It’s confusing to many because hotels and other places don’t charge one, it’s included in the fee.
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Thank you all for helping me on the following.
If I summerise it - No matter if we put cleanning fee or not , guests are unpredictible. Most will be clean guests and some will be messy.
I decided to add the cleaning fee based on the comments I see here.
I think there should be a change in the way AirBnb show the min price of a night which should include the cleanning fee ( This is fairly easy - based on minimum nights you assigned , devide your cleaning fee and show a real price). This will be good both for guests but also for fair competition between hosts.
Thanks,
Liat
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I don’t have a cleaning fee as I personally don’t like seeing a headline price and then, on scrolling down, finding there are additional costs. I ask guests to leave the place clean and tidy and the vast majority do so.
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My daily rate is a good value for my area so I charge a 30.00 cleaning fee. Nobody seems to mind that cost.
I have a 2-night minimum in summer for my 1-bedroom guest suite, but I opened my calendar up for 1-night bookings in the slow off-season. I was quickly getting burnt out on the daily turnovers (I do my own cleaning or have a trusted family member do it when I’m unavailable), so I raised my cleaning fee from $20 to $30 to feel like I’m paying myself a little better for the 2-3 hours it takes me to do a turnover. I’ll report back if this makes a difference in the level of mess left behind by guests.
A friend of mine who rents a studio had a similar cleaning fee and noticed guests were messier when she raised her rates. However, she has been hosting for a number of years and has overall experienced a decline in guests as AirBnB has grown, so it is hard to say how much the cleaning fee affected her experience. She has high-end organic bedding and towels, and has a problem with guests staining them and generally trashing her studio. I have cheaper bedding and towels from Ikea and Target, and have only had a few linens irreparably stained by guests. I have hosted about 150 groups so far and have only had maybe 3 who were excessively messy.
For context: most of the comparable listing in my neighborhood either have no cleaning fee or something higher, ranging $45-$150.
Most of my guests are very clean. But with respect, their idea of cleaning isn’t mine. With a month long stay I rip the place apart. But I like the idea of charging a fee for shorter term makes a lot of sense
Most Guests have no idea of this and even if they do get marked down it doesn’t affect them that much in the long run since it is the overall rating that is most influential, outside of the recommend or do not recommend.
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Has anyone tried to explain that the cleaning fee is for professional cleaning services and insures the the rental will be properly clean when they arrive. So the point is not to clean after them but since all renters pay it it insures they will arrive in a excellently clean rental.
When I travel and use Air BnB I am weary of low cleaning fees. I have had places that were just dusted. With dry peanut butter on the bottom of plates in the cabinets. Rusty silverware, dirty bowls, no coffee filters for the coffee machine, damp towels on arrival, soap scum in the shower. Now I prefer to stay in places with a higher cleaning fee were professional cleaners are used.
In my town, to higher two professional cleaners for 1 hour, who are insured will cost $130. Any less than that and I think we’re are they cutting corners and leaving things dirty.
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We charge $50 which is exactly what we pay our professional cleaner per turn. I’ve never had anyone complain and most people leave the place pretty clean. When I’m adjusting our prices, which I do constantly, I always think about the total price (with the cleaning fee), as I figure most guests look at the bottom line.
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My place has no cleaning fee at all. As a traveler, I’d rely more on cleanliness ratings than what the fees are. Some hosts remove the separate fee and roll it into the price, like hotels and most other accommodations. The most useful function I’ve found for a cleaning fee is to make a shorter stay (1 night especially) relatively more expensive.
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Airbnb will probably do away with the cleaning fee because it doesn’t fit with their “let’s all become more like hotels.” The only reason I can think of that they won’t build in a pet fee is because that would just give us more control over our rentals and they are going the opposite direction.
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So you should charge $52 cleaning fee so you give the cleaner $50 and keep $0.44. The way you do it you are coming out of pocket $1.50 for each cleaning bescause of Airbnb’s percentage and not allowing non whole numbers.
It surprises me they don’t deal with the pet fees because they could always take their percentage out of that too…I’m glad they don’t so I can collect it however the Guest and I prefer. It’s about 50/50 through Airbnb or not.
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Also when you consider the bottom line remember to add in the Airbnb service fees and taxes to really see what the Guest’s bottom line is. I have found that in general Hosts get only 75% of what Guests actually pay.
LOL, Yes, I’m totally aware of that. Our nightly fees make up for those types of things. I also tip my cleaner as well as send our laundry out so although I made it sound like I was concerned about covering everything with that fee, I’m really not expecting to. I looked at what we were paying, what others in the area were charging, and decided on $50.
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Yes, that’s important to remember. Although they will pay taxes regardless of where they stay so that part’s not as important to me than the service fees.
True but guests won’t view it that way when they calculate…
Some very non savvy travelers won’t I suppose, but I’m not going to lower my prices that much. I’m not going to eat tax, which they will pay at a hotel, just because they have to pay for it up front.
Even before i had my own listing I knew I had to pay tax at a hotel.
In the old days, when we travelled and rented a room, that room cost to us was calculated including all the hotel/guest house proprietors’ costs of doing business. This included advertising. Today, we use Airbnb and the advertising cost, plus all the other features we have today, are covered by the Airbnb fees. So it’s just the same - except it’s easier for hosts as we don’t have to keep receipts for every last classified ad.
And the guest gets to see how much they are paying for the service they are receiving from Airbnb. It’s all much more transparent than things used to be.
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