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The National Min Wage in Hungary is 800huf per hour, but to live at all in Budapest you need to be earning considerably, I am not talking about a luxury life style, I am talking about bear survival.
I have rented my own apartment air b and b occasionally over the past year. It has always worked out very fairly well. I have done all the cleaning myself and most of the key handovers.
When I have hired cleaners I have aimed to give them a fair wage 5,000 to 10,000 huf, after all it takes about 2 -3 hours to clean the place, the going back and forth to collect the keys when the guest leaves ect ect I aim to pay fair, as I want a reliable person who wont steal ect.
Recently I have started to look for work in Budapest and I have found a few air b and b cleaning jobs advertised via face book which I have applied for and got. I have always done a good job, cleaning with care as my own home. I used to work as a commercial cleaner.
What has worried me was…
I did not have to supply passport/proof of address/cv/tax numbers - nothing I could of been anyone! I could of easily of stolen if I had wanted to.
I would often meet a random stranger in a pub, get handed 5 bunches of keys and told to go 5 or 6 different apartments across the city, no interviews, training or spot checks.
I was shocked to be offered 1,500huf to clean a large apartment, hand keys back and forth ect It meant that I had to do a VERY rushed job, the guest was late, I had to go back and forth twice, I was paid for an hour of my time, but in reality I needed half a day. It was terribly badly paid work.
I was curious how much people are paying agents and how much they think the cleaners are been paid and how fussed people are over back ground checks or is it just me been picky?
No you are not being picky. You should be paid for all the hours you work, not what an employer is prepared to pay you! You should earn minimum wage as a minimum, and that should include waiting for guests and travelling to each apartment.
We too are in Budapest - we have 2 apartments for rent on Airbnb plus we Airbnb our spare bedroom in our our apartment. We do all the cleaning and handovers ourselves. It takes 2 of us 2 hours to clean and prepare a whole apartment, 1,500 HUF would really be an insult. 800ft an hour is outrageously bad pay - it’s hard work!
We are from the U.K. - there we would have to run criminal background check, plus immigration status checks, and also take up references before employing someone. And pay them at least minimum wage for all their time working. I am not an expert on Hungarian employment law, but the broad parameters should be the same across the EU.
It looks like cleaners in Budapest are being taken advantage of, but I can’t say i’m surprised, it’s certainly been an interesting time for us here dealing with everything for the last 2 years!
In Hungary employment laws are similar. Even if the cleaners are genuine self employed people, then common sense would suggest that simply asking for proof of address, passport and some work references would be a good idea. This is no not happening at all. So far I have picked up a number of jobs from craigslist, facebook ect in the last month five times over and NOT once has anyone cared to run any back ground check on me at all. I am glad that I have a honest face, but as a air b and b owner I am horrified.
I urge b and b owners here to not believe the agents and to demand to see copies of references and background checks for every cleaner that the agents are supplying. I also appeal to you all to ask how much is paid to the cleaner.
Given the demonstration in Budapest against a law that would apparently let employers get away with not paying workers for overtime, it appears that there may be corruption in the government, or that unions there are very weak. My advice is for YOU to set your rates, and if hosts won’t pay it, pass it up. If you have an excellent reputation, you will get the business. The most sought after cleaning service in my town charges $45 for a very thorough room change and bathroom clean; that’s her minimum but she’s very efficient and very good (and almost impossible to book at month-end, when landlords turn over monthly rentals because she’s heavily booked for that). She has more work than she can handle because of her excellent reputation.
@Chris44g - interesting can you point to legislation here that says you need to run a criminal background check for cleaning staff? And aren’t immigration checks only required if you are employing someone rather than using an agency.
Where I live you need to pay way above the minimum wage to get a decent cleaner.
I’m afraid cleaners are taken advantage of in most countries including the UK, as it is one of the few jobs, where people can pay cash in hand still. I bet if you asked the majority of UK hosts here they would tell you they don’t have a contract with their cleaners, that they don’t carry out checks before employing them and if it is an individual, they are paid cash in hand etc.
hi Cozy-Budapest,
I own 2 beautiful Airbnb apartments in the heart of Budapest and i am looking for someone like you. If interested, let’s connect outside the forum
