Airbnb cleaning fee

Cleaning costs are an integral part of an Airbnb listing. Find out in this practical guide what these cleaning fees are, how to calculate them for your vacation rental and set up an effective pricing strategy, how to organize your Airbnb cleaning and much more!

What is an Airbnb cleaning fee?

The Airbnb cleaning fee corresponds to the costs incurred by the vacation rental host to carry out a complete hotel-quality cleaning in order to provide guests with clean accommodation. It may include the cost of professional cleaning, cleaning supplies, bed linen and household linens, etc.
Cleaning costs help to keep your holiday rental clean and indirectly encourage guests to be aware of the efforts made, and to maintain the high standard of cleanliness of your rental. In case you’d ask some tasks to your guest, you can add them to your house rules.

Who should do your Airbnb cleaning?

As a short-term rental owner, you can consider multiple options for carrying out your Airbnb cleaning operations between the departure of tenants and the arrival of guests. These include:

Using a professional cleaners company

If you run your short-term rental business remotely, then calling in cleaning services makes a lof of sense. These cleaning companies offer professional-quality housekeeping services and can help you meet your cleanliness requirements.

Using independent airbnb cleaners

Another option for professional cleaning in your short-term rental property and ensuring a clean house for the arrival of guests: cleaning agents. You can find contacts through specific services, by word of mouth or by placing classified ads in your local shops.

Using concierge services

If you manage your holiday rental through a concierge service or delegate specific tasks to them, the cleaning can be organized by this organization for an additional service fee.

Do the cleaning yourself

You also have the option of doing your own cleaning between Airbnb bookings. This way, you can check the condition of your rental with your own eyes and organize it as you wish.

Whatever option you are choosing, the ultimate goal is to reach guest satisfaction and make guests happy with your cleaning and your overall experience.

How do you clean your Airbnb?

Providing your guests with clean rental is fundamental to both your guest experience and the reputation of your short-term rental. Carrying out rigorous, quality cleaning will enable you to excel in terms of cleanliness and garner the maximum number of stars and positive reviews on this aspect during your Airbnb evaluation.

As we saw earlier, you have several options for organizing your Airbnb cleaning. Whichever option you choose, it’s a good idea to draw up a cleaning tasks list and cleaning requirements. In fact, a cleaning sheet will enable you to be regular in your cleaning operations, to avoid forgetting anything and also to set up and maintain a quality service.

With a defined airbnb cleaning checklist, you’ll be able to carry out identical cleaning operations between each booking, guaranteeing a high level of cleanliness for your future guest.

If you need cleaning advice for your holiday rental, we’ve put together a guide with our tips for organizing your cleaning, a checklist for organizing your cleaning and much more. Click here to find out more.

How do I add cleaning costs to my Airbnb listing?

As soon as you have an Airbnb listing published for one or more of your short-term rentals, you can add a predefined cleaning fee. You can do so by following these steps:

1. Log in to your Airbnb account
2. Go to “Calendar“.
3. In the panel next to “Calendar”, click on the “Pricing tab“.
4. Click on “Pricing“.
5. Under “Other charges“, click on “Charges“.
6. Click on “Household charges“.

You can then add your Airbnb cleaning fee. Note that the household charges applied will be effective for your new bookings and not for bookings already made.

In the case of special offers, you will need to take the cleaning costs into account, as they are not automatically included.

How much should I set for the Airbnb cleaning fee?

Setting competitive and fair cleaning fees in your Airbnb adverts is essential to the success of your rental business. You will need to cover your cleaning costs, of course, but setting above-average cleaning fees would be a disadvantage for your business and could hit your potential future bookings.
To set your cost of cleaning, you can take a number of factors into account:

• the type of property you offer and your property size
•  the actual costs of your cleaning service provider (hourly volume/time required for operations) or your concierge service
• the time you spend on cleaning if you do it yourself
• the median cleaning fee charged by your competitors offering equivalent services
• the cost of your laundry services (sheets, household linen, towels)
• the cost of supplies
• the price of your additional services (if you offer to change sheets/towels during your stay, for example).
  By taking these aspects into account, you can ensure that your prices are fair.

Did you know that guests will see a price per night in the search results that includes the cleaning costs divided by the total number of nights booked? When a request is sent, two separate lines appear: price per night x number of nights (length of stay), plus cleaning costs.

In summary: focus on cleanliness for a seine rental

The cleanliness of a seasonal rental is essential to the success of your business. It should not be overlooked. By setting a consistent cleaning fee, you can ensure that your property is thoroughly cleaned so that you can welcome potential guests without a hitch and target a 5-star review.