Right.
I’m just saying that I can’t eliminate the separate cleaning fee, roll it into the nightly rate and have a constant nightly rate.
A three day stay would result in a $213 nightly rate. And so on.
I get 3 nighters all the time without discounting. I am not trying to make it cheaper to stay longer, I do not want people here longer than a few days or a week.
My prices are a bit higher than others, but it works for me.
RR
Yes you can, it will just be a higher rate.
OK. I see what you are saying.
Suppose I have a three day minimum, which I do.
Suppose also that reservations are usually not more than five days, which is also true.
So I could set my rate at a $213 nightly rate, eliminate the separate cleaning fee and always recoup my cleaning fee. On stays more than three nights, I get a little more (which is good, because it costs us more than $130 for cleaning).
Even though the guest staying more than three nights actually pays more, I think you’re suggesting that they’ll feel better about that than they would with a lower nightly rate but that separate $130 cleaning fee. Do I have this right?
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That’s how I see it, but we all do our own thing.
RR
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I wouldn’t worry about solving a problem that doesn’t exist yet (are you an engineer, by any chance?). The issue is about a cleaning fee AND having guests clean, which many hosts do with a long list of chores to be done before checkout.
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In my experience, every vacation rental I’ve leased in the last 40 years have had cleaning fees, as well as lists of cleaning things to do on check out. As a kid I remember checkout day at the lake cabin our family rented for a week or two every summer and we started laundry and did dishes and swept the floors etc on the last day so we could earn the cabin for the next year.
I think when airbnb expanded from the couch surfing/home share idea to competing directly with vacation rentals they picked up those family cabins and beach houses that have always had a cleaning fee.
Cleaning fees for whole house week long stays makes sense. Cleaning fees for one night stays doesn’t. And I’m still trying to get my head around whole house one night stays. I’m not sure who that client is.
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In our area (a fly-to area), most of the demand would be from guests whose flight schedule does not line up with their main accommodation schedule. That’s a fairly small group.
The other clientele would be people having parties.
It does for me. The reasons are 1) that there is the same amount of preparation and the same amount of post-stay cleaning regardless of the number of nights and 2) I don’t really want one-nighters but if they are prepared to pay double the nightly rate, then that’s fine. 
I think it must depend on where you’re located. I don’t get many one-nighters but they have included:
- People on road trips who are travelling to a different location every night
- A couple who were travelling in a small RV and wanted a rental so that they could do their laundry
- People who have flown into town in the morning for a lunchtime business meeting or interview and don’t want to fly straight back
- A few people from South America who have come here specifically to shop (no idea why)
- A few couples who have had house viewings or attending open houses
With others, I’ve never known the reason although it seems (purely by the way they dress) that quite a few are unknown business things.
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I had a glitch on my calendar once, back when I had instant book on, and a family reserved a whole house—3 bedrooms/2 bath—for one night. It was parents, on a road trip with kids, and we were the halfway point in their trip to Grandma’s house. I was worried, but they were great guests. Didn’t make any messes, arrived late, left early. Easy peasy really.
Oh, and I’ve rented entire houses for one night. I do this mainly on cross country road trips. Sometimes I’m by myself, other times I’m traveling with other people, but I like it much better than staying in a hotel or motel.
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So, suppose I made this change: increased my nightly fee to cover the cleaning fee for the typical length of my stay.
Do I need to wait until I have no upcoming reservations to do that?
In other words, if I eliminate my cleaning fee and increase the nightly rate, will that eliminate the cleaning fee on the existing reservations?
I assume it won’t but would like validation from a more experienced Host.
No. …
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Anything you change on your listing, be it price, amenities, house rules, min and max stays, cancellation policy, whatever, only apply to future bookings.
Thank you. 2020202020202
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That’s right. And people can filter by cost per day. They’re going to pay one way or the other (hence the higher rate w/o the fee called out). It’s the short stays that take a hit but I deep clean if you stay 1 day or 10 (my min is 3-5 days depending upon checkin day).
And, IMO, having a transparent fee is better for the guest. At least if the guest must cancel, even non-refundable, they get that fee back no matter what if it’s listed separately. I think they don’t think this through.
I have a strict cancellation policy so this is rarely an issue for me. No cleaning fee, no refunds:)
RR
I wish there was a better way to do it. I don’t like the cleaning fee. But, I feel like I don’t have much of a choice but to charge one. I allow 1 night stays… (And, met a lot of really nice guests that only stayed one night).
My issue is, it costs me the same to set up, and clean, for a 1 night stay that is costs me to set up for a 5 night stay. My cleaning fee is $75. If I raise my price by $25 a night, Ill be losing money on the the 1 or 2 night stays. Most of my stays seem to be 3 nights, so, I would break even on those. But, anything 4+ nights, I would feel like I am overcharging them.
I could put a 2 night minimum. But, I like allowing the 1 night stays. There are a variety of reasons for them.
And, I could give discounts for longer stays.
But, the fixed cleaning fee seems to solve the issue. It “encourages” people to stay longer. But, accommodates the shorter stays when needed. So, until AirBnB gives me a better option, I will probably continue to use them.
Just for comparison, my checkout instructions are very simple, if you moved any furniture, please put it back.
- I prefer to strip the beds myself so I can check and clean all of the layers of bedding.
- I prefer to do the dishes myself. I don’t have a dishwasher in the unit, and even if I did I would prefer they didn’t run a load for 2 plates and 4 cups. And, I don’t like the hand washed Idea. I have extra so I put out fresh and sanitized dishes for each guest and I take all used dishes home to be sanitized in my dishwasher.
- I prefer they just leave the garbage in the garbage can because Im going to check it and sanitize it anyway. I do provide an outside trash can. But, I put it there to accommodate longer stays that fill up more than 1 bag of trash.
- I actually don’t even care if they don’t put furniture back. I move it all anyway when I am cleaning the floors to make sure I clean under the furniture. (its amazing how many forgotten items I find after visits under furniture or in the couch cushions).
With all of this being said, I would say that 90% of my guests strip the beds, hand wash the dishes, and take the garbage out to the outdoor garbage can. I guess AirBnB has just trained guests to expect to have to do all of this. But, Its not in my check out instructions.
Well, I’ve done it! I eliminated our cleaning fee and built it into the nightly rate.
I thank you and all who commented on this.
On reflection, based on comments made by folks here and based on what I’ve read elsewhere, people often just don’t like all these fees. I get that now and my thought that the bottom line is all that mattered, that guests ‘should’ just look at the bottom line is actually – to say it most kindly – naive. We all know that HOW things are presented to others and to ourselves makes a difference.
So I am in this regard ‘awakened’ [Hah ha] and made the switch.
Thank you all.
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I don’t have any cleaning fee, I just have a three night minimum, so priced my listing right from back when I first signed up to account for cleaning time.
And while I have read a lot about how many guests hate seeing extra fees, and just want to see the total, if I were a guest, I would want to see a breakdown of what the charges were.
There is no reason why Airbnb couldn’t present the total to a guest, so they don’t get shocked and pissed off when they see a bunch of extra fees tacked on only when they try to book, but still be able see a breakdown. All the airlines I book with can do it. I see the total price for an airline ticket, but I can click on the price details and see how much of that is the ticket price, airport fees, tourist tax (which gets charged on to flights to Mexico), service fees, taxes, etc.
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What’s a cleaning fee?
JF
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We get a surprising number of one night stays, often for 8-12 people. A van load drives up, unloads, cooks something quite greasy and perhaps fish, too, (leaving the pan & bones in the oven); has purchased clothing at the local Super store & leaves those little plastic pieces everywhere, uses every bed, uses every towel, does their own laundry, too, and rolls out early in the morning, leaving a big mess. Often they seem to break a bead necklace, too, and spread them to each room 
It’s not uncommon and we usually figure the larger the one night group, the less likely they are to even observe that there is a check out list. I think it’s just group dynamics, a big group loses collective brain function, they are just in some sort of big trip survival mode.
We are in an area with two fairly quick bucket list items, they can do one the afternoon they arrive, one the next morning and be on their way to the next item to cross off their list. I prefer 2-6 day stays who generally try to, at least, leave things relatively neat.
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