Being an Airbnb host can pay off handsomely if you receive the right help and guidance regarding how to set the right nightly price and Airbnb cleaning fee for your vacation rental. Undoubtedly, ensuring a fulfilling stay for your guests is a must, but this can be very rewarding if you know how to charge appropriately for all the services you offer.
A clean and inviting accommodation is one of the basic amenities that a guest expects. Hence, it is crucial that you charge them the right amount to provide this necessity.
What is an Airbnb cleaning fee?
A cleaning fee is what you charge your guests for cleaning the space they stay in. This is in addition to the nightly rates. The Airbnb cleaning fee helps you as a host to meet the extra expenses you incur to get the space ready for the guests before their stay. It is a one-time, non-refundable fee and is not a part of the security deposit. Also, it usually remains the same for every booking, irrespective of the number of guests or the length of stay.
Why is Airbnb cleaning fee disliked, and how does Airbnb plan to fix it?
Aside from the financial aspect, Airbnb cleaning fees can be particularly daunting due to their presentation. On Airbnb’s search page, the prominently displayed nightly rate in bold lettering often overshadows the total price, which is presented in a lighter color and can easily go unnoticed.
Complicating matters further, nightly rates may not consistently align with the total price. For instance, a listing with a $40 nightly rate might accumulate to $90, factoring in a $40 cleaning fee and a $10 service fee. Meanwhile, another listing boasting a $60 nightly rate could prove more budget-friendly at a total of $73, especially if it has a $13 service fee and no cleaning fee. This discrepancy can lead a traveler with a $50 budget to be enticed by the $40 listing, only to find themselves owing more than if they had booked the $60 alternative.
Recognizing the need for clarity, Airbnb is introducing a toggle feature, allowing travelers to choose whether they want search results to display the total price, inclusive of all fees. Those who opt not to toggle will continue to see only the nightly rates. This new toggle, already active in the app, is set to become standard across platforms in early 2023. Initially, the toggle will default to the “on” position, giving users the flexibility to opt out of revealing the full price if they prefer.
In November 2022, the company took a further step by adjusting its search algorithm. The algorithm now prioritizes listings based on the best total price rather than solely considering the nightly rate. This shift may influence hosts to reconsider and potentially lower or eliminate cleaning fees, aligning with Airbnb’s commitment to enhancing transparency and user experience.
Do I have to charge a cleaning fee?
Charging a cleaning fee for the listing is not mandatory, and it depends entirely on your discretion. However, most hosts choose to include the Airbnb cleaning charge as part of their overall booking fee.
You can choose to include it as part of the nightly charges for your listing, but it is not preferable since the cost of cleaning can eat into your bottom line if you commonly get short stays of 1-2 nights.
A minority of listings on Airbnb choose not to impose cleaning fees, with Airbnb reporting that 45% of worldwide listings fall into this category. Some hosts see the notion of incorporating the cleaning fee into the final price as a potentially beneficial practice. They believe it could enhance guest satisfaction and anticipate that guests might be more inclined to leave the property in a cleaner condition.
Airbnb has cautioned hosts about the potential drawbacks of cleaning fees, highlighting the risk of creating unrealistic expectations regarding guests’ willingness to assist with checkout responsibilities.
Airbnb says, “With a higher [cleaning] fee, guests may expect to just walk away from your space at checkout as they would a hotel room.”
This cautionary note aligns with the general observation that when guests pay a cleaning fee, there’s a tendency for them to depart, leaving the place in a state reminiscent of having been lived in and not cleaned for an extended period. Instances include finding food scattered across the floor and spilled drinks on the beds.
What Does the Cleaning Fee Cover?
The Airbnb cleaning fee will cover the costs of cleaning the rental and performing the essential cleaning chores that your guests expect from you as a host. These charges usually include the cost of the following:
- Tidying up the room/rooms
- Changing bed sheets and other linens used
- Cleaning supplies
- Washing dishes
- Cleaning the cupboards and the fridge
- Time spent cleaning
What is the Average Cleaning Fee on Airbnb?
The average cleaning fee for hosts who choose to clean on their own could be less compared to the host who hires professional cleaners to spruce up their vacation rental.
This average is affected by multiple factors, including the type of listing and the property’s location. For example, the cleaning fee of a small studio apartment will significantly differ from that of a 4-bedroom villa. Also, professional cleaners charge differently in different cities around the world.
Below is a graph showing PriceLabs’ data for 2-bedroom (BHK) listings in 10 major cities worldwide.
How Can Your Airbnb Cleaning Fees Affect Your Listing Performance?
The impact of your Airbnb cleaning fee on your rental listing performance is influenced by how you choose to present your rates. Hosts typically opt for either listing the cleaning fee separately as a service fee or incorporating it into the nightly rate. When the cleaning fee is listed separately as a service fee, the booking fee remains unaffected, but the service fee is added to the total cost during the final checkout. This may potentially cause dissatisfaction among guests who experience a sudden price increase just before confirming their booking.
On the other hand, including the cleaning fee as part of the nightly stay rate involves dividing the cleaning fee by the total number of nights a guest stays and adding this amount to the nightly rate. While this method raises the overall rates, guests might prefer having the total cost upfront, avoiding later surprises with additional charges for cleaning services.
How do you set the Airbnb cleaning fee for your property?
Deciding on an Airbnb cleaning fee for your listing can seem intimidating, especially for first-time hosts. Scroll down to take a closer look at the key aspects of a listing that should help you determine its cleaning fee:
1. Type of property and its size
If your rental is a luxury stay with more rooms and more prominent space, then including a cleaning fee is advisable. It will help you meet your costs and maintain the advertised living standards. Guests looking for luxury stays won’t resist an extra fee for cleaning.
On the other hand, if your listing is just a room in your house or a studio apartment, then including a separate or a considerable cleaning fee is not necessary. However, as a host, you need to be mindful of the operational costs you incur and if what you are providing will meet the standards you are charging.
2. Your Competition
The best way to determine your ideal course of action is to look at what your competitors are doing. You can do that using Market Dashboards by PriceLabs, which allow you to make informed decisions after looking at real-time data from Airbnb and VRBO. For example, if your competitors are charging an additional Airbnb cleaning fee, you can do so, too without deterring potential guests. You can set your ideal cleaning charges after looking at standard fees. This will potentially help you avoid your listing being overpriced.
3. Your Choice of Cleaning Services
Hiring professional cleaning teams can be a significant expense. You need to decide if it’s worth hiring professional cleaners or if you can get the job done on your own. Remember that cleaning your vacation rental will take your time, require cleaning supplies, and take a lot of effort. Make sure you pay yourself for your time.
4. Will you allow pets on your property?
Renting out your listing to pet owners can drive up the cleaning costs significantly as pets make their own kind of mess which you’d be required to clean after they leave. However, not everyone will come with pets so that you can be open to negotiation in this case.
You can also choose to add a separate pet fee instead of a higher cleaning fee to accommodate better those guests who don’t bring pets.
Is the Airbnb Cleaning Fee Refundable?
The Airbnb cleaning fee is not refundable once the duration of the stay is completed. It is only fully refundable if the guest cancels before the check-in time. If the cancellation is made after the booking has already begun, then it is non-refundable. This is standard practice and is not affected by the cancellation policy you choose for your listing.
Is the Cleaning Fee subject to Airbnb Service Fees?
The final booking cost of your rental includes the cleaning fee, which will affect the Airbnb service fees. The amount of service fee charged will vary according to the location of the rental.
Sometimes, you will only be charged around 3% of your booking cost as a service fee, while guests will pay around 14%. In other cases, hosts pay a host-only fee of approximately 15%, while guests do not pay a service fee. These service fees change frequently, so check with Airbnb for an accurate idea of what to expect from your listings.
Is the cleaning fee negotiable on Airbnb?
It is common for guests to reach out to the host to ask for discounts and or removal of the cleaning fee. If the guests promise to clean up after themselves, or it is off-season, and you are experiencing lower bookings, you can opt to decrease the Airbnb cleaning fee or remove it to encourage more bookings. However, it is advisable to keep the cleaning fee non-negotiable as the guests who bargain even before they have begun tend to be more hassle than they’re worth.
How to figure out the Airbnb cleaning fee for your listing?
Setting a reasonable cleaning fee can prove to be a tedious task if you don’t have access to real-time data revealing the fees charged by other listings in your vicinity. However, PriceLabs‘ Market Dashboards will give you easy access to all booking trends in your area, including information on cleaning fees.
You’ll be presented with real-time data of similar properties. You can see what they are charging and how many bookings were made when the cleaning fee was set for specific prices. The comparison data also includes a variety of other policies like weekly discounts and extra person fees.
You can create comp sets in Market Dashboards to make search results more relevant to your listing. Then, you can choose your filters to provide you with relevant data for longer and shorter stays depending on what kind of bookings your listing typically receives. You can also make multiple comp sets to see what professional hosts are charging for allowing pets, having more bathrooms, hot tubs, etc.
Once you are done creating comp sets, head to the Policies and Fees section to review the cleaning fee chart for listings similar to yours. This chart will help you determine the most common cleaning fees offered in your vicinity.
The bar graph above, when the pink bar is greater than the red bar for any given cleaning fee, implies that listings with that fee received many bookings. Hence, they are in higher demand. If you hover over the bars in the Market Dashboard, you’ll also see the average base price charged by listings with that cleaning fee.
Pricing Strategies to consider while setting Airbnb cleaning fees
There are a few Airbnb pricing strategies that hosts can take into account when setting their Airbnb cleaning fee in PriceLabs.
Strategy 1:
Your cleaning fee should be appropriate for the length of stay your guests typically book. If you typically get 1-2 night bookings, compare your fees to listings with similar stay durations as opposed to 14+ night stays. Longer stays typically require more cleaning. Distribute the fee over more days for a lower average nightly cost. You can filter listings on Market Dashboards by the average length of stay to see their associated cleaning fees.
Strategy 2:
Charging a higher cleaning fee can help discourage guests from booking short stays at your property. For a guest booking a one or two-night stay, an extra cleaning fee of $100 might sound like a lot. However, the fee will seem more reasonable to someone booking a week-long stay since it is spread over more nights. Additional fees can make a massive difference in the average nightly cost, which you need to consider so as not to scare guests away.
You choose to keep your cleaning fee of $100, and your guests decide to book your accommodation for two days. They’ll pay $50 a night in addition to the nightly charges. However, for a seven-day booking, they’ll just be paying $14.29 a night for the same service.
Keeping a higher cleaning fee discourages short stays since they become less affordable for your guests. This way, you don’t have to mandate long stays. You can be open to 1-2 day bookings if guests are willing to pay the relatively high nightly fee.
Strategy 3:
Comparing the final nightly rate that guests will book your listing for with hotel rates is advisable if your listings compete with local hotels. This is because hotels don’t charge separate cleaning fees, and their nightly charges include housekeeping service.
Not taking your fees into account puts you at risk of overpricing your listing, resulting in your potential guests choosing nearby hotels because of their lower final price. By comparing the final nightly price with hotels, you can ensure competitive prices for your listings that’ll prevent you from losing guests.
Strategy 4:
Remember that the total payout of any stay includes the nightly rate and any additional fees charged to the guest. This means that by charging a higher cleaning fee, you will have the flexibility to lower your nightly rate while still maintaining the payout you expect from your listings.
This lets you set a more competitive minimum price for your property in the low season, which can also lead to more long-term bookings.
How Do I Change My Cleaning Fee Price on Airbnb?
Modifying your cleaning fee on Airbnb is a straightforward process that you can manage through your Airbnb profile. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
- Log in to your Airbnb profile.
- Navigate to your profile dashboard and click on “Your Listings.”
- Choose the “Pricing” option.
- Locate and click on “Edit” next to the “Cleaning Fee.”
- Enter the new amount you wish to set for the cleaning fee.
- Click “Save” to apply the changes.
Conclusion
The Airbnb cleaning fee has become an even more relevant topic after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world. The introduction of the Enhanced Cleaning Protocol by Airbnb has caused hosts to be even more careful with their cleaning measures and go the extra mile to ensure their guests’ safety. Unfortunately, these new cleaning practices are driving up hosts’ cleaning costs and, in turn, increasing cleaning fees. However, Airbnb does not give a recommendation for the enhanced cleaning fee, so hosts must determine their new fees themselves.
Being a professional host can seem to be a daunting task if you don’t have any guidance. You have to decide everything on your own. However, PriceLabs provides you with help from real-time data.
