We currently do not have a cleaning fee and are considering adding one. Our question is this: When you add a cleaning fee, do people leave the place in worse shape assuming they’ve “paid” to have it cleaned up for them? Anyone out there have a “before and after” comparison?
I can’t give a comparison because we’ve always used a cleaning fee but nevertheless 99.99% of our guests leave the places in great condition. We prefer to call it a ‘preparation fee’. 
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We’ve always had a cleaning fee and almost all guests leave the place pretty clean.
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I introduced a small cleaning fee just to cover the laundry so I didn’t lose out on 1 or 2 night stays. No-one could argue with that. I find most guests leave the room pretty clean. I am sure the review process helps and frankly any decent person would be ashamed to leave a room in a state. If they do give them 1 star for cleanliness or a thumbs down.
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No difference in how Guests leave the Lodge or Cabin with/without cleaning fee.
We were w VRBO for 5 years & my hubby & I doing all the cleaning around the edges of our full time & volunteer jobs. In May 2015, I got injured in Van tornado & Jeff’s back got worse. We stopped offering breakfast & hired a cleaner.
Cleaner. She does it all: the cleaning w her supplies, changes linens & doing laundry at her place. She charges by room & $5/per bed.
IE Clean-up for a couple is far less than for 15 people. She tells us when to order sheets/towels. She has 2 back ups, if she’s out of town. She makes 10-15% of what we make & it is SO worth it.
We are a Team! She is also Alt InnKeeper to check in Guests, if Jeff or I are not available.
Most Guests leave the place in good shape. We don’t want them to spend vacation time cleaning up. We ask them leave used towels in tub/shower, beds turned back & garbage in bags in bin outside.
VRBO’s switch March 2017 meant an 80% drop in bookings, after we paid big annual fee. We paid them to steal our Travelors.
Our recent switch AirBNB is a breath of fresh Air. Pun intended.
Here’s 1 of 2 places on 25 wooded Acres Btween Dallas & Shrevesport. 11 Mi off I-20.
If you intended to link to your listing you need to try again.
It sounds like you have hit the jackpot with your cleaner.
Let me see IF the Link works this time.
Nope.
The url has to have the listing number. It should say airbnb dot com slash rooms slash then the listing number
click on my listing and look in the address field where the url is and you’ll see the proper format.
Ditto!
I also charge…
Well good grief. Here’s the Cabin. Maybe…
And Lodge.
A good question. The reason i have never added cleaning fees is I ask people to clean dishes etc, tidy up, take out rubbish and strip beds. Being disabled this really helps me out but wonder if they still would if I charged even $20.
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Do you, or anyone else, ever have guests who clean the bathroom, including shower glass and toilet, and vacuum the floor? I’ve had a few guests tell me they have “totally cleaned the place” but they never do all those things.
Still charge £5 for washing the laundry, because that’s what it costs you.
To my mind the tasks you describe would be common courtesy. Some people have an entitled attitude I guess. It’s a shame Airbnb is becoming more like hotels.
Re ‘totally cleaned the place’, are they clueless or stoking their egos?
No. And even if they said they did I’d have to go in and clean after them.
I had a woman last week who messaged me after she drove away that the toilet had overflowed and that while she was cleaning up the bathoom with towels it “fixed itself.” I hadn’t yet read the message because I go first thing into the room and start gathering the laundry. I’d gone into the bathroom and been mystified by the sopping wet bath mats and spare towel on the bathroom floor. I’d dumped them into the washing machine when I pulled out my phone to read her message. I lifted the toilet seat to find spots of feces smeared along the rim, the underside of the toilet seat and ran straight back to pull the wet things back out. Sure enough there were some spots. I’m not sure how feces gets on the mats and floor and you don’t think to wipe up everything or to lift the toilet seat but there it is. She was on older woman, not someone on their first trip away from home either.
The only good thing I can say about people who think they’ve cleaned when they haven’t is that surely they aren’t picky when staying somewhere?
As a guest one of the things I do, even at hotels, is that I wipe down all the fixtures to dry off the water spots. If staying with friends I also wipe down the glass if they have it. Out, damned spot! Hard water here in my town has trained me.
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well the cost is part of the overall price. the only reason to charge for cleaning I can see is it is a one off so (theoretically) should be less per night for longer staying guests, but also a way to add on “hidden fees” till I can work out how to charge resort fees for them using the patio bbq and dining setting.
I’ve never had a guest clean to that extent, nor would I expect them to. It takes a good 1-2 hrs for a professional to clean the place; longer if I do it. I would guess most guests spend 10-15 minutes tidying up.
I’m in the process of creating my listing, and I can’t find a place where I can charge a cleaning fee. I’ve gone over it several times. What am I missing?
When you publish all these options become available. Click everything! Read carefully! Look at listings in your area to see how things are done.
I’ve hired my daughter to clean. She does a much better job than anyone else Ive hired. I charge $150 cleaning fee for cottages. I accept pets so it is twice the cleaning.
Agreed I’m out of VRBO after paying yearly fee and only do Airbnb. I believe they direct the bookings towards those who don’t have the yearly subscription because they make more money that way. Bye bye. Love AirBNB.