What do AIRBNB hosts pay the maid per cleaning?

Question

I have a 1 bedroom apartment in a key location that i have updated quite nicely. It is spacious. I see similar locations as a "Guest Favorite" on AirBNB.

Based on my comps, a lowball rental estimate for long term would be $1900 monthly.

However, on AirBNB, taking into account 66% occupancy of similar locations as well as a similar nightly fee, I would pull in around $3000 month as a lower estimate, not taking into account a peak season or heightened demand due to an event. My question to AirBNB hosts is how much do the cleaning fee's for 66% occupancy account for (this is a spacious 1 bedroom with decent living room) and how much does AirBNB take? Is the juice worth the squeeze when considering the amount of communication you have to do in addition to all this?

Mike Grudzien · Answer

I agree with John 100%.  Cleaning is not a revenue source.  My cleaners charge a market-competitive, hourly rate.  I pay them that plus occasional bonuses for tough cleaning jobs.

Lauren Kormylo · Answer

As a new host, Airbnb takes 15.5% of your cleaning fee, so you need to take that into account when setting the cleaning fee that you charge guests.

John Underwood · Answer

The cleaning fee is a pass through.. The guest pays this amount so it shouldn't be counted as income.

Margot Ragosta · Answer

Newbie here so further insight into this would be very helpful as we have been struggling with this concept. If the guest pays the cleaning fee, but the cleaning fee increases your nightly rate by say $60 ($120 split over a two night stay) wouldn't that either turn people off as too high of a nightly rate or reduce your profit because you can't get a booking for a price so high? I get that if the booking is for a week or more it wouldn't be so noticeable, but how does everyone manage this for shorter stays?

Michael Baum · Answer

All good answers here @Dav Pohote.

To answer your headline question, we pay $300 per cleaning. We charge the guests $250. We eat the $50.

The reason is she is a good, reliable cleaner and it takes over 2 hours for a cleaner to get to our lakehouse. It is over 70 miles round trip on a winding 2 lane road. Lots of deer and turkeys, the occasional elk herd and a moose or 2 once in a while.

You will most likely have an easier time than we do as you are in a much more populated area with lots of cleaners to choose from, plus your place is much smaller (I would guess) than ours at 2700sqft 4/3.

Andrew Steffens · Answer

Yes this is a guest paid fee, and what you pay will depend on your market and the unit itself.  Look at your competition and see what they are charging and make sure you are paying commensurately and for quality.

Sameul Ahsan · Answer

It depends on the cleaning person. They will give you a deep clean quote and a turn quote. That turn is the fixed price for every single time and paid by the guest transferred to the cleaning person

Collin Hays · Answer

To us it is a revenue source. We keep 20 percent of the cleaning fee. But that is only because of the fact that we supply all linens and spend many $ thousands per year doing such. So the 20 percent goes to that. It is not a profit center.

Andrew Street · Answer

You’re right to look at the numbers, but I agree with others here—don’t treat the cleaning fee as income. It’s a guest-paid charge that essentially passes through to your cleaner. What you want to watch is Airbnb’s percentage of that cleaning fee so you’re pricing it correctly and not losing money on every turnover.

What do AIRBNB hosts pay the maid per cleaning?

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