Cleaning Fee. What do you charge for 2,500 square feet?

Question

I recently got a survey from Airbnb about my cleaning fees and why I charge what I do. In the end the questions were geared towards encouraging me to: 1. eliminate my separate cleaning fee and include it in the nightly price, or 2. lower my cleaning fee to get more bookings. To clean a 2,500 sq. ft. house where I am located it's $195 for a good cleaner(s). I charge the guest $225.

Airbnb was pushing the "If you lowered your cleaning fee, you would get more bookings" mantra.  I think that my cleaning fee is already pretty low.

Airbnb is always trying to get me to lower my nightly price and cleaning fees.  I think that it's so they can increase their fees charged to guests.  Guests think that Airbnb is no longer cheaper than hotels and in most cases it's not anymore, but hosts still need to make a profit.   We can only lower our prices and fees so much.

Can some of you give me what you charge guests, in your markets, to clean 2,500 sq. ft.?

Chris Watson · Answer

What is funny is about 5 years ago Airbnb was promoting us to pay cleaners more and had it where you could click to say you pay a living wage. Now they don't want you to pay them as much.

My personal soapbox statement - Airbnb is an abusive spouse that slowly people are waking up to realize they are in a controling abusive relationship and they start to develop an escape plan (more platforms/direct website) so they are no longer relying on Airbnb. Several people I know have left listing on Airbnb all together as the juice is not worth the squeeze for them.

Bill B. · Answer

So it sounds like you should lower your cleaning fee $30? You can certainly raise your room rates $30 to be more honest in your pricing. It wouldn’t affect the price the customer’s paying and they might keep it cleaner. They have no incentive to leave the place nice if they know they’re paying more than a personal maid would charge.  Personally I would prefer it if they banned cleaning fees and just made people put it in their rates. It’s like the BS facility fee, or resort charge, hotels use. If it’s not optional it should be in the price. They made airlines stop doing it, follow up with short term housing.

Will they allow you to advertise “standard cleaning included…” So you can still charge when there’s a need for “extra cleaning”?

Patricia Andriolo-Bull · Answer

Why doesn't Airbnb decrease their fee if they are so concerned about fees?

I just raised my cleaning fee to $220 as my cleaners keep increasing their fees.  I've had 3 cleaning crews in the last 3 years and all of them have a hard time finding and keeping good cleaners.  They have to raise their prices.  I experimented with removing my cleaning fees in one unit.  It didn't change my algorithm ranking and I ended up eating some of the cleaning cost unless I wanted to be completely out of whack with my market (I'm already on the higher end).  The issue with my fee is that my place is a 2/2 and only 1100 SF so it's a hefty cleaning fee but boy, is my place spotless for guests!  They send 2 - 3 people to clean and stay 1.5 - 2.5 hours depending on the number of people they send and how dirty the place is.  This works out to ~$35 - $45 per hour which I find fair.  They bring all their own cleaning supplies and take my laundry offsite to wash themselves.

John Underwood · Answer

Your cleaning fee sounds fair to me.

I wouldn't change it.

Michael Baum · Answer

Hey @James R., we have a 2700sqft 4/3 lake house.

We charge $250 to the guests and pay $300 to our cleaner.

Now we are out of town by about 36 miles so the cleaner has to drive an hour each way so she charges us more.

Kumar R. · Answer

@James R. I have seen two different pricing models - one by number of BRs, second by sq.ft. Each market is different for prices. More or less prices in my market are kinda well known amongst competition, so cleaners are pretty much almost always in the same ballpark. Also, depends on whether they include laundry services, linen services, amenities etc.

Lauren Kormylo · Answer

If you want to sleep on someone's sofa like it was when Airbnb started,  it's still cheaper than a hotel, LOL.  But renting an entire apartment or house is not cheaper than a hotel room, which is only a bedroom and bathroom.  So don't worry about what they think.

Airbnb has never sent me an email like that.  My cleaner charges $330.  I charge the guests $230.  There is no way I can bundle the entire cleaning fee into the nightly rate, as my average stays are 3 or 4 days.  So know that Airbnb is doing what's in their best interest, which may or may not be in yours.  And carry on as you've been doing.

Andrew Steffens · Answer

It depends on the bed count, where its located, etc.  I have some similar sized houses with 4 beds where we charge $200 and some houses of similar size with 8 beds and charge $300.  We have 3 companies bid every property annually and we add the cost of consumables to cleaning cost and that is what the guest pays.

Airbnb will convince you to charge $100, flex cancellation policy, instant book, and no cleaning fee if you let them.  Do what works for you and what allows you to be competitive in your market.

Good luck!

Cleaning Fee. What do you charge for 2,500 square feet?

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