Cleaning fees are one of the hottest topics in the vacation rental world. While they may seem like a minor detail, they can have a serious impact on your booking activity. We recommend you brush up on the latest data, trends, and recommendations in order to set the right cleaning fees for your properties. 

Airbnb Cleaning Fees: What Hosts Need To Know | AirDNA

Airbnb cleaning fees, set by hosts, cover the cost of cleaning the property and can significantly affect guest reviews and booking activity, with fees varying by property size and location.

Recent changes by Airbnb, including displaying total costs with cleaning fees in search results and prioritizing all-in pricing in their algorithm, impact how hosts should consider setting and integrating cleaning fees.

Cleaning fees are on the rise due to higher cleanliness standards post-COVID-19, the popularity of larger properties, and increased labor costs, with hosts needing to balance these fees with market trends and guest expectations.

Cleaning fees are one of the hottest and most polarizing topics when it comes to vacation rentals.

This is unlikely to come as a news flash, but it bears repeating. Cleaning fees—and guests’ attitudes toward cleaning fees—can have a real impact on your reviews and booking activity.

The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on rental cleanliness, but it’s the focus on fees that’s proven longer-lasting. Airbnb and Vrbo cleaning fees continuously trend on social media, with countless posts buzzing about one question: What exactly is a reasonable cleaning fee? 

Given the maturation of the short-term rental (STR) industry over the past three years, it’s evident that cleaning fees are another detail hosts can’t afford to overlook. That's precisely why we wrote this guide: to ensure you have the insights you need to establish the right fees for your properties.

Let's jump right into the need-to-know facts on cleaning fees.

An Airbnb cleaning fee is a one-time fee Airbnb hosts can charge to cover the cost of cleaning the property after each guest’s stay in preparation for the next guest. Hosts set their own fees, and the amount is the same whether the guest stays for one night or an entire month.

Hosts can charge cleaning fees on top of the base price; they’re separate from Airbnb’s service fees and optional add-ons. Unlike the security deposit, hosts don’t return the cleaning fee at the end of the guest’s stay.

Over the years, travelers have complained that Airbnb search results showed only the nightly rate for a property without factoring in other costs. Guests would begin to check out only to discover that the total cost was (in some cases) several hundred dollars more than the price they expected to pay.

In December 2022, Airbnb changed its settings so guests can view the total cost of each listing—including service and cleaning fees, but excluding taxes—by toggling the “total price display” switch. They will then see pricing in the listing search results that accounts for the cleaning fee divided by the number of nights they plan to stay.

Airbnb cleaning fees can cover everything you need to do after a guest’s stay, including doing laundry or scrubbing toilets. If you perform the cleaning, the fee covers both the time you spend cleaning and the cost of cleaning products and household supplies. You can also use the fee to pay for a cleaning service or cleaning company.

The cleaning fee will typically include the following tasks:

Restocking bathroom supplies like toilet paper and hand soap

These tasks will inevitably take longer for large properties and residences in locations with a lot of mud or sand. Check out our Ultimate Short-Term Rental Cleaning Checklist for a comprehensive overview of what your cleaning protocol should cover.

Key Facts about Airbnb Cleaning Fees for Hosts

Now that you know the basics about cleaning fees, it’s time to get down to the data. Ultimately, getting your cleaning fee right (and deciding whether to charge one at all) depends on your location and the fees your competitors charge.

1. Cleaning fees Are One Piece of the Revenue Puzzle

American STR owners and hosts earned $61.6 billion in revenue in the last year. Only 13% of that—$8.1 billion, to be exact—is due to cleaning fees. 

The perception is that all STRs charge cleaning fees. Our data tells a slightly different story. 

The prevalence of cleaning fees varies by country. In the United Kingdom, 52% of properties don’t charge a cleaning fee. In France, 44% of properties don’t have a cleaning fee. In the U.S., cleaning fees are more common and only 11% of properties don’t have a cleaning fee. 

3. Property Size & Location Influence Cleaning Fees

Every property is unique. Cleaning sand out of a coastal home takes more time and effort than sweeping a private room. To that end, cleaning fees are also unique. Our data shows that cleaning fees vary widely based on two major characteristics: size and location. 

The larger the property, the more labor-intensive it is to clean. That’s why cleaning fees often correspond with property size. In 2023, the average cleaning fee in the U.S. for a private/shared room on Airbnb was just $48 per stay, while the average fee for a house with five bedrooms reached $303.

Unique STRs are a traveler’s dream—from a cozy A-frame in the woods to a charming farm stay. They can also be costly to clean. Many vacation rental properties are located in remote areas where the distance between properties can significantly increase cleaning costs. Labor to clean the properties can also be hard to find. 

Labor costs also make their mark in cities. The cost of living can contribute to higher cleaning costs—and higher fees—in larger cities compared to their small and midsize counterparts. For example, for a three-bedroom listing, cleaning fees average $166 per stay in large urban cities and only $128 per stay in small/rural cities. Meanwhile, more traditional coastal and mountain vacation destinations have cleaning fees exceeding $200 per stay for 3-bedroom listings. 

Social media users are right about one thing: Cleaning fees have gone up. Since Q1 of 2020, Airbnb cleaning fees have increased about 27%. There are a few reasons for this:

Guests have a higher cleanliness standard in the post-COVID-19 era

 In 2020, Airbnb rolled out its five-step enhanced cleaning process, which requires hosts to adhere to minimum cleaning and sanitation guidelines. This boosted the amount of time it takes to adequately clean a property, which contributed to a 10.5% increase in Airbnb cleaning fees in 2021 compared to 2020.

Guests have opted for different property types and locations in the past three years than in the years prior. This shift has impacted the perception of cleaning fees. Fewer guests rent studios or one-bedroom apartments and more guests rent larger homes in coastal and mountain destinations where cleaning fees are typically higher. This feeds the perception that cleaning fees have gone up since changing preferences are exposing guests to different markets with different standard fees.  

Hosts pass higher labor costs onto guests

Wages for hospitality workers increased just 3.5% from 2014 to 2019, before reaching $16.60 per hour in 2019. Demand for travel and restaurants boomed in 2021, but labor shortages drove an unprecedented 7.6% wage increase in 2021, followed by a 9.3% increase in 2022. Wages reached $20.78 by December 2022. 

Airbnb cleaning fees increased along with wages as hosts passed labor costs along to their guests. Our data shows that cleaning fees increased 10.5% in 2021 and 2022, and continued to rise in the first half of 2023. While cleaning fees may still feel high, fee hikes in the second half of 2023 no longer offset wage growth.   

5.  Airbnb vs. Vrbo Cleaning Fees—What’s the Difference?

Many guests believe that Airbnb is more expensive—and that includes the perception of a higher median cleaning fee. When it comes to Airbnb vs. Vrbo, the cleaning fee situation is largely the same: Hosts set their own fees, and those fees often vary by location and property type. With either platform, hosts need to decide for themselves not only what their cleaning fee should be but whether to charge a fee at all. 

American vacation rentals are more likely to charge a cleaning fee than almost any other country in the world. Yet, there are many markets where guests are much less likely to pay a cleaning fee. 

In Aspen, Colorado, only 55% of properties have a cleaning fee. In Outer Banks, North Carolina, only 64% of properties have a cleaning fee. There are also many markets where the large majority of properties have cleaning fees: 94% of properties in Broken Bow Lake, Oklahoma,  and Destin/Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, charge a cleaning fee. 

Because cleaning fees really do vary, the question remains: Should you charge a cleaning fee, and what is a reasonable cleaning fee in your market?  

This is one area where your competitors may hold the key to the proverbial castle. Whatever you charge should be in line with other similar properties in your market. Our team at AirDNA created a cleaning fee dashboard so you can see what percentage of listings in your market charge a cleaning fee, as well as the average fee by bedroom count. 

Use average cleaning fees as a benchmark for your own properties. The reality is that outrage around cleaning fees is rarely around the fees themselves and more about how cleaning fees inflate the ADR after guests decide to book. While “reasonable” varies by market, charging a fee that’s within the range of other similar properties should cover your costs and protect your potential guests from sticker shock. 

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What about Cleaning Fees & All-In Pricing?

All-in pricing is on the rise, at least on Airbnb. While cleaning fees can be used to help manage the length of stay (a higher cleaning fee discourages guests from booking shorter stays at your property), recent changes in the Airbnb algorithm may change how you think about cleaning fees. 

Airbnb CEO Peter Chesky said during Airbnb’s Q3 2022 earnings call, “Our search rank algorithm is prioritizing all-in pricing and hosts with the best value.”

It’s not all about the algorithm, either. Many guests are asking for all-in pricing, so they can evaluate the total cost for your STR rather than be surprised by cleaning fees after they’ve chosen a property. With these changes, hosts should prioritize real-time vacation rental data—like benchmarking their bookings against their competitors—to make sure that their listings are not being down-ranked.

Contrary to what social media may say, cleaning fees aren’t bad, and you don’t have to avoid them. Getting it right, especially in light of all-in pricing, can impact your booking activity. 

If you are seeing a change in your booking activity, it may be time to adjust to “all-in” pricing and incorporate your cleaning fee into your average daily rate (ADR). If your value rating is low relative to competing properties, adjusting your cleaning fee may be one way to increase that rating.

This decision, like any decision you make for your STR, should all come down to the data. 

Benchmarking your vacation rental data over a longer period will help you identify if cleaning fees have a positive, negative, or neutral impact on your listing. 

Brush up on the latest data, trends, and recommendations in order to set the right cleaning fees for your short-term rental properties.

Key Takeaways
Airbnb cleaning fees, set by hosts, cover the cost of cleaning the property and can significantly affect guest reviews and booking activity, with fees varying by property size and location.
Recent changes by Airbnb, including displaying total costs with cleaning fees in search results and prioritizing all-in pricing in their algorithm, impact how hosts should consider setting and integrating cleaning fees.
Cleaning fees are on the rise due to higher cleanliness standards post-COVID-19, the popularity of larger properties, and increased labor costs, with hosts needing to balance these fees with market trends and guest expectations.

Cleaning fees are one of the hottest and most polarizing topics when it comes to vacation rentals.

This is unlikely to come as a news flash, but it bears repeating. Cleaning fees—and guests’ attitudes toward cleaning fees—can have a real impact on your reviews and booking activity.

The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on rental cleanliness, but it’s the focus on fees that’s proven longer-lasting. Airbnb and Vrbo cleaning fees continuously trend on social media, with countless posts buzzing about one question: What exactly is a reasonable cleaning fee? 

Given the maturation of the short-term rental (STR) industry over the past three years, it’s evident that cleaning fees are another detail hosts can’t afford to overlook. That's precisely why we wrote this guide: to ensure you have the insights you need to establish the right fees for your properties.

Let's jump right into the need-to-know facts on cleaning fees.

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What Are Airbnb Cleaning Fees?

An Airbnb cleaning fee is a one-time fee Airbnb hosts can charge to cover the cost of cleaning the property after each guest’s stay in preparation for the next guest. Hosts set their own fees, and the amount is the same whether the guest stays for one night or an entire month.

How Does Airbnb Charge Cleaning Fees? 

Hosts can charge cleaning fees on top of the base price; they’re separate from Airbnb’s service fees and optional add-ons. Unlike the security deposit, hosts don’t return the cleaning fee at the end of the guest’s stay.

Over the years, travelers have complained that Airbnb search results showed only the nightly rate for a property without factoring in other costs. Guests would begin to check out only to discover that the total cost was (in some cases) several hundred dollars more than the price they expected to pay.

In December 2022, Airbnb changed its settings so guests can view the total cost of each listing—including service and cleaning fees, but excluding taxes—by toggling the “total price display” switch. They will then see pricing in the listing search results that accounts for the cleaning fee divided by the number of nights they plan to stay.

Hottest Airbnb Markets
Free Airbnb Calculator
What Can Cleaning Fees Cover?

Airbnb cleaning fees can cover everything you need to do after a guest’s stay, including doing laundry or scrubbing toilets. If you perform the cleaning, the fee covers both the time you spend cleaning and the cost of cleaning products and household supplies. You can also use the fee to pay for a cleaning service or cleaning company.

The cleaning fee will typically include the following tasks:

Straightening up the house
Washing the bed linens and towels
Sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping
Washing the dishes
Scrubbing the bathroom and kitchen
Restocking bathroom supplies like toilet paper and hand soap
Restocking the pantry and fridge

These tasks will inevitably take longer for large properties and residences in locations with a lot of mud or sand. 

Key Facts About Airbnb Cleaning Fees for Hosts

Now that you know the basics about cleaning fees, it’s time to get down to the data. Ultimately, getting your cleaning fee right (and deciding whether to charge one at all) depends on your location and the fees your competitors charge.

1. Cleaning fees Are One Piece of the Revenue Puzzle

American STR owners and hosts earned $61.6 billion in revenue in the last year. Only 13% of that—$8.1 billion, to be exact—is due to cleaning fees. 

2. Cleaning Fees Aren’t Universal

The perception is that all STRs charge cleaning fees. Our data tells a slightly different story. 

The prevalence of cleaning fees varies by country. In the United Kingdom, 52% of properties don’t charge a cleaning fee. In France, 44% of properties don’t have a cleaning fee. In the U.S., cleaning fees are more common and only 11% of properties don’t have a cleaning fee. 

3. Property Size & Location Influence Cleaning Fees

Every property is unique. Cleaning sand out of a coastal home takes more time and effort than sweeping a private room. To that end, cleaning fees are also unique. Our data shows that cleaning fees vary widely based on two major characteristics: size and location. 

Cleaning Fees by Size

The larger the property, the more labor-intensive it is to clean. That’s why cleaning fees often correspond with property size. In 2023, the average cleaning fee in the U.S. for a private/shared room on Airbnb was just $48 per stay, while the average fee for a house with five bedrooms reached $303.

Cleaning Fees by Location

Unique STRs are a traveler’s dream—from a cozy A-frame in the woods to a charming farm stay. They can also be costly to clean. Many vacation rental properties are located in remote areas where the distance between properties can significantly increase cleaning costs. Labor to clean the properties can also be hard to find. 

Labor costs also make their mark in cities. The cost of living can contribute to higher cleaning costs—and higher fees—in larger cities compared to their small and midsize counterparts. For example, for a three-bedroom listing, cleaning fees average $166 per stay in large urban cities and only $128 per stay in small/rural cities. Meanwhile, more traditional coastal and mountain vacation destinations have cleaning fees exceeding $200 per stay for 3-bedroom listings. 

4. Cleaning Fees Really Are on the Rise

Social media users are right about one thing: Cleaning fees have gone up. Since Q1 of 2020, Airbnb cleaning fees have increased about 27%. There are a few reasons for this:

Guests have a higher cleanliness standard in the post-COVID-19 era. In 2020, Airbnb rolled out its five-step enhanced cleaning process, which requires hosts to adhere to minimum cleaning and sanitation guidelines. This boosted the amount of time it takes to adequately clean a property, which contributed to a 10.5% increase in Airbnb cleaning fees in 2021 compared to 2020.

Larger properties are more popular. Guests have opted for different property types and locations in the past three years than in the years prior. This shift has impacted the perception of cleaning fees. Fewer guests rent studios or one-bedroom apartments and more guests rent larger homes in coastal and mountain destinations where cleaning fees are typically higher. This feeds the perception that cleaning fees have gone up since changing preferences are exposing guests to different markets with different standard fees.  

Hosts pass higher labor costs onto guests. Wages for hospitality workers increased just 3.5% from 2014 to 2019, before reaching $16.60 per hour in 2019. Demand for travel and restaurants boomed in 2021, but labor shortages drove an unprecedented 7.6% wage increase in 2021, followed by a 9.3% increase in 2022. Wages reached $20.78 by December 2022.

Airbnb cleaning fees increased along with wages as hosts passed labor costs along to their guests. Our data shows that cleaning fees increased 10.5% in 2021 and 2022, and continued to rise in the first half of 2023. While cleaning fees may still feel high, fee hikes in the second half of 2023 no longer offset wage growth.   

5.  Airbnb vs. Vrbo Cleaning Fees—What’s the Difference?

Many guests believe that Airbnb is more expensive—and that includes the perception of a higher median cleaning fee. When it comes to Airbnb vs. Vrbo, the cleaning fee situation is largely the same: Hosts set their own fees, and those fees often vary by location and property type. With either platform, hosts need to decide for themselves not only what their cleaning fee should be but whether to charge a fee at all. 

So, Should You Charge a Cleaning Fee?

American vacation rentals are more likely to charge a cleaning fee than almost any other country in the world. Yet, there are many markets where guests are much less likely to pay a cleaning fee. 

In Aspen, Colorado, only 55% of properties have a cleaning fee. In Outer Banks, North Carolina, only 64% of properties have a cleaning fee. There are also many markets where the large majority of properties have cleaning fees: 94% of properties in Broken Bow Lake, Oklahoma,  and Destin/Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, charge a cleaning fee. 

Because cleaning fees really do vary, the question remains: Should you charge a cleaning fee, and what is a reasonable cleaning fee in your market?  

This is one area where your competitors may hold the key to the proverbial castle. Whatever you charge should be in line with other similar properties in your market. Our team at AirDNA created a cleaning fee dashboard so you can see what percentage of listings in your market charge a cleaning fee, as well as the average fee by bedroom count. 

Use average cleaning fees as a benchmark for your own properties. The reality is that outrage around cleaning fees is rarely around the fees themselves and more about how cleaning fees inflate the ADR after guests decide to book. While “reasonable” varies by market, charging a fee that’s within the range of other similar properties should cover your costs and protect your potential guests from sticker shock. 

Try the Airbnb Calculator

What About Cleaning Fees & All-In Pricing?

All-in pricing is on the rise, at least on Airbnb. While cleaning fees can be used to help manage the length of stay (a higher cleaning fee discourages guests from booking shorter stays at your property), recent changes in the Airbnb algorithm may change how you think about cleaning fees. 

Airbnb CEO Peter Chesky said during Airbnb’s Q3 2022 earnings call, “Our search rank algorithm is prioritizing all-in pricing and hosts with the best value.”

It’s not all about the algorithm, either. Many guests are asking for all-in pricing, so they can evaluate the total cost for your STR rather than be surprised by cleaning fees after they’ve chosen a property. With these changes, hosts should prioritize real-time vacation rental data—like benchmarking their bookings against their competitors—to make sure that their listings are not being down-ranked.

Cleaning Fees Come Down to Data

Contrary to what social media may say, cleaning fees aren’t bad, and you don’t have to avoid them. Getting it right, especially in light of all-in pricing, can impact your booking activity. 

If you are seeing a change in your booking activity, it may be time to adjust to “all-in” pricing and incorporate your cleaning fee into your average daily rate (ADR). If your value rating is low relative to competing properties, adjusting your cleaning fee may be one way to increase that rating.

This decision, like any decision you make for your STR, should all come down to the data. 

Benchmarking your vacation rental data over a longer period will help you identify if cleaning fees have a positive, negative, or neutral impact on your listing. 

Cleaning fees are one of the hottest topics in the vacation rental world. While they may seem like a minor detail, they can have a serious impact on your booking activity. We recommend you brush up on the latest data, trends, and recommendations in order to set the right cleaning fees for your roperties.

Airbnb Cleaning Fees: What Hosts Need To Know | AirDNA

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