Its always frustrated me that the guests think that cleaning is just running around with a vacuum cleaner and a wet rag. I noticed recently that there is an option to describe the cleaning in more detail. SO you can now have a linens fee and cleaning separately. I think that this is much better way of describing the fixed costs to the guests and hopefully shouldn’t get the negative issues associated with the grumpy guests thinking cleaning is expensive. I have to say though I wish Airbnb would include a simple its X per night plus cleaning and linens in the search results.
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I agree about how some guests think about cleaning but as some will likely point out here there are also guests that will hate that there are fees for everything, regardless of the fact that it is more transparent.
If there was a way to just charge a higher rate for 1 night stays I would do that as opposed to a cleaning fee. I will be adding a second listing this year and I am thinking no cleaning fee. Will see how it shakes out.
RR
I have read a number of articles that indicate that Airbnb users are starting to take issue with the cleaning fees. Not the fact that there is one, but that it affects the search results not being accurate. So they know they want to spend a certain amount for their stay, they search for spaces that fall within that rate and then when they get the final number it changes the total enough that they don’t want the space. But there is no way to filter out spaces with or without cleaning fees. So people are starting to add to the listing description that there is no fee. I have to say I agree with this as a guest. Before I became a host, I had a few instances where I found a place that seemed just right but when a high cleaning fee was tacked on it totally blew my budget. Which meant I had to start my search all over again. So I’m going to add $10 or so to my nightly fee(my usual stay is 2 or 3 nights) and advertise no cleaning fee.
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If you are searching for the exact dates that you want to book this shouldn’t be an issue. In my experience it ads the cleaning fee in and then divides by the total number of nights to give you your nightly rate.
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There is no reason that Airbnb can’t show guests the total price of a listing when they search with a specific number of guests and specific dates. If guests have a problem with fees being shown to them too late in the process (be it cleaning fees, airbnb service fees, taxes, whatever), then it’s because Airbnb isn’t showing them the bottom line in the search, and they’re obviously doing it on purpose.
I don’t see many listings for whole homes that don’t have cleaning fees, and I have to say it makes more sense to have a cleaning for larger spaces. It might be less significant where the rented space is just one private bedroom, but for a complete home with kitchen, 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, common areas, patios, etc., cleaning takes several hours and the amount of labor, supplies, electricity, and equipment wear-and-tear is nearly the same whether a guest stays 1 night or 10.
@PETRELLI stated that the cleaning fee is relevant to host who need to keep track of their cleaning costs, and this is mostly true, because as the market gets more competitive (and it most certainly is) it becomes increasingly important for hosts to be able to correctly price their listings relative to their costs.
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Same here… I’m reading through this and other threads to figure out the best sensible way to charge a cleaning fee for those few who leave the place in poor condition…grease all over the stove and oven, dirty pots and pans… piled up bowls and plates. Since Airbnb does not have a set up for monthly cleaning fees for long stays do you place it in the house rules ( though most don’t read ) ??.. I understand the need for kitchen privileges but less tolerance for passive-aggressive behavior from a few guest who don’t care to clean up.
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It’s a poor idea to state that you’ll charge a cleaning fee to those guests who leave the place a mess, because that can and likely will just lead to an argument with guests as to whether they left it clean or not. Your idea of clean may not be their idea of clean.
It would be a better idea, IMO, if you don’t want to charge a cleaning fee to guests who leave it nice, to charge a cleaning fee on all bookings, don’t say anything about refunding it if they leave it clean, and then send them the cleaning fee back as an unexpected surprise and reward if you walk in after they check out and think- Wow, what great, respectful, guests.
In my house rules I state that all dishes must be washed and left to dry. I have a set cleaning fee for all guests. If the dishes are dirty I report this in my review and clearly state I would not recommend them to other hosts and click the would not host again button. No arguments or additional follow up needed and the guests will get the message or not use STRs again. This happens rarely for me. I don’t think the cleaning fee affects how people treat your home. Peoples habits are already fairly ingrained and they will do what they want. I just inform other hosts.
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Jason, the idea is to encourage people to use Airbnb not put them off just because they didn’t do the dishes. Preferably, we try to make our guests into repeat guests and if they have done anything ‘wrong’ during their stay, simply tell them when they rebook to be better this time.
Jaquo, that’s a fair comment and I agree. I overlook morning dishes from the day of departure, even excessive dog hair. I was thinking of the rare guest who intentionally breaks house rules. (ie leaving multiple days worth of dishes, broken glass on the floor, Poop on towels) I would not want to host them again.
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I agree, especially the poopy towels - gross. It was the way I read your post as you’d only mentioned the dishes.
Definitely no 
guests required!
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