Airbnb Cleaning Fee: 5 Frequently Asked Questions Answered

Whether you’re an experienced host or new to the scene, you might be unsure about setting up an Airbnb cleaning fee for your listing. This is a one-time cost charged by hosts to cover the cleaning of their holiday rental once guests depart. 

Although it’s commonplace to see the fee on accommodation listings, there are some things to consider to avoid scaring off potential guests. If you find that you’re on the fence of setting up extra service fees, this article will cover the ins and outs of knowing what to charge and how it will affect your listing. 

Before setting your cleaning costs, it’s important to take into consideration several points. This will help determine an appropriate Airbnb cleaning fee while still keeping your guests happy at a suitable rate. 

1. Should I Charge a Cleaning Fee? 

Many factors may influence a host’s decision to introduce a cleaning fee to their listing. However, the truth is, it will ultimately make managing your listings that much easier by ensuring a 5-star cleaning review. Figuring out your Airbnb cleaning charge may come down to the following for your listing:

• The Type of Property and its Size

If you’re marketing your listing as a luxury stay with higher price points, it’s more likely that your guests won’t squirm at the extra fee for cleaning. Based on your property’s offering and size, you may want to include this to maintain the advertised living standards. If on the other hand, you are renting out a room in your home, this might not be necessary.

• Your Competition

Another great way to determine if you should increase your nightly rate to include an Airbnb cleaning fee is to look at your competitors. If they’re doing it, this can be a green light for you to do so too. It will also provide an indicator of an acceptable rate for you to charge out. 

• Your Choice of Cleaning Services

Depending on your location or size of your property, professional cleaning teams can be fairly costly. Consider whether it is worth getting them in to do the job, or if it is something you can handle yourself. Bear in mind that it is your time and supplies that need to be accounted for. 

• The Possibility of Eliminating One-Day Bookings

Depending on whether or not you want to encourage one-day bookings, charging your potential guests’ cleaning costs can be a deterrent. For example, a $50 fee spread over several nights might be affordable. However, for a single night, guests might look for accommodation that doesn’t charge this.  

2. What Does The Fee Cover? 

In the simplest of terms, an Airbnb cleaning fee is there to ensure that the place is sparkling for your next guests. While there is no policy currently in place, potential guests will expect your listing to cover basic cleaning chores. 

 All-in-all, the service fee will generally cover the following:

•  Sprucing up of the room/rooms
• Changing linen
• Cleaning supplies used
• Washing of dishes
• Clearing out cupboards and the fridge
• Time spent cleaning
• Restocking of general house of supplies

3. What’s the Cleaning Fee Airbnb Average Rate? 

If you’re choosing to clean your listing yourself, the average Airbnb cleaning fee is around $65 per booking. For larger properties or hosts who hire cleaning help, this cost will increase to approximately $105. 

 However, this cost is completely affected by the type of listing you’re offering. A small studio flat’s Airbnb cleaning fee will differ largely to a 5-bedroom mansion’s. Once again, it’s important to look at your competitors to see the pricing structure they’ve incorporated in their nightly fee and whether they charge a cleaning fee additionally. If you’re renting out a single room in a house, your competitors may not even include a service fee for a similar type of property. 

4. How Much Should I Charge as an Airbnb Host? 

Deciding on an Airbnb cleaning fee boils down to what works best for your listing and what will keep your guests happy. Having too high of a service fee can deter potential guests from booking a number of nights and affect your Airbnb host reviews. It’s essential that you achieve the perfect balance between reasonable pricing while striving for a well-maintained home-stay experience. 

 Before finalizing your extra expenses, take into consideration the following points: 

• What do your competitors charge? You should also look at how they charge with regards to their length of stays and whether they’re adding the service fee separately or if it’s included in the overall price.
• How big is your property? Your property size can help justify your Airbnb cleaning fee, especially for bigger listings. 
• What’s your target audience? Marketing your Airbnb property to backpackers may get an entirely different response than a high-end, luxury stay. A target audience with a bigger budget can be more accepting of higher costs. It all comes down to the message you’re trying to send with your listing. 
• Are you hiring a professional cleaning team? This will dramatically affect your cleaning costs and therefore your fee.  

5. How Can Your Airbnb Cleaning Fee Affect Your Listing? 

Your Airbnb cleaning fee can impact your rental based on how you choose to list your rates. Hosts can look at altering their listing by including a separate line item nightly rate for cleaning or opt to charge nothing at all but to factor this into the total charge per night. 

 If you decide on the first option, your rental will appear cheaper but your cleaning services will be listed as an additional fee. By doing this, your guests may become frustrated with the extra expenses that bulk up the final sum of your rental price. The latter, however, may affect your property as it will increase your overall price and advertise your listing at a higher price point.

Final Thoughts

Choosing to include an Airbnb cleaning fee is a fast and simple way to maintain your property while delighting your guests. When deciding on the final service fees, it’s best to take in all of the listed factors while keeping your intended guest in mind. 

To improve cleanings even further and maintain the best service for guests, more and more vacation rental hosts are using automation for their business. Vacation rental software such as iGMS can help you automate cleanings so you can rest assured that your property is spotless and ready for your next guests. In addition to automating your cleaning routine, iGMS comes in handy to: 

• Sync calendars and manage your reservations on Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo/HomeAway within a single dashboard; other vacation rental platforms can be added via iCal.
• Respond promptly to your guests by having their inquiries organized within a unified inbox and utilizing automated messages;
• Get more reviews from your guests using a review automation functionality;
• Manage direct bookings by taking advantage of our direct booking management toolset;
• Automatically collect payments from your Booking.com or direct booking guests; 
• Manage your team and grant different levels of access to your team members;
• Keep track of your business results by using reporting functionality.
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