In 2016, my husband and I decided to rent out our basement apartment on Airbnb. Living in a college town, we anticipated some guests during football games and graduation weekends. To our surprise, we discovered that many visitors come to town to see their college kids or explore the university, leading to consistent bookings.
By 2019, we purchased the neighboring house, allowing us to rent out both floors as separate units. Our experience as Airbnb hosts has been rewarding, with hundreds of five-star reviews, Superhost status, and many returning guests.
One aspect of our hosting style that sets us apart is that we don’t charge a cleaning fee or impose check-out chores on our guests. In fact, we find both practices quite off-putting.
Our perspective as hosts is shaped by our experiences as Airbnb guests over the years. As a traveling family of five, we’ve appreciated the advantages of staying in Airbnbs over hotels. Having a kitchen, living area, and separate bedrooms gives us a home-like feeling while traveling. We even spent a year living in various short-term rentals, staying a month at a time.
Having stayed in numerous Airbnbs, we’ve gained insights into what guests value and what annoys them. We learned what is unnecessary and what should be expected compared to hotels. Before becoming hosts, we mentally noted the practices we would want to adopt and those we would avoid.
Understanding the frustration of cleaning fees as guests, we chose not to charge one.
My husband, who has a flexible schedule and has experience from his parents' janitorial service, typically handles the cleaning himself. While we could impose a cleaning fee to cover his time and labor, even if we hired outside cleaners, we wouldn’t add that extra charge to guest bookings. We believe it’s simpler to incorporate cleaning costs into the nightly rate.
From the host’s perspective, the issue of cleaning fees is most relevant for one-night stays. Whether a guest stays for one night or ten, the cleaning costs remain the same. However, spreading that cost across ten nights is a very different experience compared to adding it to a single night, especially from the guest's viewpoint. For us, charging a guest an additional $50 cleaning fee on top of a $100 per night rate can be a dealbreaker.
Other Airbnb hosts have found that including cleaning costs in the base price balances out over time, especially when longer stays are included alongside short ones. This approach also enhances the guest experience by avoiding surprise fees on the final cost screen, which can already be overwhelming with service fees and taxes added.
This strategy may be more applicable for smaller rentals. For larger homes, cleaning expenses will be higher due to the additional time required. However, I still believe that full cleaning costs shouldn't be passed on to guests as a separate fee.
As for check-out chores, like starting laundry, sweeping, or taking out the trash, we find these requests unreasonable. Ideally, hosts should have enough linens to eliminate the need for guests to do laundry before checking out. The minor time savings don’t justify inconveniencing guests. While taking out the trash might make sense if no other guests are expected soon, it's usually best to clean right away after a stay anyway, especially if a last-minute booking occurs.
The only request we make is for guests to start the dishwasher if they have dirty dishes. I’ve never found this unreasonable as a guest. We don’t ask them to pull sheets or remove trash. While these tasks don't take long, it's simply not worth annoying guests over such minimal time savings.
Surprisingly, about 95% of our guests leave the apartments tidy and clean. In seven years, I can count on one hand the number of times guests left a significant mess. I believe this reflects the respect and consideration we extend to them by not imposing extra fees or chores.
It also helps that we aren’t a large real estate company buying up properties for short-term rentals managed impersonally. Our approach aligns more closely with the original “sharing economy” concept, renting out our home to visitors. In a college town with limited hotel availability during busy weekends, it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Being nearby, maintaining personal communication with guests while also respecting their privacy, and not imposing extra charges fosters a respectful environment. From both guest and host perspectives, we believe that cleaning fees and check-out chores simply aren't worth the hassle.