But if you don’t…? Honestly, I’ve tried to get some good people to post on here but they won’t because “it’s too hostile and scary, they’ll just shoot me down”. So you end up with the - ta dah! - echo chamber. There’s no easy solution, I know, and personally I have always appreciated the moderator stance on here (and continue to do so). But if people have the time and inclination to engage with a new poster who is… um… what? Not One Of Us? then I think there’s no harm in an exchange. There are plenty of regulars who can spot nonsense, right? We don’t need to be told.
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"it’s too hostile and scary, they’ll just shoot me down”.
I can relate…(sigh)
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LOL because you seemed a scary person when I first joined here! Or maybe it was another sandyxxx ?
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That was another Sandy!!! Very scary!!! 
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I often don’t post publicly about my personal stories for this reason, and I’m a mod! 
Would rather run it by a close group of friends… you know who you are! 
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It’s funny you mentioned that because a gal PM’d me shortly after I joined and wrote something like: “Sandy, is that you? I’ve missed you.”
I answered and said I’m sure I’m not the same Sandy because I just joined and didn’t even know how to post on the forum until I read the guidelines.
She responded and sounded a little forlorn but ended with a “welcome to the forum”…or something like that.
I’ve never seen her name on the forum since.
And finish their post with a suggestion that the OP gives up hosting!
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I realize that most hosts charge a cleaning fee in order to offer a sort of discount for a longer stay, but as it is still called a cleaning fee, when using Airbnb as a guest I also expect the place to be clean, even more so than the one not charging a cleaning fee. I guess it’s a simple psychology. Even when guests know that the “cleaning” fee is actually a “long-term stay discount”, they tend to judge the cleanliness of the place harsher. That’s why I prefer the weekly discount feature. It simply sounds better when something is taken off the original price, rather than added to it.
The OPs opinion on cleaning fees interests me not one whit. There are so many different markets and rentals types - there is NO one size fits all. I have said it in many other threads, but the majority of rentals in the Catskills are whole-house and the hosts do not live on site. They manage remotely, we all charge cleaning fees and we price our nightly rates accordingly.
In fact, I find the OP to be very rude in tone and self-entitled. She is clearly describing a very specific scenario in a very specific market (where papayas are 5 cents?) and she presumes to come to an international forum and rant in a demanding tone? Please. Troll. Had I found it first I would have deleted but I am happy to see it morphed into a pleasant exchange on other topics.
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Perhaps you would cut a bit of slack in terms of cleanliness if you were not paying a “cleaning” fee at an Airbnb, but I’m not sure you’re in the majority. What I’m saying is in my experience, guests expect their envioronment to be immaculate.
There is this weird phenomena where people can immediately pick out the smallest amount of dirt in someone else’s home, while not being able to see it in their own. In terms of Airbnb, this translates to people having no clue what goes into letting paying customers with the power to review you into your home.
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I agree. I think if there is going to be a cleaning fee it should be refundable if the guest left the room clean. Most times when I stay at an airbnb I take the time to clean the room behind me (especially for a good review).
Idea: I think Airbnb should rate the guest like they do the home. So that in the future people that are consistently tidy or keep their noise levels down…are rewarded (not charged extra).
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No. The cleaning fee is to prepare the place for your stay, not clean it up after you leave. No host in their right mind would refund a cleaning if left clean, because no guest can possibly leave it to the standards most hosts require.
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I actually wasn’t thinking the host would refund the money. I’m saying every website like Airbnb will want to grow as a business. Maybe there could be a system in AirBnb’s expansion plans that could reward guests for good behavior or tidyness. It was just an idea =)
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My dear, guests are already rewarded mightily by Airbnb. Keep in mind this is a host forum and most of our discussions are about issues involving hosts, not really rewarding guests or Airbnb expansion.
Our mission is having a place where hosts can connect and support other hosts.
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i can easily make my cleaning fee “disappear” but I’ll need to impose a 7 night minimum (I’ll just raise the nightly rate by $7 which no one will notice). Will that work for you, Cynthia? You might only need to stay 3 nights (which is totally fine with me if you leave early) but just pay me 7 nights and there will be no pesky cleaning fee.
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Come via Bristol - would love to show you around 
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Power cuts, public transport and roads in chaos, constant rain - nothing jolly about it believe me.
Are we the only country that faces cold weather every year, but it somehow comes as a huge shock to our government, transport and rail services who fall apart at the seams.
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I think that happens to cities like DC. I don’t think the city owns any snow removal equipment and the whole city grinds to a halt if it snows. My son was living there during the snowzilla event last year and loved it. Although he was on foot.
Meanwhile in Hawaii it’s gorgeous. This was our sunset tonight…and I just took a walk under the most glorious starry sky and Milky Way.
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Stunning…
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If it’s any consolation despite Australia being bloody hot most of the year, every summer as soon as it gets mildly hot for more than a day, the public transport collapses, power shuts down sometimes and we are told to stay indoors and not use our air con just drink water (that ran out a few years ago too until it started raining again). And I live in the worlds most livable city (apparently) lol lol lo
I’m no engineer but…
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