Julie, I know it’s an English phrase but I thought “taking the piss” meant kidding or goofing around with someone? Explain how it relates to a cleaning fee? Some Americans reading here might think you were talking about cleaning. 
Taking the piss has two meanings in Aussie and England. One is the meaning you said, when you are jokingly teasing someone or ‘taking the mickey’ out of someone, the other means you are taking advantage in an unfair way. Examples of this would be, someone saying to a friend who asked for people to throw in for the meal but didn’t pay themselves, you’d say to them ‘You’re taking the piss!’, or if a shopkeeper priced his water up when the local pipes burst in the area, you would all say behind his back ‘oh he was taking the piss for sure’.
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Sorry, haha, as Sandy said in the UK we use it in the joking manner you already are familiar with but then it can also be used (cue tone of voice) that someone is taking complete advantage of someone else. In this case, if you price your room at 15 per night but add 35 for cleaning - that would be taking the piss.
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Julie, there’s also “whinging!” “All these hosts are constantly whinging about their obnoxious guests.” 
We all just need to sit down, relax and have a nice cuppa tea.
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Haha yeah there is a tendency!! I just wish everyone would lower their expectations. It’s AirBnB, not a bloody hotel haha!
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Providing a clean and tidy space will make your guests feel comfortable from the moment they arrive. A clean place will always look its best, and demonstrates your commitment to making your guests feel welcome.
Cleaning fees help hosts account for any extra expense they have getting their listing nice and tidy before guests arrive or after they depart.
It is a one-time fee – not a nightly fee. For example, if a listing has a cleaning fee of $25, the guest does not pay $25 per night – they pay $25 regardless of how many nights in the reservation.
Getting your cleaning fee right means not losing money by under-charging.
Getting your cleaning fee wrong risks losing potential requests for having over-charged.
Below is an overview of everything you need to know about how to set and use your Airbnb cleaning fee both ethically and profitably.
CLEANING FEES: A GUEST’S PERSPECTIVE
In search results, guests see a nightly rate inclusive of the cleaning fee, to get a better idea of the total cost of the listing.
This is calculated by dividing the cleaning fee by the number of nights in the reservation, then adding that number to the nightly rate.
Below is a sample listing from a search for a place in New York for one night, as well as the information we see at the top of the listing’s page when we click on the listing from the search results page:
As you can see, on the search results page (left) it quotes a nightly price of $208.
And as you can also see (right), guests see a nightly rate ($119) and the cleaning fee ($89) listed separately in the price breakdown. In our example, the price per night is only $119, despite having shown as $208 previously on the search results page.
So where did the $208 come from? Well a nightly rate of $119 per night +** $89** for Cleaning fee = $208.
The key takeaway here is that you should not be over-charging for your cleaning fees. Doing so may potentially scare off potential guests that would otherwise be interested in your place.
These potential guests may never even make it to your listing page if they were put off by perceived over-pricing. Remember that its not until they arrive at your listing page that they know how much of the nightly cost relates exclusively to the cleaning fee.
This problem is multiplied for bookings of more than one night, where the true nightly price (without any additional fees) becomes even less transparent.
For the same listing, here’s the Nightly Price that will be displayed on the Search Results page for a booking search of one night, two nights and three nights:
- 1 Night: Cost Per Night = $208 ($119 per night + $89 cleaning fee)
- 2 Nights: Cost Per Night = $164 (($119 per night x2 + $89 cleaning fee) / 2)
- 3 Nights: Cost Per Night = $149 (($119 per night x3 + $89 cleaning fee) / 3)
As you can see, paying a nightly fee of $149 (for 3 nights) is much better value for money than paying $208 for the exact same place.
The likelihood of a prospective guests being attracted to your listing is obviously maximized with longer stays and the subsequent spread of a fixed cost cleaning fee over additional nights.
You’d be correct in pointing out the fact that the length of a guest’s stay is fundamentally outside of your control – after all, it’s entirely up to the guest as to how many nights they wish to book at your place.
The cleaning fee however, is within your control, and is determined entirely by you.
Be aware of the dangers of inflating your cleaning fee as a means of making a quick dollar.
Whilst you may likely get away with charging more than the cleaning actually ends up costing you, the additional income you’ll receive needs to be weighed up against the risk of losing prospective guests that perceive your place as too expensive.
Should guests feel that they’re being taken for a ride, the perception that you’re out to make a quick buck through exploiting the cleaning fee may also be enough to scare them off from considering your place any further.
And rarely will a small inflated cleaning fee justify the lost income of additional bookings that would otherwise have occurred but never eventuated.
In addition to keeping things honest, lower cleaning fees also promote longer-term stays – a double win!
WHAT NEEDS TO BE CLEANED?
When it comes to what actually needs to be cleaned in your place, Airbnb recommends doing the following things:
- Clean every room that your guests can access during their stay and pay special attention to the bathroom and kitchen.
- If you provide towels and sheets, make sure they are freshly-washed.
- Take care of the small things that show extra consideration: dust the bookshelves, wipe the mirrors, and empty the wastebasket.
- Make room in the closet or dresser so that guests can store their belongings.
HOW MUCH TO CHARGE
As discussed, the cleaning fee for your place is not the place to make your Airbnb millions. You’ll want to keep the cleaning fee as close as possible to actual cost of cleaning as possible.
A good starting point is to do a search on Airbnb for comparable listings (same home type, room numbers, and number of bathrooms) in your same neighborhood / city. Take a look at how much they’re charging as their cleaning fee.
If you will be doing the cleaning yourself, try not venture too far north of whatever these cleaning fees are. You will want to make sure however that the reasonable value of your personal time factors into the final number you arrive at.
An emerging service that’s becoming increasingly popular for Airbnb hosts are dedicated cleaning companies that provide their services specifically to clean Airbnb homes.
One of the more popular ones is Properly. What sort of pricing do they charge?
- Studio: $95 for 1 cleaner taking 5 hours
- 1 Bedroom: $125 for 1 cleaner taking 3 hours
- 2 Bedrooms: $175 for 1 cleaner taking 5 hours
- 3 Bedrooms: $200 for 2 cleaners taking 3 hours
- 4 Bedrooms: $250 for 2 cleaners taking 5 hours
This may be a useful indication for pricing the cleaning fee for your own place.
What’s included for these costs?
All Rooms:
- Dust picture frames, ceiling fans, lamps, furniture, woodwork, shelves and baseboards
- Remove cobwebs
- Vacuum the carpets
- Mop all floors
- Vacuum furniture, including under cushions
- Empty and clean all waste-baskets and recycling containers
Kitchen:
- Clean counters, cabinets, appliances, tables and chairs
- Scrub and sanitize the sinks
- Wipe and sanitize counter-tops and backsplashes
- Clean the stove top and refrigerator top and exterior
- Clean microwave oven
- Mop the floor
Bathrooms:
- Clean, scrub and sanitize – showers, bathtubs, vanities, backsplashes, toilets and sinks
- Clean and sanitize vanities, mirrors, backsplashes and toilets
- Mop floors and scrub tile walls
Bedrooms:
- Beds made with fresh linens
Extras:
- Oven cleaning
- Laundry Service
- Refrigerator Cleaning
- Window Washing
- Washing Walls
- Exterior Sweeping or Cleaning
- Cabinet Cleaning
- Furniture Treatment
- Carpet Treatment or Deep Cleaning
HOW TO ADJUST YOUR CLEANING FEES
Hosts can add or edit a cleaning fee for their listing from Your Listings > Manage Listing >Pricing, in the Additional Pricing Options section.
After it’s saved, the cleaning fee is added to each reservation booked for the listing from that moment on.
BEST-PRACTICE TIPS
Make sure to give yourself enough time to clean your space – particularly when you have back-to-back bookings.
Also provide your guests with the ability to tidy up after themselves. Be sure to leave cleaning supplies so they can take care of spills and accidental messes. You’d be surprised at how often guests take it upon themselves to leave their host’s place in a better condition than their own homes.
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Thanks for showing the example with the cleaning fee added to the nightly rate. I’m a six-year Air host and had no idea that’s what it looked like. I will always collect a fee because I have to clean a large studio with kitchen. If I cleaned lightly, like Air suggests, I wouldn’t be happy myself and I would surely get complaints. I do an escrow clean every time… Tops of fans, glass door sliders, top of fridge. Every single time. I earn my measly $85!
Just curious, you seem too thorough to just be a regular host,and it occurs to me that you might be promoting something. 
in any event thanks for the nice posts that are seemingly free of overt promotions. So far.
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Hi @konacoconutz,
I think that a prerequisite of being a good host is having a good understanding of what it is like to be an Airbnb guest. So in everything I do on Airbnb, I like to experience things on the ‘flip-side’ of the Airbnb equation also (I’m currently a guest of a lovely host in Bangkok, Thailand as we speak!).
I’d encourage all guests to try experience Airbnb as a guest, even if only briefly, so they can adopt the lessons they learn into good hosting practices.
As a 6-year veteran (wow!) I am sure you have already integrated a lot of the lessons learnt over the years. I’d love to hear your insider tips!
I’ll also take your feedback as a compliment 
I like to think that I am more than just a “regular host”. By day I am an Airbnb Consultant, as well as Founder and CEO of Padlifter (and by night a pizza aficionado). We help Airbnb hosts maximize their earning potential. I don’t believe in spamming, and always try my best to provide timely, relevant and useful information rather than self-promoting a business.
I believe that should customers see the value, then they’ll come our way naturally when and if we prove our relevance.
If you’re looking for more free Airbnb hosting resources, you’re welcome to take a look over here too.
You seem like a gentleman, Evian. Thanks for coming clean and being so polite and informative. By the way, those who know me here, know I won’t use Air as a guest. I love my hotels!
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Thanks Kristina
I’m sure your love for hotels also puts you in good stead for providing a top-notch hosting experience for your guests too!
If you’ve ever written anything about why you love hotels, or hotels vs. Airbnb, or anything of the sort, I’d love to read it!!
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I will send you a PM…
Can you look at mine? It is a 2br/2batj with a kitchen, living room dinning room combo and a balcony.
as a host and a guest, I won’t book in a place with high cleaning fees. I expect the room fee to cover the costs I incur in running the business. so I consider cleaning when i plan my weekly, monthly rate. I feel really annoyed to be asked to pay an $85 cleaning fee on top of a room charge when I’m only spending the weekend somewhere, and i’ll choose a place that doesn’t charge like that.
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It’s not a good value to not have the cleaning (turnover) fee not amortized over several days. But I have a whole apartment with kitchen to clean. I understand your thinking and might lose guests because of it. On the other hand, the ones who DO book tend to be the type that are respectful enough to think I have earned my cleaning fee because it takes hours of work to get the place ready.
If they ask me to waive the fee and tell me they will leave it “neat” I decline them.
This is great! But seriously are there guest who throw cigarette butts in the river? Slobs! Have you had any impact due to the Texas floods (always makes me think of the late great SRV.)
WRONG!
Let me explain something to you. In a hotel the cleaning fee is part of the room price. Some guests may be generous and tip the maid. In a short term rental, be it vacation condo, airbnb, VRBO or anything else, if there is a cleaning fee added on that pays for the cost of ALL cleaning after the guest who paid that charge.
These fees are a huge rip off for a on night stay in ONE room and here’s why. In most US cities, like in California, a housekeeper will charge $40 to clean a 600 sq ft apt. It takes them 2 hours. To “clean” one room that someone has stayed in one night would take 15 minutes. At most the charge should be $10. Thats for 90% of guests. Therefore airbnb and other short term vacation rental “hosts” landlords rip off their tenant guests on each and every rental.
Oh YEAH? Let me explain something to YOU. I am not a hotel!!! Comparisons of AirBnBs to a hotel are apples and oranges!
You are making up these numbers and dreaming. I don’t know any housekeeper (except for perhaps poor slave immigrants) in California that would charge $40 to clean a 600-square foot apartment. So you are saying they will work 2 hours for $20/hr. Not in any city I know of.
Also you didn’t hear what I said. I have more than a ROOM to clean. I have an entire flat with full kitchen, patio and garden area. It takes 5-6 hours TOTAL to get it ready for a guest arrival. My guests see that they pay a fee and never complain. If they don’t want to pay it, they can move on to the next listing. I don’t want that type here anyway. Why? Because they will be disgruntled and think they are getting “ripped off.”
You sound like a newbie disgruntled guest who doesn’t get Airbnb. So please, avoid booking in Hawaii. I don’t want the likes of you renting from me.
Loady,
You are incorrect that the hosts only have to clean one room or that it takes 15 minutes. We rent our spare bedroom and charge a $15.00 cleaning fee per booking. It takes three to five hours to clean. We have to do three to four loads of laundry (sheets/pillowcases/pillow covers, blankets, towels. We move all the furniture to the middle of the room to vacuum and dust. This is necessary because we invariably find trash under the beds and under the desk. We wipe down all surfaces with wood polish or Clorox cleaner. We have to completely scrub the bathroom after each guest or every three days whichever comes sooner. We have to scrub all the kitchen counters if the guests have cooked as most guests don’t use cutting boards. We have to do all this cleaning regardless of the length of the guests’ stay.
To everyone who points out that hotels don’t charge cleaning fees I counter that I don’t charge for parking, Wifi access, Netflix access, use of my printer all of which hotels charge for. Airbnb and hotels are not the same thing.
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Coconut-I recommend no one rents from greedy “hosts”. In San Diego (one of the most expensive cities in America and just as expensive as Hawaii), we pay $40 cash to a US citizen housekeeper who happily cleans a one bedroom 600 sq ft apt for $40 in two hours. Given that no deductions are taken out that is like being paid $55 for 2 hours of unskilled labor.
If you’re slow in cleaning then hire a fast efficient person.
You are running an daily motel with no “breakfast” which is what the second “B” means. There is ZERO connection of a trad B and B with airbnb or VRBO.
Get over the delusion that you are “sharing”. You are a LANDLORD renting by the day.
THE CLEANING FEE IS FOR cleaning after your guests. But you are using it as a profit center. NO doubt you also keep the security deposit. Your washer must be tiny to require 4 loads as you describe. A normal home washer can hold all those items in one load. One room does not get filthy after one night. MOST hotels and motels DO NOT charge for parking. AND they have guaranteed off street parking. Airbnb hosts rent out their whole houses and fill their residential streets with cars. That means no parking for other neighbors.
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The poor woman probably doesn’t speak a word of English. Yes, I just saw you EDIT that to include “U.S. citizen.” If she is a US citizen and you are paying her under the table then YOU are breaking the law. Cleaning your apartment and cleaning to prepare for guests are two different things. You don’t sound like a host so you must just be a disgruntled guest who thinks everything should be FREE. So yeah, go Motel 6 next time and skip Airbnb.
No one can clean my place faster than me and when I’m out of town I hire a cleaner and pay them the full $85 because I do an escrow clean EVERY TIME.
You clearly don’t know what you are talking about. I can’t keep a guest deposit unless there has been damage, and even then Air has to side with you before you can claim a penny. There are very few, if ANY, hosts that are willing to rent for one night. There are ZERO vacation rental homes that don’t charge a cleaning fee. That is part of renting a private home.
You seem to be full of grievances and are taking it out on me. I never had a delusion that I am SHARING. You are clearly pissed off about Airbnb as a concept? You don’t know a single thing about me and are making ASSumptions.
If you hate Airbnb why are you posting on a host forum?