Cleaning fee scams

[Erik-Paul0]

The cleaning fee scam is getting out of control. I just did a search, and the majority of the listing, the cleaning, and Airbnb fees were near or more than 100% of the accommodation nightly price. It really costs a host $100 to clean a $150 room for a one-night stay. Your cleaning crew makes more per hour than I do. This is getting out of control.  You need an option to sort by ACTUAL price per night. Not the bait and switch low listing price. I can't believe this is legal. I will be cc'ing the California Attorney General's office about this.  

[Sudsrung0]

I live in Phuket and we dont charge extra for cleaning but it has to be built into the cost, I would rather just have one price and thats what the guest pays dont start adding extras,

If anything I would like to charge extra for electricity and it's just gone up here,

[Bethany199]

I just spent an hour looking for affordable places and ended up in tears after not being able to find an affordable place for a 3 day stay.  200 per night, 400 dollar cleaning fee. That. Is. A. Racket.  Include cleaning fees in the original price like a lot of the hosts do on here and you will get your payment.  Also, the woman who has an Airbnb cleaner than a hotel, good on you, you are a minority and very much appreciated! 

[Sudsrung0]

You can stay in my place and I wont charge you cleaning fee's @Bethany199 

[Bethany199]

Awww, thanks! We’ll keep you in mind when we make it over there ❤️

[Lorna170]

@Erik-Paul0   We are hosts, not programmers.  We have no control over how Airbnb chooses to show our properties to guests.

I have always been straight forward about the expense of renting my property.  The nightly fee is x dollars. My housekeeper/cleaning fee plus hot tub changeover is x dollars per rental.  Hosting your pet is x dollars per rental.  State and municipality taxes are x percent per rental.  No secrets except for the outrageous fee that you will be charged for finding me on the Air website.

My state requires transparency for vacation rentals.  The guest must see the entire cost prior to booking.  It would be wonderful if you could enter your dates, your required number of beds and baths and your desired budget and be able to see the perfect accommodation in your desired geographic location.  Unfortunately, Airbnb employs programming that uses bait and switch algorithms and tactics in order to appear more attractive to guests, show them properties that are above their means, far far away from where they want to go, and for dates that do not match their input.  It’s not us, @Erik-Paul0 , it’s them.

[Ted307]

@Erik-Paul0 We spent many years as guests before seeing this place and buying it, knowing that we could make a nice rental in the derelict bunkhouse on the property, which was being used by the former owner as a "Man Cave" with a huge pool table and beer frig. We have rented whole houses for the summer on AirBnB, and off. It is less through AirBnB than through a local paper or rental agency which was the way we did it in the 90's. I know, I am old, my kids tell me that all the time!

Our place is furnished like it was your grandma's house, because it is. We are great grandparents, not MBAs or computer engineers, which is who runs AirBnB. ABNB is a multi-national corporation, with record profits and stock buy-backs. They are who you ought to take this issue up with. 🙂 You and I are on the same side, exploited by the virtual monopoly that ABNB holds on the short term rental market.

[Erik-Paul0]

I'm not complaining about cleaning fees per se. I'm complaining about bait and switch and transparency. 

You search for a room in the $300 range and you find a listing you like. But once you dig into the AirBnb and cleaning fees the real price is $550. This is a deceptive scam. There should be some way to search and filter on ACTUAL price. This has gotten out of control. I found one listing that had a $500 cleaning fee for a one night stay. 

The auto industry does the same thing. They advertise a low price and when you show up at the lot they start adding "mandatory" accessories. The FTC is about to come down on dealerships hard. I wonder if they should do the same to Airbnb. 

[Paul9195]

Check this one out. 

This is ridiculous

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Erik-Paul0 if you search with dates and number of people are you not given the full price for the stay at each property?

[Ted307]

I agree with you, @Erik-Paul0 .

As hosts, we are shown below those with the low nightly rate and outrageous cleaning fee by AirBnB. any guests will book with those hosts, rewarding them at my expense! This is what Air makes hosts do to get booked, by rewarding those hosts practicing deceptive pricing.

[David8879]

Oh thank you! I am doing my best to keep my mouth shut - I was Don Rickles in my prior life

[Ted307]

@Erik-Paul0 

Hi! Welcome to the community center, where you can chat directly with us hosts! We really are no more AirBnB than you are.

Ted & I charge a cleaning fee in our listing. It is balanced out by a 10% discount if someone rents our place 4 days or more. I look at it as a "short stay" penalty, it is not enough to pay a cleaner, I do the cleaning. We had a cleaning company come for the first couple of times we had guests, and I had to clean anyway. They left hair in the shower drain! There was a crew of 3 women, they stayed 45 minutes, and charged $75.00. for our 700 sq ft little guesthouse. That was 2 years ago, I am sure it has gone up. I have a $30 "cleaning" fee for short stays, $40 for a longer stay. Us hosts have complained here for a while about the wording that AirBnB uses for this fee, we have no control of the terminology that this web site uses. Shorter stays block us from having a more profitable week or longer stay, and this fee helps to compensate us for that fact.

[Rob9392]

Got to do your research to find a good cleaning company...  

[David8879]

@Erik-Paul0 ever thought about joining cleaning crews? Better pay and work hours

[Shanna5]

I actually have. with the rise in wages for  front line workers, my Cleaning costs are up about 30% -

I charge between 135 and 170 for cleaning depending on length of stay and size of house (2-3 bedrooms) - and I almost never make enough from cleaning fee to. cover what I pay out. And I typically also clean for 2-4 hours myself.

When you have a full house, 2-5 beds, pool, spa, patio and 2 porches to clean it takes awhile. 

In my area, the minimum it costs to hire a cleaner is 25/hr if you book direct, or 32/hr via a cleaning company.

[Erik-Paul0]

Let them eat cake Marie

[Gwen386]

@David8879 Got a kick out of your response. 😁

[Gwen386]

@Erik-Paul0 I have an 815 SF apt that I do not charge a cleaning fee for exactly the reason you say. Guests are annoyed about the final price because they don’t see it until he/she sees it once rental is reserved. 

However, I do want to say that I don’t blame my fellow hosts for charging a cleaning fee. Cleaning my space is a lot of work—it’s no joke! It’s not just vacuuming, sweeping/mopping, washing/drying/ changing bed linen and bath towels, and  cleaning/sanitizing bathroom and kitchen. It is also about cleaning baseboards, wiping blinds/ radiators vents, dusting everything including blinds, blades on fans, corners for cobwebs, washing dishes and pots/pans whether they’ve been used or not, cleaning out refrigerator, polishing furniture, vacuuming furniture cushions. The list goes on and on. 

This really takes a toll when I have one-night reservation. Presently, I have a 2-month guest and it is so refreshing not to continuously be cleaning the rental. I just may just start doing minimum 3-day rentals. 

Just want you to know that cleaning a rental is a ton of work for a single host. A hotel has many housekeepers to assist with cleaning; and I can truthfully say, I haven't stayed in a hotel room that is cleaner than my rental. 

[Rob9392]

I recently stayed in a hotel for $150 for the night and it seemed like they didn't even clean the place, gross! In an airbnb you can get the entire main floor of a house for $150.....fully kitchen, two bedroom, two baths, yard, gas bbq....

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Erik-Paul0 in Europe Airbnb are required to show the full cost of a stay so that guests are not caught out by 'extra' fees at the end.

We keep our cleaning fees low (just the laundry cost ) but it does allow guests to benefit from a cheaper place if they stay longer.