Recommendation on how to charge cleaning fee for some guests

[Stephanie26]

Hi, wondering if anybody has a suggestion for this dilemna..

I am a Superhost, am booked pretty much every day I leave my calendar unblocked and work full time during the week.  For the last 2 years, if somebody has a check-out during the week, I block the day after so I can clean the evening after their stay.  I recently found a person who can come in to clean on random days as necessary, so I thought I would not block those days and let her clean for me when I can't. The thinking was that I would get more reservations.  It was working out well, but now I am getting a lot of reservations where she needs to clean and I feel like it isn't worth the hassle since I lose over half the value of my daily rate for the cleaning fee.  I pay her between $50-$60 USD for a cleaning, and would like to be able to charge someone, say $30, if I need to hire someone to do the cleaning.

Obviously, if I include a cleaning fee in my listing, it will apply to everyone, even when I am able to clean.  I don't want to do that.  So, an option would be to include the fee in my listing, but state in my listing summary the cleaning fee would not apply if I am able to clean.  If I know I can clean before they reserve, I can just provide them a special offer where I deduct  this fee.  If I do not know until after, I was thinking I could just give them the money back when they are here.

That's the only way I can think to handle this.  Does anybody else have any ideas?

[Gillian19]

@Stephanie26 Hi Stepahanie, If it were me I'd charge everyone an extra $10 a night so that regardless of who was doing the cleaning everyone was chipping in. Whether you add it as the controversial clenaing fee or incorprate into your rate is another question!

[Stephanie26]

Hi @Gillian19.  Thank you for your reply.  That is one scenario i didn't think of as I didn't want to charge when I am doing the cleaning.  I'd like to hear what others think, but that may be the best solution - a tiny fee applied to everyone..

[Lizzie]

Hello @Stephanie26,

Thanks for posting this question. 🙂

As a kind of variation on @Gillian19's idea, could you perhaps apply a very small cleaning fee across all of your bookings (lower than what you would charge if you were placing it on only your bookings which you have to pay an external clearning for), so that it is the same for all your guests. It would then even itself out and you can then use that money to pay the cleaner, but not really impact the price your guests are paying at the same time?

Just a thought. 

Lizzie

[Stephanie26]

Hi @Lizzie, thank you for your reply.  Unless I'm missing something, I think that is exactly what @Gillian19 described!  I think it is a great idea and really solves the problem without putting too muh burden on anyone.  Thank you for your reply, it has been implemented and I've already received a reservation with my first cleaning fee!