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This AirBnB cleaning fee thing will get out of hand...

Bateshorn

By Bateshorn
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mchookem

mchookem 16384

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Posted

what is a 'reasonable' fee?

i also just checked our last three stays in the past year (COx2 and SPI) - $60, $100 and $99 respectively. either that first one was very low, or the price hikes really went up after August 2020. 

i will say we pay our maids slightly less than $100 every two weeks, and that's knowing who all has been in my house. i think around $100 seems reasonable...

but i'll definitely pay more attention now, though. 

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Jerry Callo

Jerry Callo 8727

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Posted
3 minutes ago, futureman said:

I fail to see a fucking problem here. if you don’t wanna pay the goddamn total cost nobody is forcing you to stay there. fucking hell. 

Agreed.  Adding a cleaning fee at the end without notice would be one thing, but cleaning fees listed up front should not be an issue.  The market will work out exorbitant cleaning fees - based upon the responses to this thread, it already has.

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Bateshorn

Bateshorn 9938

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2 hours ago, SmokeyTheBear said:

"contact host" button. Start a dialog on what you are wanting, move it to email and go from there. We've also done it where they advertise on airbnb but also had their own site or other site they advertise on. 

The house we normally stay at when visiting Boy #1 at Trinity was booked up all spring with students who apparently did this. 

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45734

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4 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

Agreed.  Adding a cleaning fee at the end without notice would be one thing, but cleaning fees listed up front should not be an issue.  The market will work out exorbitant cleaning fees - based upon the responses to this thread, it already has.

Yep.  No one is springing cleaning fees on you after the booking has been made.  It is all line-itemed out before you put in your CC.

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midtown

midtown 3348

Posted
Posted (edited)
56 minutes ago, futureman said:

I fail to see a fucking problem here. if you don’t wanna pay the goddamn total cost nobody is forcing you to stay there. fucking hell. 

It's just a well known fact that cleaning fees we're never this high; not enough to double the rate for a stay in some cases.   It's just an observation on the fact that airbnb owners are trying to make their lost revenue back by cranking up the cleaning fee.  When in economic reality they should be no higher than they were two years ago sans some inflation.   No one is bringing in a hazmat team.   It's still just a normal maid using the exact same shit.    I think the OP was just relating that aribnb is losing is pricing advantage and the market will sort it out.   I've been looking at both avenues for a while now.  Sometimes I go hotel and sometimes rental.

Edited by midtown
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BearSchlong

BearSchlong 8114

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If anything, it just shines a spotlight on a line item that might be negotiable.

For example, I might message an owner with "Hey, I"m going to be in Chicago for 2 nights and my budget is $XX per night, all in. I like your place, but not at your advertised price.  Let me know if you're interested in my $$"

I should have done that in Miami Beach but I was booking it last minute, the day before check in, on the app while at a restaurant.

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UT_OB1

UT_OB1 2224

Posted
Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, BearSchlong said:

If anything, it just shines a spotlight on a line item that might be negotiable.

For example, I might message an owner with "Hey, I"m going to be in Chicago for 2 nights and my budget is $XX per night, all in. I like your place, but not at your advertised price.  Let me know if you're interested in my $$"

I should have done that in Miami Beach but I was booking it last minute, the day before check in, on the app while at a restaurant.

Yeah it doesn’t hurt negotiate. Also, most people pay attention to the overall price, so owners who jack the fees up beyond reasonable are usually at a disadvantage 

 

@mchookem We’ve used 2 different cleaning services, and botb were about 85 for our 2 bdrm and 125 for 4 bdrm plus $/lb on linens. We charge a flat fee and just assume all linens needs to be changed every stay because one guests clean enough is not good enough for the next guest. On price increases - ours didn’t increase the price, but I’m kind of surprised.  Both companies lost about half their workforce and a large % haven’t returned (they just moved away).  They’ve been having trouble filling in. 

Edited by UT_OB1
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futureman

futureman 22544

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44 minutes ago, midtown said:

It's just a well known fact that cleaning fees we're never this high; not enough to double the rate for a stay in some cases.   It's just an observation on the fact that airbnb owners are trying to make their lost revenue back by cranking up the cleaning fee.  When in economic reality they should be no higher than they were two years ago sans some inflation.   No one is bringing in a hazmat team.   It's still just a normal maid using the exact same shit.    I think the OP was just relating that aribnb is losing is pricing advantage and the market will sort it out.   I've been looking at both avenues for a while now.  Sometimes I go hotel and sometimes rental.

it just means the cost of the rooms has gone up. if the room is $99/night with a $400 cleaning fee it’s really just $200/night for a four-night stay. I don’t understand why anyone would look at it any other way. if the price per night is more than you want to pay then don’t stay there. 

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fattyflattie

fattyflattie 4638

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Posted
1 hour ago, BearSchlong said:

Just checked my cleaning fees from the last 3 VRBOs and fuck, I got screwed on 2 of them.  $150 for a place in South Beach, and $250 for that place in Marathon

That sounds reasonable to me. I wouldn’t be upset other than the way we found ours last time.  If they paid more than $50 for that they got ripped.  So, we “only” paid $600 to clean it ourselves upon arrival, then not fuck it up because we aren’t heathens.  So at the end of the day, yeah it’s only 10%. But at spend half the $$$ on cleaning and pocket the rest. 

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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21469

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7 minutes ago, futureman said:

it just means the cost of the rooms has gone up. if the room is $99/night with a $400 cleaning fee it’s really just $200/night for a four-night stay. I don’t understand why anyone would look at it any other way. if the price per night is more than you want to pay then don’t stay there. 

It takes longer to search when you have to click on each property to get the actual price.  It’s an annoyance.

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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21469

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1 minute ago, futureman said:

can you not search by total price?  thought you could. 

Not that I am aware of, but it has admittedly been a light travel year for me.  I believe that is one of the changes they are considering in response to the complaints.

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UT_OB1

UT_OB1 2224

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19 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

Not that I am aware of, but it has admittedly been a light travel year for me.  I believe that is one of the changes they are considering in response to the complaints.

 

21 minutes ago, futureman said:

can you not search by total price?  thought you could. 

There sort of is. If you are in list view it will show the total price of each listing along with the nightly rate. Of course, that means you can’t see the map at the same time. So you have to zoom on the area you want and then switch to list view. AirBnB does have a shitty search interface. And while I’m bitching about them, it’s be awesome if the IT group that works on the website side would get up and walk down the fucking hall and say to the AP IT group “hey - let’s see if we can make these user friendly and similar”. It’s bs to cal support and part of the fix to be to go use the ap to adjust something instead of the website,m (or the reverse)

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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21469

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14 minutes ago, UT_OB1 said:

 

There sort of is. If you are in list view it will show the total price of each listing along with the nightly rate. Of course, that means you can’t see the map at the same time. So you have to zoom on the area you want and then switch to list view. AirBnB does have a shitty search interface. And while I’m bitching about them, it’s be awesome if the IT group that works on the website side would get up and walk down the fucking hall and say to the AP IT group “hey - let’s see if we can make these user friendly and similar”. It’s bs to cal support and part of the fix to be to go use the ap to adjust something instead of the website,m (or the reverse)

I’ve figured that out, but then you end up having to click on the place to see exactly where it’s located.  It’s rare for my search radius to be the same shape as my screen, so you have to expand it a bit.  Map search with total price displayed is what I would like, and it shouldn’t be that hard to do.

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midtown

midtown 3348

Posted
Posted (edited)

If the cost of the room is fee

1 hour ago, futureman said:

it just means the cost of the rooms has gone up. if the room is $99/night with a $400 cleaning fee it’s really just $200/night for a four-night stay. I don’t understand why anyone would look at it any other way. if the price per night is more than you want to pay then don’t stay there. 

If its part of the cost of the room then it should be displayed as part of the cost of the room vs shown after you click into the place.   When you keep your displayed cost low and then the total cost doubles that is deceiving because it's not a cost based on economics its so that the renter can advertise a lower price but still make more.   It's an arbitrary added fee.    It's like going to the grocery store and being told at check out that the grapes you picked out were washed twice so its double the price.      Although not illegal in anyway it's a deceptive practice and everyone is picking up on it to where Airbnb needs to show the total price or people will stop using that service IMO.  At this point its just a complete annoyance. 

Edited by midtown
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fuggled

fuggled 576

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Posted
There sort of is. If you are in list view it will show the total price of each listing along with the nightly rate. Of course, that means you can’t see the map at the same time. So you have to zoom on the area you want and then switch to list view. AirBnB does have a shitty search interface. And while I’m bitching about them, it’s be awesome if the IT group that works on the website side would get up and walk down the fucking hall and say to the AP IT group “hey - let’s see if we can make these user friendly and similar”. It’s bs to cal support and part of the fix to be to go use the ap to adjust something instead of the website,m (or the reverse)
Accounts Payable?

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

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F250

F250 28818

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Posted
1 hour ago, midtown said:

If the cost of the room is fee

If its part of the cost of the room then it should be displayed as part of the cost of the room vs shown after you click into the place.   When you keep your displayed cost low and then the total cost doubles that is deceiving because it's not a cost based on economics its so that the renter can advertise a lower price but still make more.   It's an arbitrary added fee.    It's like going to the grocery store and being told at check out that the grapes you picked out were washed twice so its double the price.      Although not illegal in anyway it's a deceptive practice and everyone is picking up on it to where Airbnb needs to show the total price or people will stop using that service IMO.  At this point its just a complete annoyance. 

This. It's more of an annoyance since there is no useful way to search for places by total cost and compare to other properties with the app.

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UT_OB1

UT_OB1 2224

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, fuggled said:

Accounts Payable?

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
 

Womp womp. Yep. App. Ap. Sorry. It feels like there are two different groups running the website and the mobile app, and they only talk every 2-3 years. Vrbo is just as bad, to be fair. 

Edited by UT_OB1
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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21469

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3 hours ago, UT_OB1 said:

 

There sort of is. If you are in list view it will show the total price of each listing along with the nightly rate. Of course, that means you can’t see the map at the same time. So you have to zoom on the area you want and then switch to list view. AirBnB does have a shitty search interface. And while I’m bitching about them, it’s be awesome if the IT group that works on the website side would get up and walk down the fucking hall and say to the AP IT group “hey - let’s see if we can make these user friendly and similar”. It’s bs to cal support and part of the fix to be to go use the ap to adjust something instead of the website,m (or the reverse)

So is the app or website better?  

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Bateshorn

Bateshorn 9938

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4 hours ago, midtown said:

It's just a well known fact that cleaning fees we're never this high; not enough to double the rate for a stay in some cases.   It's just an observation on the fact that airbnb owners are trying to make their lost revenue back by cranking up the cleaning fee.  When in economic reality they should be no higher than they were two years ago sans some inflation.   No one is bringing in a hazmat team.   It's still just a normal maid using the exact same shit.    I think the OP was just relating that aribnb is losing is pricing advantage and the market will sort it out.   I've been looking at both avenues for a while now.  Sometimes I go hotel and sometimes rental.

Este

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Bateshorn

Bateshorn 9938

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Let’s be clear: I don’t have a problem with people charging whatever they can get to rent their places out.  I don’t have a problem with high “cleaning” fees (although let’s be honest, it doesn’t cost 400 dollars to clean your two bedroom). I have a problem with the fact that cleaning fees have become a defacto profit surcharge. 
 

For years, when not traveling on my employers dime, I’ve favored air bnbs. Now they are not as attractive due to the cleaning fee.  
 

Chase that bag, rental owners!! Also, don’t be surprised if I stay at the local Marriott because it’s a better deal rn. 

Edited by Bateshorn
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UT_OB1

UT_OB1 2224

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5 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

So is the app or website better?  

From a host standpoint, probably the app, but not for setting up your property, and it depends on what you are doings.  Customer support will tell you that too as sometimes the problem can only be fixed using the other system. 
 

From a traveler perspective, I think I like the app more. 

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4th_and_18

4th_and_18 687

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Posted
Can you request a line item list for the cleaning fees?
I remember discussing this in a Business/Law class UT circa 2010.  That was a while ago I guess.

I think you’re thinking of renter’s rights to see how their deposit was used by the owner instead of returned at the end of the lease. As long as the owner can show reasonable receipts for the amount kept then there’s not really anything you can do.
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Onboard 2.0

Onboard 2.0 9083

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Can't see why you'd soak people for a cleaning fee. I'd want return renters, who tend too take better care of properties than 1 timers, and all you're gonna get when you fuck em out of big fees is 1 timers.

We just discussed this in a family meeting, we're getting our family bay cottage ready to start AirBNB'ing. We want people who come back every year, and keeping costs reasonable is part of the trick to that I think.  

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HornOnTheBayou

HornOnTheBayou 8946

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13 hours ago, UT_OB1 said:

 

There sort of is. If you are in list view it will show the total price of each listing along with the nightly rate. Of course, that means you can’t see the map at the same time. So you have to zoom on the area you want and then switch to list view. AirBnB does have a shitty search interface. And while I’m bitching about them, it’s be awesome if the IT group that works on the website side would get up and walk down the fucking hall and say to the AP IT group “hey - let’s see if we can make these user friendly and similar”. It’s bs to cal support and part of the fix to be to go use the ap to adjust something instead of the website,m (or the reverse)

That is a good idea. But then AirBnB will need to hire someone to take the specs from the customer to the software engineers. Someone with people skills.

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Eastwood

Eastwood 4394

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The cleaning fee issue was there before COVID, but the other properties hopped on board to get caught up on revenue. We were looking to book a place in Galveston for two nights in August of 2019 and constantly got bummed out when we would pick a place that was $150 a night when shown on the list and map, but immediately jumped to $700 total cost when you went to book it. $150 a night with a $300 cleaning fee.

They can pound sand with that, especially since all of our tenant reviews remarked how clean we were and how good of shape we leave the place in. Shit, I wish we kept up our own house as neatly as we keep up the AirBNBs we visit.

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CooterBrown

CooterBrown 18028

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Another scam I've seen is the per person surcharge.

On VRBO, I found a nice 2/2 villa on St John with a pool for the COVID reduced price of $299 a night.  Every person beyond the first two is another $50/night.  So, if you actually have 2 kids in tow or another couple, it's $399 a night.  Still, it was a great house for the price but that was definitely misleading on purpose.

 

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BearSchlong

BearSchlong 8114

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6 hours ago, LABEVO said:

We require people to stay at our place for weeks if not a few months as they will take care of the place better.  

Interesting.  My first reaction is to disagree, but then again I'm a civilized, mature adult.  Thinking about some of the people I saw at the beach last weekend and I might tend to agree with you.

mutual rating is nice with VRBO, if I trashed the place I'd expect to get a 1 star review.

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Somnio

Somnio 751

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The biggest issue imo is they want you to wash dishes, take out the trash, and other assorted chores while still charging a cleaning fee.  Fuck you, I'm on vacation.  I'll stick with hotels, thank you very much.

STRs have their place I suppose, but unless I'm staying with a large group for an extended time I prefer hotels by far.

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CooterBrown

CooterBrown 18028

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53 minutes ago, Somnio said:

The biggest issue imo is they want you to wash dishes, take out the trash, and other assorted chores while still charging a cleaning fee.  Fuck you, I'm on vacation.  I'll stick with hotels, thank you very much.

The biggest issue is they want you to do all of that before the 10am check out time. 

I avoid any rentals that want you to wash and dry the sheets and towels prior to departure. That's a solid indication they never do it and no one is waking up at 4am to get a couple of loads of laundry done.

 

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Somnio

Somnio 751

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Posted

Great business model, though.  Charge the equivalent of $10,000/month rent, plus or minus a few thousand, and still have your guests enjoy all the luxuries of being home like washing the bedding, and cleaning up the kitchen.

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