Opinion on Cleaners

[Susie236]

I wanted to get your opinion on this situation, I am an Airbnb owner myself.  Some really good cleaners work for me.  I have a three bedroom house, four beds and two bathrooms.  I pay my cleaner $150 per clean.  She checks the BBQ, cleans it if it needs it and tops off the hot tub with water - but I have a service that comes weekly.  I was asked by another Airbnb owner for my cleaner's name.  And her daughter is now cleaning for that woman.  So that house is an hour out of town, two bedrooms, and sleeps six with a couple pull out beds.  It was trashed, a hole in the wall, blood on the sheets, a huge mess.  A wedding party. It took her and her partner 17 hours to clean it, she took pictures for the owner.  The owner paid her $150, so $75 each for 17 hours.  The owner has also demanded that she check the hot tub, clean it, put the chemicals in, leaf blow the deck and set the spinklers - for her $75 per cleaning.  When that owner needed something done up there she asks the cleaner drive up to do it and pays her nothing.   This is a 5 star cleaner!   So I would pay her minimally $450, but more likely $500 for the cleanup,  I would submit the extra cleaning fee as part of the damages that I would submit to Airbnb for the guest to pay.  I would pay her $50 to drive up and back, that's a two hour drive, time and gas.  I would want her to do the BBQ, because guests don't even use it half the time, but I would pay her extra for the lawn, for the hot tub, those are services.  I hire a service on my hot tub weekly and a lawn service - I don't want my cleaner bogged down with those things, when we have a back to back she has to be able to get in and out.  What do you guys think of this?  I wanted some feedback.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Susie236 If I have understood correctly I would say it is none of your business.

[Susie236]

Thank you for replying- my point was process not a behavior condemnation. My understanding of this site was bouncing ideas off each other, you’re obviously new to Airbnb. Cleaners are the keystone to  no our business.

[Lorina14]

@Susie236 

I feel you and agree that that other host is taking advantage of the situation. You obviously value and treat your cleaner well, and it sucks that others don’t. I can understand @Mike-And-Jane0’s comment (and he’s a seasoned veteran in Airbnb hosting) as this is something that is between that host and the cleaner.

The cleaner should fire the host as what they are expecting and paying is ridiculous. And you can out of your care for your cleaner mention that you heard about this and feel that the other host is taking advantage of the situation and voice your concern. Other than that it is the cleaner’s business and how she decides to set boundaries with demanding unreasonable clients.

You could have words with the other host but in essence you could put yourself in the middle of a bad situation. That is why I believe he said it isn’t your business. Sometimes @Mike-And-Jane0 may be brief in his responses, sarcastic and funny other times (he’s made me laugh quite a bit), calls people out when they are being irrational but he is being truthful, helpful and does gives sound advice. 

You are right that this is a forum for sharing and asking for help, support or advice for guests and hosts. You could also search threads if there have been similar concerns and how they were handled.

[Cheri354]

By your description, the other Host is taking advantage of the cleaners and abusing their time. However, bear in mind, some cleans go really fast and that can help even out the longer ones ($ per hour). Also, the cleaners can say, "No". Every host has an idea of what they are willing to pay for certain services and what they expect their cleaners to take care of. Those expectations need to be outlined before hiring, imo.