Am I being too petty?

21

I do wish that Airbnb would change it to the PREPARATION fee!

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22

You asked “Am I being too petty?” and judging by the photos provided, the answer was yes, imo. Some people are messier than others. Sometimes it’s a quick and easy clean, other times it takes a bit longer. It balances out in the end. For me, it is a question of intent. If guests blithely disregard house rules and do as they please, they get slammed. If they tried but failed to get everything right, I think about whether I made everything clear and, well, at least they made an effort. Calling guests “pigs” because they didn’t leave “everything as they found it” (how the hell could they??) seems extreme.

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23

I’ve heard this idea before, that the cleaning fee is to cover the cost of preparing the room/place beforehand. For me, this is ludicrous. The property should be clean and prepared for the guest before they arrive: END OF STORY. There should be no “extra fee” for providing a clean place. It’s like saying “OK, here is my bottom line price. A bargain! Oh, you want me to actually CLEAN the place before you arrive? And you want fresh bedlinen? Really?? Pffft!! Well, that will cost you an extra $XX”. The logic escapes me entirely.

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24

Well, judging by the running around I heard this morning, it was more important to cook a giant breakfast, leave a big mess and depart just a few seconds before check-out than to set aside some time to clean up after themselves.

I’d be way happier with a guest who requests a few more minutes upon check out to clean up. I just felt as if they’d left the place worse then I’d ever leave a Motel 6.

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25

I am a member. :grinning: And I still owe you guys my last icky messy guests and the girl with the friend who wouldn’t leave. :flushed:

26

Ok well I can’t help here. I don’t have a separate rental so not familiar with the set-up. I know my own family members with small children can be very very messy indeed. It’s not malicious, they just don’t realise. If you have a cleaning fee, doesn’t that cover it? As in the balancing out thing?

27

The cost is to separate those from wanting two nights versus six nights. You cannot charge the same price per night (and all is inclusive)…so it makes sense to charge a fixed fee that will be charged per reservation. If guest doesn’t want to pay it then they should go to a hotel.

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28

I completely understand that and it’s a good way to make one-night stays more worthwhile. My point was simply about the rationale for charging a cleaning fee. To be honest, I don’t really get it either way but charging for the room to be cleaned prior to arrival seems particularly bizarre logic.

29

It should be called a turnover fee, not cleaning fee. It is a per reservation charge. My fee is over one hundred dollars, and it’s not just a room I need to clean. Airbnb has the name wrong. You can’t be fair to people if everyone gets charged one nighly rate only. Someone is getting shorted. That may be you.

Someone staying one night to have an entire house cleaned should not get charged the same price as someone staying a week to have the house cleaned. Each reservation pays the turnover fee.

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30

I think the kitchen has been left messy, but not enough so to warrant (from me) any action other than a rant with my husband and as suggested below, a knock down in stars on the guest rating. I’d love if my guest always left the kitchen neat & tidy, but it just doesn’t happen on a regular basis. I’m not sharing my home with my guests anymore, I’m renting out whole listings, so it’s a different scenario.

Every host has to find their comfort level and if this is too much for you, than that’s all that matters and now as your peers we’re here to help! Something that I’ve started doing is sending an email/message the night before check out telling guests that I’m happy they chose my place, and reminding them of the check out procedure. I also have the checkout procedure printed and framed next to the apartment door so it’s the last thing they see every time they walk out of the apartment. At first I thought it was overkill, but really guests are so busy touring around, getting used to our city, etc that they don’t seem to mind the reminders.

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31

That sounds fair. Paying an extra fee for a whole rental has never been an issue for me when a guest. Not so happy about it for a private room, though. It’s possibly a cultural thing as well, we don’t tend to have such extra costs in the UK and look on them unfavourably.

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32

Gaaads! You have had some bad luck! They seem to come in multiples.

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33

But, our other guests checking out today left the place immaculate, said glowing things in the guestbook, and will be coming back to stay for another week in three months. So it all evens out. :blush:

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34

Exactly. I wouldn’t feel right charging no cleaning fee, but then charging more for each and every night. It’s not fair to people staying for, say, a week. I’m only cleaning once! :slightly_smiling_face:

35

You illustrate perfectly the collision of mainstream hotel/motel venues and Airbnb host expectations. The former allows and actually encourages guests to be relaxed and leave some cleanup behind; that’s what they’re paying for. We, on the other hand, expect people to act like we do in our own home and tidy up to make things perfect. I can understand this expectation that they will leave things perfect, but it’s not going to happen. Do you have a cleaning service?

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36

For many hosts, myself included, the host IS the “cleaning service”. We have a family member who cleans for us when we can’t, and we pay him $50 for each turnover we can’t do ourselves. We charge $25 to the guest.

No one is ever asking for, or remotely expecting, for things to be perfect. I’m just asking for people to not damage our home, leave pizza boxes on the floor to attract ants, or spill an entire gallon of “something” in the fridge and just leave it there.

I don’t think that’s too much to ask. And if it seems to be in the future that it is, then I will be off Airbnb.

37

This has been an ongoing topic of debate. Some hosts wouldn’t dream of it, while others wouldn’t dream of NOT having a fee. It can attract a better caliber of guest. One who is mindful of leaving the place neat and appreciative of that. Not paying a fee can give them the impression they can leave it however the heck they want.

I always charge a cleaning fee. It takes me hours to clean up before guests. It’s work. Whether they stay two weeks or one night. It’s not my problem if they don’t stay long enough to amortize the fee fairly.

That said if someone wants to book one night, they can but I talk them out of it. Why? Because it’s not a good value for them to pay so much for one night. I would rather miss the booking than waive the cleaning fee.

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38

So do you charge the same nightly rate for seven 1 night stays versus someone who stays for an entire week?

For example; If your nightly rate is $75 for a private room/bath. And the cost to have it cleaned by someone or yourself is $20 - do you just charge the same rate per night?

Seven different nightly stays would cost $140 in cleaning wages, and a one week stay would only cost $20 in cleaning. Some people say they just average it out and build it into the nightly rate, but like I said - someone always pays too much or gets shorted. Why not just be fair and charge the $20 turnover fee?

A hotel with 50 rooms and a staff is so different than just renting out one room.

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39

Perhaps having a cleaning deposit would be a better idea if it could somehow be implemented. Set out the expectation and if they meet them they do not pay a cleaning fee? I have a minimal cleaning fee ($10) but it only to cover the cost of laundry because I rent a private room. There are times that it only takes me 15 minutes to clean if the guest was only here for one night.

40

I think I know exactly where you are coming from. The majority of my guests leave the place in such great condition that in general it does surprise me.

Then once in a while I will get something that looks like your picture above. And it is not just what is in the picture…like you said “eggy pans and dishes in the sink.” Usually what accompanies that is items randomly thrown in the cabinets and drawers. So yes, it takes much longer to have to rewash their items, and reorganize everything, etc.

And I in no way expect guests to remember where every single item goes. But when there are stacks of the same item in one cabinet, it’s obvious: serving bowls go in the serving bowl cabinet, pots go back in the cabinet with the other pots, coffee mugs go back in coffe mug cabinet and shouldn’t go back with the wine glasses, etc…

I had a recent guest like this. I didn’t say anything publicly about cleanliness but just rated them a 3…since some people do have different standards. But I did mention in the public review that they did not leave on time and caused me added stress to prepare the place for the incoming guests.

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