The world’s biggest online market for the host to rent their property and the guests can book a space is Airbnb. The platform has more than 40 million hosts worldwide and 60 million listings on Airbnb.
What is the cleaning fee?
Airbnb cleaning fees are a one-time charge determined by the host and paid by the guest, for cleaning the space for the next stay of other guests. In the USA above 85% of short-term rentals charge cleaning fees, according to the report of AirDNA. But only 52% of the properties in the UK demand cleaning fees.
How is the cleaning fee determined?
The cleaning fee depends on the property. Some properties are easy to clean, and some may be hard. Cleaning a room in the city is easy. But beach houses or places with kitchen facilities are too difficult to clean.
The total area of the property is also an important factor in the cleaning fee. Large villas or houses with multi rooms or places with balconies are hard to clean. For this purpose, the host claims a cleaning fee from the guests.
How much are cleaning fees collected around the world?
According to Nerdwallet , only 8% of the listings claim a cleaning fee of 40 % or more. The average cleaning fee was 75 $, based on the report of Nerdwallet, which analysed Airbnb reservations in 2022 & 2023.
The effects of cleaning fees on people:
The people normally hate the cleaning fee charges. Airbnb’s nightly price often has hidden fees which makes the guests unhappy. Slowly people avoid the rental platform which charges a high cleaning fee and choose who offers a lesser cleaning fee.
Charging the cleaning fee for a one-night stay discourages the guests who are booking a place for a one-night stay. This favors the long-term stay guests against the one-night stay guests. Based on NerdWallet examination the cleaning fee is approximately 25% of the total rental amount.
Why is a cleaning fee necessary:
The hosts have to prepare the rental place for the next bookings, so a cleaning fee is necessary for them. Each guest expects the room should be clean and hygienic. Clean bedsheets, pillowcases, bath mats, and towels.
Also refill toilet rolls, soaps, brushes and tissue papers. All this should be done by the host each time before the arrival of the guest. Each place is different so this maintenance cost will vary according to the rental place.
Recent trends in the cleaning fee:
The Airbnb CEO announced that more than 200,000 listings reduced or removed their cleaning fees. After introducing the toggle button the guests can see the total price including fees before taxes. So the search algorithm shows listings with low cleaning fees at the top. Thus the hosts reduced the cleaning fee.
Airbnb CEO also insists on no cleaning fee for almost 3 million listings on Airbnb. After COVID-19 Airbnb released Airbnb cleaning guidelines for the hosts. This increased the cost of cleaning the place. Automatically the cleaning fee rose after the pandemic.
Based on our findings the users of all vacation rental sites do not like to pay the cleaning fee. The host has to clean the rental space in each stay. We can’t avoid the cleaning fee completely. However, due to inflation and increasing labor costs, the cleaning fee is increased in all rental sites. Many rental sites have started taking action towards reducing the cleaning fee.
For more details contact: [email protected]
Thank you,
