Offering Guests to Self-Clean. Save on cleaning fees / Allow more back-to-backs

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UPDATE on the self-cleaning run I had. Complete success.
Three bookings back to back, ALL self-cleaning on arrival, and the last guests also requested a late check-out, which I could grant with a self-clean on check-out. So they actually did a double self-clean!

No guests have been asked to self-clean, so far all these are solely in response to requests to arrive a day early or check-in early or check-out late. And no guests are arriving to a mess unless they have already agreed to do the cleaning themselves on arrival, for their benefit, and due to their request.

The experience of THREE self-cleans in a row, or virtually four has been very positive. Last guests stripped beds and did all washing! But not ‘reset’ for new guests, though it saved a lot of cleaning time for sure.

I left some comments on these guests and thanking them for self-cleaning. I know guests commenting themselves on self-cleaning opportunities is probably not common, but maybe I might ask if they can in future.

So it really has got me wondering if I should open this out more widely, and offer it to guests who have NOT put in a request for early check-in or late check-out or date change. Even if they ONLY do laundry, and not a ‘full clean’, this is most helpful. Especially with terrible wet weather in the Bowral area that makes drying more challenging time wise. But it allows extra benefits for guests AND saves time or costs on the cleaning work.

I do hope my recent experience has encouraged others to venture into this area where appropriate. It began for me as a ‘way’ to not just deny some guest requests I could not accommodate, but now seems an obvious option to offer more widely. Be interested if anyone else decides to give it a try.

For those interested, 5 star reviews from guests who did self-cleaning (three in a row!!), and my thanks to them for this:

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This topic reminded me of something. Away back in the early days of Airbnb and Wimdu (when it was a serious competitor in Europe) wasn’t there an option to either pay a cleaning fee or do it yourself?

I can’t remember which one offered it, but I do remember cleaning an apartment we’d rented in Prague, or somewhere like that, before we left.

JF

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I do like the concept of the inspection fee vs cleaning, that some other helpful poster on this forum mentioned. Because I am not sure I would feel comfortable allowing guests to do the clean for OTHER guests completely. An ‘inspection’ fee means guests pay much less cleaning, but there is still a professional clean ‘inspection’. So if guests get it wrong, they still pay the full cleaning fee, but if they do a good or at least reasonable job, they only pay for inspection. Then we have confidence all is perfect for the new guests, without having to spend the time.

With this arrangement I might dare accept back to back bookings, knowing the clean time is much reduced.

Anyway, it seems plenty of folk will not want any cleaning and that’s fine. But there must surely be heaps of flexible folk like myself, who would be happy to self clean - even if just doing laundry - for a slight reduction in cleaning fees. Goodness, I usually self clean without any benefit at all… it feels nicer to leave a clean home, even if I am paying the cleaning fee I want to do some basics.

But thanks for the https://www.wimdu.com/ tip John. I’d not heard of them before. Seems a helpful tool to review cross platform booking options. How do they generate revenue though I wonder. Do they get paid for referral links? Because they seem to redirect you to other providers. I didn’t know Airbnb paid commission maybe others do though?

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Yes, that’s all they are now, but until 2018ish they were modelled on Airbnb with a heavy presence in Germany and throughout Europe. They shut up shop for a variety of reasons.

JF

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Actually one tiny difference in my current approach. I have never offered any discount. Only an early check-in (sometimes a day early) or late check-out.

So that seems smarter to ‘upsell’ and not ‘discount’ perhaps. Well, I am not selling anything, but have been offering it as an ‘option’ for change requests.

I guess the next idea could be to do as you commented. Offer some discount for some self-cleaning. But I think I still favour the upsell. You can have more time free if you help out. Then we don’t lose any revenue, and I think it’s simpler than changing financial stuff. Plus there is a saving on the cleaning expenses.

So I think offering the extra time is the smart approach. Offering a discount… feels slightly more tacky to me. Maybe, but not sure for a higher class home, where offering extra time seems more reasonable. You do some of the work for us, and then we can offer you more time as we don’t need to be there. Seems … more … classy than offering some relatively small discount I think.

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Perhaps instead of a discount, consider a removal of the cleaning fee. For example if the guest does the exit cleaning don’t charge the $150 cleaning fee. Or if you incorporate the cleaning fee in the nightly rate, refund that amount.

The extra time you are “giving” them in the unit is work time not fun time.

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Well two guests in the last three in a row got an extra day stay. One was requested, and the other wanted an extra early check in. So I gave her the day earlier instead of cleaning that morning as was planned. In both cases the guest got an entire extra night stay, at no charge. Which at current rates is over $500, and this is massively more than the cleaning fee.

So would you advocate charging the extra day? I thought giving them the significant extra time was the benefit. If we did as you suggested, it would cost the guests a lot more. So this is why it seems better to say you can have the extra time, and no charge, but only if you self clean.

I think if we are not giving significant extra time to the guest free, then I agree we could just discount the cleaning fee or remove it. But I don’t know, I’d still want to levy an inspection fee if they clean for next guests, as I would not trust them fully, and always would want a freshen up. But if they are coming and agree to self clean, then I guess it’s possible we could remove the cleaning fee…

There seems a clear distinction though.

  1. Offering to reduce (or even replace) cleaning fees
  2. Offering extra time free, in return for self cleaning

So far I’ve only ever done the extra time for cleaning offer, and then only when guests request it.

But I am certainly considering it as a more regular option.

There is also the issue of:

  1. Arrival self-clean. Cleaning after the guests who where there before you
  2. Exit cleaning LITE: Putting a load of washing on, or maybe two. Requires no inspection or proof.
  3. Exit cleaning full. Fully ready for next guests. Only for brave hosts, and with photo proof required and/or a small inspection fee. To be sure!

Not sure total removal of the clean fee works though. There is always the risk you need to rush over with extra toilet paper, or something is broken that would have been found earlier by the usual cleaner, and so on. Self cleaning is not completely hassle free. It still comes with some level of risk and worry for the host, and some of the fee is for the consumable products like toilet paper and so on. I think there would be some middle ground though. Maybe $100 discount to self clean. But it may confuse guests who ask why not remove the entire fee. We need to go in to restock and deeper clean and inspect and so on, so self-cleaning can’t be a 1 for 1 replacement I mean.

But as for your comment the extra time giving them is not being charged. Well, if it’s just an early check-in or late-out, then I think JUST asking them to put on the laundry seems fair. I don’t see this is much work time. It’s very helpful for the cleaner to arrive and washing is done and maybe a load even dried, but for the guest, it’s a ten min job to load the machine. So offering them an extra 2 or 3 hours there seems fair I think as an offer.

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You’ve clearly embraced this. You will need to figure out your own path.

My guests have done their own exit cleaning for over 6 years. Simple. Supplies on site. Reasonable nightly rate. Guests send me pictures when they leave. It’s not complicated. It’s not novel or new. In my area with the lack of available cleaning services, it is becoming more common.

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Appreciate your reply Anne. I am keen to not have to figure out my own path where possible though!, so your comments and others are quite helpful here. Regards complicated, my home sleeps ten. Can I ask how many your listing sleeps? Because I think cleaning after a group of ten, and a large home may be different to a small one bed flat for example, which sleeps two. I think this may put my listing into the ‘complicated’ area for cleaning. For example there are multiple loads of washing needed for a full clean, where smaller places will have less.

But interesting to think about it in terms of an area that has limited cleaners available, and glad to hear your advice you feel it’s becoming more common.

I am beginning to think I could have a duplicate listing, that allows back to back booking, but is specifically requiring guests to self clean. Not sure. Ideally I’d like to list in a way that has guests able to book back-to-back ONLY if they agree to do an arrival self-clean, or an exit self clean depending on dates. But the platforms don’t support that. The alternative could be to ask guests to check for back to back themselves on the listing calendar, and always allow it as a booking setting, but that is far too complicated of course.

Having a separate listing might be a solution. Open dates for gaps in the main calendar that would otherwise be blocked, but require self-clean.

I assume for your listing, self-cleaning is always the plan? For my listing, with most groups being large and often 10 people, for weddings mostly, the idea of self-cleaning is not likely to be as enthusiastically embraced lol. So I’d need an option, where it was maybe available, but certainly not the primary.

Maybe a double listing could be the answer. A second, self-clean only listing!

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If you’ve got 10 guests, you’ve got 10 cleaners unless you book to families with who bring mostly children.

When I had max 6, it was common for Dad to take the kids to the beach while Mom & Gmom cleaned. They would start the day before.

I started this with max sleeps 6. It wasn’t uncommon to have 8 (not allowed but happened before I got the ring doorbell). I have a cleaning checklist. I keep the condo stocked with cleaning supplies. Guests send me pictures of the cleaned unit when they leave. It protects them in case the next guest says things are not clean.

You can offer the condo on Airbnb with two listings & a synced calendar. My two are built for 2022. One for June-August bookings Fri -Friday bookings.

The second for Sept-May with different length of stay and different rules for my snowbirds.

Oh—I have towels, bed linens etc. in the condo. Guests must wash & stow at checkout. Most bring own so not doing laundry morning of checkout

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We used a self clean option with our 1br condo in Maui. It worked well, we cut the cost of the “self clean” in half from our regular rate, (or a little more), and people cleaned themselves. We had to pay our cleaner the remaining $50 or whatever was left, to check the place out. We no longer own the condo, but I think the cleaning fees there are around $125, so this is a significant savings for many people. I believe it is an attractive one to guests.
We were superhosts, and had a 97% occupancy rate. We did drop the price, when we had extra time left at the last minute, but it worked out for us. Especially shorter terms ones. It worked for us. We rarely had a problem, and if our cleaner had to do extra work, we paid them the difference in the fee.

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