Interesting fun fact:
I just lowered my cleaning fees and raised my rates and received 3 instant bookings in one day after weeks of my bookings dropping off to nothing!
(Previously my property was booked at almost 100% all year).
The total payout is almost the same…
I am now convinced there is an algorithm that detects this change…
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Gee, maybe I should add a cleaning fee for a day or two (I’ve never charged one) and then remove it. 
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I actually removed my cleaning fee and raised my rates. I dropped right away in rankings and got no inquiries. As soon as I added my cleaning fee back in and lowered my nightly rates I got bookings again. I was thinking the algorithm goes off nightly rate? So hard to figure out.
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That was my experience as well. It’s frustrating. My cleaning fee is very low, $49, and my minimum stay is 4-5 nights. It only adds $10-12 a night. When I got rid of it and raised the nightly rate by $12 the low-rated low-priced but high cleaning fees (~$125-$175) places all rose above me in the search ranking. I’m curious to see what happens when the total prices show.
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Not “this change”… “change”.
AirBnB’s algorythm reacts to active hosts that and change/update listings.
It prefers active hosts, and I think it test the change to see if it generates bookings.
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Inspired by you I just dropped my cleaning fee entirely and did not change the rates.
We dropped the cleaning fee in summer, when we typically have longer stays. But we reinstated it in winter when the stays are shorter.
We’ll see what happens. But typically Dec-March are exceedingly slow times.
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I update my listings weekly, adding new photos, changing the descriptions, tweeking my content…
These bookings were a direct response to a lower cleaning fee.
It could also be that it is a guest related thing… Entitled guests think $25. per hour is too much to pay… (Not to mention the cost of ‘green’ cleaning products).
I used to have the ‘pay guest a living wage’ pledge, but it looks like they did away with that.
I also raised my cleaning rate during the peak of Covid. My property has a lot of moving parts… Also do Glamping, so cleaning is problematic. Usually I have to wash windows between guests. Everything is detailed between guests. The house takes 6 hours, the glamping units take at least 4 hours each. I also clean and drain the natural Cedar Hot tubs for almost every guest…
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I know cleaning fees have been in the news. But like much of what’s in the news, you have to take it with a grain of salt.
I don’t actually think airbnbs core customer is frustrated with cleaning fees. It’s mostly people that think airbnbs are competing with hotels that find the fees unreasonable.
A cleaning fee is really a 3 night minimum in disguise. If one stays in a mountain cabin for a week, paying $150 for a cleaning fee is very reasonable and totally worth it to not have to clean oneself. Staying one or two nights? Certainly it stands out.
I think it’s the fee + rules that bothered people, not the fee by itself
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I suspect a lot of potential guests don’t put in any dates or how long they plan to stay so it just adds the cleaning fee on to the nightly rate.