New Airbnb rules

Tidy up yes. No to taking out the rubbish. The cleaner/owner can do that (assuming you don't produce so much that you haven't already taken out one bag and put a new one in during the week). Hotels don't ask me to empty bins and neither do B&Bs.

We have a small cleaning fee, £20-30, I forget the exact number. It's not really a cleaning fee as it comes no where near covering the cost of a clean, it's a fixed cost fee, but the only option we have under the AirBnB pricing formula. As above, cleaning, laundry, welcome packs are all the same 1 night or 7+ nights. If we didn't have the option, a 2 night stay would be the same nightly rate as a 7 night stay, and longer stays would subsidise shorter stays. A fix/cleaning fee is good for the guest if you want a longer stay. If people think it really covers "why should I keep the place tidy, you charge a cleaning fee?", it really really doesn't cover that in any way

As a former host and a guest maybe twice a year- I think hosts should expect basic decency and cleanliness from guests which to me includes doing the dishes or setting the dishwasher. I am also not personally put off by stripping beds either. I don’t consider that cleaning and does not fall into what guests are paying for in the cleaning fee. Now if you’re requesting guests clean the toilets, showers, change sheets, etc (which I’ve personally not come across) that’s different.

Part of the reason hosts request the above is so that the turnover doesn’t have to take as long- which means cleaning fees can be lower and check in/out times can be civil. Ultimately if guests aren’t doing this and cleaning takes longer- you’re going to find that cost passed to the guest. When I was a host, turnover costs were just about covered by the cleaning fee- the general consensus was to keep it as a low as possible to ensure bookings. I had one hour for a standard turnover plus a few deeper cleans each month. Cleaning, running a business, etc isn’t cheap and this just feels like a move that’s quite guest oriented to appease those who have no clue the other side- but if airbnbs have to raise cleaning rates and change times then people might think twice before booking via airbnb anyway- so airbnb might be shooting themselves in the foot tbh… people already go to other sites due to Airbnb’s own fee and cleaning fees 😂.
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But it's not good for any guest long or short stay because a property should be clean as standard, it's not an optional extra. Whether it does or doesn't exceed your actual cleaning fees is irrelevant as your cleaning fees should be covered in the cost of the rental. It's like going to a restaurant and ordering spaghetti bolgnese only for them to charge you a 'pasta fee' on top.

I had to book an AirBnB for my son once in our road as we had to unexpectedly put MiL up and he was visiting at the same time. The host made some absurd spiel about the shower not working properly and you had to point it in a certain direction. So I said why don't you just get a plumber in to fix the shower? Why is this a problem for your guests? He was also insisting that all guests take their shoes off inthe house as he was a Muslim. I actually think shoes in a house is unhygienic but can't see how you can enforce that on guestsl

Just seems to be reinforcing the idea that staying in a budget hotel is a better option where you are not expected to do any cleaning whatsoever. This is why hotels will never go out of fashion.

People staying in Airbnb's are quite likely to have more rubbish than someone staying in a hotel.

If you cook at all there is going to be some rubbish. Obviously you don't cook in a hotel. If you are staying for a week or maybe longer that is likely to be a fair bit of rubbish so why would you not take it out?

Some posters really seem so lazy and slovenly if they can't even put out a bit of rubbish or just keep somewhere clean as they go along.

Don't even get me started on people who say they don't go on holiday to make their bed every day! Oh yes straightening the bottom sheet and pulling up the duvet is such hard work and so time consuming

She has just explained to you the small cost is not for actual cleaning, it's to make a short stay worth doing the cleaning and laundry for.

Honestly, I'd wash up after myself and tidy up as standard. I'd put rubbish in the bins and take it to the outside bin in the garden if necessary, but I don't expect to be told to take the rubbish off site. I'd pull up the bed and leave it tidy, but I don't expect to be told to strip the beds or put the washing on. Rubbish disposal and linen changing really should be factored into the operating costs of running a short let business.

Not really. I don't go on holiday to stay somewhere regarded as 'budget'.

Then that needs to be transparently factored into the standard rental price rather than charging a fake fee.

Yes I make a profit but it's my job. It's not extra income it's my only income, it's a business. Making a profit is the way I pay my mortgage and bills.

I have 2 units in my garden, both one bed so no where near £3k a week. But many people with properties that size aren't breaking even at the moment because the costs are so high. If you pay a mortgage and for cleaning it wipes it all out. Which is why so many people are selling up at the moment.

So why is it called a cleaning fee then? This may well be an Airbnb thing rather than the property owners. (I should add that it's not the money, that doesn't bother me, it's the principle of paying an additional fee for something that you have already paid for in the accommodation cost).

So if there were two otherwise identical properties for your holiday
Property A - Flat Rate £550 for your stay
Property B - £250 plus £250 cleaning fee

Which you choose?

And if at some point in the future we say no cleaning fees, do you think the cost of Property B will remain £250, or become £550?

Presumably it wouldn't be £500 v £550 if the properties were identical? It would be £500 v £250+£250. I'd choose the £500 one, as I'd object to the hosts dicking around with an excessive cleaning fee.

This policy is good, as it adds transparency to the pricing. The price you see is the price you pay and you know it includes all cleaning with no unreasonable rules. It's easier to compare like with like.

I notice you didn't actually answer my question, you changed it and answered a different one .. For longer stays they won't be the same, for the fixed cost / variable costs described above
Your choice of course...

Sorry, you are making no sense. If it's £250 +£250, then when you amalgamate them into one charge, it's £500, not £550.

I'd rather the property charged a transparent, all in charge of £500, rather than saying £250 and then slapping on a fake £250 cleaning charge.

It's dicking around like this that is the problem. Factor your running costs into your rental price and charge a transparent all in fee.

Loads of reasons hotels don't always work and self catering dors. We tend to stay in rural areas that don't have a good choice of hotels. In the UK we'll have dogs with us. Recently I wanted accomodation for an activity based trip and breakfast starting at 8.30 didn't work. We don't want to eat in restaurants every night on a longer trip. We like to have comfortable chairs/sofa to relax on without going to a communal area.

<admission, I gave up and ask AI to summarise for me ( hands head in shame)>

Invented numbers to illustrate the principle, only covering costs, no profit
Minimum property stay 2 nights

Model A: Fixed Cleaning Fee + Variable Nightly Rate

• £60 one-time cleaning fee + £100 per night other variable expenses.
• 2-Day Stay: £260 total *£130.00/night*
• 10-Day Stay: £1,060 total £106.00/night

Model B: Strict Flat Rate (£130 per night)

• 2-Day Stay: £260 total *£130.00/night* (Tie with Model A)
• 10-Day Stay: £1,300 total £*130.00/night*

You end up paying £240 more on a 10-day stay because you're essentially paying a hidden "cleaning fee" equivalent every single night!

What?? It’s almost as if AI isn’t accurate a lot of the time or reliable or used by people who aren’t able to create, argue or work stuff out for themselves.

It is an Air BnB thing, yes. It's really hard to charge a different nightly rate for different length stays.

However, the cleaning fee doesn't show as a separate charge any more. As a guest you can't tell if one is applied. You just see an overall nightly rate when you click on the cost breakdown. So if you are happy to pay £x a night then you don't know either way.

Say you are £100 a night plus £35 cleaning fee.

I night £135 a night
2 nights £117.50 a night and so on until you get to 7 nights
7 nights £105 per night.

Ok, I don't care what goes on behind the scenes. I want the price of my stay, in full, to be displayed before I book, and for that to include all cleaning so I can compare on a like with like basis. And I don't want to find a long cleaning/chores list in the property. As a guest, it seems to me that is what these, and other recent changes are doing, and to me that is a good thing.

I think most property owners are good hosts, and this won't present a problem. Hopefully it will weed out the minority of bad ones though.

Good that was weird af anyway!

It is displayed in full before you book. It used to be added on as extra but hasn't been for ages now. Over a year. It's just one price displayed at the start and at the end. Guests don't even pay a service fee anymore

And here's the price breakdown. You don't see a cleaning fee any more