hmm? Not quite following how they will pay more for staying two weeks. Most of us only charge the fee once?? Maybe it’s me being lost.
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Ulfben suggested “In my opinion all costs should be included in the nightly rate.” which would punish people staying for longer
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Oh… I think they are saying that YOU, the host absorb it.
At the risk of getting jumped on, I present you with this, my Air cleaning earnings in 2017…(does not include my cleaning fees from other platforms) .and before you scream at how bad I am for charging it, I think we can all agree that we hosts earn every penny of it, no matter how you would like to charge it. (Separately, or absorbed as the cost of doing business.)
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Of course it’s not, it would be underhand to include it in a nightly rate, as those staying longer than one night would be charged unfairly.
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I have a cleaning fee, and I don’t include it into my nightly rate as I believe it is more fair to long term guests. Also it will help deter many short term guests (I have 2 night min requirement but on average guests stay for a week, not many 2 nighters). Some guests stay few weeks to 2 month and they can save lots of money when I only charge one time cleaning fee.
Hotels do include the cleaning fee into their room rate and it is easier for them to do so because they operate on scale.
My charge for cleaning fee is $75AUD (used to be $60 last year as I did half of the cleaning, but this year I have to let cleaners do all the job). But my actual out of pocket cost for each cleaning is $75-160AUD. Some very clean guests (5%) left us with 2 hours work, some extremely dirty ones left us with 12 hours work, and on average it is about 6 hours of work. I actually lose money on cleaning fees, but I have to keep it low to remain competitive in my area.
For hosts renting out a room only, I believe $15-20 is very fair. More than that may be too expensive.
First, if you stay in a place that’s $50 a night and has a $30 cleaning fee and you stay just one night - the fee then becomes a huge percentage of the price. But if you stay 5 nights, then not so much.
What you don’t seem to be considering is the fact that even if you stay just 3 hours - the host still has to do a FULL cleaning of your room and space before the next guest can check-in. And whether a guest stays 5 nights or 1 - we do the exact same cleaning.
If you stay 5 nights we will of course wash your towels and sheets before we give them to the next guest. But if you stay just 1 night - we still have to wash the towels and sheets! It’s the exact same amount of cleaning work whether you stay one day or five.
We charge $29 and that doesn’t even come close to what we would have to pay somebody if we brought somebody in to do it. We would have to pay at least $60. So, we do it ourselves. And we feel the $9.66 an hour for our efforts (minus costs) is quite fair.
Maybe you should invite some hosts into the guest forums you’ve been reading and ask them to explain why it’s actually necessary to charge a cleaning fee.
As far as your idea to charge a percentage - how could a percentage be fair to the host who has to pay the exact same amount (or put in the exact same amount of effort) whether it’s a long 10-night stay or a short 1-night stay?
Say a host charged $65 a night and you all decide 15% is a fair amount to pay for cleaning. That means for a 1-night stay, the host will receive $9.75 for the cleaning. That comes to $3.25 an hour if it takes 3 hours. Minus supplies… so more like $2.75 an hour probably. Is that really fair?
Then a guest who stays 10 nights would pay $98! How is that fair to them!? And a host doesn’t normally have to do too much more cleaning after a 10-night stay than they do after a 1-night stay.
I don’t think whoever suggested a percentage has really thought it through.
Plus, any host who isn’t charging a cleaning fee, is simply adding that cost into their nightly price. The same way you’ll see a $30 product on Amazon that has a $5.00 shipping charge. You can find the exact same product sold by another seller who slaps “FREE SHIPPING” all over the page - but his price is $35. The cost has to be paid one way or another.
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Great analogy! …
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As someone comparing value… I could care less what you have to do to get the place ready. We aren’t your friends we are customers. That’s the reason that you aren’t offering for us to stay for free. I have no interest in your costs and time. I am interested in what I will and will not pay and, by and large, I won’t pay for fees when I can go pretty much anywhere else and pay less. I and so many people avoid airbnb because of these fees. Are we missing out? Not at all. Are you? You bet.
Hi @atlasheld
What made you decide to join a forum of Airbnb hosts when you evidently aren’t a host, and don’t use Airbnb 
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I own a home in Silicon Valley that we are listing. I have used Airbnb many times. Odd to assume so many things. In any case, I, like the OP, feel the need to point out that there is no magic to low or high traffic. When a host’s daily rates are near equivalent prices, but the hosts tack on a huge fee, they take themselves out of the market. We have guests and we charge according to what we think is a competitive price. That’s it. The overt hostility towards the OP was curious so I wanted to join the forum read what people have to say and throw my two cents in. Thanks for asking.
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Well you sure made an entrance !
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What’s with all these old threads being resurrected recently?
In my AirBnB experience things always come in waves of at least 3 (non-communicators, people wanting to bring dogs, etc. …). I guess it also applies to this forum and we’re on an old thread wave right now 
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Not odd at all as you initially portrayed yourself as someone who is a guest of STRs who won’t pay Airbnb fees. Nowhere did you mention you were an Airbnb host.
And you say
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Ah yes, you’re probably right! I thought maybe it was the forum equivalent of the easter resurrection 
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@atlasheld
I have a cleaning fee to make one night bookings make sense. It works for me, I get the bookings and hopefully I avoid cheapskates.
RR
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Ummm, don’t like the cost/fees? Then, I guess the solution is – you stay somewhere else??
As long as I am booked and making a profit, recommendations to eliminate fees and charges won’t get a lot of traction with me. I’m friendly, but I’m not your friend, I’m your service provider.
On the other hand, recommendations from other hosts on pricing strategies to maximize net income? That I will pay attention to!
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The threads get used as people show interesest in a particular topic. As AirBnB is getting smacked around at every turn both those using it as well as those selling it in real time look for answers and thoughts. My guess, at least.