If you book Airbnb or are a host... what do you think of the separate cleaning charge?

[Mmmkaay]

Can you give me your opinions please? I'm trying to work out how best to price my property. If I allow a 2 night booking I only just break even after paying for the cleaning and laundry. I could therefore restrict it to 3 night bookings only, OR I could charge for 2 nights and add a separate cleaning fee on. What would you rather pay? Would it annoy you to pay for cleaning separately? Owners - what do you do?

Thanks!

I am one of those people who isn't bothered about cleaning after the last night because I have overtly been charged a fortune in cleaning fees.

I would go for longer bookings, 2 or 3 nights are a headache.

I don't mind stripping beds when I leave but only because I've read too many confessions by cleaners/hotel staff that if the bed is quite clean between guests sometimes they'll make it rather than strip and make it!!!

I'd rather see total price please and an 11am check out if possible please.

If there's a dishwasher letting us leave that running when we leave makes the morning more pleasant. I hate it when we have to empty the dishwasher before we leave. It means a very early start or a basic breakfast.

11am check out and 3pm check in. 10am drives me crazy, recently had booked one and could see it was still vacant on the day I was leaving so asked if I could pay to extend and nope. I’d prefer a shorter minimum stay I usually only book 2 nights if it’s a weekend getaway. Go after work Friday and back Sunday, so min 3 night I wouldn’t even consider. Not too fussed about cleaning fees if they aren’t crazy. If they are I just look for an alternative

Not everyone grasps an inclusive price when booking, they book the cheapest they can get then are shocked at the cleaning charge. As I said linen costs and cleaning charges cost my friend £130 for every booking. So it's swings and roundabouts. It has to be paid for one way or another.

It's surprising how many like shorter bookings because it's a flying family visit or part of a tour of Britain or Europe. Sometimes it's for sadder reasons too like bereavement. So you need to be flexible

I use AirBnb a lot for work and holidays. I don’t mind how the cleaning fees are charged as long as they are explicit, and I don’t have to clean anything.

I’m a superhost and have always worked my cleaning charges into the nightly rate but then I only allow 3 night minimum stays. I also don’t leave a list of jobs and do expect it to actually need cleaning which of course is fine. I would rate down if it was totally trashed though which is just disrespectful (and thankfully only happened a couple of times).

It depends on the property as some places (such as the random annex in a random town I just stayed in!) would attract more 1 or 2 night stays so you may lose out on bookings. I would put it separate in that case.

Mine is on in holiday style place so I get away with the 3 night min.

We have 4pm check in and 10am check out which, I know is a pain, but we are a 4 bed house and our changeover company have a lot of properties to get through (and it’s at their request). However I am really flexible and if someone asks for earlier or later I always try to accommodate and nearly always can (I ask cleaner’s nicely!) so it’s worth asking before.

If my property didn’t have anyone checking in the same day I would have let you do this and give you an extra couple of hours for free or pay for longer. Must be a reason this host couldn’t have (who knows what though!)

The cleaner may not have been able to change their schedule to do the clean later in the day to allow a later checkout. My cleaner has fixed times she can fit me in each day so it's irrelevant that the property is empty the next night. It still needs to be cleaned and I often get same day bookings.

I put a £15 cleaning fee on Airbnb bookings (it costs me £25 and I do the laundry and topping things up myself)

@ILostMyself i think they run it as a sole business and it didn’t align with their standard practice or something was also vacant the next day which was more annoying. Wouldn’t book again because of the check out time and it was a nice place too, which is a shame.

I actually prefer a separate cleaning fee - means I know that I'm not expected to do any cleaning !

It depends on the nature/location of your property whether 1 night stays are usual or more longer stays.

If you build cleaning free into the nightly rate that may put off people who are looking for longer?

I agree wholeheartedly with the frustrations at paying for a cleaning fee and expecting the beds to be stripped and place effectively cleaned before the cleaners. The last morning massively takes the shine off a trip for me.

I also resent paying for a welcome pack - if I don't know what's in it I will have already purchased/brought what I needed for my stay and the rest will be waste.

I have an airbnb. It is managed for me by an experienced host, so I basically just follow what she does in all her other properties. We do charge a fixed cleaning fee. It makes sense because it reflects the costs as it is the same cost per booking regardless of length. An alternative would be to charge less for longer bookings and more for shorter bookings but that is a bit fiddly ( not even sure if can easily be done on Airbnb - manager looks after all that). In fact, even with the cleaning fee, short bookings are still relatively more expensive for the host: the laundry, the cleaning, the welcome basket, the time taken communicating with the guests. I used to think that cleaning fees were extortionately high on airbnb properties as a guest, but that was before I discovered just how much you have to pay for someone to do a short, non-regular clean, compared to a long regular clean at home. The way airbnb displays the charges and total price means you see the full price including cleaning and the (very high!) airbnb fee pretty much straight away. There are no hidden charges.

I also have a three night minimum stay. Again, that is what my manager normally does. I did at first think it would be better to allow two night stays as I thought they would be popular in my location. However, I think she is right. We are mostly quite booked up and if someone books a two night stay they stop someone making a higher earning longer booking. Ideally we would allow two night stays when there is a two night gap between bookings, but again I think that is too tricky.

Oh and we don't ask anyone to strip beds or anything else on leaving

I don’t mind an extra cleaning charge as long as it’s made clear when I book, and the total cost is something I’m happy to pay. In face an extra charge for cleaning reassures me that the cleaning will be taken care of and I don’t have to do it! And I don’t want to have to strip the beds either, Covid rules are long gone and cleaners should be doing it now.

I prefer guests not to strip the beds, that way I can see if any spot cleaning needs to be done before the bedding goes in the machine, I can also give the bottom sheets a quick hoover too before taking them off as its quite good at removing hairs.

50 sovs to change sheets on 2 beds and squirt some air freshener?

I'm in the wrong job.

I think cleaning should be included but have a higher minimum stay if 2 days doesn't work for you. I personally wouldn't choose self catering for under a week anyway

@Hillsmakeyoustrong

That is ridiculously high, £25 a bed? £20 a hour is the going rate for cleaning here, surely the tasks are all within the time, but my ironing lady is the go to for washing linens here, you drop them off and pick them up done for £12 per double set, all the airbnbs use her, the cleaners just strip and remake.

I travel for various reasons with varying needs, AirBnB shows the total cost and also lets me click into a breakdown of the stay plus fees etc

I would say to test your market - you need to cover your costs, so if you have a fixed cost per stay then the choice is to either declare it as an extra or average it onto your nightly charge - would averaging it make you look more expensive than alternatives depending on the period of time?

AirBnB is preferred for group stays which would take multiple rooms, on the basis that it ought to be cheaper than seperate hotel rooms, allows for self catering rather than paying to go and eat and allows for socialising together in a lounge etc

We often aren’t able to time things around restaurants, with early starts ruling out breakfast and coming back late from what we’re doing
An AirBnB is then the difference between grabbing coffee & a snack on the way vs a supermarket and cooking what we want or a takeaway / delivery

A bed and a wash along the way probably goes to a dive hotel, but parking could become the factor - such as arriving late to a small hotel with no parking left or when we have the van which is high & long affecting access and a worry for breakins on street

When alone and doing something (I was photographing events for a few years) I would choose comfort and space, therefore that’s probably a hotel - Premiere inn preferred as I would know what to expect with plenty of power sockets and desk space. An equivalent AirBnB may be more pricey when alone

But an interesting AirBnB could tip the balance as well. Tick my boxes on the level
of facilities and comfort for my particular visit and then I may pick an AirBnB on it’s ‘interesting’ status

Yes the costs are very high. I don't think it helps that its rural. The £25 for changing each (king) bed also includes the towels.

I've often thought I'm in the wrong part of the tourist industry 🙃. Got all the overheads and expense and rarely money left over. Like I say it's a long term investment!

How much would the fee be?
£20 wouldn't bother me. £100 would. Either way if there is a cleaning fee I would not be doing any cleaning myself (including stripping beds and bins)

If you build the cost in then I decide whether the total rental cost is worth it or not

It doesn’t bother me especially, but I’d lump it in for simplicity