Deposit is a MUST because is something the guest can lose if they don’t return your place in good shape.
It works better to prevent damage than to repair it.
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You wrote: “I avoid listings with cleaning fees.”
Our cleaning fee is £50, our cleaning service charges £30 and our linen service £70-£100. We certainly don’t make a profit on the fee but we think it encourages longer stayers, even if we only recover half of what it actually costs us. We used to charge £10/day for a 3rd or 4th guest but reduced that to £5 after someone complained: that goes to pay the laundry bill too.
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I hate cleaning fees too. I don’t charge them and in fact advertise in my listing that there is no cleaning fee. Instead, I absorb the cost of cleaning in a higher nightly rate.
I actually don’t understand having a separate fee for cleaning. To me, it’s just part of the overall cost of doing business. I don’t charge a snack fee, water fee, toilet paper fee, or an electricity fee, so why would I charge a cleaning fee? It’s not like if they don’t pay a cleaning fee, the place wouldn’t be turned over.
But back to the topic of deposits, if AirBnB started holding those funds, I may consider it. Right now, it’s a meaningless fee that I’m pretty sure deters some guests from booking.
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Your listing looks pretty good but could be improved. I love the photo of the trees taken from the ground toward the sky, but most of the photos aren’t the best quality e.g. not sharp, not from wide enough angle, shadow areas too dark, etc. And why two photos of the hot tub? Does Air still send out a pro at no cost? If not look for one who does real estate listings, may cost about $150. Also re the hot tub, it’s not clear if it’s shared, I think it is, anyhow you might want to mention that along with appropriate comments about how often the other party uses it.
Thanks @maureen. I’ve been putting off getting better photos. I meant to do it this past Summer when the property looks it’s best and most inviting. Fall snuck up on me…
A big draw for our guests is the outside of the property. The look and feel of the property changes drastically with the different seasons. I suppose I could have AirBnB send out their paid photographer and then do it again later out of pocket. That way I get good photos of the different seasons.
I removed one of the redundant photos of the hot tub and added some text that explains it’s private, non-shared while guests are here.
Thanks again for the feedback.
Hi Colorado, actually you have some pretty decent exteriors and different seasons, don’t need to be too concerned about having a pro capture all that. Also as far as the language, having the big lead-in of “No cleaning fee, no security deposit” is not in my opinion, the best features to emphasize.
The reason is simple.
Each changeover is expensive in time and resources (water, electricity, etc.) . Our family spends about 4 hours total, depending on what the guests were like. I wash and iron up to 3 sets of sheets and 10 pillow cases, along with up to 10 towels. Because of competition in my area, our rates are still fairly low; making a profit is tough. We are making, maybe, $20 an hour, what lower-skilled house cleaners and babysitters make in my area, but they aren’t investing in their property as we have to, and take the risk I have to. So, I could quit airbnb and get a cleaning job and make the same with less risk.
We don’t want expend the time and resources for a one-night stay. It’s not profitable. So we use the option of a small cleaning fee - this way we make a bit of extra money on a one-night stay to compensate us for the work, a smaller bit extra for the two nights, and by three nights it adds little to their nightly rate.
When a guests checks in - and - out there is a lot of work involved. It costs us more time. However, one night stays don’t affect the use of the chocolate, toilet paper, or anything else. All those expenses are incurred every day a guests stays. Only the cleaning, or change-over adds to the expenses for each new arrival.
But the expense of the change-over happens only once per booking, and hosts want to guard their profit by adding a cleaning fee for shorter bookings that create less profit. Its a way to be able to host even one-night stays while guarding my slim profit margin.
I love on my guests when they’re here out of charity and good-will. I WORK for INCOME.
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+1. I am been used to not get a small cleaning fee but a small fees it’s normal to compensate my preparation time (and it’s compensating only a part of the time for the preparation). We have only 250 sek cleaning fees for a 90 square appartment
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Good to remember… It’s called making a profit… Right? Would we do this for strangers for free? I think not.
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I have a $1200 deposit. It doesn’t seem to affect my business. I rent a whole 3 bedroom 1800 sqft house so I want serious people. One person asked me about it once, I shot them the AirBNB link that explained it. He booked a day later.
BTW, do NOT underestimate the cost of ONE bad renter. What about a burned carpet or a rather large red stain in the middle that can’t be cleaned. Damaged countertops in a kitchen are expensive. Broken toilet with water damage. BTW, be careful on how you see that damage insurance. I had a friend who had a queen mattress ripped open… Getting it paid is not as easy or fast as you might think. I am not sure why you would ever put a $200 damage deposit up. But a $1200 does imply the renter should be reasonable.
$200, $1200 or a million dollars doesn’t really matter as AirBnB doesn’t hold funds on the guest’s card. It’s completely meaningless and won’t help you collect real funds should there be a damage dispute.
I’d like nothing more than to be wrong on this.
Airbnb customer service says that they have an ‘authorization to charge the security deposit if they determine it is warranted’ (and I think she was reading from the manual). Exactly what that means, I have no idea. I know it means that in a worst case scenario I have no leverage at all - zero. I accept that. I ‘charge’ a $400 damage deposit on a 3bdr3ba whole house to discourage bad renters, who probably do not actually know how deposits are handled by Airbnb. If you check out the Airbnb Community pages you will find that most hosts and almost all guests have absolutely no idea what they are doing. Luckily, I guess, I get very little business from Air, mostly from Homeaway - VRBO (and repeats) and I believe they actually do hold the funds.
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Yes, HomeAway charges and holds the security deposit for up to two weeks after check-out.
Re. Airbnb, most guests have no idea how the deposit works. Several guests were expecting to pay for the deposit in cash at check-in 
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A separate fee makes sense when a cost is going to be incurred no matter how long you stay. In my case, I need to use the laundrette to wash and dry the sheets and robes, at a cost of around £10 to £15. Even I charged a slightly higher rate I’d be down overall…
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Well to me that looks like an issue with a low quality chair. And since it’s two months old I would be taking it back to the manufacturer with a complaint !
I notice that poster complains theft isn’t covered…but also doesn’t seem to have experienced theft.
Think you’re going to have to find a more convincing thread Colorado 
I also think, while not taking sides, that chair appeared to be of low quality.
There is furniture considered “institutional grade” as would be used by motels, offices, etc. You will pay more up front but it will take the abuse and last longer. Not forever, but longer.
Right now, I’m typing this post sitting at a small, 30" round Formica top table with a steel center post, steel base. It’s very heavy. It’s the kind a restaurant or bar might use. You cannot damage this table unless you take an ax to it.
This is easily a $250 table. Paid $20 at the local Restore… Or was it Goodwill…
Think “used office supply”, not Walmart.
Appears that deposit is worth about as much as their million dollar insurance policy they claim they have… Nothing,
The damaged chair is bought from a reputable furniture company with a 3-year warranty so it is not an inferior product. Sadly the warranty does not cover damage caused deliberately, meaning someone pulled out the screws of the backrest forcefully and used a sharp object to scratch the surface. There is no way these damages are caused “naturally” by the chair itself.
The Airbnb agent who handled my case said it was “ordinary wear and tear” amd the guest was not liable. I don’t know how she came to that conclusion? It is obvious Airbnb values guests more than hosts as the former is where they get most of their business.
I’d have agreed with you if the exact damage hadn’t happened to me a few days ago. And I was sitting on a designer chair that cost over 450 euros.
My guess is that if the guest denies the damages then Air doesn’t want to fork over the money every time out of pocket. The guest can file a chargeback on their credit card if Air tries to charge it for damages they didn’t agree to. So anything that Air can squeeze into the definition of “ordinary wear and tear” - they will. I don’t even know why they bothered with their last sentence below.
What’s not protected? The Host Guarantee does not protect:
cash and securities
pets
personal liability
shared or common areas
Certain types of property–such as jewelry, collectibles, and artwork–have more limited protections. Hosts may want to secure or remove such valuables when renting their place, and may want to consider independent insurance to cover such items. The Host Guarantee does not protect against reasonable wear and tear. Hosts can take advantage of our system to implement a security deposit to protect against wear and tear.