trash

Alexander274
Level 2
Trumbull, CT

Trash Pick Up & Charging for Extra trash

One of my properties is a fairly remote mountain home with expensive waste management. We allow guests 1 bag of garbage and 1 bag of recycling included in the cleaning fee. Anything more than that we charge a $5 fee per trash bag. 

 

In your experience, would you charge more for the cleaning fee to cover the cost of potentially excessive trash bags or is there a way to charge the guests after the fact should they leave more than 1 bag of trash and 1 bag of recycling?  If so, what would be the best way to back-charge them for extra garbage without coming across like a bad host? 

6 Replies 6
Jann3
Level 10
Santa Rosa, CA

Truthfully? I would get a trash compactor and put it in the garage, shed or laundry room of your home. That way you would have the ability to have multiple "stays" in one "bag" of trash...

I love my compactor...wouldn't get rid of it if you paid me!

 

To answer your question, I would raise my cleaning fee $5/reservation - and *never* mention a trash limit in the listing. Save the $5/reservation from each stay to cover the times when guests use too much trash.

Jann

 

Marzena4
Level 10
Kraków, Poland

I would word it nicely and still keep that extra charge, @Alexander274. I observe that for most guests even squeezing a plastic bottle poses a problem...

// "The only person you can trust is yourself"

@Alexander274

I agree with @Jann3 about not mentioning a trash limit and factoring it into the cleaning fee or nightly fee. Just make sure you charge enough to build up a contingency budget for problematic situations.

 

FYI, in Korea, we have to buy special garbage bags for disposal. One general waste 50 liter size bag costs around $1.50~2.00 and if you don't use the designated bags, your trash won't be collected AND you are fined. I don't go into all these details with the guest and I'm pretty sure most of my guests were not aware of having to use special garbage bags - I just ask them to separate general waste vs. recycling and handle everything else. It's easier and less stress for everyone 🙂

Kelly149
Level 10
Austin, TX

@Alexander274 Your instructions could hint at the very limited trash service and ask them to conserve, smoosh, use less... whatever might help get the point across as a request/requirement. Many places in the world have VERY restrictive garbage policies so this is not completely unheard of. Charging after the fact is unlikely but not impossible but might be better to try to get their buy in and plan for that occasional overage rather than counting every guest bag. 

Thanks for the suggestions. These are very helpful. 

Darva1
Level 3
Hillsborough, CA

We have a similar situation. We are in the country with no trash pick up. We recycle, compost, burn, and make 3-4 dump runs a year with our own garbage. Our first guests generated more trash in 5 days than we create in a year. We had to hire someone to make a big dump run, which cost us more than our cleaning fee. 

I've created new house rules regarding trash, asking guests to seperate their recyclables and what can be burned from their trash, and asking them to take their trash over two 40 gallon bags with them when they leave. I don't know how this will work out, but I have stayed in one other airbnb before I started hosting that required us to take our garbage with us, so I know it's not unheard of. 

We are new hosts; I'll let you know how our new rules work out - we have the same guests coming to stay in a couple of weeks.