I can’t afford a professional cleaner in between every guest or I would lose 40% of my revenue but I get one in once a fortnight covering 3-5 bookings (weekly in high season) and I charge $30 for cleaning (which didn’t change my booking rate). She cleans the 2 bedroom apartment for 2-3 hours which means solidly in areas I can’t reach and not just surfaces. It means when I clean in between guests at other times there is far less to do, the result is better (I started getting “sparkling clean” which I never had before). My long term Cleanliness rating has gone from 4.5 to 5 stars. If my guests have “cleaned” for me, I can get away with just laundry, changing beds and wiping the bathroom vanity. It has taken a lot of stress out of hosting as I would get guests saying there were smudge marks on the walls or doors which I just couldn’t see. Good luck!
It sounds like the most aggravating part is sharing your home and having to be chipper and helpful at a moments notice. Have you considered putting accessories in the unit so that guests wouldn’t need to use the kitchen at all? Maybe a tiny kitchenette with a small coffeemaker and microwave, and a couple cheap snacks would be a win-win.
Raise your price and cleaning fee…I pay $150for a really thorough cleaning which I only have done about 1x/month. I charge $95 for a cleaning fee.
My guests are amazingly clean in general, so special attention to the bath and kitchen takes most of the apt clean time which is only about an hour.
I require a 4 day minimum and stay very busy during peak season.
Plenty of people want more than a wkend visit, just be patient.
THIS!!! I just posted in the Superhost thread about how stressful it is when you become obsessed with pleasing guests.
Looking back to when I first started, I realise how much I pandered to guests to the point of being ingratiating 
It didn’t do me any good - I was a doormat and guests did not respect me, in fact they wiped their feet on me!
Now, I’m friendly and nice but very business-like. I make sure everything is clean, that guests are comfortable and I’m still always willing to give advice on places to go, eat etc, But my place is what it is. If you don’t like it… meh, I don’t really care.
And guess what? I’ve been superhost for a while now and guests LOVE me!! Well, almost all of them 
I think we all should charge realistic living wage cleaning and laundry fees! For service done by paid professional not free! How many listings do I see in my area for 2 bedroom apartment and cleaning is 30’or 40 euros? With sheets bath towels and beach towels for 4 people? What! And guests now think this is normal, I charge 100 for cleaning this is still done at a loss and some guests still tell me the apartment down the street does it for 20.
Im toying with the idea of making a higher nightly price to cover cleaning without listing it separate and still accepting short stays but giving a large weekly discount, does anyone have success with this method?
We have the highest nightly fee in our immediate area. Nevertheless, I believe that we also give the best value in the area too 
We accept one night stays during our slower season (we don’t really have an off season) but for the rest of the year have a two night minimum. Most people stay for 2 - 5 nights.
We don’t give a discount for longer stays. (Or for any other reason really). This being said, if we get a request for a long stay and the guest requests a discount, I tell them that we can’t do that but will include free weekly cleaning, bed linen change, new towels etc. I’d rather give extra value that a discount and it works. We don’t advertise any discounts on the listing.
Absolutely, definitely. I suspect that some hosts don’t take their own time into account and running a rental can take up a lot of your week.
You are correct in that statement and my time is as important as a cleaner but in order to make the most financial compensation for our listing we can not charge a professional cleaning fee so we clean ourselves. I would charge myself out of business so we include some of it in our daily rate and the remainder in the cleaning fee.
No percentage split; property manager lives onsite and has a rent/work trade. Researching property management companies and vacation rental management agencies varied wildly…between 5-20%+. We advertised the position and one candidate asked for a 50% split. lol Uh, no. You did not do all (any??) of the hard work to remodel, decorate, list and get this up and running. I just had to laugh…
The entire cleaning fee goes directly to the cleaning crew, even though we pay 3% on the cleaning fee, as well as the room rate to Airbnb, we accept that as an operating expense. Our cleaners are stellar and we pledged to provide a living wage.
I’m still hosting this summer because the money is so good. But I’m really ready to close-up shop come fall. I’m in Seattle and not sure I want to bother getting licensed under our new regulations because the quality of guests have gone so downhill.
I expect my first 1-star review will be coming (I have 155 reviews so I suppose I’m due for one). The guest is angry I charge $15 per night after the 2nd guest. She sent me this PM today:
I’m paying but not really happy about it… [rambles on about her sister for a while] I’ve never had this occur and I use Airbnb alot… plans change with family and when a place is listed 1-4 it shouldn’t be more. I was being honest and she made less noise than your chickens or child!
I told the guest to call AirBnB to complain (after all, it is their system that allows extra guest fees). She left me a review a few minutes later.
I am leaving this review on the last day:
Avoid hosting this guest. [name] indicated she was enjoying her stay while she was here, but sent a list of complaints after check-out. Complains included the extra-guest fee, the presence of backyard chickens, and displeasure with sharing a home with my two-year-old child. These details were all disclosed in the listing description, and I especially clarified that this guest understood the extra guest fee prior to her check-in. I cannot recommend to future hosts.
Uhhhh, some places are listed as accommodating twelve, but are booked by a couple using only one bed, so some listings have per person charges. Totally valid…and normal!
This says it all here. The person is just a freaking jerk.
Is your review up yet? I have found it best to just stick to the facts and eliminate and emotional sounding language for best results. Are you feeling better about hosting now? Hired cleaners?
I feel your pain. I think after 200 reviews, my first awful review is coming. Actually it is a bit similar to your situation.
Guest started complaining before she arrived. Condo self-check-in—-she used neither the email I sent to her with the instructions nor the check in instructions on Airbnb.
Arrived complaining that the unit wasn’t directly on the waterway.
4xin a combination of Airbnb descriptions, direct message to guest, & photo captions
Statement of “Condo NOT directly on waterway. Community docks a short walk from the condo” made
Arrived complaining the condo wasn’t clean enough. I asked her for specifics because I had 20 pictures of condo after exit cleaning & I could tell the rugs had been vacuumed and the kitchen & bathrooms cleaned.
In fairness, she reported the air-conditioner wasn’t working. I contacted Airbnb & offered full refund if Airbnb re-homed her or if she found a hotel that night. Told all I would contact a repair person the next morning. She decided to stay and see if A/C repaired. Today (next day) A/C repaired.
Airbnb handled the “missing amenity” refund which they consider 50% of the nightly rental for each night the amenity (A/C) not available (1-night).
Guest an hour ago texted me that I had ruined her family vacation because they were only getting 1/2 night refund and they were packing & leaving. I encouraged her to contact Airbnb about her concerns and to stay so she didn’t lose her the remainder of her rental fees.
She is convinced I will refund the rest of her stay—nope, nada, nopity nope nope, I don’t think soooooo, and hell no.
I contacted Airbnb. They will contact her to see if indeed she is leaving or has decided to stay.
If she leaves the cancellation policy applies so NO REFUND for the unused days. (Today is after checkout so counts as stayed & tomorrow would be billed for full day, she leaves Friday)
I’m happy for her to leave. HOWEVER there are two children and I would hate to see them miss out on beach time.
Whether she stays or goes, a bad review is coming. Oh well—like the OP I guess my time has come.
****update. She left. Airbnb contacted her. She verified cancellation. 3 night reservation. 1/2 night refund for A/C. Due to lateness if cancellation she was considered as staying 2nd night. Cancellation policy requires payment for first night after cancellation. So she forfeited 2 nights of rental payment and taxes and airfees because her refund wasn’t large enough.
A bad review is coming her way too…and a “do not recommend.”
Yes, yep, yeppity yep yep, absolutely, & amen to that (getting 20)
What was your review from her, if you don’t mind sharing?
Hello all. I’ve been away due to a personal loss. I’m still considering taking a break from hosting at the end of summer. I’m expecting the birth of my second child later this fall, so it is good timing to get out of the game (even if temporarily).
Yes, I reviewed her on the last day. I wrote:
Probably too long, I know, but my first draft was about twice that long.
I got 3/5 stars. Whew! Could have been worse. The guest just wrote “defer” as the public feedback and left a list of complaints in the private feedback: she complained three times that it was noisy, and then complained that the alley (where the private parking spot is located) is too narrow to turn around. Uh… just pull forward and turn out on the next street?
Though this guests AirBnB “all the time” she doesn’t seem to realize that I am the only one who reads the private feedback.
I’d still like to continue hosting if I can find a good cleaner so then my listing would be almost entirely automated (I use SmartBnB for automated messaging). I was in the process of hiring a cleaner through my city’s host community, but she flaked on me the day my dad died unexpectedly last month. I found myself having clean the unit myself (and again on the day of his funeral), which made me resent hosting even more.
I’m so sorry to read this. My deepest condolences. I wish I was in Seattle, I’d take on a cleaning job, at least temporarily.
I paused hosting for the first year after my youngest was born. I highly recommend it. 
Hi what’s smartBNB? I’ve not heard of that before?
I did when my first was born as well, though mostly because I got a good tenant in and I wasn’t eager to make her move. I otherwise felt ready to host again when my kid was about two or three months old.
Thank you.
It’s a service that automates welcome messages and follow up notes. What I find especially helpful is it pings Airbnb multiple times a day to reassure the search algorithm that my calendar is up to date.
It definitely reduced my stress.
Now I’m pulling back on Air because my kids are getting bigger and need more space (and NYC accidentally cracked down on all hosts, not just apartment owners), but I find value in their service even with only one listing.