I also charge a cleaning fee that goes to my cleaner. It helps with taxes because it’s not considered income on my taxes, whereas if I just included it I would have to declare it as income.
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If you are referring to your taxable income for the IRS in the United States, it doesn’t make any difference whether you include your cleaning rate in your rental fee, or charge the cleaning rate as a separate item. You get to deduct the cleaning expense either way, so your taxable income is the same amount in either case.
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I just booked a place for 5 nights and after I was charged I saw the breakdown of fees. Nowhere in the listing was there a cleaning fee until after the booking was made. Between cleaning/ taxes/Air fees the price went up $250 and I was using the $100 voucher.
I thought Air was adding all the fees in a booking so you could see them, but not in this case. They have gotten so expensive and anything but transparent don’t think I’ll be using them in the future and they’ve been my go to for years.
The STR is a tiny, 250 ft, I’m one person and cleaning is $80. As a host I never charged a fee.
From a guest, former host perspective.
PLEASE PLEASE do not give a low ‘value’ rating for this. $80 is a reasonable cost for cleaning depending on the area. Paying a living wage is important and a cleaner has the right to ask for what they need - the specificity of the job (time, date, unknowns) mean it is not ‘just cleaning’…
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This is a place I’ve looked at for quite some time and is really lovely. My problem with booking was all costs including cleaning were not revealed till after the booking.
I’ve canceled so I won’t be reviewing.
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there is a way to do it with rulsets, but it’s not straight forward. That’s how I hide my cleaning fees.
Wow.
We have a 3100 ft2 house and charge $160 cleaning fee. I always think that is a lot but it actually costs more than that to clean unless we do it all ourselves—but we don’t have that kind of time.
FYI we are in CA where labor costs a good amount.
I charge a small cleaning fee so I can increase my revenue for one night stays as it takes up more resources to host one nighters.
No, but if i did I’d incorporate it in my overall fee. I think it’s unfair for a potential guest to think the $ is one thing and then find add ons afterwards.
I recently lowered mine and am considering going without it all together because I’m currently in my city’s off-season. I host a guest suite in the lower-level of my home. My market is oversaturated with multi-property hosts, so this gives me a competitive edge. However, during the tourist season, I don’t really see a reason not to charge a cleaning fee because I’m still booked as much as I want to be and it makes the shorter stays a little more worth my time.
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It’s a tricky balancing act. Whether to build it in to a higher rate and don’t add it on, or add it on as a separate fee. And if adding it on, does that mean guests feel less inclined to leave the place in decent shape? For the first few years I didn’t charge a fee, then I compromised and charge $60 (CAD). I have 3 stories, 4 bedrooms and allow 6 guests with a 2 night minimum. If I pay cleaners, it’s $150 - $180 to clean it, but I usually do it myself. As a user, I am less inclined to book a place with a high cleaning fee so that was where I landed and it seems to work.
Free standing 2 bedroom rural house here. Our market has become super saturated with a resulting decrease in bookings in our tourist area. To stand out in the crowd, we completely eliminated clean fees and have continued to have minimal check out instructions for our guests. We raised our nightly fee a small amount but overall are making less per reservation, it’s the cost of doing business in a flooded market. .