Hmmmm, I already have a small cleaning fee. Perhaps a similar-to-before nightly rate and a much larger cleaning fee? Or a hike in the nightly rate alone? What would look better and more attractive for the guest?
I think most guests realize that cleaning is costing more everywhere so it would make sense. Plus your longer stays get the fee spread over a few days.
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I am contemplating raising my prices during prime months, not for the additional cleaning, but really to offset the gap days that are now required. I used to have same day turn-arounds during my busy months, but current cleaning requirements will negate that, while increasing vacancy rate.
Predictions are that business travel is probably not going to be at “BP” levels, as people get used to doing more work virtually, and remain concerned about contact with multitudes of strangers. With that said, you can raise your prices but if there are fewer business travelers the demand for accommodations may be less, so unless your competition is reduced (as others have suggested) you may be impacted by Supply & Demand. I think we all have to wait and see.
EXCERPT FROM THE ATTACHED ARTICLE.
Research by Citi estimates that corporate travel could be impaired by about 25 per cent versus 2019 levels, driven by the proliferation of virtual meetings and varying quarantining and border rules for the foreseeable future. This will make it a “struggle for a lot of airlines that carry international and business travellers . . . to make money,” said Mark Manduca, aviation analyst at Citi. Corporates are already showing signs of reassessing their policies. Jean-Sébastien Jacques, chief executive of mining group Rio Tinto, said its spending on long-haul could fall by as much as 75 per cent over six months. “We used to have a big budget for international travel between continents and I am sure that is going to shrink very quickly.”
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I just got an email that a rescheduled to 2021 performance of Les Miserables has been cancelled. Other shows have been moved out to 2021 but obviously there is uncertainty as to what this will look like over a year from now.
For the time being we are putting on a smile and hoping for the best but behind the scences those with access to the best, unbiased science are prepping for more pain ahead. I think we are well advised to do the same.
Translated it actually 
just about to suggest it to mine host. Too many feckers sitting drinking coffee and sin alcohol cerveza.
Got the last table on the pavement. Didn’t have to resort to having a little cough…
JF
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He is, of course, the consummate professional 
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You’ve reminded me of my mid life gap year running a bar in Portugal (same skill set as being a psych nurse), when August brought Spanish tourists in droves, who sat drinking a SINGLE coffee all evening. To be fair, the Lisboa contingent were just as bad.
I dealt with falling revenues by hiding the coffee machine, then showing a jar of Gold Blend to anyone who asked. Instant coffee = instant departure; result.
I did have one bunch of Spanish students who came every night for a week, and drank themselves through the menu of cocktails, ordering jugfulls at a time. And they were such fun too.
That will have been the snobby Madrileños who are in so much debt a coffee is all they can afford.
Us Jerezanos are a different breed, our city RUNS on alcohol, literally!
Gracias Paul, you are just too kind. If I manage to get the correct licences for my sherry tours, then I really will be a professional drinker
JF
In that case, I shall be opening another bar when we manage to get back to Portugal! An honesty bar in the garden, for Jerezanos only.
“You’ve reminded me of my mid life gap year running a bar in Portugal (same skill set as being a psych nurse)”, HAHA My very wonderful cousin lived above a Greenwich Village bar where she tended. She is now a psych nurse!
We here at Tiny Tiki have raised our prices and our cleaning fee.
This is interesting and I’m curious to see if this works. I’ve been slowly raising my rates BP to test the market, but have thought I might need to lower rates once I reopen. I have noticed hosts in my area have slashed their rates during the pandemic, and I thought I’d read somewhere about guests expecting more discounts during the pandemic. Do we think that guests will have the upper hand when this is all over? Will there be enough hosts desperate to get any income for fear of losing their home that they’ll set rock bottom rates? And what about us homeshare hosts? Will that market ever pick up again?
On a separate topic, but related to your concern about your health, one thing to consider is that there is a growing portion of the population (at least in the U.S.) who thinks this pandemic is all overblown and some even think it’s a hoax. I am definitely not one of these people, but what if one of your guests is–will they take your precautions seriously and wear a mask in the house, wipe off door handles, stay away from common areas (or whatever it is you choose to require), or will they be one of those people who protest and say you’re violating their civil liberties?
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It occurs to me that maybe if you are significantly more expensive than someone who is slashing prices, you will look safer and better? Some people might look at a low price as indicative of desperation that manifests as less safe?
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As a professional guide, I always believe in hiring other pros. Now if you need a professional evaluation of your tour, I won’t charge you if you won’t charge me!
I’ll trade you a 4 craft brewery Alaskan tour for a Jerez cellar tour…
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Yer on mucker the only problem there is will you remember enough at the end to provide a comprehensive evaluation?
Don’t torment me! Good ale here is either like unicorn shit or extremely expensive. Whenever anything decent appears in the supermarkets (which it does sporadically), the WhatsApp messages between my friend and I begin. We have been known to clear a shelf of certain UK IPA’s within hours of it being available.
This place literally just opened up last week, and it’s just round the corner from us:
They’ve got an interesting selection, and their prices for some of the Belgian beers are decent. Need to wait till we get a few bookings under our belt before any extensive research is cerried out!
JF
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Now don’t you get confused and start doing beer tours of Jerez!
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One of my guests who booked for 3 days in July, asked if if I’d make an exception to my 3 day minimum, as they wanted to modify their stay to 2 days.
In preCovid (and since July & August are not prime season) I would have agreed. But these days, it’s not worth it for me. This is how the messaging went:
GUEST: .… Would you be willing to make an exception to the three night minimum stay? We will be in ____ the week before and have friends joining us so we’d like to stay there until Friday afternoon instead of missing them and coming back Thursday let me know if we can modify to just stay Friday and Saturday and Check our Sunday. It would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
ME: Hi ___ Because of all the cleaning requirements for Covid19 precautions + the gap days between stays, I no longer do 2-day stays. If you would like to cancel, and if you do so today, I’ll support a full refund, however you’ll need to initiate it and then AirBNB will contact me to verify. LMK
I followed up this morning:
ME: Just checking back to see if you’ve decided to cancel this reservation, to find something that fits your revised schedule. If that is your plan I’d ask that you do so today, and I’ll support a full refund * By doing such, that will give me enough time to either rebook those dates or make other plans.
If you aren’t going to cancel today, I will have to have to stick with the cancellation policy that is in place. (I included a screen print of the policies)
‘*’ Note: I have no control of how AirBNB handles their service fees but I’d suggest that if you are booking another AirBNB, that you can probably negotiate the refund of service fees on the cancellation.
GUEST: Hi, sorry meant to get back to you yesterday but we would like to keep the reservation as is. We were able to change our other plans and are all set. Looking forward to it!
Lesson learned: Being supportive but sticking to your guns seemed to work.
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@IamJasonWeber Welcome to the forum and thanks for all the constructive input.
On a different topic we got into a discussion about stays greater than 1 month
Curious as to your approach and if/how you mitigate risk regarding tenant squatters, whether you use AirBNB, or go through a traditional lease with background checks, security deposit, 1st/Last, etc.
- Yes; a major difference between renting rooms vs a whole apartment or property. With other renters present, it is also easier to keep tabs to ensure the potential squatters are not being destructive.
- I can see how your market (Silicon Valley) with high cost of living and multiple tech jobs seem to warrant a such a business model.
- You highlight the “one size does not fit all” aspect of this community.
I assume that your Covid19 challenges are those
- now not willing to share apartments
- returning home (or elsewhere) to work remotely
On a similar theme I came across this article a few months ago.