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While checking my local market (Seattle), I noticed that for the past week or so, cleaning fees are not being calculated in the nightly cost.
Has anyone else had this change in their local market? I wonder if it will stick.
On the bright side, this change made me realize my cleaning fee is a lot lower than my competitors, so I raised my cleaning fee from $20 to $30 a night.
If this change sticks, I think hosts will drop their prices and raise their cleaning fees to appear more competitive. AirBnB has told us they value a “competitive price” in their search rankings, but I do not know if the cleaning fee affects your ranking. I already see an apartment listed for $33 a night with a $150 cleaning fee.
I hate hosts like that (or ebay vendors, etc) and I wouldn’t book with them unless the place was really compelling at the price or the perfect location for my needs.
Cleaning fees are not included in the price shown in search, meaning a lot of hosts, despite high cleaning fees, will appear high in search when people are using the price filter (I’m wondering if this also affects property ranking in search as click-through is a factor).
Many hosts expect to illuminate one night stays with their cleaning fees. Not that they are trying to deceive anyone. Cleaning fees are cleaning fees , if they want to charge them then they charge them, doesn’t matter a guests rents for a day or a week.
When I am away I can’t reduce cleaning fee lower than 80$, because my rate is very low as it is and I can’t afford to pay cleaner anything.
Even if I put minimum one day noone will.book me as it won’t make any sense . But i had weekly and even monthly guests mostly which served my purpose.
It’s true they don’t calculate in search but it tells you the whole amount right away. Air started doing it lately and for me it’s the perfect way to see how many competitions out there. For example at my rate there 35 properties available for 1 night stays. Out of these 35 because of the fees there are only 5 left that match my rate .
In Europe cleaning fees have now been included in the total for the booking period shown on the search page, and by clicking on the question mark next to the price it shows the breakdown of nightly rate, cleaning fee (if any) and service charge.
It’s calculates only when they show you total. If you put a certain amount in a stoy will show you listing just for that amount without considering cleaning fees
I did my usual periodic snoop on the competition. I’ve noticed an increase in lower nightly rates with higher (unreasonable) cleaning fees. Only the nightly rate shows on the search.
Interesting! They definitely have changed things. I like this new format, showing the total with fees in smaller print below the nightly rate, rather than included with it. (You have to mouse over the question mark to get that breakdown window like in this pic.)
It depends on which browser you use, and which version. And it seems they change the search & search results (how they show your unit & its price) all the time.
At the moment, for me on Chrome & IE11 & Edge , the search is on the top like “tabs”
I’ve just tried the different URLs in Opera, FF and Chrome so I think rather than being browser dependent, its actually regional variations to how search results are displayed. But then again, it’s Airbnb so don’t expect any logic when it comes to the web site…
EDIT: Was just checking out our competitors in Chrome, and now got the search filters on the side as opposed to in “tabs”. No bloody logic whatsoever!
