Cleaning Fee

[Lori3658]

How much would you charge for a 4800 square foot home that sleeps 16? Should I keep it separate from the base price? Thanks for the advice!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Lori3658 we have a very low cleaning fee that just pays for laundry. Rather than putting it into the nightly rate we prefer to have a fee as it gives a cheaper per night stay for those staying for a week over our 3 day minimum.

If most of your stays are going to be a week or if most are going to be 3 nights then you can just divide the fee by 3 or 7 and add it to the nightly rate. 

[Kia272]

@Lori3658  With a property that large, and what is likely to be a high cleaning fee, i suggest that you work some of the fee into your nightly rate. Some hosts think that they have to charge dollar for dollar on the cleaning fee, and that's simply not true. The bottom line is that it's coming out of your profit, and the question is simply how the charge is presented to the guest. A guest will look at two very similar properties, and likely pass over the one with the higher cleaning fee. 

Also, it's not what we think you should charge, it's what a local cleaning company quotes you. Get that figure, look at other listings around you and what they are charging, and make a decision about how much you think guest will tolerate, and how much you can work into your nightly rate. 

Good luck. 

[Joan2709]

Hi @Lori3658 

Good suggestions given by @Kia272 and @Mike-And-Jane0 . I have Co Hosted on a similarly large property that slept 16. Many base a cleaning fee on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, not necessarily on the sq footage. Usually $50/bathroom and $35 per bedroom as a rule of thumb. I believe she charged $250 and put some of the cost into her higher nightly rate.  I also agree to try and keep the cleaning fee as low as you can by adding some of the cleaning costs to the nightly rate. You will not always have 16 people staying.  I believe she averaged around 10. However, usually all the bathrooms will be used regardless of guest count. The laundry is the biggest issue as she had 13 beds plus pullout sofas and cots. Thats alot of laundry! The house took about 6hours to clean, so no same day turnarounds. 

Generally speaking, guests booking large homes are still getting a fantastic value. If they had to book hotel rooms with a large groups they would be spending much more (even with a cleaning fee). Additionally they get a private property were they can all be together. Usually these large properties are in beautiful areas and very private. No way they could get the same experience at a hotel. Adults splitting the cost of stay usually worked out to around $100-$125/night including the cleaning fee (average 3 night stay). Much more economical than a hotel.