Cleaning fees - why & when to charge?

I’ve heard having a big cleaning fee encourages guests to leave the place in an unclean state. “Well, I’ve paid for them to do the cleaning”!

This is a good point, I’ve felt they had this feature too. I even thought of suggesting that they rename Cleaning Fee to something like One-Off Fee or Booking Fee – which of course can be confused with the Airbnb Service fee, but essentially decoupling the cleaning aspect and making it one-off, to help regulate the desired length of ideal stays.

I don’t think this happens. The headline prices shown are the sum of all included charges divided by number of days being searched for.


Well this phenomenon is rife in the UK and Europe. I even assumed that the post about Airline add-on fees was by someone in Britain/Europe, not US.

The abhorrent RyanAir is particularly notorious:


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Oh please. I was just pointing out some practical differences between US and UK. I wasn’t ‘bashing’ anyone or anything. There is no need at all to make this into an “us and them” argument. It’s bad enough that this forum seems to be the exclusive zone of English speakers without such needless squabbles. Sorry you had to pay extra for your shower in Europe. Please let me apologise on behalf of the entire continent.

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Mag,

You seem to be comparing rooms in a house to an entire home that is being rented. Do you really think they are the same thing? So if I have to charge a cleaning crew $300 for a turnover for a one night stay, you are saying that I should be able to build it into my rates?? Really?? That’s great!

And most people who can afford to spend that much per night would never spend that amount per night. I cannot add $300 rate cleaning fee to each and every night instead of a one time fee. I know, I know… it equally spreads per night. I get what you are saying. But really…why would I want to cater to some UK guest who gets so butthurt over every little thing…please…

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Ah well @Magwitch isn’t speaking for all Brits just herself.

@cabinhost you’re right; it’s very hard to build a headline figure into a nightly rate as people will either consistently under or over pay. I therefore don’t really get the logic saying it’s fairer to customers…

As @Astaire and I noted previously, Airbnb now show the true price of the listing including cleaning fee so there’s no longer any distortion or listings appearing cheaper than they really are.

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I’ve kind of scratched my head on this one too. If you are priced to what the market will bear (in general) it won’t work because only a certan percentage will overpay. I can’t recall the latest topic where we discussed Flipkey guests trying to scam hosts. (sarcasm) - FK users have money to burn. Maybe that’s why no one has ever experienced the claims process and they legit actually hold a damage deposit (or they did)

With separate house rentals this works seemlessly if the place rents for only a week at a time. Sure…if I only rent Saturday to Saturday my beloved lake house, etc. then there is no need to separate out a cleaning fee. Every seven days has the same fixed cost.

Others will average out the stay and include it and I would love to know the numbers on that. As much as I would love to include it (like Air does now) I list on so many sites it would be a nightmare trying to keep up with changing nightly rates, etc. Because the cleaning fee for me is such an enormous fixed cost, it only makes sense to separate it

I know one person I think from New Mexico said including the cleaning in her rate worked for her wonderfully because the cleaning company was flexible in how they charged per room, etc. Not sure if rooms were blocked off.

In my area that is not typical. You charge per property…period.

Wow, that’s a bit harsh.
All I’m saying is that it would be better to include the cost of cleaning (whether whole house or individual room) into the overall pricing structure depending on the length of stay. That option is not currently possible on Airbnb or any other platform to my knowledge. I don’t understand all the hostility?

All I’m saying is that it would be better to include the cost of cleaning (whether whole house or individual room) into the overall pricing structure depending on the length of stay. That option is not currently possible on Airbnb or any other platform to my knowledge. I don’t understand all the hostility?
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Then go ahead and project your rate table if you had a one night stay versus a 15 night stay. And how you would incorporate a $100 cleaning fee per turnover.

I’m not a bloody mathematician! I’m simply saying that it would be good to have an AUTOMATIC PRICING STRUCTURE that would incorporate your cleaning fee into the overall rate according to length of stay. After all that is what already happens when a guest books - with a cleaning fee,people who stay one night pay around 25% more than someone who stays for 15 nights, right? Airbnb has algorithms coming out of its backside so I don’t understand why it would be difficult to have hosts specify their cleaning/turnover/preparation/ fee in their pricing settings and this is automatically applied to booking rates. I don’t understand what is so controversial about this idea. Please tell me what I’m missing.

It doesn’t matter if you call it a cleaning fee, preparation fee, one night fee, whatever. If guests want to feel dinged by paying more than someone else they will. I had a potential guest accuse me of bait and switch because I used to reduce my price if I had no bookings seven days out. She was booking more than a week in advance and felt cheated that she couldn’t get the last minute price.

If they don’t want to pay the fee, they can look elsewhere. It’s too bad Airbnb doesn’t have a way to blend it with daily rate. I think it’s more transparent to show the fee separate. Paying more for short stays is common, Airbnb does give us the option to set a discount for longer stays. Booking late carries risks, so those who wish to gamble on their trip to save money and hosts who want to book open days close to the date rather than earn nothing reduce rates. I did this in July when I had a last minute cancellation, I cut the price 25%. My mum used to say x % of something is better than nothing. ( as long as costs are covered).

Re the ‘Headline’ price on a listing; I have just been looking at a place which is 100 euro per night which compares to another listing I am considering booking. However when I scroll down I see a 50 euro cleaning fee so the fee for 2 nights excluding Air’s fee, is 250 euro. This listing is in Ireland. So not sure why other hosts think that the aggregate headline cost includes cleaning as it certainly doesn’t in Ireland.

How did she find this out?

She must have looked at the calendar.

After a few months of hosting, you will be able to predict or average how many reservations you get on a monthly basis. Mine are 4 to 5. A few times I got 3 and other 6. I decided to include the cleaning fee into my base rate. You ask how?

  1. I took “4” as the number of cleanings I estimated I should have
  2. I multiply that number by the cost of the cleaning 4 x 50 =200usd
  3. I divide that number by the 30 days of a month … 200/30 = 7usd
  4. I add up that total to the nighly rate …

On months of 5 reservations, I have lost 50usd for the extra cleaning I haven’t charged but I get them back on months of 3 reservations. At the end of the year, I´m practically even.

So you ask me why I wouldn’t charge a cleaning fee. You clean 3 times, you charge 3 times. Isn’t easier than to depend on an estimation?

Indeed, it is more easy for the host but it has more drawbacks than benefits:

  1. The first thing is that is harder to understand for the guests and it makes them wonder why in the world you are charging them for the cleaning if the electricity they use is included in your nighly rate. In some countries, it isn´t common to charge the cleaning fee so guests coming from there get the feeling you are making a hidden overcharge.

  2. The second thing is that it raises the cleaning expectations. If you charge me for cleaning, I will expect to get a much better cleaning job than a place who doesn’t charge it.

  3. Lack of control of your price. Cleaning fee is a global setting. You can’t modify it on a calendar basis. If you charge 50usd for the fee, then those 50usd will be applied to any date of the year. You can’t reduce the cleaning fee for the low season while having it for the high season. So there is a little part of your price that has less freedom of control. If you were adding the cleaning fee into your nightly rate, you have entire control over the total price to raise it or drop it when it needs to.

  4. And lastly, cleaning fees are fully refunded in guests cancellations.

I believe those 4 reasons are good enough to explain why I’m not charging a cleaning fee.

so… by avoiding adding a cleaning fee you’re able to keep the nightly increase when a guest cancels.

Seems to me if guests knew they could have the cleaning fee refunded in the event of cancellation they’d choose to go with the fee added on vs incorporated into the nightly cost.

There is an easy solution for that … Just choose Moderate or Flexible cancellation policy and the guest will be fully refunded no matter if you have the cleaning fee added or not. I have Strict cancellation policy and guests book with me anyway. Honestly, I prefer much more guests that stay with me because of what my listing represents to them in regards to quality of service than to how flexible I’m when they decide to cancel.

Would you share the 10 point checklist or is that a tongue-in-cheek reply?

  1. Clean under bed
  2. Clean window sills
  3. Clean recessed lights and fans and lamps
  4. Clean underneath of and under toilet seat (plus toilet)
  5. Clean sink and shower
  6. Floors and carpets (including under)
  7. Clean and wipe windows
  8. General room dusting
  9. Clean exhaust fans (bathroom), air conditioning vents
  10. Wipe inside of dresser drawers

I suppose the problem with a ten point check list is that it invites people to comment on glaring omissions.

Cleaning mirrors and door handles (particularly the bathroom handles) are things I’m sure you do. As are cleaning surfaces such as walls, cupboards etc in the bathroom. I always assume that people don’t wash their hands or close the toilet lid when flushing and clean appropriately.

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