Do you charge a Cleaning fee?

[Celeste247]

Does anyone not charge cleaning fees but instead increase the nightly rate? Wondering tricks and tips? 

[Title updated by Community Manager for relevancy]

[Fred13 · Accepted solution]

We now do not charge a cleaning fee. And yes we did increased the price because of the improvements done this year to our place.It is a good practice to always give (or have) a reason for a price increase.

[Celeste247]

Thank you for your response. Trying to figure out the best price for everything. 

[Hamid158]

Thank you for responding. I was looking for the same. 

[Lorna170]

@Celeste247  How long do your guests stay?  If just a day here and a day there, it may be difficult to cover your cleaning cost by rolling it into your nightly rate.  But if they stay for 4+ days, then raising your nightly rate and removing the cleaning fee may work out.

I would love to be able to showcase my property with a rental fee for a week or more with no cleaning fee and only apply the cleaning to the 2 nighters ... my housekeeper has to be paid, and the 2 night weekenders are usually far messier than the guests who stay for as long as a week.

[Celeste247]

Thank you. I agree with you. I have some who stay a couple days and some who stay a month+. The short stays are very messy compared to the longer stay guests. I just feel like my cleaning fee really ups my price. but a cheap clean is not a good investment. Thanks for the help. 

[Kathy33]

We don’t charge a cleaning fee because most of our guests are one nighters. And for us they are the cleaner ones. They also don’t usually use the kitchen. Makes cleaning easy. Good luck and HAPPY HOSTING 😃

[Celeste247]

Thank you for the info. This is all great advice. 

[Georg-And-Sanet0]

I also feel the same. Airbnb is not allowing for short term cleaning fees to be higher than fees for longer stays. But with longer stays it is easier to absorb the costs. It should actually be the other way around on airbnb. Especially in low season, my cleaning fee is more than a one night stay! 

[Laura7046]

How much do the professional cleaners charge? How thorough are they?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Laura7046 Its totally location dependent. Also check you have liability insurance that covers the cleaners.

How thorough are they - Depends if you get a good one!

[Elaine701]

@Celeste247 

Initially, we has a cleaning fee, but we discovered that when guests pay additional for cleaning, they tend to assume that means that they need not maintain any sense of order, nor tidy up before they leave. They paid for cleaning, after all.

And that's not only frustrating, but can also be costly, especially if you have only one day before the next guest arrives. Larger cleaning job means more people and/or longer hours.. they don't work for free. 

So we just raised the price and got rid of the cleaning fee. And while it didn't make every guest leave it in perfect condition, it seemed to have measurably minimised the number of really messy exits. 

But also helpful is to meet, greet and make friends with the guests. That makes guests a bit more conscientious about the condition they leave the property. 

[Josephine332]

Some guests prefer not to see you at all😊

[Evie431]

Do whatever you can do to NOT charge for cleaning services. Guests are fed up with the cleaning services fee, so they prefer to book with someone who is NOT charging them a separate fee for the cleaning services. You need to be creative.  I started charging initially, and I'm still new at this, but I immediately realized that the cleaning fee was a deterrent, so I changed it, and now I do not charge that fee. I did raise the price, but not too much.  I don't know if it was a coincidence, but I had a couple of bookings right after I made the change. Who knows.

However, keep in mind that the fact that you are not charging a cleaning fee doesn't mean that guests will leave your place tidy, as guests are like a surprise box; you never know what you will get until after they leave. Do it more, thinking that it may attract more people to book your place. However, is NOT a guarantee, but it's worth trying.  Good Luck!

[Fiona256]

I have not charged a cleaning fee in almost 40 years of providing holiday accommodation. Surely cleaning is an integral part of the service we provide travellers. It should be part of the overall cost of the stay, not an additional fee. Cleaning, like administering bookings, maintaining the property and garden, etc, is a business requirement and should simply be calculated into the amount charged per stay. The materials used can be offset against tax. Or if you use a cleaner, rather than do it all yourself then the cleaner’s invoice payment can be offset against tax, as you would with your accountant. It’s all part of the cost of doing busness.

We read about guests disliking additional fees like this, and feeling they should not clean up after themselves since they are being charged separately for cleaning. It’s not surprising.

We also read that many hosts justify an additional fee to guests for cleaning to keep the cost proportional for guests who stay longer. I understand the argument there, but I don’t agree with it.

I will never charge for cleaning. It seems unfair. No-one used to in the UK. It’s yet another thing we have inherited from America.

How can we claim we are providing hospitality when we demand that guests pay extra for cleaning? It seems most inhospitable to me.

Fiona