Hi,
I do not live in my airbnb and I’m also out of state so my basement unit tenant does the cleaning and turnaround for the unit. She is asking for more money because of the time the laundry is taking her to do (There’s two sets for every bed and I’ve ordered more but I only have one washer and dryer so it does take a while if 6 people stay which we have had a lot of- it’s a two bedroom house).
For those of you who do not live in the house but who manage all of the bookings, who do you pay to manage the laundry and cleaning and how much if you don’t mind me asking? I’m having a hard time negotiating a fee with my tenant (we settled on one and she now wants more because she says it’s a lot more work so I proposed an increase based on the amount of people staying but she wants more than I proposed…To reiterate- I manage all of the correspondence with people making inquiries and I manage the calendar. My tenant does the cleaning, laundry and gets the house ready for guests. Thanks!
Sounds like the bloom has worn off and she’s getting burnt out with the job. Obviously, the proposed increase is not incentive enough and she values her time and services more than you.
If you are paying her the “market” rate, it may be time to look for another cleaner who is more enthusiastic about the job.
We just hired a cleaning lady.
We pay $30 to turn over 1 room (1 bed) + bath. I added that amount to my listing as a cleaning deposit and so far the room has stayed booked almost every day with high quality guests.
She won’t be doing the laundry for that cost, thoughm
We pay $45 for a thorough cleaning of our very small 2 br apt. If she were doing the laundry as well, I’d have to increase that to $65 (she currently just strips beds and leaves the pile in my laundry room). Managing turnover, instead of just cleaning, involves laying down new sheets & duvet cover, properly hanging and folding extra towels, putting in a new code and replacing key, insuring the info sheet is there, re-stocking TP and a few drinks in fridge, etc. It’s a much greater degree of responsibility, IMO, and my cleaner was visibly stressed on the few occasions when she has done it by herself.
The few times I have had to pay for cleaning for my studio suite, I have the laundry already done. Even with that, it’s still a minimum of three or four hours. I pay $85 because that is what I charge the guest.
Hosting is a lot of work. The cleaning and turnaround is only part of it. Who does the onsite management of your place, such as if the guests need something? If it’s also your tenant, that is a lot to place on her.
She ought to be getting free rent or a portion of each booking…
I don’t blame her for wanting more compensation. She sees you taking in all the profit while she does the work. That many loads of laundry is super tedious would wear on me after the first couple of turnovers.
You need to greatly increase the compensation for your tenant or find someone else to rely on.
As we’ve seen from previous threads on this board; the price for cleaning varies vastly depending on where you are located. Here in Los Angeles, CA, I can’t imagine paying less than $125.00 for cleaning a two bedroom house including laundry. When we used to have a cleaning person, for us not for Airbnb guests, we paid $125.00 for our two bedroom house. The cleaner didn’t do laundry or dishes.
Thanks everyone. I was hoping to hear from people who have to pay someone else to manage the laundry and turnaround not just the cleanin so I could get a feel for what people pay for that. People who don’t live on or near their property. I fully believe in paying people for their time and effort. I am already paying her more than what a cleaning person would charge and more than the cleaning fee I charge guests. I do have to take into account all the other expenses that go along with the house. Perhaps this is my cue that just getting a tenant might be the better way to go rather than doing air b n b. Either way I will think about it and play with the numbers (perhaps I’m not charging enough per night). Thank you all again.
I am also a remote host. I use a professional cleaning company to turn over my 3 bdr 2 ba cottage. They clean, do the laundry in my house, and completely prepare the place for the next guest for $150. My point is, I depend on these people, this not a casual job. I respect them and they know it. If I have guest checking out tomorrow and a last minute booking for Sunday, they will handle it without drama.
I pay $140 to a cleaning couple, who do all the laundry and clean the 3.5 bathrooms as well as the home. It sleep 8, so there are two king beds, a queen and two twins. I used to do the cleaning for this home and only paid myself $120, and got really tired of it after a year. I do make it a requirement that the renters start the Dishwasher as they are departing. The house is in Calif.
Thank you! I actually offered more than that but she wants 200. I only have two bedrooms but there is a pull out couch. She’s great and I’m lucky to have her but at some point the cost has to make sense from a business persepective so I’m weighing all of that now and trying to figure out ways to keep her happy and reduce the load and still stay competitively priced. It helps to have some sort of idea what someone in my same circumstance is paying 
Does she meet and greet the guests, give them a house tour, answer their questions and help with their problems? If so, bear in mind that is a lot more work than just cleaning.
Thank you! Super helpful
No I have a keypad lock so guests let themselves in. I can also change the passcode remotely. I am the point person for all questions and she hasn’t had to manage any issues. Guests text me when they have a question, so it’s just the cleaning, laundry and getting the house ready which I recognize is no small job
$200 seems fair but has she actually broken down her workload by the hour? In Hawaii the going rate for cleaners is $25-30 per hour and much more for the big luxury homes. Have her do a turnaround and keep an actual time sheet. If she charged by the hour, she would need to give you an hourly rate.
My sister lives in Waikoloa I’m in DC …she has somewhat broken down her time… she timed how long it takes her (and her boyfriend) to clean - they can do that in 2-3 hours) and how long it takes to run the laundry for each bedroom (sheets, towels and duvet for each room) but there’s a grey area because she’s not sitting and watching the washer and dryer but she is running up and down the stairs every hour or so to load and unload and then fold whatever is dry … I think I’ve come up with a way to give her what she wants and pass it off a little more to the guests whiteout pricing myself out of the market …fingers crossed
That seems very reasonable. As well as our own rental I look after one for someone else and although you say that she doesn’t have deal with issues, there’s a lot more to ‘cleaning’ than cleaning!
For example, does she have to buy her own cleaning supplies? Consumables such as soap, shampoo, loo paper etc? Does she clean the windows? The oven? Does she have extras like shower curtains, bathmats, throw pillow covers, etc. to launder? Does she iron? Does she change lightbulbs, AC filters and do general simple maintenance? Is there outside work such as sweeping pathways, the balcony etc? Does she keep the house manual updated? (It’s okay, I don’t expect you to answer all these!)
But it takes me four hours to do a turnover which includes buying supplies and laundry. (Also the house tour, availability during the stay etc. but that’s not relevant in your case).
To prepare a place for Airbnb guests is much more than ‘cleaning’.
Hi- no I buy the supplies (consumables and cleaning- I even get her special cleaning stuff because certain harsh chemicals give her headaches- and I am happy to do so) and have them delivered to her unit. She didn’t iron anything, change bulbs, or have to do any outside work like sweeping and I keep the manual updated and send her a printed copy to place in the house. I do agree with you that cleaning can be more than cleaning and honestly if my bookings were bringing in the kind of money where I could give her 200 a stay I would be happy to do that, I’m hopeful that some tweaks to the price and 200 for when the max amount of guests are booked will resolve the issue
Thanks!
Good to hear 
I do find that Airbnb and the media encourages hosts to have low prices (it’s the ‘cheaper than a hotel’ thing) but it really makes sense to work out your finances accurately and not undervalue the accommodation you have to offer.
Yes…I’m in a city with a lot of airbnb options and I’m already in a niche market because I have two bedrooms (single guests are not going to want to stay in my place and most likely two people won’t either. In the 15 bookings I’ve had since I started in May all have been 3-6 people except for one) and I have felt that when using the flex price and letting the computer generate it it’s priced a bit lower than I would like. I’m still playing with things and am hopeful I can work things out with my tenant
In my area (Melbourne), I have to pay $100-120 for a house clean (120 square metre small house). Regarding bedding, a professional management company charges $15 per bed no matter what size, that includes making the bed and laundry of bedding (I never used the service just know the price).
The cleaning cost are high for me so I only get these service when I really don’t have time for turnover myself. Also the cost is based on airtasker so it is already on the cheap side, a professional cleaning company charge twice that much.