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

[Rob183]

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!

[Filip46]

I think the host should cleas as you make money of it. When  first hosted the guest cleaned his dishes and I was like wow this is too good. I sit and collect the money and he even cleans after. 

[Ned-And-Laura0]

I don't charge a cleaning fee specifically because I don't want people to feel emboldened to leave a mess.  I make note in the house rules the no cleaning fee is charged so please tidy up.  I also have a little sign hanging up.  So far maybe two people have left a few dishes in the sink and some trash not thrown away, but other than that they always leave the place clean. (Knock on wood)  I also have stayed in places with substantial cleaning fees and I did not feel even remotely obligated to tidy up in anyway. I didn't trash the place but I also didn't do the dishes or strip the beds or anything like that.  

[Letti0]

@Ned-And-Laura0  So if you use a bunch of pots and pans, dishes, glassware, etc. over a 1-5 day stay you just leave them all for the hosts to clean up? Most places I see, you would run out of dishes and pans in a 1-2 day period as they stock for just the amount of people the place holds. I don't ask my guests to do anything but clean up after themselves and washing your dishes is part of that. I have a dishwasher. I do charge a cleaning fee, but I have 6 beds and all those towels for up to 12 people. I actually charge less than what my cleaning crew charge me. I have had guests that do not wash a dish or even remove them off the table or stove. I don't want them back and my review reflects this.  

[Ned-And-Laura0]

@Letti0 I wasn't commenting on your space or anybody else's policies. What I posted was not an attack on you, I hope it wasn't taken that way. When I am staying at a place for longer stays I do the dishes so that I can use them again. I don't want to spend a week with dirty smelly dishes in the sink. But the morning that I leave I don't rinse out the coffee maker and wash the coffee cups and so forth if they're going to be charging me a $200 cleaning fee. I also don't strip the beds or do the laundry. If they don't charge me a cleaning fee then I will do those things. That's why I don't charge a cleaning fee on my place because I want the guests to feel at least some obligation to tidy up before they leave and 99% of the time they do. Now I just have a little one bedroom apartment for two people I don't have a house with multiple beds that will hold 6 or 10 people

[Letti0]

@Ned-And-Laura0  Ok got ya. I specifically ask guests NOT to strip the beds or wash our towels and linens. I don't mind the occassional dish in the sink or cups left the morning of at all. It's messes like below I mind. I didn't take a picture of the table with all the dirty dishes with food left on them either. Other than asking them to clean up after themselves which basically means doing their dishes, I only ask them to set the alarm when they leave, nothing else. 

[Daniel1992]

My cleaning fee is in place specifically cleaning the linens and towels that I wash on my own.  All other cleaning I do to coincide with my personal cleaning of the house (it's a shared space with me).  I do expect my guests to clean up dishes and spills, but not to deep clean like dusting, vacuuming, mopping, or scrubbing.

[Kim744]

We just got a bad review from a host and I feel really upset and embarrassed about it. She said we left a mess and that we were inconsiderate. We stayed at an Airbnb in our neighborhood for 4 days as we had to be out of our house while it is listed for sale. We are a family of 5 with 3 kids ages 10 up.  I couldn't find many cleaning supplies in the house but I swept the floors, did the dishes, wiped the counters and put out the garbage before we left. There was an upfront $100 cleaning fee for the apartment and no specific rules about cleaning so I just tried to leave it tidy when we left. The rental is not in the hosts home but is one of several apartments the hosts rents for profit. I was shocked by the bad review.  I messaged her privately and she said the cupboards and doors were sticky which I thought was odd as my kids didn't eat anything sticky. But kids are messy so I am sure we were messier than a couple with no kids.  This is only my 3rd airbnb experience with positive reviews previously.  Did I do anything wrong? Should I have scrubbed up more before leaving? 

[Ange2]

Kim, the host should say in their rules what they expect. Every place is different.  If in doubt, always better to ask.  I expect people to clean up after themselves, normal common courtesy cleaning, i.e  not leave a huge mess, which is what you said you did. I don't expect people to scrub, vacuum, mop, dust, polish and if they did I would still have it done by the cleaner again. Not sure how they expected you to do a thorough clean anyway without cleaning products. You can reply to their review.

[Alex1410]

Frankly, if you’re charging a sizeable cleaning fee—- say 150 dollars for a 1000 square foot place—- you cannot expect that the guests do the dishes. Airbnb is not the Lyft of homestays. We’re not couchsurfing, we’re paying significant fees. Asking for someone to do the dishes is in most cases, having your cake and eating it too. There are always exceptions for sizeable messes, etc. However, I am very surprised that folks thing it’s acceptable to ask guests to do dishes, but also think it’s acceptable to charge a cleaning amount that (at least in my experience hiring cleaners), is almost always more than is necessary—- by about 200%. 

[Sarah977]

@Alex1410  Have you ever thoroughly cleaned, from top to bottom, in one go, a 1000 square foot place? especially when people have been super messy and dirty? I can assure you that hosts are not making a profit on the cleaning fees if they pay their cleaners a living wage, even if you do your own dishes. 

Personally I don't charge a cleaning fee because I just rent a bedroom and bathroom in my home and clean it myself with a 3 day minimum stay. But if I rented out an entire home or apartment I would hire cleaners.

What I don't agree with is expecting guests to strip the beds and put in a load of wash, I think that's above and beyond the call of duty. As is being called to task for leaving an unwashed coffee cup you might have used at the last minute beforee check-out. But washing your own dishes? That's just what responsible, respectful adults do.

[Giovanny16]

Sorry to revive this old convo but I feel inclined to chime in on this conversation. I’m a custodian at an elementary school with 27 classrooms and 3 sets of restrooms (boys and girls) and get paid about $160 a day for an 8 hr shift. I can understand a  cleaning fee under $100 but some people commenting report $200+ cleaning fees for a place much smaller than a school. Surely either the cleaning service companies are ripping hosts off or hosts are pocketing the majority of that change themselves.

[Mark116]

I really can't imagine that normal, responsible adults think it is okay to leave a kitchen full of filthy pots, pans and dishes because they paid a cleaning fee, especially if there is a dishwater sitting right there in the same kitchen.

If people don't want to clean up after themselves, that's what hotels are for.  

[Richard2747]

If you don’t want to clean up after other people don’t rent your space out to them. 

[HannahyMartín0]

We charge 20 dollars as a cleaning fee, and we don’t expect our guests to leave the place perfect and clean, but if they don’t leave any dirty dishes and sweep a little bit before check out it makes us very happy. 

[Denis377]

This is reasonable! Of course if you charge 20$ cleaning fees I would leave the place how I found it. I guess those 20$ should go for laundry and some bruming.