Airbnb will now warn travelers about hidden cleaning fees

Mr. Thomas, who has run Airbnbs for about seven years and is now open His first hotelHe said he paid about 90 percent of the cleaning fee to the cleaners. He said cleaners are required to use a higher level of attention to detail in Airbnbs, compared to cleaning hotel rooms, and in a tighter turnaround. “You have between 11 am and 3 pm, and everything should be done perfectly,” he said. Detergents are our eyes and ears. They are my lifeblood.”

Cory Friedman, director of real estate at Airbnb in Miami, echoed that sentiment.

“Hotels are built very differently, they are built for fast delivery; they don’t need to go under the bed or behind the wardrobe. Hotels do it because they want a quick cleaning service,” said Friedman, who worked in luxury hotels until his inception. management company. “For me, it takes an entire day to really make sure our units are ready for guests.”

Mr. Friedman said transparency about fees is always preferable.

“Will that turn people off? Sure, but at least now there is a way they can see these things.” “You never want to start with a bad taste in someone’s mouth before they reach your property.”

Part of the new Airbnb policy includes guidance on “responsible“Checkout requests. Safety, health and energy efficiency requests – including taking out the trash, turning off the lights and closing the door – are reasonable. But don’t strip, wash and vacuum the bed prior to departure. Check-out requests must be made for guests prior to booking.

Airbnb started out as an alternative to affordable hotels, and at the start of the pandemic, it outperformed hotels in 27 global markets, According to one industry report. But the platform usually pays the fee until users start booking. Cleaning and service fees can range from zero to hundreds of dollars depending on the combination of mandatory and optional fees applied by the host. Occupancy taxes and, in some countries, value-added tax may also be added. Since 2019, fee transparency has been applied to listings in most of Europe, as well as Australia, Canada and South Korea.

Among the globally active Airbnb listings, 45 percent do not charge a cleaning fee, the company said. For listings that charge for cleaning, the fee is on average less than 10 percent of the total reservation cost, the company said.

When Amanda Mix said travel blogger And the content creator, She and her husband decided to get married in New Orleans last year with family and close friends, and they decided to rent an Airbnb for the whole group. What started as a $3,500 listing for five nights more than doubled to $7,200 once it hit checkout.