Jannah Theme License is not validated, Go to the theme options page to validate the license, You need a single license for each domain name.
Canada

Airbnb has plans to revise cleaning fees

Most people hate Airbnb cleaning fees. An annoying charge added to your vacation rental bill that supposedly covers the cost of getting the place ready for the next visitor. Travelers don’t like to spend, and hosts don’t like to charge.

Airbnb host Dennis Shirschoff, who owns a rental property in upstate New York, says cleaning fees are the number one customer complaint.

“We are strongly considering cutting them off,” he says.

And Sirshkov might get his way. Airbnb isn’t eliminating cleaning fees, but it plans to roll out major changes that will increase transparency for customers and motivate hosts to reduce or waive fees entirely.

Airbnb cleaning fees and costs

An Airbnb cleaning fee is a one-time fee that hosts pocket to cover expenses such as laundry and bathroom cleaning between guests’ stays. These are separate from the base price and are in addition to the service fee or optional add-on fee.

A June 2022 NerdWallet analysis of 1,000 US Airbnb bookings with check-in dates in 2022 or 2023 found a median cleaning fee of USD 75 per listing for a nightly stay. did.

However, cleaning fees vary greatly. An Airbnb spokesperson told NerdWallet that cleaning fees, on average, are less than 10% of the total booking cost of the properties that charge them, while NerdWallet’s analysis shows that cleaning fees are the total paid. It was about 25% of the amount. In fact, nearly 40% of the properties had a cleaning fee between 20% and 29.9% of the list price.

Also, some listings charge a higher cleaning fee than the nightly rate.

Why AIRBNB’s Cleaning Fees Are Frustrating – And AIRBNB’s Plans To Fix It

Adding to the cost, Airbnb’s cleaning fees can be particularly brutal just for presentation. On Airbnb’s search page, most interfaces display the nightly price in large, bold text, hiding the total price. Therefore, it is easy to miss the total amount shown in lighter colored text.

To make things even more confusing, the nightly price often doesn’t correlate with the total price. A single listing at USD 40 per night can add up to USD 90 due to the USD 40 cleaning fee and USD 10 service charge. Another listing for $60 USD per night could be cheaper with a $13 USD service charge and no cleaning fee. $73 in total. A traveler with a budget of $50 may be attracted to a $40 listing and end up renting more than if he booked a $60 listing.

But that’s set to change in December, when Airbnb plans to roll out a toggle so travelers can choose to see the total price, including all charges, in search results. A user who does not toggle the display of total charges will continue to see only his nightly charges.

In November 2022, the company adjusted its search algorithm to rank listings by highest total price, rather than simply considering price per night.

What if there is no cleaning fee?

A few listings do not charge a cleaning fee. According to Airbnb, 45% of his listings worldwide do not charge these fees. However, NerdWallet’s analysis found that only 15% of available listings did not have a cleaning fee. The difference is that NerdWallet only looked at US listings, while Airbnb’s numbers are based on listings worldwide where fees are uncommon.

Shirshikov wants to offer a final price that includes the cleaning fee for two reasons: First, he thinks it will improve guest satisfaction, and second, he thinks guests will leave the place clean.

Airbnb warns hosts that cleaning fees can backfire by creating unrealistic expectations of how much guests will provide at checkout.

According to a note posted on Airbnb’s website, “A higher (cleaning) fee may make guests expect to leave the property upon checkout, much like they would in a hotel room.”

That’s exactly what Sirshkov experienced.

“Sometimes when they pay for cleaning, they’ve lived in it for months and leave a place that looks like it hasn’t been cleaned,” he said, adding that there was food all over the floor and drinks on the bed. He added that he had returned to find the spill.

If everyone hates AIRBNB cleaning fees, why still charge them?

For hosts who clean their rentals themselves, that money can cover the cost of cleaning supplies. In many cases, that money is simply handed over to a professional housekeeping service responsible for cleaning.

Sebastian Long, founder and CEO of Texas-based short-term rental company Roger, says he thinks the average $75 cleaning fee is pretty low.

Taking into account staff wages, supplies and replacements, Long estimates it will cost about US$22 to hand over a hotel room. If an Airbnb host outsources the work, it could cost him US$175 to clean a two-bedroom apartment, which includes US$100 for a cleaning company, US$50 for a laundry service, and a mini coffee and toiletries. Consumables such as bottles include his US$25.

Cleaning costs for Airbnb hosts are often higher than cleaning costs for hotels, as they likely won’t be able to take advantage of economies of scale. For example, hotels have commercial size washing machines. Additionally, listings are typically geographically dispersed, making it inefficient to travel miles between properties. Also, short-term rentals are usually much larger than a hotel room and have more space to clean (such as the kitchen).

But other hosts simply use rates as a way to squeeze more money out of travelers, clearly overcharging cleaning fees, a practice Airbnb warns against.

According to a 2021 memo from Airbnb to hosts, “Aim to use cleaning costs towards cleaning costs, not to make extra money.”

Some hosts also charge a cleaning fee and ask guests to clean up themselves. It looks like it will end soon too. In addition to more transparent cleaning fees, Airbnb says it also plans to require hosts to post cleaning requirements on their listings before guests book. Guests can also leave feedback about her checkout process.

Airbnb also clarified that checkout requests should be reasonable. On your next Airbnb stay, if your host accepts changes, you may not need to vacuum or strip the bed. Just throw it away and lock the door.

But for now, Sirshkov says he’s stuck with charging a cleaning fee because he’s not sure users will turn the toggle on.

“I would like to know how many people are willing to turn on full price,” he says. “The way you price it doesn’t make a lot of sense unless your guests use it.”


methodology:


NerdWallet analyzed 1,000 Airbnb listings (including taxes and fees) with check-in dates in 2022 or 2023. The analysis looked at the base rate and other charges such as cleaning charges for stays of 1, 7 and 30 nights. It is also categorized by bookings made 3 days ago, 4 weeks ago, and 47 weeks ago. Data was collected for 10 locations in the United States, covering his accommodations with maximum occupancy of 2 vs. 6 people.

Airbnb has plans to revise cleaning fees

Source link Airbnb has plans to revise cleaning fees

Related Articles

Back to top button